Trends in Pharmaceutical Sciences
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Mar 2018

It is well accepted that medicinal plants are involved with numerous properties that may be considered for new drug discoveries. This review encompasses medicinal and pharmacological activities of Juniperus excelsa M.Bieb (Family: Cupressaceae) to draw a frame for further research. Considering the terms "Juniperus Excelsa" and "Pharmacological Activity", the databases Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect were precisely searched up to early March of 2017 with the exception of agriculture and genetic–based science papers. Besides various ethnopharmacological properties, different parts of J. excelsa are shown to have distinct medicinal activities such as anti-microbial and anti-fungal, anti-parasite and anti leishmania, anti-oxidant and radical scavenging, cardiovascular, anti-diabetes, gastrointestinal, respiratory, wound healing, anti-angiogenic, immunomodulatory and antinociceptive, phytotoxic, cytotoxic activity, and therapeutic effect on cancer.

children are a large group of patients receiving medications. Since pediatric dosageforms are generally not available, adult dosage forms have to be used for children instead, which leads to large amounts of drug wastage, and high costs are imposed on the healthcare system. This study was carried out to evaluate the amount of medication waste and the cost in pediatric wards of two major pediatric referral centers in southern Iran. The results were compared with an adult ward in the same hospital.

This comparative cross-sectional study was carried out during a three-month period, from April to June 2014, assigning one month to each ward. A trained pharmacist collected the data using direct observational method during morning shifts. All the drug preparation processes were evaluated by direct visual observation. During this supervision, factors involved in medication waste and also the dose of drug prescribed and wasted were evaluated.

The percent of medication waste in pediatric wards of Nemazee and “Shiraz Ghadir Mother and Child” hospital was 17.4% and 18.05%. The cost of wastage was estimated to be 568.11 USD and 368.11 USD for each hospital during one-month. According to the results, in pediatric wards of “Nemazee” and “Shiraz Ghadir Mother and Child” hospitals 101 out of 290 and 45 out of 80 prescriptions consisted of at least one antibiotic. In both hospitals the most prescribed antibiotic was vancomycin.

The results indicated that medication waste in pediatric ward of Nemazee hospital was not significantly different in comparison with pediatric ward of Shiraz Ghadir Mother and Child hospital, but the waste was calculated to be more in the pediatric ward in comparison with the adult ward of Nemazee hospital. The most wasted group of medication was reported to be antibiotics. Vancomycin was reported to have the highest consumption and gentamicin was the leading wasted medication.

The objective of the present investigation was to conjugate celecoxib as a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor onto polyethylenimine (PEI) in order to prepare nanoparticles for tissue targeting. Since celecoxib binds to COX-2 and this enzyme is over expressed in several pathological conditions including cancer, the final goal of the study was to direct the nanoparticles into specific tissues. Celecoxib was conjugated on PEI structure at two substitution degrees of 5 and 10 % and the new conjugates were characterized in terms of size, zeta potential, buffering capacity, plasmid DNA binding affinity and protection against enzymatic degradation as well as cytotoxicity. The results demonstrated the ability of the PEI conjugates in the formation of nanoparticles with the size of around 200 nm with buffering capacity comparable with unmodified PEI. The celecoxib conjugated PEI derivatives demonstrated high binding affinity to pDNA and protection effect against degradation by DNase I. The conjugation of celecoxib onto PEI structure slightly reduced the toxic effects of unmodified PEI especially at the conjugation degree of 10%. However, this result showed that the significant decrease of PEI cytotoxic effects could not be achieved by the shielding of surface amines even at the conjugation degree of 10%. Therefore, it is suggested to investigate the effects of higher degrees of amine substitution to produce less toxic PEI -based nanocarriers.

Re-epithelialization of corneal epithelium is a major problem in delayed corneal wound healing. Phenytoin has been used topically for different type of cutaneous wounds and ulcers. The aim of this this study was to assess the efficacy of topical phenytoin eye drop and ointment 1% and on induced sterile corneal epithelial ulcer in rabbit eyes.Fifty eyes from 30 rabbits were evaluated for induction of corneal epithelial ulcer in this study. The right corneas of all rabbits underwent total epithelial debridement. Randomization was made. Odd labeled eyes as control group received artificial tear and even labeled eyes as case group received phenytoin 1% eye drop. Slit lamp examination was performed on day 1, 3, 5 &7. After healing of the right eyes, same procedure was performed on 20 corneas of left eyes. In the left eyes, phenytoin ointment 1% was used instead of phenytoin  eye drop 1%.There was no statistically significant difference between corneas that received phenytoin 1% eye drop (n=15) and control group that received placebo (n=15) in right eyes (p > 0.05). Also,  difference between corneas received phenytoin ointment 1% (n=10) or placebo (n=10) in the left eyes (p > 0.05) was not significant.The results of this study did not show positive effect of phenytoin on acceleration of healing process in rabbit’s corneal ulcer. Further study in non-healing corneal ulcers is required to show phenytoin efficacy. Phenytoin ointment in comparison to phenytoin drop was a better applicant for ophthalmic usage. Application of topical phenytoin 1% in corneal ulcer in rabbits was safe and no sever side effect was observed.

burn wounds are common happenings which cause many people have irreversible defects and to be death around the world every year.  In this study, we evaluated the effects of Melilotus officinalis and Alpha ointment in the healing of burn wounds and compare their findings with silver sulfadiazine (SSD).

Seventy-five male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups, and similar burn ulcers were produced on the back of rats. The first group of rats received no treatment, base gel was used topically to group II, in groups III-V, Alpha, SSD and Melilotus officinalis preparations were applied, respectively. Wound healing, contraction and histopathological examination were evaluated at the end of 7, 14, and 21 days.

Alpha ointment was equally effective as Melilotus officinalis gel, while its efficacy was better compared to SSD for all parameters of wound healing on days 7, 14 and 21. Alpha and Melilotus officinalis preparations as less expensive medications which significantly improve the quality of wound healing and scar formation and also are more appropriate treatment choices than SSD.

Alpha and Melilotus officinalis are recommended as alternative to SSD, especially in patients with low economical backgrounds or in those who show adverse reactions to SSD.

Carnosine is an abundantly found dipeptide present in different tissues. Several pharmacological properties have been attributed to carnosine. On the other hand, the precise mechanism of cytoprotection provided by carnosine remains obscure. The current study aimed to evaluate the direct effect of different concentrations of carnosine on cellular mitochondria as an essential target involved in the cytoprotection/cytotoxicity. Liver mitochondria were isolated and exposed to carnosine (0.01-20 mM). Mitochondrial depolarization, dehydrogenases activity, mitochondrial swelling and permeability, and ATP content were assessed. On the other hand, the effect of carnosine supplementation on calcium (Ca2+) overload-induced mitochondrial injury was evaluated. It was found that concentrations between 0.01-20 mM of this peptide preserved mitochondrial indices of functionality in a Ca2+ overloaded environment. These data represent regulation of mitochondrial function as a primary mechanism for the protective properties of carnosine.

Fundamental research on plants in order to identify their pharmaceutical agents and their effects on pathogens has been increased in medicinal plant research centers around the world, especially in Iran. This study has been conducted to determine the antibacterial effects of Pulicaria gnaphalode, Ducrosia anethifolia, Trachyspermum copticum, Foeniculul vulgare Mill, and Majorana hortensis Minch essential oils on Proteus vulgaris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Shigella boydii. Their essential oils were extracted by a Clevenger apparatus after plants powder preparation in appropriate condition. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used for essential oils (EOs) chemical analysis. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (MBC) were also investigated for studying the EOs effect on bacteria. Sixty three compounds were identified in the EOs analysis of five plants by GC-MS. All EOs tested in this study showed antibacterial properties on all three bacterial strains. EO of the Trachyspermum copticum showed more antibacterial effects in comparison to other herbs. It is notable that there was a significant difference between the antibacterial activities of the EOs. The results of this study provide a scientific basis for using these plants in traditional home remedies. On the other hand, extraction and purification of these EOs can provide more phytochemicals with stronger antibiotic properties.

The use of traditional medicine as an important part of complementary/alternative medicine spread nowadays all around the world. Something that is due to the lack of effectiveness of modern medicine in treating some disease especially chronic disease. Since one of the most important theories beside traditional medicine is the concept of “temperaments” and this is very close to the concept of personalized medicine, which is taken into consideration nowadays. It is important to investigate what really temperament is and also reach a precise meaning and criteria for determining it. For reviewing all the researches that have been done on temperaments till today, the most popular database like PubMed, Scopus, Google scholar, science direct and etc. were searched for keywords Hot and cold, temperaments, hot and cold medicine, hot and cold nature, hot and cold parameters till September 2015. The results show that there are some physiological and metabolic criteria, genes and networks and metabolite that contribute in determining the temperaments not only in body but also in disease, foods and drugs. Despite the presence of all these detailed data the lack of a comprehensive practical criteria for temperament is still obvious, so we try to gather all data to reach that in its best way.