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In last two decades, the lipid nanocarriers have been extensively investigated for their drug targeting efficiency towards the critical areas of the human body like CNS, cardiac region, tumor cells, etc. Owing to the flexibility and biocompatibility, the lipid-based nanocarriers, including nanoemulsion, liposomes, SLN, NLC etc. have gained much attention among various other nanocarrier systems for brain targeting of bioactives. Across different lipid nanocarriers, NLC remains to be the safest, stable, biocompatible and cost-effective drug carrier system with high encapsulation efficiency. Drug delivery to the brain always remains a challenging issue for scientists due to the complex structure and various barrier mechanisms surrounding the brain. The application of a suitable nanocarrier system and the use of any alternative route of drug administration like nose-to-brain drug delivery could overcome the hurdle and improves the therapeutic efficiency of CNS acting drugs thereof. NLC, a second-generation lipid nanocarrier, upsurges the drug permeation across the BBB due to its unique structural properties. The biocompatible lipid matrix and nano-size make it an ideal drug carrier for brain targeting. It offers many advantages over other drug carrier systems, including ease of manufacturing and scale-up to industrial level, higher drug targeting, high drug loading, control drug release, compatibility with a wide range of drug substances, non-toxic and non-irritant behavior. This review highlights recent progresses towards the development of NLC for brain targeting of bioactives with particular reference to its surface modifications, formulations aspects, pharmacokinetic behavior and efficacy towards the treatment of various neurological disorders like AD, PD, schizophrenia, epilepsy, brain cancer, CNS infection (viral and fungal), multiple sclerosis, cerebral ischemia, and cerebral malaria. This work describes in detail the role and application of NLC, along with its different fabrication techniques and associated limitations. Specific emphasis is given to compile a summary and graphical data on the area explored by scientists and researchers worldwide towards the treatment of neurological disorders with or without NLC. The article also highlights a brief insight into two prime approaches for brain targeting, including drug delivery across BBB and direct nose-to-brain drug delivery along with the current global status of specific neurological disorders.

Presently, nanotechnology appears as a powerful and innovative tool in the medical field. It has various advantages over the conventional drug therapy such as therapeutic specificity, has less side effects, reduces dose of drug, has more precise treatment and can access the inaccessible areas of the body like brain, tumor cells, etc. The human brain is the most complicated part of the body which is highly protected with the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the other protective measures of the body. The available treatments for brain disorder are highly invasive (parenteral or surgical procedures) in nature or cause high peripheral toxicity (oral administration). Thus, a prominent strategy is needed which can easily approach the brain and offers a more specific treatment. Nanomedicines are effective tools used for the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders. Key words: Brain, neurodegenerative disorders, nanotechnology, gold nanoparticle, quantum dots.

In the last few years, the stem cell therapy has gained much popularity among researchers and scientists of biomedical field. It became an effective and alternative approach for the treatment of various physiological conditions (like accidental injuries, burn damage, organ failure, bone marrow transfusion, etc.) and chronic disorders (diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, periodontal diseases, etc.). Due to the unique ability of cellular differentiation and regeneration, stem cell therapy serves as the last hope for various incurable conditions and severe damages. The amalgamation of stem cell therapy with nanotechnology brings new prospects to the stem cell research, as it improves the specificity of the treatment and controls the stem cell proliferation and differentiation. In this review article, we have discussed various nanocarrier systems such as carbon nanotubes, quantum dots, nanofibers, nanoparticles, nanodiamonds, nanoparticle scaffold, etc. utilized for the delivery of stem cell inside the body.

Diabetes and its complications are a significant health concern throughout the globe. There are physiological differences in the mechanism of type-I and type-II diabetes and the conventional drug therapy as well as insulin administration seem to be insufficient to address the problem at large successfully. Hypoglycemic swings, frequent dose adjustments and resistance to the drug are major problems associated with drug therapy. Cellular approaches through stem cell based therapeutic interventions offer a promising solution to the problem. The need for pancreatic transplants in case of Type- I diabetes can also be by-passed/reduced due to the formation of insulin producing β cells via stem cells. Embryonic Stem Cells (ESCs) and induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs), successfully used for generating insulin producing β cells. Although many experiments have shown promising results with stem cells in vitro, their clinical testing still needs more exploration. The review attempts to bring into light the clinical studies favoring the transplantation of stem cells in diabetic patients with an objective of improving insulin secretion and improving degeneration of different tissues in response to diabetes. It also focuses on the problems associated with successful implementation of the technique and possible directions for future research.

Tissue engineering is a multi-disciplinary field such as material science, life science, and bioengineering that are necessary to make artificial tissue or rejuvenate damaged tissue. Numerous tissue repair techniques and substitute now exist even though it has several shortcomings; these shortcomings give a good reason for the continuous research for more acceptable tissue-engineered substitutes. The search for and use of a suitable stem cell in tissue engineering is a promising concept. Stem cells have a distinctive capability to differentiate and self-renew that make more suitable for cell-based therapies in tissue repair and regeneration. This review article focuses on stem cell for tissue engineering and their methods of manufacture with their application in nerve, bone, skin, cartilage, bladder, cardiac, liver tissue repair and regeneration.

Psoriasis is a consistently recurring, inflammatory, autoimmune disorder of the skin, affecting about 2-5% of the world population. Abundant therapeutic agents are accessible for the treatment of psoriasis. Nevertheless, none of them are entirely secure and effective to treat the disease without compromising patient compliance. Furthermore, already existing drugs are supposed to restrain the ailment and alleviate the sign and symptoms with no complete cure. However, they focus on restraining the disease and alleviating the symptoms without providing an absolute cure. Therefore there remains a vital challenge, to explore a new drug moiety or delivery system which could safely and effectively manage psoriasis without compromising patient compliance. Furthermore, conventional formulations offer reduced benefit/risk ratio of anti-psoriatic drugs, which limits the use of existing conventional formulations. Novel formulations based on nanocarriers are a promising prospect to overcome the limitation of conventional formulations by offering a reduction in dose, dosing frequency, dose-dependent, side effects with enhanced efficacy. Presently nano-formulations have gained widespread application for effective and safe treatment of psoriasis. The present review primarily focuses on conventional therapeutic strategy and recent advances in lipid-based, polymer-based and metallic nano-formulations of a variety of anti-psoriatic drugs. The practicability of various nanocarrier systems including liposomes, nanostructured lipid carriers, ethosomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanocapsules, micelles, dendrimers, gold nanoparticles and silver nanoparticles have been discussed in detail. The review also traces related patents to exemplify the role of various nanoparticles in psoriasis treatment. In a nutshell, nano-formulations remain established as a promising modality for treating psoriasis treatment as they propose better penetration, targeted delivery, enhanced safety, and efficacy.

Brain is supposed to be the most complicated part of the body which is very far from the reach of drug moieties. The drug entry in to the brain region depends upon various factors, and among those, the blood-brain-barrier remains the most prominent one. This barrier restricts the entry of almost all the drug and most of the essential biological components like proteins, peptides, etc. and hinders treatment of the CNS disorders. Alzheimer Disease (AD) is one such brain disorder, more specifically a neurodegenerative disorder which primarily affects the older adults.From solubility enhancement to targeted delivery, the nanoparticulate system became the answer for almost all the criticality related to drug delivery. Hence, nanoparticulate drug carrier system has been widely utilizing to remove the hurdles of brain drug delivery. Keeping this in mind, we have underlined the proficiencies of the nanocarrier systems which claim to improve the drug efficacy for the treatment of the AD.The nanotechnological approaches are highly exploited by the researchers to enhance the drug permeation across the BBB to improve its bioavailability and efficacy by protecting the drug from peripheral degradation. However, still in this area of drug targeting provides vast scope for discoveries towards the enhancement of drug efficacy through surface modifications, site specification, reduced toxicity of the nanocarrier system and so on.

Diabetes associated oxidative stress and impaired cholinergic neurotransmission causes cognitive deficits. Although phloridzin shows antioxidant- and insulin sensitizing-activities, its ameliorative potential in diabetes-induced memory dysfunction remains unexplored. In the present study, type 2 diabetes (T2D) was induced by streptozotocin (35 mg/kg, intraperitoneal) in rats on ad libitum high-fat diet. Diabetic animals were treated orally with phloridzin (10 and 20 mg/kg) for four weeks. Memory functions were evaluated by passive avoidance test (PAT) and novel object recognition (NOR) test. Brains of rats were subjected to biochemical analysis of glutathione (GSH), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), malonaldehyde (MDA) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Role of cholinergic system in the effects of phloridzin was evaluated by scopolamine pre-treatment in behavioral studies. While diabetic rats showed a significant decrease in step through latency in PAT, and exploration time and discrimination index in NOR test; a substantial increase in all parameters was observed following phloridzin treatment. Phloridzin reversed abnormal levels of GSH, BDNF, MDA and AChE in the brain of diabetic animals. Moreover, in silico molecular docking study revealed that phloridzin acts as a potent agonist at M1 receptor as compared to acetylcholine. Viewed collectively, reversal of T2D-induced memory impairment by phloridzin might be attributed to upregulation of neurotrophic factors, reduced oxidative stress and increased cholinergic signaling in the brain. Therefore, phloridzin may be a promising molecule in the management of cognitive impairment comorbid with T2D.

The advent of nanotechnology has led to advances in the cosmetic industry and is expected to grow further in the near future. Nanotechnology-driven products cater to the expectations of both consumers and manufactures in terms of better quality and effectiveness along with improved stability and easy scale-up. Several organic and inorganic materials are being utilized for the preparation of nanocosmetics having improved characteristics. At the same time, the safety aspects of nanocosmetics are also being pondered. Physicochemical properties play a significant role in controlling the toxicity of nanomaterials. Several mechanisms have been studied for nanomaterial generated toxicity; out of all, reactive oxygen species, generation is the most important mechanism. This chapter discusses all the relevant aspects which are required for safety and toxicity assessments of nano-ingredients for cosmetic use. Regulatory issues are also discussed because of their relevance in preventing the unforeseen toxicity of nanocosmetics.

The current review emphasizes on the herbal bioenhancers which themselves do not possess inherent pharmacological activity of their own but when co-administered with Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), enhances their bioavailability and efficacy. Herbal bioenhancers play a crucial role in enhancing the bioavailability and bioefficacy of different classes of drugs, such as antihypertensives, anticancer, antiviral, antitubercular and antifungal drugs at low doses. This paper highlights various natural compounds that can be utilized as an efficient bioenhancer. Several herbal compounds including piperine, quercetin, genistein, naringin, sinomenine, curcumin, and glycyrrhizin have demonstrated capability to improve the pharmacokinetic parameters of several potent API. This article also focuses on various United States patents on herbal bioenhancers, which has proved to be beneficial in improving oral absorption of nutraceuticals like vitamins, minerals, amino acids and certain herbal compounds. The present paper also describes proposed mechanism of action, which mainly includes absorption process, drug metabolism, and action on drug target. The herbal bioenhancers are easily available, safe, free from side effects, minimizes drug toxicity, shortens the duration of treatment, lowers the drug resistance problems and minimizes the cost of treatment. Inspite of the fact that herbal bioenhancers provide an innovative concept for enhancing the bioavailability of several potent drugs, there are numerous bioenhancers of herbal origin that are yet to be explored in several vital areas. These bioenhancers must also be implied to enhance the bioavailability and bioefficacy through routes other than the oral route of drug delivery. There is a vast array of unexploited plants which can be investigated for their drug bioenhancing potency. The toxicity profiles of these herbal bioenhancers must not be overlooked. Researches must be carried out to solve these issues and to deliver a safe and effective dose of drugs to attain desired pharmacological response.

Emulgel is an emerging topical drug delivery system to which if more effort is paid towards its formulation & development with more number of topically effective drugs it will prove a boon for derma care & cosmetology. Emulgels are either emulsion of oil in water or water in oil type, which is gelled by mixing it with gelling agent. Incorporation of emulsion into gel increases its stability & makes it a dual control release system. Due to lack of excess oily bases & insoluble excipients, it shows better drug release as compared to other topical drug delivery system. Presence of gel phase makes it a non greasy & favors good patient compliance. These reviews give knowledge about Emulgel including its properties, advantages, formulation considerations, and its recent advances in research field. All factors such as selection of gelling agent, oil agent, emulsifiers influencing the stability and efficacy of Emulgel are discussed. All justifications are described in accordance with the research work carried out by various scientists. These brief reviews on formulation method have been included. Current research works that carried out on Emulgel are also discussed and highlighted the wide utility of Emulgel in topical drug delivery system. After the vast study, it can be concluded that the Emulgels appear better & effective drug delivery system as compared to other topical drug delivery system. The comprehensive analysis of rheological and release properties will provide an insight into the potential usage of Emulgel formulation as drug delivery system.

Application of pharmaceutical nanotechnology (nanomedicines) for plant actives and extracts, is gaining a tremendous growth and interest among the scientists. This emerging herbal revolution has headed towards the development of another approaches for the delivery of poorly soluble herbal bioactives and plant extracts for enhancing their bioavailability and efficacy. In the same context, a majority of pharmaceutical nanotechnologies and targeting strategies including phytosomes, nanoparticles, hydrogels, microspheres, transferosomes and ethosomes, self nano emulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDS), self micro emulsifying drug delivery systems (SMEDDS) has been applied for the delivery of bioactives and plant extracts and were identified and explored. These pharmaceutical nanotechnologies have been proven to be the most efficient and reliable delivery systems, as these enhance the solubility, absorption, pharmacokinetics, bioavailability and provide protection from toxicity. Considering these aspects, the present review highlights the present scenario related to the expansion of novel herbal formulations utilizing the nanotechnologies and compilation of their delivery types and mechanism, methodology, loaded drug, drug size, entrapment efficiency of drug, in vivo activity and its application. Moreover, this review article provides an understanding of therapeutic efficacy of the herbal medicines to be loaded into the novel drug delivery system for various biomedical applications.

Traditional medicines that formed the basis of health care throughout the world since the earliest days of mankind are still widely used and have considerable importance in international trade. Recognition of their clinical, pharmaceutical, and economic value is still growing, although this varies widely between countries and therefore regulation of exploitation and exportation is essential, together with international cooperation and coordination for their conservation so as to ensure their availability for the future. World Health Organization and European Union issued the guidelines defined the basic criteria for the evaluation of quality, safety, and efficacy of herbal medicines with the goal of assisting national regulatory authorities, scientific organizations, and manufacturers in assessing documentation, submissions, and dossiers in respect of such products. Legislative controls in respect of medicinal plants have not evolved around a structured control model. There are different ways in which countries define medicinal plants or herbs or products derived from them. The present review highlights the status of different countries adopted various approaches to licensing, dispensing, manufacturing, and trading to ensure their safety, quality, and efficacy.

The oral route is most preferred one as there is ease of administration and it is a painless approach. This favored route is restricted to those drug molecules that are absorbent over gastric mucosa. One of the promising techniques is SMEDDS. Self-micro emulsifying drug delivery system has gained more attention due to enhanced oral bioavailability enabling a reduction in dose, more consistent temporal profiles of drug absorption, selective targeting of drug towards specific absorption window in GIT, and protection of drugs from the unreceptive environment in the gut. SMEDDS provide the dissolved drugs form, and also its small size of droplets imparts substantial interfacial area for the absorption of drugs. It can simply get penetrated into the GIT which is the major advantages over another emulsion. The present study is performed for the motivation of the graduates towards publication and research. Hence, we have encouraged the graduates to prepare an informative article on the present subject

The transdermal drug delivery systems (TDDS) are drug delivery system that gives rapid, the immediate therapeutic effect of the drug across the patient's skin and its different layers. They are also called as patches. More than 75% of the drugs, now a day's, are taken orally and are not very much effective. To overcome these problems, the transdermal drug delivery system has been evolved. The advantage of transdermal patches is that they deliver the drugs for better systemic effects at a controlled and a predetermined rate. This drug delivery system also endorses the controlled release of drug medicament into the skin of the patients. The chief aim of this drug delivery system is to deliver the drug contents into the systemic circulation through the permeation of skin at a predetermined rate. This article is an overview of different types of transdermal patches, their various method of preparation as well as their various physicochemical evaluation methods. The present study is performed for the motivation of the graduates towards publication and research. Hence, we have encouraged the graduates to prepare an informative article on the present subject.

Controlled release drug delivery system has achieved greater importance in the field of pharmaceutical sciences to provide therapeutic advantages over the conventional drug delivery system. Nowadays, the gastrointestinal controlled drug delivery systemis more prominent than the controlled release system because these can govern the release rate of therapeutically active drug for a sustained period. A Gastro retentive dosage form improves the therapy by prolonging the gastric residence time of the drugs. Prolonged gastric retention improvesbioavailability, reduces drug waste and improves solubility for drugs that are less soluble in a high pH environment. In this review, we have discussed various systems associated with gastro retentive drug delivery with their effective mode of action. Also, the approaches and factors to increase the gastric retention time have also been discussed. This drug delivery system has potential to overcome the limitations of the conventional system. The present study is performed for the motivation of the graduates towards publication and research. Hence, we have encouraged the graduates to prepare an informative article on the present subject.

Mucoadhesion is commonly defined as the adhesion between two materials, at least one of which is a mucosal surface. Over the past few decades, mucosal drug delivery has received a great deal of attention. Mucoadhesive dosage forms may be designed to enable prolonged retention at the site of application, providing a controlled rate of drug release for the improved therapeutic outcome. Application of dosage forms to mucosal surfaces may be of benefit to drug molecules not amenable to the oral route, such as those that undergo acid degradation or extensive first-pass metabolism. The mucoadhesive ability of a dosage form is dependent upon a variety of factors, including the nature of the mucosal tissue and the physicochemical properties of the polymeric formulation. The present study is performed for the motivation of the graduates towards publication and research. Hence, we have encouraged the graduates to prepare an informative article on the present subject.

The current article has been focused on the Mucoadhesive drug delivery system may be designed to enable prolonged retention at the site of application, providing a controlled rate of drug release for improved therapeutic outcome. Mucoadhesion is commonly defined as the adhesion between two materials, at least one of which is a mucosal surface. Application of dosage forms to mucosal surfaces may be of benefit to drug molecules not amenable to the oral route, such as those that undergo acid degradation or extensive first-pass metabolism. The Mucoadhesive ability of a dosage form is dependent upon a variety of factors, including the nature of the mucosal tissue and the physicochemical properties of the polymeric formulation. This review article aims to provide an overview of the various aspects of mucoadhesion, Mucoadhesive materials, factors affecting mucoadhesion, evaluating methods, and finally various Mucoadhesive drug delivery systems (buccal, nasal, ocular, gastro, vaginal, and rectal) based on literatures were reported so far. In this review article, the various aspects of pharmaceutical microemulsion were compiled together and the target audiences are specifically the M. Pharm and B. Pharm students so that their knowledge towards the subject concern can be enhanced and also at the same time can be motivated towards the publication.

Recent technological and scientific research has been devoted to the development of rate controlled drug delivery systems to overcome physiological adversities such as short gastric residence times and unpredictable gastric emptying times. The floating or hydro-dynamically controlled drug delivery systems are useful in such application. The objective of our review is to compile the recent advancements and developments regarding the novel dosage form i.e. the floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) that can be retained in the stomach for a prolonged period of time and gives therapeutic action in a predetermined manner. In these review article,the various aspects of pharmaceutical floating drug delivery system(FDDS) were compiled together and the target ordinance are specifically the M. Pharm and B Pharm students so that their knowledge towards the subject concern can be enhanced and also at the same time can be motivated towards the publication.

The objective of this review article is to discuss the potential of sodium alginate as a biopolymer in the formulation development and its allied applications. There is a growing trend in pharmaceutical in food industry to avoid the harsh condition in the preparation for administration to the body or for the storage purpose as it induce the side effects, instability or loss of therapeutic effect of the medicament. The immobilization method is a versatile functional biomaterial for viscosity enhancement, stabilizer, matrixing agent, encapsulation polymer, bio adhesive and film former in transdermal and transmucosal drug delivery. Among various tested methods of this process that make use of different enzyme-carrier interactions, immobilization by adsorption on solid carriers has appeared most common. According to these ?ndings, in this review we present a comparative analysis of the literature reports on the recent trends in the immobilization of the enzymes by adsorption. In this review article, the various aspects of pharmaceutical microemulsin where compile together and the target audience are specifically the M. Pharm and B. Pharm student so that their knowledge towards the subject concern can be enhanced and also at the same time can be motivated towards the publication.

The phyto-phospholipid complexation technique has emerged as one of the leading methods of improving bioavailability of phytopharmaceuticals having poor competency of solubilizing and crossing the biological membranes. Several plant actives in spite having potent in vitro pharmacological activities have failed to demonstrate similar in vivo response. Such plant actives have been made more effective systemically by incorporating them with dietary phospholipids forming new cellular structures which are amphipathic in nature. In the last few years phospholipids have been extensively explored for improved bioavailability and efficacy of plant drugs. Further, it is also much relevant to mention that phospholipids show unique compatibility with biological membranes and have inherent hepatoprotective activity. Different methods have been adopted to formulate phospholipid complexes of plant extractives utilizing varying solvent systems, molar ratios of drug/phospholipids and different drying techniques. Some methods of formulating such drug-phospholipid complexes have been patented as well. However, the stability of phyto-phospholipid complexes is still a matter of concern which needs attention. But still a number of products exploiting this technique are under clinical trials and some of them are now in market. The current review highlights key findings of recent years with our own viewpoints which can give the new directions to this strategy and also includes advancements in the technical aspects of phyto-phospholipid formulations which have been done in the recent past with future challenges.

The major problem associated with the antibiotic is its bitter taste when administered orally. An oral reconstitutable suspension has been one of the most favorable dosage forms for pediatric and geriatric patients that offers more palatable and stable formulation of orally administer antibiotics. Cephalexin is a beta lactam antibiotic, a good alternative of penicillin, has poor stability problem with water because of shorter half life. In the present work we have prepared a reconstitutable suspension of cephalosporin with different types of suspending agent to study the effect of suspending agents individually or in combination. The oral reconstitutable suspension was prepared by simple mixing of powdered material by geometric dilution method that was intended to be diluted at the time of administration with sufficient amount of water as directed. The suspension were prepared by using xanthan gum, HPMC, combination of both and tragacanth as suspending agent and further evaluated for rheological behavior, sedimentation properties and drug content of the formulation. The aim of the present work is to prepare an oral reconstitutable suspension of cephalosporin to improve stability and patient compliance.

Herbal cosmetics are formulated, using different cosmetic ingredients to form the base in which one or more herbal ingredients are used to cure various skin ailments. The name itself suggests that herbal cosmetics are natural and free from all the harmful synthetic chemicals which otherwise may prove to be toxic to the skin. Compared to other beauty products, natural cosmetics are safe to use. Cosmeceuticals are cosmetic-pharmaceutical hybrid products intended to improve the health and beauty of the skin by providing a specific result, ranging from acne-control and anti-wrinkle effects, to sun protection. Calamine lotion is widely used as an antiseptic and protective for its cooling and soothing effect in various skin disorders. Instead of traditional synthetic products different plant parts and plant extracts are used in this study to procure calamine lotion having natural humectants, e.g. aloe-vera gel and honey. Herbal cosmetics are the preparations used to enhance the human appearance. The purpose of this study is to compare the semi synthetic activity of glycerin with other humectants in terms of their emollient properties to ensure whether calamine lotion can be formulated using natural humectants or not.

Metronidazole is widely used antimicrobial drug against Gram-negative and Gram-positive anaerobic bacteria. Floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) offer a number of applications for drugs having poor bioavailability because of narrow absorption window in the upper part of gastrointestinal tract. It was used for preparing floating dosage forms that are designed to retain in the stomach for a long time and have developed as a drug delivery system for better eradication of Helicobacter Pylori in peptic ulcer diseases. In the present study hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and micro crystalline cellulose (MCC) are used in different concentrations and sodium bicarbonate was used as effervescent agent. Five formulations (F1-F5) were prepared and evaluated for various physicochemical parameters like hardness, friability, floating ability and drug release profiles and were found to be within range. In general, these systems can float in the gastric conditions and control the drug release from the tablets. Formulation was optimized on the basis of different tablet properties and drug release pattern in invitro release profile. In this study it was confirmed that the formulations containing polymer like HPMC K15M and MCC showed better floating properties.

Medicinal plants are part and parcel of human society to combat diseases, from the dawn of civilization. Information about the benefits of herbal drugs is known in our ancient literature of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Chinese medicine. According to the WHO, 2003 about 80% of the population of developing countries being unable to afford pharmaceutical drugs relies on traditional medicines, mainly plant based, to sustain their primary health care needs. The consequences of this long neglect of developing acceptable and reliable male contraceptives in poor developing countries has been lack of or less participation of males in family planning. Recently, it has come apparent that neglecting men in matters of family planning is a losing strategy with adverse consequences for both men and women Ayurvedic literature and folk medicine have been screened and searched thoroughly for antifertility effects in males all over the world. The World Health Organization has set up a task force on plant research for fertility regulation with an objective to find new orally active non steroidal contraceptive. Therefore, this article reviewed some of the medicinal plants having antifertility or contraceptive activity. This review will highlight some of the herbs which could potentially be developed into a reversible male contraceptive as well as discuss difficulties of developing such a contraceptive.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology and is mainly characterized by the progressive erosion of cartilage leading to chronic polyarthritis and joint distortion. Although the exact pathogenesis of the disease has yet not been elucidated, however, studies suggest that cellular proliferation of synoviocytes result in pannus formation which damages the cartilage and bone. Recent reports also support the role of free radicals in its pathogenesis. Apart from the conventional treatment strategies using nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drugs, disease modifying antirheumatic drugs and glucocorticoids, newer and safer drugs are continuously being searched, as long term usage of these drugs have resulted in adverse effects. Alternative medicine provides another approach for treatment of RA and currently a number of medicinal plants are under scientific evaluation to develop a novel drug. There is a dire need to investigate the complete therapeutic potential and adverse effects, if any, of these herbals for providing newer and safer treatment options with minimum side effects. In this paper we have tried to explore various Indian ancient Ayurvedic, Unani and Tibet, as also some Chinese and Korean, herbals for their potential to treat RA.

Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine is defined as the monitoring, repair, construction and control of human biological systems at the molecular level, using engineered nanodevices and nanostructures. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials to nanoelectronic biosensors and even possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology. The aim of nanomedicine is the improvement of healthcare for the benefit of the patient. Nanomedicine is an important and rapidly growing field, which is emerging from the on of these application of nanotechnology to healthcare. The generally recognized categories include diagnostics, imaging, medical devices, drug discovery, drug delivery and regenerative medicine. Nanomedicine can offer impressive resolutions for various life threatening diseases. Disease areas which can be expected to benefit most from nanotechnology within the next few years are cancer, diseases of the cardiovascular system, the lungs, blood, neurological (especially neurodegenerative) diseases, diabetes, inflammatory/infectious diseases, Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease and orthopaedic problem.

Peptic ulcer disease is an imbalance between offensive and defensive gastric factors. This is a major cause of mortality in developing countries. This has attracted several scientists foe their research contributions to this area. Peptic ulcer disease is a serious gastrointestinal disorder that requires a well targeted therapeutic strategy. A number of drugs including proton pump inhibitors and H2 receptor antagonists are available for the treatment of peptic ulcer, but clinical evaluation of these drugs has shown incidence of relapses, side effects and drug interactions. This has been the rational for the development of new antiulcer drugs and the novel formulations that extend to herbal drugs. Good scientific confirmation of traditional knowledge of drugs for treatment of various disorders has made herbal approach a scientific budding area of interest now days. This review article includes physiological aspects of peptic ulcer disease and list of herbal drugs which are used in the treatment of peptic ulcer. Here we have highlighted some of the important plants reported for their anti-ulcer and ulcer healing properties. Ayurvedic knowledge supported by modern science is necessary to isolate, characterise, and standardise the active constituents from herbal sources for antiulcer activity.

OBJECTIVES To investigate primary angioplasty (PA) for high-risk acute myocardial infarction (AMI) at hospitals with no cardiac surgery on-site (No SOS), we hypothesized that a nonrandomized registry of such patients treated with PA would show clinical outcomes similar to those of a group randomized to transfer for PA, and that reperfusion would occur faster. BACKGROUND Primary angioplasty provides outcomes superior to fibrinolytic therapy in AMI, but its use in community hospitals with No SOS has been limited. METHODS Fibrinolytic-eligible patients with high-risk AMI prospectively consented if they had one or more high-risk characteristic. Nineteen hospitals with No SOS prospectively enrolled 500 patients for PA on-site. Seventy-one similar Air Primary Angioplasty in Myocardial Infarction trial patients were randomized to transfer for PA. RESULTS Primary angioplasty was performed in 88% of patients. Patients transferred for PA had a longer mean time to treatment (187 vs. 120 min; p < 0.0001). Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) flow grade 3 was achieved in 96% for on-site PA, 86% in the transfer group (p = 0.004). The combined primary end point of 30-day mortality, re-infarction, and disabling stroke occurred in 27 (5%) on-site PA patients and 6 (8.5%) transfer patients (p = 0.27). Unadjusted one-year mortality was improved in on-site PA patients compared with those transferred (6% vs. 13%, p = 0.043), but after adjustment for differences in baseline variables, this difference was not significant. CONCLUSIONS On-site PA and transfer groups had similar 30-day outcomes and more rapid reperfusion for on-site PA. Primary angioplasty in high-risk AMI patients at hospitals with No SOS is safe, effective, and faster than PA after transfer to a surgical facility.

It has been shown that the measured reduction in the cross-sectional area of the left ventricle (LV), as viewed in the short axis, closely approximates its ejection fraction (EF). We assessed the reliability of using two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) to visually estimate the EF during real-time viewing, without the need of digitizers, planimetry, or calculations. Twenty-five adult hospitalized patients with either suspected or known cardiac disease were evaluated prospectively. Each patient also had gated nuclear angiography during the same admission, and 14 had cardiac catheterization with left ventriculography. The EF was determined by 2DE using a visual estimate of the percent area reduction of the LV cavity in the short-axis view at the level of the papillary muscles. All 2 DE studies were read by two or more blinded reviewers, with a value for the EF to the nearest 2.5% determined by consensus. These values correlated closely to the values determined in all 25 patients with gated nuclear angiography (r = 0.927) and the 14 patients who had left ventriculography (r = 0.935). We believe that this method of visually estimating the LVEF will enable echocardiographers to easily use 2 DE for a reliable and instantaneous assessment of ventricular function, without the need of sophisticated analytical equipment.

Cancer is the major cause of fatality and the number of new cases is increasing incessantly. Conventional therapies and existing anticancer agents cause serious side effects and expand the patient's lifespan by a few years. There is the need to exploit alternative anticancer agents and novel drug delivery system to deliver these agents to the tumor site for the prevention of cancer. Recently, biologically active compounds isolated from plants used for the management of cancer have been the heart of interest. Capsaicin is a major pungent agent present in the chili peppers that is heavily consumed in the world. Capsaicin has demonstrated effectiveness as an anticancer agent, but a restraining factor is its pungency, extremely low aqueous solubility, and poor oral bioavailability which impede its use as an anticancer agent. Many technologies have been developed and applied to conquer this drawback. We bring to light the benefits of this phytoconstituent for treating different types of cancer. We also discussed some of the delivery approaches that have already made an impact by either delivering a drug to target tissue or increasing its bioavailability by many folds.