Drug repurposing in the treatment of COVID-19: A review

The first outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection was in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019 and declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Currently, there is no proven effective vaccine or therapeutic agent to combat the deadly coronavirus disease. Currently, prevention from the infection, control measures and supportive care help to treat against COVID-19. Until an effective vaccine is available for COVID-19 infection, one can repurpose known therapeutic agents that block the entry of the virus into the host cell and control the COVID-19 infection. Drug repurposing is the new use of old drugs. In this review, the most common and possible drug treatment for COVID-19 is highlighted. The therapeutic agents include antiviral drugs like Remdesivir, chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir, umifenovir, favipiravir and oseltamivir and other agents. Clinical trials are ongoing to evaluate the safety and efficacy of these therapeutic agents in COVID-19 patients.

Knowledge, attitude and practice of self medication among the staff-members of Charotar University of Science and Technology

Self-medication raises its occurrence in many situations in our everyday lives, which is an inappropriate and harmful practice. A research framework was conducted to evaluate the awareness, attitude and practice of self-medication among the CHARUSAT University staff members. Among the staff members, a pre-validated questionnaire was circulated. Using Microsoft Excel, information was gathered and evaluated and the results were represented as numbers and percentages. A total of 136 staff-members voluntarily took part in the study. We found that source of information of the drugs used for self-medication were “previous prescription (77.7%)” and the source of drugs was “medical store (78.8%)”. Only (34.3%) staff-members accepted the fact that they always visited a qualified practitioner whenever they got sick. Most of the staff-members took self-medication for headache (73.5%) followed by cough, cold, sore throat (73.5%) and fever (56.6%). Out of total 136 staff-members, most of them took Analgesics (61.8%) as self-medication followed by lozenges (66.2%). For almost 66.9 % of university staff members, self-medication was common. They provided a reason that “no need to visit a doctor for minor illnesses”. 73.5 % of the population has taken cough and cold preparations as self-medication.

Patient’s Perception of Community Pharmacist in North Malabar region of Kerala, India: A questionnaire based study

Pharmacists as vital healthcare professionals play significant role in effective medication management and their use among the patients. However the perception of community pharmacist among the public needs to be assessed for effective role and further patient care. This questionnaire based study was aimed to identify the perception of patients towards the community pharmacist in north Malabar region of Kerala, India. The questionnaire consisted of 16 questions with sections evaluating the demographic details (age, sex, marital status, education level & occupation) and the perception of patients towards the community pharmacist. The results were prepared based upon the responses obtained from 110 patients. The study respondents consisted of 51 (46.36%) adults (18-59 years) and 59 (53.63%) geriatrics (above 60 years). Based on their education level, 9 (8.18%), 35 (31.81%) and 66 (60%) participants were illiterate, secondary school and graduate holders respectively. The respondents of the study informed that the pharmacist enquired about their past medication history (58, 52.73%), any allergic reactions (21, 19.1%) and use of any herbal medication (31, 28.18%) prior to the dispensing process. The patients also responded that proper advice regarding dosage (90%), side effects (25%), storage (12%), healthy eating & exercise (10%) were also provided by the concerned pharmacist. As a matter of fact, 91 out of 110 patients thought the pharmacist service were good, 17 thought they were fairly good and 2 were of the opinion that it was poor. The pharmacy rating was evaluated as good by 32 (29.09%), fairly good by 78 (70.90%) and no respondents were of opinion that the pharmacy was poor in its service. Through this study, we found that the overall perception of patients towards the pharmacist in concerned community pharmacy setting was good. To further improvise their role, continued pharmacy education programmes, better communication skills and good professional training must be imparted among the community pharmacists.

Genetic diversity analysis of endemic species, Garcinia cambogia Gaertn using randomly amplified Polymorphic DNA markers

<p><strong>Polymerase chain reaction based random amplified polymorphic DNA (PCR-RAPD) markers were employed to assess genetic diversity in eight <em>Garcinia cambogia</em> genotypes. Among the 20 random primers used in the present investigation, 9 primers showed polymorphism. A total number of 227 bands were obtained from 9 primers, out of which 225 were polymorphic, showing 99.11% polymorphism. An average of 25.22 bands per primer was scored and average number of polymorphic bands found to be 25. The eight accessions fall into two major clusters. Cluster analysis showed that the red and yellow accessions cannot be regarded as two different varieties. The use of red and yellow fruits for commercial and medicinal purposes, respectively, is purely based on consumer preference. </strong></p>

Spectrophotometric Method Development and Validation for Estimation of Ibuprofen and Famotidine In the pharmaceutical formulation

<strong>Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent (NSAIA) with analgesic and antipyretic properties. Famotidine is a competitive histamine H2-receptor antagonist, is used to treat gastrointestinal disorders such as gastric or duodenal ulcer. The aim of the present research work was to develop accurate and rapid Area under Curve Method to determine Ibuprofen and Famotidine in combined dosage form. The Area under Curve method, wavelength range selected are 259-269 nm for Ibuprofen and 282-292 nm for Famotidine respectively. The developed method was obeyed the Beer’s law and was f</strong><strong>ound linearity range between 80-640 μg/ml for IBU and 2-22 μg/ml for Famotidine; while the correlation coefficient were 0.9985 for Ibuprofen and 0.9982 for Famotidine. Parameters such as linearity, accuracy, precision, LOD and LOQ values were used for validation of the methods as per ICH guidelines for both methods. Intra and inter-day precision %RSD values were less than 2%. This method is found suitable for day to day analysis of Ibuprofen and Famotidine in combined dosage form.</strong>

In vitro Evaluation of Antibacterial Efficacy using Passiflora foetida Activated Carbon

<p><strong>Activated carbon (AC) has found its attention in pollution control and wastewater treatment to remove various pollutants. Activated carbon can be prepared by physical and chemical activation methods. The chemical activation methods were advantageous over physical activation due to process accomplishment at lower temperature and greater yield which avoids burn-off char. Activated carbon was usually used as an adsorbent for dye removal from wastewater which could be related to their extended surface area, high adsorption capacity, microporous structure and special surface reactivity. Microbial pollution and contamination have produced various problems in industrial and medical fields. Based on this, the present study was attempted on the preparation of activated carbon from <em>Passiflora foetida</em> and evaluating for its antibacterial efficacy against twelve different microorganisms by agar well diffusion method. The results were found to be very effective with higher zone of inhibition against almost all the microorganisms tested. Moreover, the activity was considerably more against <em>Shigella flexneri (MTCC 1457) </em>and <em>Klebsiella pneumoniae (MTCC 10309).</em>In addition to this, the shake flask test in saline had proved that the colonial growth of <em>E.coli</em> was inhibited with respect to the concentration of activated carbon and time of incubation.</strong></p><p><strong> </strong></p>

Selection of solvent and extraction method for determination of antimicrobial potential of Taxus wallichiana Zucc.

Antimicrobial potential of different plant parts (needle, stem and bark) of Himalayan yew (Taxus wallichiana Zucc.) has been investigated with particular reference to selection of solvents and extraction methods. Two extraction methods (maceration and soxhlet), seven solvents (methanol, ethanol, acetone, chloroform, ethyl acetate, di chloro methane and Petroleum ether), and 3 groups of microorganisms (bacteria, actinobacteria and fungi) were considered for detection of antimicrobial activity. While qualitative estimations were done using agar well diffusion method, quantitative analysis was based on dilution method. All the plant part showed significant activity against all 3 groups of microorganisms in qualitative bioassays; maximum being in case of needles. Among solvents, ethanolic extract of needles (maceration) showed highest antibacterial activity (15.33 ± 0.25 mm). Growth of actinobacteria was inhibited maximum (22.0±0.26 mm) by the methanolic extracts of needles (maceration). Ethyl acetate extract of needles (soxhlet) showed higher antifungal activity (7.84±0.21 mm). Antibacterial and antifungal activities were higher in maceration and soxhlet methods, respectively. The most affected group among the test microorganisms was bacteria which may be due to their prokaryotic organization. This was also supported by the low minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values. Di chloro methane and petroleum ether did not show any antifungal activity. The antimicrobial activity of various plant parts of T. wallichiana varied with respect to the solvent as well as the extraction method. The study will have implications in selection of the use of solvent and the extraction procedure in obtaining the antimicrobial metabolites from various plant parts of T. wallichiana.

Allium stracheyi (Baker), the endangered and traditional medicinally important herb of Uttarakhand Himalaya, India: A Review

Allium stracheyi (Alliaceae), is the high-altitude growing plant, commonly known as Jamboo, and Dhungar in Uttarakhand, India. It is a good source of income for the tribal communities and cultivars of Uttarakhand with medicinally and economically importance. A. stracheyi has higher amount of fibre and protein contents with lower fat and carbohydrates. It is used in various ailments. Considering phytoconstituents studies revealed different types of compounds like hydrocarbons, terpenes, terpenoids and sulfur-containing components as volatile constituents. The present study aimed to provide a general review of the available literature of A. stracheyi on phytochemistry, biological activities and pharmacological uses with special reference to traditional and economic importance.

Salinity and sodicity influence on Taramira (Eruca sativa), A medicinal crop

Seeds of Taramira (Eruca sativa) as medicinal plant were sown in a pot study under various salinity cum sodicity levels. Out of different levels tested, 4 dSm-1+ 13.5 (mmol L-1)1/2 treatment got maximum biomass yield (34 gpot-1). It was declined due to salinity increase. At 10 dSm-1 + 30 (mmol L-1)1/2 minimum biomass yield (22.33 gpot-1) was gotten. Results also indicated decrease (%) of biomass yield over lowest level of salinity cum sodicity. Least reduction % over control (15.73) was attained by 5 dSm-1 + 25 (mmol L-1)1/2 treatment showing better tolerance. Growth least reduction % over control was ranging from 15.73% to 34.32% due to toxic salts. This variation was linked with toxic influence of salts on plant growth. At the nutshell, Taramaria (Eruca sativa) was produced maximum growth under 4 dSm-1+ 13.5 (mmol L-1)1/2.