Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

7-13

Authors: Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava, Prateek Saurabh Shrivastava, Jegadeesh Ramasamy

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are infections that are mainly transmitted from personto-person through sexual contact. Untreated or inadequately treated STIs can have significant impact on the maternal and newborn health. An extensive search of all materials related to the topic was made using library sources including PubMed, Medline and World Health Organization website for a period of one month. Relevant documents, technical publication series, systematic reviews, research articles focusing on the practice of syndromic management in treatment of STIs published in the period 1995-2013 were included in the review. The identified articles were then re-grouped into different sections for better understanding. Keywords used in the search include syndromic management, sexually transmitted infections, women, reproductive agegroup and pregnancy. There is an immense need for implementation of prevention and control of STIs because of the associated morbidity/mortality, association with HIV and adverse outcomes of pregnancy and burdening of the health system. Multiple socio-demographic determinants have been identified, which usually precipitates STIs. In addition, some of the barriers have been recognized which is hampering with the expected utilization of the health care services. To counter the high prevalence of reproductive tract infection/STI, especially in countries with limited resources, syndromic diagnostic approach has been adopted by countries for the standardized management of sexually transmitted disease cases. The aim of syndromic management is to identify a syndrome and treat it accordingly with combination therapy which will cover the main pathogens that cause it. Strategies have been suggested to overcome the limitations of the syndromic approach and bring the problem under control. To conclude, syndromic management is a rapid and cost-effective approach in reducing the transmission of STIs.

22-30

Authors: Muhammad Qasim, Zainul Abideen, Muhammad Yousuf Adnan, Raziuddin Ansari, Bilquees Gul, Muhammad Ajmal Khan

Objective: To document the traditional uses of wild plants as medicine by the villagers along the coastal highway from Karachi to Uthal. Methods: Information presented in this research was gathered from the local people using an integrated approach of floral collections, discussions with the elderly people and traditional medicinal practitioners using semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Ethno-medicinal surveys indicated the medicinal importance of 54 plant species from 27 families in the targeted area. Majority of the plants (54%) from this coastal plant diversity were xerophytes followed by halophytes/xero-halophytes (40%) and glycophytes (6%). The most important uses included gastrointestinal diseases, pain killer, arthritis, skin and sexual disorders, asthma and expectorant. The above-ground parts of plants i.e. leaf, stem and fruit/seed as decoction are used most commonly to cure 23 ailments but root was also used in some cases. Conclusions: This study helps in documenting therapeutic uses of herbal remedies with new phyto-medicinal claim and it is hoped that it will lead to detailed chemical and pharmacological evaluations. This may also lead to a discovery of novel bioactive compounds for food and pharmaceutical industries.

38-43

Authors: Rajnish Kumar Singh, Vaishali, Susanta Kumar Panda, Padala Narasimha Murthy, Ghanashyam Panigrahi, Pramod Kumar Sharma, Ramesh Kumar Gupta

Objective: To evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of Nardostachys jatamansi (N. jatamansi) rhizome against acute, subacute and chronic models of inflammation in experimental animals. Methods: N. jatamansi rhizome extract (1 50 and 300 mg/kg, p.o. ) and the reference drugs phenylbutazone (100 mg/kg, p.o. ) and acetylsalicylic acid (300 mg/kg, p.o. ) were evaluated using models for inflammation (autacoids induced hind paw oedema, formaldehyde induced hind paw oedema, carrageenin-induced paw oedema, cotton pellet granuloma and subcutaneous air pouch model). Results: In acute inflammation as produced by carrageenin 29.06% and 55.81%, by histamine 25.0% and 39.28%, by 5-hydroxytryptamine 21.37% and 36.95% and by prostaglandin E2- induced hind paw oedema 31.03% and 44.82% protection was observed. While in subacute antiinflammatory models using formaldehyde-induced hind paw oedema (after 1.5 h) 13.88% and 33.33% and in chronic anti-inflammatory model using cotton pellet granuloma 7.4% and 17.58% protection from inflammation was observed. N. jatamansi rhizome extract also inhibited the inflammatory mediators (nitric oxide by 12.81% and 38.41%, by prostaglandin E2 12.58% and 47.82% while by TNF-α 13.51% and 41.89%) produced in the pouch. Conclusions: The results of this study strongly indicate the protective effect of N. jatamansi rhizome extract against acute, subacute and chronic models of inflammation, which may be attributed to its anti-inflammatory potential.

46-48

Authors: Anjo Sunny, Gollapalli Rajeev kumar, Santhosh Kumar Sudhakar, Krishna Murti, Ashok Kumar Gupta

Current treatment options for visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) are pentavalent antimony, amphotericin B, liposomal amphotericin B and miltefosine, which achieve long term clinical relief in the majority of HIV patient. Disease relapse is usually provoked by T-cell number or function impairment (corticosteroid or cytotoxic therapy, transplant recipient, advanced human immunodeficiency virus disease). We report a case of visceral leishmaniasis with multiply relapses in a 45 year old Indian HIV positive man. The disease was diagnosed with rK-39 test and confirmed by spleen aspiration test (presence of Leishmania donovani bodies). These findings demonstrate that human immune deficiency virus-positive with visceral leishmaniasis was caused by dissemination of viscerotropic Leishmania donovani parasites as a consequence of immunosuppression.

53-58

Authors: Palanivel Bharadhirajan, Natarajan Periyasamy, Sambantham Murugan

Objective: To assess the nutritions in Mene maculata (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) (M. maculata). Methods: Fishes (14-16 cm) were obtained from the landings at Parangipettai for the evaluation of biochemical composition. The present study deals with biochemical composition such as protein, carbohydrate, lipid, amino acids fatty acids, vitamins and minerals which were evaluated in the moonfish. Results: The results of proximate composition in M. maculata showed that the percentage of protein was high in the tissue (23.16%), followed by the carbohydrate (1.3%) and lipid (2.62%). Totally 20 essential and nonessential amino acids were present at the rate of 46.72% and 43.91%. In the analysis, the fatty acid profile by gas chromatography revealed the presence of higher amount of saturated fatty acid (palmitic acid 22.17%) than monounsaturated fatty acid (oleic acid 14.51%) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (alpha linolenic acid 16.07%). Vitamins were detected in M. maculata. Among them, vitamin A was found in higher levels (124.5 mg/g), whereas vitamin B6 was noticed as lower levels (0.34 mg/g). In the present study, totally 5 macro minerals and 2 trace minerals were reported. The macro mineral calcium (156.7 mg/g) was found at the highest level and other minerals such as sodium (31.98 mg/g), potassium (21.33 mg/g), copper (1.43 mg/g) and magnesium (0.341 mg/g) were also detected in the moonfish. Conclusions: The result showed that the moonfish M. maculata tissue is a valuable food recipe for human consumption, due to its high quality protein and well-balanced amino acids.

64-69

Authors: Raghunathan Ganeshamurthy, Nagarajan Balachandran Dhayanithi, Thipramalai Thankappan Ajith Kumar, Saravanan Kumaresan

Objective: To evaluate the antibacterial activity and immunostimulant of red seaweed Chondrococcus hornemanni (C. hornemanni) (Kuetzing, 1847) against marine ornamental fish pathogens. Methods: In the present study, seaweed extract of C. hornemanni showed significant antimicrobial activity against two fish pathogens and the partially purified potential compound was characterized by GC-MS. Purified seaweed extract was injected to the clownfish, Amphiprion sebae to study the innate immune response of these fishes. Results: The extracts was found effective and had more than 80% inhibitory activity against Aeromonas hydrophila (20 mm) and Vibrio parahaemolyticus (19 mm) at a concentration (25 mg/mL) shown higher antimicrobial activity. The white blood cell count and respirator burst activity was significantly increased in the experimental tanks (E1) and (E2) when compared with control. Conclusions: Hence, it is concluded that the seaweed extracts of C. hornemanni had potential bioactive compounds and act an immunostimulant and improve the immune response to fish.

76-84

Authors: Prabhakaran Priyaja, Puthumana Jayesh, Neil Scolastin Correya, Balachandran Sreelakshmi, Naduthalmuriparambil S Sudheer, Rosamma Philip, Isaac Sarogeni Bright Singh

Objective: To abrogate pathogenic vibrios in aquaculture by testing the potential of Pseudomonas isolates from fresh water, brackish and marine environments as probiotics. Methods: Purification and structural elucidation of antagonistic compound were carried out. Antagonistic activity of the compound against 7 Vibrio spp. was performed. Influence of salinity on the production of pyocyanin and the toxicity was done through the compound using brine shrimp lethality assay. Molecular characterization was performed to confirm that the isolates were Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Results: Salinity was found to regulate the levels of pyocyanin production, with 5-10 g/L as the optimum. All Pseudomonas isolates grew at salinities ranging from 5 to 70 g/L. Isolates of marine origin produced detectable levels of pyocyanin up to 45 g/L salinity. Brackish and freshwater isolates ceased to produce pyocyanin at salinities above 30 g/L and 20 g/L, respectively. Culture supernatants of all 5 Pseudomonas isolates possessed the ability to restrict the growth of Vibrio spp. and maximum antagonistic effect on Vibrio harveyi was obtained when they were grown at salinities of 5 to 10 g/L. The marine isolate MCCB117, even when grown at a salinity of 45 g/L possessed the ability to inhibit Vibrio spp. Conclusions: The present investigation showed that Pseudomonas aeruginosa MCCB119 would be ideal for application in freshwater, MCCB102 and MCCB103 in brackish water and MCCB117 and MCCB118 in marine aquaculture systems as putative probiotics in the management of vibrios.