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Background: Hypercholesterolemia is a main driver of atherosclerosis. Cholesterol-containing lipoproteins induce endothelial dysfunction and macrophage activation. Foam cell formation results from the uptake of cholesterol-containing lipoproteins by macrophages, it is an essential step in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. Aims and Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of alternate day versus daily dosing of atorvastatin in patients with dyslipidemia. Materials and Methods: This open-label, prospective, observational study was conducted on dyslipidemic patients who came into the medicine Outpatient Department of Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, Tamil Nadu. Approval for the study was taken from the Institutional Ethical Committee. The duration of the study was 3 months. The efficacy of atorvastatin was checked by noting their blood lipid profile status. Results: Out of 100 patients included in the study 79 completed the study whereas 21 patients were lost in follow-up, 42 patients were analyzed in daily dose (Group A), and 37 patients in alternate dose (Group B) of atorvastatin (20 mg). There was no statistically significant difference based on triglyceride, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein levels both prior and post-treatment in both the groups. Adverse drug reactions (ADR) profile showed a statistically significant difference between both the groups after treatment by atorvastatin (P=0.0001), with more ADRs noted in a daily dosing group. Conclusion: The results of this study show that alternate dosing of atorvastatin was better tolerated than daily dosing hence physicians can consider choosing an alternate day therapy to reduce pill burden on patients.

Background: Quality and safety of prescribing drugs in older people remain a global healthcare concern. Inappropriate prescribing pattern in the elderly population is now considered as a major public health issue and polypharmacy is one of the common problems among the elderly patients. Aims and Objectives: The aims of this study were (1) to analyze the prevalence, pattern of polypharmacy with respect to age, and gender among the elderly patients and (2) to evaluate the most frequently prescribed drugs in the geriatric population. Materials and Methods: This prospective, cross-sectional, and observational study was conducted among the elderly patients admitted in the Department of General Medicine, Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, Perambalur, Tamil Nadu. The duration of research project was 12 months from May 2018 to April 2019; approval for the study was taken from the Institutional Ethical Committee. Data on total number of prescribed drugs and main and adjuvant drugs prescribed to patients during treatment were collected and analyzed. Results: A total of 289 patients, that is, 167 male and 122 female were included in the study. The prevalence of minor polypharmacy (2–4 drugs) accounted for 15.22%, major polypharmacy (≥5 drugs) for 81.35%, and hyper polypharmacy (≥10 drugs) for 3.46%. Most commonly prescribed drugs were vitamins, proton-pump inhibitors, antipyretic agents, and H2 receptor blockers. They accounted for 21.70%, 5.78%, 5.42%, and 4.94%, respectively. Conclusion: Polypharmacy is a preventable and can be rectified by prescribing appropriate medications. In future, a multidisciplinary approach which will be involving doctors, nurses, and pharmacists, shall be implemented for rational use of drugs in elderly patients.

Background: COVID‑19 pandemic is a great health challenge around the world. Immunization appears best preventive strategy where monitoring the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is immensely important as limited safety data available on them. Aims and Objectives: This study was conducted to perform safety surveillance and causality assessment of adverse events following immunization (AEFI) with COVID-19 vaccine. Materials and Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted on healthcare workers who received their first dose of COVISHIELD during first phase of COVID-19 vaccination in January–February 2021 at F.H. Medical College and Hospital, Tundla, Firozabad. Approval for the study was taken from institutional ethical committee. The details of AEFIs were collected and duly noted in standard AEFI case reporting form of Ministry Of Health And Family Welfare, Immunization Division, Govt. of India and reported to District Immunization Officer. Causality assessment was done in accordance with protocol of the World Health Organization. Results: Out of 419 vaccinees, 210 had developed AEFIs, and 527 AEFIs were reported considering the fact that one recipient could have experienced multiple AEFIs. Majority AEFIs were related to general disorders and administration site conditions (67.35%), where fever (28.46%), chills (16.69%),and pain at injection site (15.75%) were more common, followed by musculoskeletal and connective tissue disorders (19.55%) where myalgia (18.03%) was more commonly reported. Out of 527 AEFIs reported, majority (524, 99.43%) showed consistent causal association to immunization and 3 (0.57%) AEFIs showed inconsistent association. AEFIs classified as consistent causal association (524) mostly were vaccine product related reactions (520, 99.23%) and rest (4, 0.76%) were immunization anxiety related reactions. Severity assessment of AEFIs was done using Modified Hartwig and Siegel Severity Scale, out of total 527 AEFIs reported 60.9% were of mild severity and rest 39.1% were categorized as moderate severity. Conclusion: As adverse events post-vaccination with COVISHIELD were mild to moderate in severity and lasted for a short duration, the inconvenience caused by these AEFIs outweigh the protection offered by the vaccination against COVID-19.

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease with poor prognosis. New options for drug discovery targets are needed. We developed an imaging based arrayed CRISPR method to interrogate the human genome for modulation of in vitro correlates of AD features, and used this to assess 1525 human genes related to tau aggregation, autophagy and mitochondria. This work revealed (I) a network of tau aggregation modulators including the NF-κB pathway and inflammatory signaling, (II) a correlation between mitochondrial morphology, respiratory function and transcriptomics, (III) machine learning predicted novel roles of genes and pathways in autophagic processes and (IV) individual gene function inferences and interactions among biological processes via multi-feature clustering. These studies provide a platform to interrogate underexplored aspects of AD biology and offer several specific hypotheses for future drug discovery efforts.

Introduction: Postoperative pain can have detrimental effects if proper analgesia is not provided. The most widely used medicines for the management of postoperative pain is Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), among the NSAIDs the most commonly used drug for postoperative pain is diclofenac sodium. Repeated intramuscular/intravenous (i.m/i.v.) injections of diclofenac are associated with pain and discomfort while oral use of diclofenac before and after surgery is limited and is also associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal complications like dyspepsia, peptic ulcer etc. Diclofenac Transdermal Patch (TD) and Rectal Suppository (RS) are good methods of drug delivery as they avoid first pass metabolism, gastrointestinal complications and pain associated with i.m/i.v. route. Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of the transdermal diclofenac patch versus the diclofenac RS for management of postoperative pain following open cholecystectomy. Materials and Methods: This hospital-based, randomised, prospective, interventional, open label comparative clinical trial was conducted in Department of General Surgery and Department of Pharmacology at FH Medical College and Hospital, Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India, from April 2021 to September 2021. A total of 64 patients were included in the trial and they were randomly divided into two groups using simple randomisation technique. Group A received 100 mg diclofenac TD (n=32) and group B received 100 mg diclofenac RS (n=32) just before induction of anaesthesia and repeated 12 hourly for 48 hours. Pain was assessed postoperatively at 6, 12, 24 hours, respectively using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and adverse effects like gastrointestinal complications were also noted in the both groups. The Student’s t-test was applied to compare the mean values of quantitative variables while qualitative variables were analysed using Chi-square test. A p-value