Journal of Pharmaceutical Research International

Aims: This study aimed to assess possible alterations in adiposity and dietary intake during holiday periods in healthy subjects.

Study Design: 452 students of medicine faculty of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences were participated in this study and announced via internet and campus announcement in Feb 2014.

Methodology: Anthropometric parameters and body composition were measured using standard protocols. Individual nutritional intakes were assessed using the Dietplan6 software. SPSS software version 11.5 was used for statistical analysis. 

Results: Of the 452 students who attended the pre-holiday visit, 433 returned for the post-holiday appointments. Of these participants, 82 (18.1%) were men. The mean age was 24.4 years for men and 23.8 years for women (p=0.171). All the adiposity and body composition variables significantly changed over the follow-up except for fat free mass (p=0.074) and truck fat free mass (p=0.935). Mean weight of participants increased from 63.5 kg to 63.9 kg at the end of holiday (absolute change 0.37 kg, p<0.001). Total energy intake increased by 16.4%, carbohydrate by 15.9% and total fat by 25.4%, and significant association were observed between changes in some dietary variables and change in adiposity during follow-up (15 days).

Conclusion: In conclusion, holidays like Nowruz play a significant role in periodical weight gain and obesity in the college students of Mashhad University. Moreover we have found that dietary intake of carbohydrate and total fat increased through Nowruz holiday.  Understanding times when people are more likely to gain weight including holidays is important for the development of prevention strategies.

Aims: To investigate the effect of aqueous ethanolic leaf extract of this medicinal plant on isolated uterine smooth muscle strips of the rat and to determine its mechanism of action.

Study Design:  Laboratory-experimental design was used in this study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and the Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria between June and October 2014.

Methodology: Fresh leaves of Mucuna pruriens were identified and collected by a taxonomist from Nsukka, Nigeria. The leaves were then air dried and pulverized into powder. This was then subjected to cold extraction using petroleum ether (70-90) and 70% aqueous ethanol, after which the extract was left to dry at room temperature. Estrogenised uterine strips (12mm) were harvested from non-pregnant, sexually matured albino rats (180 g -250 g) and suspended in a 35ml organ bath containing Krebs’ physiological salt solution. The organ bath was connected to an isometric electronic force displacement transducer and a physiograph. Drugs such as Salbutamol, Isoprenaline, Adrenaline, Propranolol, Atipamezole and Prazosin were used as either agonists or antagonists to determine the mechanism of action of the extract. Atropine sulphate and Cyproheptadine were also used as test drugs. Concentrations of these drugs presented in the body of this work represent the final nutrient bath concentrations.

Results: M. pruriens caused a dose -dependent increase in uterine muscle contraction with an EC₅₀ of 0.88 mg/ml, n=4. The contraction was unaffected by atropine sulphate (0.042 µmol), but abolished by salbutamol (0.012-0.4 µmol), isoprenaline (0.06-0.23 µmol), and adrenaline (16 nmol). The uterine muscle contractions were enhanced by propranolol (1 µmol) in a dose- dependent manner. Prazosin (0.069-0.14 µmol) and atipamezole (3.3-13.7 nmol) were unable to abolish contractions stimulated by the extract. However, 0.2 µmol of cyproheptadine caused 80% suppression of the extract –induced uterine contraction

Conclusion: It is concluded that aqueous ethanolic leaf extract of M. pruriens, has ability to cause uterine smooth muscle contraction hence, justifies its reported use traditionally as a uterine stimulant. This contraction is most likely exerted via the 5-HT receptor activation (activated by low concentrations of serotonin).

Background and Aim:  Given that Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) increase the duration of hospitalization, increase the duration of disability and even death and given the fact that nursing students attend their clinical Nursing practice; the skills gained during this period will determine the performance of this nursing role in controlling future infectious diseases in the future. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the performance of nursing students in controlling HAI in Masjed-Soleyman in 2018.

Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, stratified sampling was done in nursing students of Islamic Azad University and Masjed-Soleyman health-care Higher Education Complex in 2018. Data were collected using standard questionnaire of students' performance regarding infection control as self-declaration. Data analysis with spss-20 software using T-test, ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient was used.

Results: In this study, 145 students with an average age of 23.38 ± 14.47 years were enrolled. Of these, 66.9% were girls and the rest were boys, 89.0% were single and the rest were married. The mean score of these subjects was 44.02 ± 11. 6 which indicates good performance about hospital infections. Girls, students of Azad University and those who participated in workshops or classrooms beforehand, had significantly higher performance than others (p <0.05) but there was not a significant relationship between mean performance and marital scores, place of residence, and academic year (p >0.05).

Conclusion: The results showed that the control of infection in these people is good at the level and reveals the effect of the classroom and the training courses held. It is suggested that educational programs be used to engage students in advanced infection control processes and merely get out from workshop and education.

Organic solvents are known as carbon-based solvents and their general property is primarily based on their volatility, boiling point, the molecular weight and color. Having enormous hazards associated with the organic solvents, they are used for millions of purposes which alert us to think more on its toxicity points. Almost all of the solvents are hazardous to health, if swallowed or inhaled more than the limit quantity and on contact to the skin most of them cause irritation. Some of the common solvents are acetone, ethyl acetate, hexane, heptane, dichloromethane, methanol, ethanol, tetrahydrofuran, acetonitrile, dimethylformamide, toluene, dimethylsulfoxide etc. Researchers, scientists, workers in the chemical industry and research institutes use these solvents on regular basis leading them to be affected in major aspects. But also, the nearby persons are affected by the contamination to the soil, water, air etc. If constantly exposed with solvents, it will badly affect the function of CNS and other body parts. The level of impact, sign and symptoms will depend on concentration, time, duration, frequency and nature of solvents, leading to common effects like headache, dizziness, tiredness, blurred vision, behavioral changes, unconsciousness, and even(Zimmermann, Mayer et al. 1985) death. To overcome it, the green chemistry concept is growing rapidly, and the solvent selection guide is in practice in many big company and research institute. A researcher or chemical worker is the primary person who works with solvents and they need to consider throughout these things while performing their activities for their own good health and for the sake of the world. The purpose of this review is to provide needed basic knowledge about common organic solvents and their potential toxicities which will alert researchers to think twice and always think for their health as well as for the environment via safe and green practice.

Introduction: The alar cinch techniques are used in order to control the alar base widening following Le Fort I surgeries. Three main alar cinch techniques include classic, Shams-Kalantar and modified techniques. There is scarcity of scientific literature regarding the modified technique therefore, this review was conducted to assess the photographic changes in the alar base width following Lefort I osteotomy using the modified Cinch technique.

Methods: Literature search was performed using the “Modified”, “alar base”, “Lefort I osteotomy” keywords in the Web od Science, PubMed and Scopus databases. Articles published between 2010 till Jun 2019 were included in the study. Identified articles were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria by two researchers independently and the identified articles were discussed afterwards.

Results: The search yielded 7 articles in English language. The findings of all the included studies revealed that the modified technique was as effective as the classic and Shams-Kalantar techniques. Furthermore, it was reported that the modified technique was more effective in controlling the alar base width in case of alar base flaring.

Conclusion: The findings of this review revealed that the modified cinch technique was more effective compared to other techniques. In conclusion, the advantages of the modified technique including better control of the alar base width and improved patient satisfaction following orthognathic surgery out power its disadvantages.