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The present study was designed to evaluate the antiemetic activity of abietic acid (AA) using in vivo and in silico studies. To assess the effect, doses of 50 mg/kg b.w. copper sulfate (CuSO4⋅5H2O) were given orally to 2-day-old chicks. The test compound (AA) was given orally at two doses of 20 and 40 mg/kg b.w. On the other hand, aprepitant (16 mg/kg), domperidone (6 mg/kg), diphenhydramine (10 mg/kg), hyoscine (21 mg/kg), and ondansetron (5 mg/kg) were administered orally as positive controls (PCs). The vehicle was used as a control group. Combination therapies with the referral drugs were also given to three separate groups of animals to see the synergistic and antagonizing activity of the test compound. Molecular docking and visualization of ligand-receptor interaction were performed using different computational tools against various emesis-inducing receptors (D2, D3, 5HT3, H1, and M1–M5). Furthermore, the pharmacokinetics and toxicity properties of the selected ligands were predicted by using the SwissADME and Protox-II online servers. Findings indicated that AA dose-dependently enhances the latency of emetic retching and reduces the number of retching compared to the vehicle group. Among the different treatments, animals treated with AA (40 mg/kg) exhibited the highest latency (98 ± 2.44 s) and reduced the number of retching (11.66 ± 2.52 times) compared to the control groups. Additionally, the molecular docking study indicated that AA exhibits the highest binding affinity (− 10.2 kcal/mol) toward the M4 receptors and an elevated binding affinity toward the receptors 5HT3 (− 8.1 kcal/mol), M1 (− 7.7 kcal/mol), M2 (− 8.7 kcal/mol), and H1 (− 8.5 kcal/mol) than the referral ligands. Taken together, our study suggests that AA has potent antiemetic effects by interacting with the 5TH3 and muscarinic receptor interaction pathways. However, additional extensive pre-clinical and clinical studies are required to evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of AA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The study aims to identify the associated factors with antenatal care (ANC) service utilization by pregnant women in Bangladesh. Methods: Using Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, 2014, Chi-square association test detected significant explanatory variables for the number of ANC visits. For adjusted effects estimation, the study considered multinomial logistic regression (MLR) with relative risk ratio (RRR) and proportional odds model (POM). Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) compared and selected a better-fitted model. Results: This study included 4488 responses who are women aged from 15-49 years. From MLR, primary educated women (RRR=1.344, 95% CI=1.253-1.747, p<0.001) with highly educated partners (RRR=1.478, 95% CI=1.255-1.908, p<0.001) were more likely to use ANC services. Besides, women belonging to the middle (RRR=1.209, 95% CI=1.114-1.644, p<0.001) and rich (RRR=1.506, 95% CI=1.307-1.970, p<0.001) wealth index had more chances of utilizing ANC services. However, ANC attendance decreased significantly with the increment in birth order (p<0.001). ANC visits was also lower for rural women (RRR=0.711, 95% CI=0.555-0.891, p<0.001), Dhaka (RRR=0.623, 95% CI=0.493-0.955, p<0.001), Khulna (RRR=0.457, 95% CI=0.388-0.687, p<0.001), and Rangpur (RRR=0.579, 95% CI=0.484-0.780, p<0.001) divisions. Conclusion: To increase the ANC attendance, improvement of maternal education in rural areas is highly recommended. Dhaka, Khulna, and Rangpur divisions also need special focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]