ABSTRACT Macrotyloma uniflorum, commonly known as horse gram, is an underused pulse that holds great potential as a supply of nutrition and functional compounds. This review paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the nutritional composition, Pharmacological activities, health benefits, and potential applications of Macrotyloma uniflorum. Horsegram has a high amount of protein, dietary fibre, and a variety of vital minerals and vitamins that make up its nutritional profile. Horsegram also has a high content of antioxidants, flavonoids, and phenolic compounds, all of which contribute to its potential health advantages. Horsegram intake has the potential to help manage a number of chronic conditions, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular problems, and gastrointestinal disorders, according to many studies. The review investigates the possible health advantages of Macrotyloma uniflorum, emphasising its function in controlling blood sugar, managing weight, lowering cholesterol, and antioxidant activity. Horse gram's medicinal potential is further increased by the presence of bioactive substances that include anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, diuretic, antiobesity, analgesic, anaphylactic action, and anticancer activities. In conclusion, this review paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of Macrotyloma uniflorum, highlighting its nutritional composition, health benefits, and potential applications. The findings underscore the significance of horse gram as a valuable functional food ingredient and encourage further additional investigation of its therapeutic properties for human health and well-being.
Background: The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with significant morbidity and mortality among healthcare workers worldwide. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare workers toward COVID-19 at Ataq General Hospital, and three other hospitals and health centers in Shabwah Governorate, Yemen. Materials and Methods: From January 1, 2022, to February 28, 2022, a cross-sectional survey of healthcare workers was conducted in the city of Ataq, Shabwah Governorate at the following hospitals: Ataq General Hospital, Al Shefa’a Hospital, Al Aafiah Hospital, and COVID-19 Isolation Center. Results: A total of 107 healthcare workers completed the survey. Their mean age was 28.17 ± 7.73 years, 79 (73.8%) of them were male and 28 (26.2%) were female. The overall knowledge was good, with a score of 19 out of 21; however, most participants were unaware of some of the extra-respiratory symptoms of the disease, such as diarrhea and confusion, and about 57% of them were unaware that eating or interacting with wild animals may contribute to the infection with the COVID-19 virus. Attitude analysis of the participants revealed that about half of those surveyed do not believe that Yemen can contain COVID-19. In general, the practice of the participants was good. Conclusion: Although the overall knowledge score in this study was good, most respondents could not recognize some of the extrapulmonary manifestations of COVID-19 and were unaware of the possibility of transmission of the disease from wild animals. In addition, about half of those surveyed do not believe that Yemen can contain COVID-19
Hypoglycemia is a common complication of intensive diabetes mellitus therapy. This study was aimed to review the profile of admitted Libyan cases of non-pregnant adults and adolescents. A retrospective study for patients admitted to Tripoli Diabetes Hospital, Tripoli, Libya. Data were collected from medical files of diabetic patients with hypoglycemia from January 2017 to July 2018. Thus, during this period, a total of 29 cases with hypoglycemia were admitted to the hospital. Their age was ranged from 18 to 86 years in which 76.0% were female, 25.0% were non-smokers, 59.0% were married and 55.0% were non-employers. Patients with diabetes mellitus (86%) showed hypoglycemia attack per month of 3.90 ± 2.25. From the 25 cases with diabetes mellitus, 7.0% were newly diagnosed (> one year), 45.0% their duration of diabetes mellitus were more than 9 years and 35.0% were less than nine years. Their Hemoglobin A1C was on target (6.5–7.0%) in 21.0% of the cases, in which 17.0% were on below target range (< 6> 7.0%). 14.0% were on glibenclamide, 3.0% on glimepiride and 69.0% on insulin. Patients on insulin therapy twice daily in 28.0%, triple in 17.0% and basal bolus regime in 24.0%. Hypoglycemia unawareness was presented in 17.0%, hypoglycemia was major in 45.0% of the cases, and in 38.0% were in daytime. Insulin induced hypoglycemia were in 66.0%, and suicidal attempt were in 10.0%. Exercise induced hypoglycemia 10.0% and 3.0% of cases with malignancy induced hypoglycemia. Co-exist systemic illness was mainly absent in 69.0% but cardiovascular diseases in 14.0% and renal diseases in 7.0%. Majority of cases were discharged in good condition (86.0%) and 14.0% discharged against medical advice. Hypoglycemia mostly occurs in patients with diabetes mellitus treated with insulin and in most the cases were reversible and saved with good management. Thus, patient education is a fundamental issue in prevention and reducing complications of hypoglycemia in patients with diabetes mellitus.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
The current study used the chick emesis model to explore the anti-emetic effect of the methanolic extract of Acalypha ornata Hochst—roots. Emesis was induced by the oral administration of copper sulfate to male chicks. Acalypha ornata root extract (150 mg/kg orally) showed an anti-emetic effect and was compared with the reference drug chlorpromazine
In this paper, we propose a deep learning approach for visual recognition of bird species in noisy environments. Bird species recognition has been a challenging task due to the high variation in bird appearances and the presence of noise and clutter in natural environments. Our approach utilizes a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) to learn discriminative features from bird images and classify them into different species. We also incorporate data augmentation techniques to increase the diversity of the training data and improve the robustness of the model. To address the issue of noisy environments, we introduce a novel noise-robust loss function that penalizes the model for incorrect predictions caused by noise. We evaluate our approach on a dataset of bird images collected from diverse environments and compare it with state-of-the-art methods. Our results demonstrate that our approach achieves superior performance in both clean and noisy environments, highlighting the effectiveness of our noise-robust loss function. Our approach has the potential to be applied in real world scenarios for bird species recognition and conservation.
Self-medication, the practice of using medications without professional guidance, is a significant public health concern globally, particularly among medical students who, despite their pharmacological training, often engage in this practice at high rates. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence and patterns of self-medication among medical students at the University of Tripoli, Libya. A sample of 121 undergraduate medical students was surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire. The results revealed a high prevalence of self-medication (82.6%), with analgesics (51.2%) and vitamins (31.4%) being the most commonly used medications. Headache (80.4%), pain (79.9%), and respiratory issues (73.2%) were the primary health complaints prompting self-medication. Key determinants included pharmacist advice (43.8%), prior medical knowledge (32.2%), and recommendations from family or friends (12.4%). Factors such as residing in Tripoli and higher parental education levels were significantly associated with increased self-medication practices. Notably, 62.0% of the students reported using antibiotics without a prescription, raising concerns about antimicrobial resistance. The study highlights the need for educational interventions to promote responsible self-medication practices among medical students, emphasizing the risks associated with inappropriate drug use. Addressing these issues early in medical education could help mitigate the public health implications of widespread self-medication.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
In this work a set of some cyclic peroxy ketals were tested for their antimalarial activities. Quantitative structure activity relationship (QSAR) analysis was applied to 20 organic compounds of the above mentioned derivatives using Physicochemical, informational and 2D-autocorelation parameters and modeled their antimalarial activity (logIC 50) values. The multiple regression analysis clearly indicates that 5 BIC, 1 IC, MATS4v and ST parameters yielded the best model having R 2 value of 0.9515. The predictive powers of the models were explained using LOO (Leave-One-Out) Cross validation procedure. The results are also discussed on the basis of ridge regression.
Sentiment analysis and opinion mining is a branch of computer science that has gained considerable growth over the last decade. This branch of computer science deals with determining the emotions, opinions, feelings amongst others of a person on a particular topic. Social media has become an outlet for people to voice out their thoughts and opinions publicly about various topics of discussion making it a great domain to apply sentiment analysis and opinion mining. Sentiment analysis and opinion mining employ Natural Language Processing (NLP) in order to fairly obtain the mood of a person’s opinion about any specific topic or product in the case of an ecommerce domain. It is a process involving automatic feature extractions by mode of notions of a person about service and it functions on a series of different expressions for a given topic based on some predefined features stored in a database of facts. In an ecommerce system, the process of analyzing the opinions of customers about products is vital for business growth and customer satisfaction. This proposed research will attempt to implement a model for sentiment analysis and opinion mining on Twitter feeds. In this paper, we address the issues of combining sentiment classification and the domain constraint analysis techniques for extracting opinions of the public from social media. The dataset that was employed in the paper was gotten from Twitter through the tweepy API. The TextBlob library was used for the analysis of the tweets to determine their sentiments. The result shows that more tweets were having a positive subjectivity and polarity on the subject matter.
Justicia carnea, a plant rich in bioactive compounds, has traditionally been used as a haemoglobin booster by herbal practitioners in rural areas of Edo State of Nigeria. In this study, the methanol leaves extract of Justicia carnea was investigated for its antisickling potential in hemoglobin SS (HbSS) in-vitro by sodium metabisulphite assay and characterized by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Terpenoids, saponins, glycosides, phenolics, flavonoids and alkaloids were present except tannins. Photomicrograph examinations revealed a reduction of sickle cells with a percentage decrease from 37.50%, and 22.22% down to 3.85% with 100 mg/mL crude extract of Justicia carnea at three durations, respectively. Detected compounds from Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry included hexadecanoic acid methyl ester (Retention time (Rt): 21.46, 05.99%) and 9,12-octadecadienoic acid, methyl ester (Rt: 23.567, 02.59%) while the major constituent was phytol (Rt: 23.741, 67.28%). While kaempferol (Rt: 17.23, 16.72%) was the major component from High-Performance Liquid Chromatography quantification among resveratrol (Rt: 3.7, 13.85%), gallic acid (Rt: 5.88, 3.55%), Justicinol (Rt: 11.85, 01.34%) and phytic acid (Rt 5.06, 01.43 %). These compounds have been cited as physiological agents that reduce inflammation, and oxidative stress and potentially prolong the lifespan of cells across species. The antisickling results from this study corroborate and support the traditional use of the plant in treating patients with sickle cell anemia.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Indian Banking industry has witnessed a tremendous developments due to sweeping changes that are taking place in the information technology. Electroic banking has emerged from such an innovative development. Many developments in Tele-communication technology and electronic data processing in recent years have contributed to remarkable changes in the banking sectors. The application of modern information technology has radically altered the traditional way of doing banking business. Availability of ATMs and plastic money (i.e., credit and debit cards) has helped customers avoid going to bank premises for cash. Bank customers can view their bank accounts; get statements of accounts, purchase drafts and transfer funds through their personal computers. Another development viz., Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) has contributed to effective working of banks. The computer networks have helped to automate the funds transfer, contributing to more effeicient systems of payments. All these developments in banking sectors in recent years have given birth to a new concept called E-Banking. Hence this study is undertaken in order to know the customer preference towards E-banking services with special reference to private sector banks.
The COVID-19 pandemic and related lock downs have accelerated the need for online and remote teaching within university settings. However, due to the abrupt nature of the pandemic, many academic staff were not prepared for this forced transition. This study aimed to understand how the pandemic affected academics at a New Zealand university, with regards to their transition to emergency remote teaching. Specifically, it explores the challenges as well as benefits academics experienced during this transition. Recommendations for future online learning are also made. Academic staff (N 67) at a New Zealand University completed an anonymous online survey. Quantitative data were analyzed statistically using descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically. Major challenges experienced included miscommunication from the university, concerns about student access to technology, finding a quiet space to work, lack of digital competence skills, too much screen-time, managing work hours, and work/ life balance. Benefits included enhanced flexibility, enhanced teacher creativity, increasing autonomy of learners, and reduced commute time. Looking forward, academic staff desired future teaching to include blended learning and virtual immersion. New strategies of working remotely are being explored to facilitate teaching and learning while catering to the preferences and skills of both educators and students. Our findings honor the considerable agility of academic staff who sought to sustain and enhance excellence in remote education. At an institutional level our findings point to the need for staff to be supported by their institutions as they further refine their work within new-found spaces
The anti-emetic activity of the leaves methanolic extracts of Cassia angustifolia Vahl., Cassia holosericea Fresen., Cassia italica Miller. Lam. ex F.W. Ander and Cassia purpurea Roxb., was evaluated in young chicks. Emesis was induced by copper sulfate (50 mg/kg), and the extracts were tested orally at a dose of 150 mg/kg. All the extracts significantly decreased the number of retching (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01) compared with standard chlorpromazine.
Breast cancer is the most prevalent invasive form of cancer in females and poses a significant challenge to overcoming the disease burden. The growth in global cancer deaths mandates the discovery of new efficacious natural anti-tumor treatments. In this regard, aquatic species offer a rich supply of possible drugs. Studies have shown that several marine peptides damage cancer cells by a broad range of pathways, including apoptosis, microtubule balance disturbances, and suppression of angiogenesis. Many side effects, including immune response suppression, characterise traditional chemotherapeutic agents. The discovery of novel putative anti-cancer peptides with lesser toxicity is therefore necessary and timely, especially those able to thwart multi-drug resistance (MDR). This review addresses marine anti-cancer peptides for the treatment of breast cancer.
This paper delves into the dynamic intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM), exploring how the integration of these technologies is reshaping the landscape of healthcare. By examining recent breakthroughs, practical implementations, and ethical considerations, the article elucidates the transformative potential of AI-enhanced RPM in providing personalized, proactive, and efficient healthcare solutions.
Various quality control tests are employed for solid dosage forms such as uniformity, dissolution and drug contents in order to assess their pharmaceutical equivalence. The objective of the current study was to assess and contrast five distinct metformin hydrochloride brands that are offered for sale in the Libyan market. The physicochemical equivalence of the five brands of metformin hydrochloride tablets (500 mg) were determined through the evaluation of official and non-official standards according to the USP including uniformity of weight, friability, hardness, dissolution rate and drug content. All the examined brands available in the Libyan market passed the official weight variation, friability, dissolution and disintegration tests and were equivalent. The friability test was found within the specified limit. All the formulations were disintegrated within 09 - 15 min. The tested brands were non-equivalent to the innovator Glucophage® according to their dissolution evaluation. The percentage content of the active ingredient of five brands of metformin tablets showed values within the monograph specifications (95% - 105%). In conclusion, all the five brands available in the Libyan market which were evaluated in this study cannot be substituted with the innovator product in clinical practice.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Metformin, a widely prescribed biguanide for type 2 diabetes, has emerged as a promising candidate in skin cancer therapy due to its diverse anticancer mechanisms. Beyond its glucoselowering effects, metformin inhibits key oncogenic pathways, including the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathways, activates AMP-activated protein kinase, and disrupts mitochondrial complex I function. These mechanisms are presumed to contribute to metformin's antiproliferative, pro-apoptotic, and anti-inflammatory effects, potentially reducing tumor growth and metastasis in melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Predictive molecular docking studies reveal that metformin interacts with critical proteins in melanoma pathophysiology. Against PI3K/mTOR (PDB: 5OQ4), PTPN2 (PDB: 7UAD), and TRIP13 (PDB: 5VQA), metformin exhibited docking scores of -4.4, -4.6, and -5.6 kcal/mol, respectively, interacting via hydrogen bonding with residues such as ASP-836, ASP-964 (5OQ4), ASP-50 (7UAD), and SER-187, SER-138 (5VQA). Compared to standard inhibitors, PQR309 (-9.4 kcal/mol), ABBV-CLS-484 (-7.5 kcal/mol), and ATP (-10.8 kcal/mol), metformin displayed moderate binding affinity, suggesting potential but weaker inhibition of these targets. Preclinical and clinical studies support metformin's potential to reduce skin cancer risk, particularly in diabetic patients. However, challenges regarding bioavailability, optimal dosing, and patient selection persist, necessitating further investigation. Therefore, given its affordability, safety, and multitargeted action, metformin represents an attractive candidate for repurposing in skin cancer pharmacotherapy. Focusing future research on optimizing its therapeutic application, refining drug combinations, and identifying biomarkers would enhance clinical outcomes.
Background: Lichen planus (LP) is a papulosquamous cutaneous disorder that manifests as intensely itchy violaceous flat-topped polygonal papules and plaques. To compare the efficacy of topical clobetasol propionate 0.05% versus topical tacrolimus 0.1% in the treatment of LP. Methods: This prospective Comparative Study was conducted at the Dermatology Department, Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS)/Services Hospital, Lahore, from May 1, 2022, to April 30, 2023. Ethical approval was obtained from the institutional review board at the Department of Dermatology, SIMS/Services Hospital, Lahore. A total of 80 patients were selected after fulfilling the selection criteria. The study participants were placed into two groups, A and B. In group A, the patients were advised to use the topical application of clobetasol propionate (0.05%) ointment twice daily. In group B, tacrolimus ointment (0.1%) was used twice daily. Treatment response was assessed at 3 weeks, and then finally efficacy was evaluated at 6 weeks. Results: Treatment efficacy was observed in 34 patients (42.5%). Group A (Clobetasol) demonstrated a significantly higher efficacy of 55% compared to 30% in Group B (Tacrolimus; p = 0.024). Conclusions: The 0.05% clobetasol propionate topical formulation demonstrated superior efficacy in treating LP compared to 0.1% topical tacrolimus. Further validation of these findings through large-scale clinical trials is warranted.
The plant surface especially the leaf surface i.e., phyllosphere is exposed to dust and other particulates resulting in the establishment of a typical microflora. The surfaces of aerial plant parts provide habitat for epiphytic micro-organisms, many of which also influence the growth of pathogens. Microbial life in the phyllosphere is of great commercial importance to the agricultural industry for understanding the survival of plant disease-causing bacteria and fungi is vital for developing new ways to control their spread. In the present investigation, microflora isolated from the surface of a leaf of different medicinal, garden, terrestrial and aquatic plants. In this work fungus, bacteria and actinomycetes are isolated by using leaf washing methods on suitable nutritive media. Generally, the present work carried out by observation and identification of microflora under the microscope and biochemical test methods. The present work reveals that fifteen mycoflora (fungi), fifteen bacterial strains
Hypertension is a high-risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and its prevalence rate is increasing due to risk factors such as unhealthy lifestyles and aging populations. Managing hypertension is crucial to avoid complications such as stroke, heart failure, and kidney failure. In Northern Cyprus, where hypertension is a growing public health concern, pharmacists are increasingly recognized as key players in managing this ongoing condition. This study investigates the impact of pharmacists in controlling hypertension in Northern Cyprus through a survey-based observational approach. Data were collected from 70 hypertension patients engaging with community pharmacists. The results highlight pharmacists’ contributions to patient education, blood pressure monitoring, and medication adherence. Relevant studies in other countries contextualize the findings about the importance of the pharmacist role. An analysis of the data confirms significant improvements in patient outcomes with pharmacist interventions. The survey results provide insights suggesting that overcoming systemic barriers and strengthening collaboration can optimize pharmacists' roles in managing hypertension in Northern Cyprus.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
During Movement Control Order (MCO) of COVID-19, many information has been disseminated through both traditional and social media. Some of that information was credible and came from reliable sources while other information was fake and included misinformation, disinformation, and infodemic. The people needed credible information rather than fake one in this critical time. This study aimed to explore the credibility of media, information sources, the main issues, and preferred communication patterns and method of works perceived by Malaysians during MCO. A total of 300 questionnaires were distributed, and 210 were returned. The results of this study showed that the majority of respondents 69% relied on new media as their main source of information compared to 30.9% who relied on traditional media. However, a total of 64.8% of respondents considered traditional media as more credible and accurate compared to 35.2% for new media. Additionally, the main concerns and issues followed by respondents on media were health, economic, social, education and others. Finally, a total of 55.7% preferred face to face communication compared to 44.3% who preferred online communication. A total of 51% of respondents preferred to work from the workplace or office compared to 49% who preferred to work from home. Television played a significant role during the pandemic period due to its high credibility as perceived by Malaysians. The main intriguing implication of this study is considering the traditional media as more credible than social media by the Malaysians although the social media was their main source of information.