Jun 2024, Volume 2 Issue 3
    

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  • Review article
    Priyanka Bajpai, Shazia Usmani, Rakesh Kumar, Om Prakash

    Background: Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Although great advancements have been made in the treatment and control of cancer progression, significant deficiencies and room for improvement remain. Several undesired side effects sometimes occur during chemotherapy. Natural therapies, such as the use of plant-derived products in cancer treatment, may reduce adverse side effects.

    Methods: Currently, a few plant products are being used to treat cancer. However, a myriad of plant products exist that have shown very promising anti-cancer properties in vitro but have yet to be evaluated in humans. Further study is required to determine the efficacy of these plant products in treating cancers in humans.

    Results: This review will focus on the various traditional medicinal plants and their chemical compounds that have, in recent years, shown promise as anticancer agents and will outline their potential mechanism of action.

    Conclusions: The current manuscript discusses natural products currently in clinical use, and under clinical trials, for cancer chemotherapy and chemoprevention. Future research focusing on natural anticancer agents can open a new horizon in cancer treatment, which will play a great role in enhancing the survival rate of cancer patients.

  • Miah Roney, AKM Moyeenul Huq, Mohd Fadhlizil Fasihi Mohd Aluwi

    To the Editor, Antibiotics are a class of drug used to treat or prevent infections caused by bacteria; they function by either eradicating the organism or stopping its growth. Penicillin, cephalosporins, macrolides, fluoroquinolones, and urinary anti-infectives are examples of common antibiotics. To effectively treat the illness, it’s critical to take antibiotics as directed by a physician and to finish the entire course of treatment. Antibiotic resistance is a serious issue in Bangladesh as a result of subpar healthcare practices, antibiotic abuse, and overuse. Antibiotic resistance is the result of bacteria changing and becoming resistant to an antibiotic’s effects. Moreover, one of Bangladesh’s biggest challenges is the fight against antibiotic resistance. Therefore, the purpose of this letter is to raise awareness of the antibiotic resistance in Bangladesh.

  • Short communication
    Md Ismail Ahamed Fahim, Tamanna Shahrin Tonny, Abdullah Al Noman

    Artificial intelligence (AI) has immense potential to revolutionize pharmacy operations by simplifying procedures, improving efficiency, and expediting pharmaceutical research. Nevertheless, obstacles such as steep expenses, absence of faith in AI, worries about unemployment, threats to privacy, and the incapacity to substitute human decision-making have impeded acceptance. This text discusses the future of AI in the field of pharmacy, obstacles that are preventing its usage, and methods to make its integration easier. The expansion of large data in healthcare offers chances for AI to obtain understanding, but examining and implementing information still presents difficulties. Significant obstacles such as costly implementation, safety concerns, restrictions on data exchange by regulations, and absence of interpersonal interaction need to be resolved. Methods to facilitate acceptance involve upgrading medical instruction to center around AI, involving interested parties, allocating resources for research and development, creating safeguarded machine learning methods, and carefully incorporating AI to enhance, rather than replace, pharmacy personnel. Although additional effort is required to establish confidence in AI and address genuine worries, specific actions can tap into AI's capacity to enhance effectiveness, lower expenses, expedite drug exploration, and improve healthcare for patients. Responsible and moral adoption requires tackling obstacles through cooperation among interested parties and gradual incorporation centered on enhancing human workforce, rather than substituting them.

  • Review article
    Md Jamir Uddin, Popat Mohite, Shubham Munde, Nitin Ade, Tosin Ayodeji Oladosu, Vijay R. Chidrawar, Ravish Patel, Sankha Bhattacharya, Himanshu Paliwal, Sudarshan Singh

    Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanometric size, a cell-derived drug delivery carrier composed of membranebound structures, release into the cellular medium and found in body fluids. EVs serve a dual purpose, acting as a means of disposing of redundant material and a method of communication between cells. Their natural origin, biocompatibility, protein, and nucleic acid composition boosts superior targeting capabilities. While strong safety profile, intrinsic pleiotropic therapeutic effects, ability to accommodate both lipophilic and hydrophilic agents, and pass through blood–brain barrier makes them exceptional nanocarrier. Several synthetic drug delivery methods have been fabricated and introduced to the market throughout the previous few decades. However, their inefficiency, cytotoxicity, and/or immunogenicity hinder their applications. Evidence demonstrates that EVs play a critical role in major physiological and pathological processes, such as cellular homeostasis, infection propagation, cancer progression, and cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, EVs offer a range of advantages over traditional synthetic carriers, thus paving the way for innovative drug delivery approaches. Although therapeutic applications as carrier is limited due to lack of scalable isolation techniques and efficient drug loading, EVs serve great potential as nanocarriers. The review summarizes and discuss recent progress and challenges associated with development of EVs as nanocarrier.

  • Review article
    Sushanta Kumar Das, Ramesh Kumari Dasgupta, Saumendu Deb Roy, Dibyendu Shil

    India’s vast and diverse population strains its healthcare system. Amidst these complexities, Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerges as a beacon of hope. This transformative technology promises to revolutionize healthcare, starting with early disease detection and accurate diagnoses. AI, driven by vast medical data, paints a deeper picture of individual health. By analyzing health patterns, it can detect hidden cancers and tuberculosis early, saving lives through proactive treatment. AI’s power extends beyond individual diagnoses. It can scan populations, identifying risk factors and predicting outbreaks before they erupt. This foresight allows for targeted resource allocation and preventive measures, mitigating outbreak impact. AI can even personalize healthcare, shaping treatment plans based on a patient’s unique lifestyle and medical history. This maximizes treatment efficacy, minimizes adverse reactions, and improves patient’s well-being. Imagine AI as a trusted medical advisor, suggesting the most effective treatment options for each individual. However, AI’s promise comes with challenges. Data privacy, reliable infrastructure, and biased algorithms need effective solutions. India, with its strong tech ecosystem and commitment to innovation, is well-positioned to tackle these challenges. By investing in AI research, strengthening data infrastructure, and establishing ethical frameworks, India can unlock AI’s immense potential to revolutionize its healthcare landscape. This will be a dividend for millions, ensuring India’s healthcare system transforms with the brushstrokes of AI, leading to a healthier and more affordable future for all.

  • Miah Roney, Mohd Fadhlizil Fasihi Mohd Aluwi

    Dengue is acute tropical infectious illness, which is spread by mosquitoes, has presented a significant threat to public health worldwide. Unfortunately, there are no drugs that have been clinically proven to be effective at treating or preventing dengue. The development of some drugs is significantly hampered by our incomplete understanding of dengue pathogenesis. This short review provides a brief description of potential action against DENV of dithymoquinone to develop an anti-DENV inhibitor. In-vitro, in-vivo and clinical trials are required to establish the effectiveness and safety of dithymoquinone as an anti-dengue therapy, even though computational studies have demonstrated antiviral activity against DENV.

  • Full length article
    M Koteswara Rao Sandu, Subhabrota Majumdar, Shayeri Chatterjee, Rana Mazumder

    To optimize and characterize xanthan gum multi-particulate formulation for colon targeting, which increases the residence time at the absorbing surface of the colon. Xanthan gum was dispersed in cold water containing drug and was permitted to expand for 2 h. Sodium alginate was blended well in 10 ml of water. Xanthan gum solution containing the drug was added to sodium alginate solution and 0.3 ml of glutaraldehyde was added to the dispersion, with constant stirring. Then, polymer-drug solution was added dropwise into 5% w/v calcium chloride solution with continuous stirring, producing microspheres filtered by Whatman filter paper and dried at 30 °C–40 °C. Microspheres were performed by chemical cross-linking with glutaraldehyde, which increased the maximum drug entrapment efficiency up to 73.63 ± 0.65% with an increasing concentration of xanthan gum polymer 0.7% w/v for the optimized F6 batch. Better results were found by increasing the polymer concentration along with the glutaraldehyde concentration. The kinetics of drug release for the F6 batch was considered as an optimized batch because the regression value was found to be 0.997 in the peppas model. The accelerated stability study on the optimized F6 batch performed to learn whether the drug has any change during its period of usability. The polysaccharide remains intact in the stomach and intestine and the drug was released in the colon with low toxicity and biodegradability. The present studies showed that optimizing and characterizing xanthan gum multiparticulate formulation for colon targeting gives metronidazole the most effective and controlled delivery.

  • Full length article
    Emmanuel Israel Edache, Adamu Uzairu, Paul Andrew Mamza, Gideon Adamu Shallangwa, Muhammad Tukur Ibrahim

    The current prominent virus that induces severe acute respiratory syndrome is SARS-CoV-2. The incidence of COVID-19 cases is increasing, necessitating the immediate development of effective treatments. Our objective was to employ an in-silico approach to evaluate the effectiveness of conventional compounds against COVID-19’s nucleoprotein and envelope protein. A docking simulation was performed on 9 compounds as SARS-coronavirus inhibitors using AMDock software. Anti-covid-19 activities were further evaluated for the compounds. Based on docking results, the binding affinity of “N-(4-carbamoylphenyl)-8-cyclopropyl-7-(naphthalen-1-ylmethyl)-5-oxo-2,3- dihydro-5H-thiazolo[3,2-a]pyridine-3-carboxamide,” also called compound 36 in this research, was found to be -8.8 kcal/mol for the modeled envelope protein and -7.3 kcal/mol for the template envelope protein, while -10.1 kcal/mol for the modeled nucleocapsid proteins (NP) and -8.7 kcal/mol for the template nucleocapsid proteins (NP) of SARS-coronavirus, respectively. The ligand and control drug (ritonavir) with high docking scores were subjected to pharmacological screening, molecular dynamic simulations, and Molecular Mechanics-generalized Born Surface Area (MM/GBSA) calculations. Furthermore, the jobs of pharmacokinetics were assessed, and the outcomes acquired show that the proposed compound 36 includes great oral bioavailability and a capacity to diffuse through various organic boundaries. The protein-ligand complexes were subjected to dynamic simulation analyses with a re-enactment time of 10 ns, likewise, their free binding energy was inspected operating the MM/GBSA approach. The docking (MD simulation) results acquired emphasize the pivotal residues answerable for the proteinligand interaction, giving an understanding of the method of association. The MD simulation analysis verifies the structural stability of the selected complexes during the MD trajectory, with minor changes detected. The MM/GBSA data show that compound 36 has the lowest free energy of -12.498 kcal/mol for EP and -57.5185 kcal/mol for NP proteins of SARS-coronavirus, confirming the molecular docking result. As a result, the identified chemical can be used to develop a new family of antiviral medications against SARS-coronavirus-2.

  • Review article
    Seema Yadav, Abhishek Singh, Rishika Singhal, Jagat Pal Yadav

    To create novel treatments and treat complex diseases, the pharmaceutical sector is essential. Drug discovery, however, is a time-consuming, pricey, and dangerous endeavor. Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a potent instrument that has transformed several industries, including healthcare, in recent years. This summary gives a general overview of how AI is expediting the creation of novel medicines, revolutionizing the pharmaceutical sector, and enabling drug discovery. The pharmaceutical sector is experiencing a drug discovery revolution because of AI. The drug discovery process is changing at different phases because of AI approaches like machine learning and deep learning. This abstract demonstrates how AI facilitates drug development through target identification, lead compound optimization, drug design, drug repurposing, and clinical trial enhancement. AI integration has the potential to hasten the creation of novel treatments, save costs, and improve patient outcomes. To fully realize the potential of AI in pharmaceutical research and development, issues relating to data accessibility, algorithm interpretability, and laws must be resolved.

  • Review article
    Minhaz Ahmad, Mohd Javaid, Abid Haleem

    Fused deposition modelling (FDM) and laser-based additive manufacturing (LBAM) are the essential technologies of 3D Printing under the technological platform of additive manufacturing (AM). This process involves layering tiny layers of a chosen material until the desired three-dimensional shape is achieved. FDM and LBAM have been commercialised and are also being deployed in a variety of medical fields. These technologies are worthwhile in reducing expenditures, increasing precision, and lowering operating and post-operative hazards, and the most crucial part is customisation. FDM is witnessing significant growth as an AM technology primarily because of its exceptional ability to construct functional parts with complex geometries. This study aims to investigate the effect of different process parameters such as build orientation, layer thickness, raster angle, air gap, printing speed, infill density, and extrusion temperature on the mechanical properties of FDM printed parts. This paper explores FDM and LBAM, the technological developments that have various applications in the medical field. Using a laser beam to fuse or melt successive layers of wire or powder material together to form three-dimensional objects is known as LBAM. It is one adaptable manufacturing process that is widely used to create metallic components with improved characteristics. By implementing FDM or LBAM technologies, surgeons can provide patients with precise and better information. The patient’s adaption period for customised prostheses/implants is shorter, less painful, and less stressful. Where regular implants are often insufficient for some patients with complex circumstances, the ability to quickly manufacture personalised implants by using these technologies is quite helpful. This paper provides readers with an insight into the capabilities of FDM and LBAM in the medical field.

  • Review article
    Abid Haleem, Mohd Javaid, Ravi Pratap Singh

    The modern language generation model ChatGPT, created by Open Artificial Intelligence (AI), is recognised for its capacity to comprehend context and produce pertinent content. This model is built on the transformer architecture, which enables it to process massive volumes of data and produce text that is both cohesive and illuminating. Service is a crucial component everywhere as it provides the basis for establishing client rapport and offering aid and support. In healthcare, the application of ChatGPT for patient service support has been one of the most significant advances in recent years. ChatGPT can help overcome language obstacles and improve patient satisfaction by facilitating communication with healthcare personnel and understanding of care. It can assist in enhancing the entire patient experience by offering personalised information and support to patients and making it more straightforward for them to communicate with healthcare professionals. Its goal can be to expedite and streamline service by promptly and accurately responding to customers. Businesses of all sizes increasingly use ChatGPT since it allows them to provide 24/7 customer support without requiring human contact. This paper briefly discusses ChatGPT and the need for better services. Various perspectives on improving customer and patient services through ChatGPT are discussed. The article also discussed the major key enablers of ChatGPT for refining customer and patient assistance. Further, the paper identifies and discusses the critical application areas of ChatGPT for customer and patient service. With its ability to handle several requests simultaneously, respond quickly and accurately to client questions, and gain knowledge from every interaction, ChatGPT is revolutionising customer and patient service. Its accessibility and compatibility with various communication channels make it a desirable solution for businesses looking to improve support. As technology advances, ChatGPT is positioned to become an essential tool for businesses wishing to provide speedy and customised service. Although ChatGPT may give convincing solutions, the chance of providing accurate and updated information poses a problem for its usage in service jobs that need accurate and up-to-date information. In future, various services will become better and more efficient due to ChatGPT and AI.

  • Review article
    Amreen Fatima, Nazish Naseem, Md Faheem Haider, Md Azizur Rahman, Jyotiraditya Mall, Muhammad Sahil Saifi, Juber Akhtar

    Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumour in women worldwide, as well as the leading cause of death from malignant tumours. All across the world, the incidence of breast cancer is steadily rising. Although numerous drugs acting through various mechanisms of action are available in the market as conventional formulations for the treatment of breast cancer, they face significant challenges in terms of bioavailability, dosing, and associated adverse effects, which severely limit their therapeutic efficacy. Several studies have shown that nanocarriers can significantly improve the drug’s bioavailability, reducing the need for frequent dosing and reducing the toxicity linked to high drug doses. The current review provides insight into the challenges associated with conventional breast cancer formulations and the need for oral nanoparticulate systems to overcome problems associated with conventional formulations. This review focuses on various topics, such as an in-depth analysis of potential anticancer drugs that have used nanocarrier technology to treat breast cancer successfully.

  • Usman Abdulfatai, Stephen Ejeh, Abduljelil Ajala, Samuel Ndaghiya Adawara, Olasupo Sabitu Babatunde, Zakari Ya’u Ibrahim

    Epilepsy is a non-communicable central nervous system (CNS) disease that accounts for approximately 0.8–1.2% of the global population at any time. The hyper-activities of gamma butyric acid aminotransferase (GABAAT) enzyme have been confirmed to be largely responsible for seizure/epilepsy. Because of this special function, the GABAAT enzyme has been the main target of many anti-epilepsy drugs (AEDs). To date, many discovered AEDs have not eradicated this neurological disease. Since experimental determinations of modern drugs are usually costly and sometimes non-eco-friendly, in-silco quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR)-machine learning, docking and pharmacokinetics (PMK) techniques were used to design and test the oral bio-availabilities of all the designed AEDs. QSAR models were generated, and the predictive properties of R2int = 0.9827, R2ext = 0.9407, and R2adj of 0.9667 indicate the evidence that the developed model was not by chance. Six (6) new AEDs were newly designed, and they were found to have better anti-epileptic activities values of 2.146799, 2.224866, 2.31479, 2.450313, 2.301474, and 2.618303 than the standard AED, Vigabatrin (0.40672). Also, the docked new compounds shows excellent binding energies of -127.001, -129.071, -130.515, -126.881, -130.771, and -126.974 kcal/mol compared to the referenced AED (-76.9173 kcal/mol). The PMK and absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) investigations also revealed that all the designed compounds were found to be bio-available for human administration. ‘Therefore, the newly designed analogues (AEDs) could be considered as potential drug candidates for the treatment of epilepsy.

  • Shashi Verma, Ritesh Kumar Tiwari, Lalit Singh

    Background: The growing significance of social media in commercial enterprises is bringing this theme to the attention of decision-makers. These days, businesses use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as part of their marketing strategies. This encourages communication between consumers and marketers. Similar communication tactics are used in the pharmaceutical sector. However, because this is a healthcare-related industry, there are a lot of rules that apply to it, especially to its marketing department.

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess the pharmaceutical industry’s online presence on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as well as to describe the various digital engagement tactics that are employed.

    Conclusion: The study’s conclusions indicate that not all pharmaceutical businesses use social media, and that certain platforms are more popular than others. It’s interesting to note that different social media platforms underwent different digital engagement techniques, and that the level of involvement was unrelated to the size of the companies. This study offers insights into the social media organization of pharmaceutical businesses and ostensibly supplies a framework and technique for further research in this area. Furthermore, a few of the constraints found offer guidance for future research directions.

  • Full length article
    Anil Pawar, Pranjal Lohakane, Ramdas Pandhare, Popat Mohite, Shubham Munde, Sudarshan Singh, Vijay Chidrawar

    Repaglinide (RPG) has a high rate of absorption from the gastrointestinal system after oral administration due to low log P value. Hence, in this study the inotropic gelation process was used to fabricate mucoadhesive micro-spheres of RPG using biodegradable polymers such as guar gum, chitosan, and fenugreek seed mucilage. The mucoadhesive microspheres were characterized and tested in vitro followed with oral glucose tolerance test on animals. Scanning electron microscopy images demonstrated that the fabricated microspheres were smooth and spherical with lack of pores. The particle size and polydispersity index (PDI) of microsphere was observed as 300 μm and 0.349, respectively with high positive zeta potential of 38.4 mV. The results of percentage yield and swelling index analysis demonstrated 87.04 % and 90.65 %, respectively for optimized formulation with an in vitro release capability of 95.20 % in 10 h. In addition, the results suggested that the mucoadhesive microspheres successfully entrapped 94.86 ± 4.25 % of the RPG. These results clearly indicated that the optimized formulation of RPG fortified mucoadhesive microspheres reduced the blood glucose level (hyperglycemia due to glucose load 2 g/kg) significantly, compared to marketed RPG formulation (0.25 mg/kg) after 2 h of oral administration. Additionally, RPG incorporated microspheres enable the regulated blood glucose level over a 10 h. Hence, the formulation demonstrated overall improvement in anti-diabetic efficacy.