Functional and health endorsing benefits of various foods are often attributed to their phytochemistry. The bitter gourd holds potential in improving the food products quality owing to its incredible versatility in compounds. In the current exploration, different bitter gourd varieties and their parts were evaluated for their therapeutic potential and utilization in value added baked products. For the purpose four types of bitter gourd powders i.e. whole fruit, seedless fruit, seeds and extracts were prepared. Compositional analysis revealed that bitter gourd variety FSD-Long along with parts is rich source of minerals, ascorbic acid, carotenoids, tocopherols (α, β & γ), phenolic acids, saponin, charantin, alkaloids, momordicin, fatty acids and dietary fiber.However, extract possessed higher concentration of water soluble substances than otherparts. All parts ofFSD-Long inhibited in vitrolipid peroxidation and scavenged DPPH radicals significantly. Afterwards, all parts of the selected variety (FSD-Long) were added in cookies at various levels to enrich the formulation. Considering the results of characterization and product development; whole fruit, flesh and seed part @ 3%, and extract @ 0.5% were selected for further use in efficacy study. The experimental rats modeling comprised of three segments including normal, hyperglycemic and hypercholesterolemic Sprague Dawley rats. Initial trials were conducted in normal rats; indicated that diets prepared with bitter gourd parts hold hypoglycemic and hypocholesterolemic perspectives. In the second section, streptozotocin injection was used to induce diabetes mellitus in rats and observed a decrease of 42.22% glucose in group fed extract based cookies. Furthermore, level of insulin increased in bitter gourd part cookies upto 58.64% indicated that the experimental diets hold insulin tropic potential. Final efficacy trials were conducted involving hypercholesterolemic rats. In control group, momentous increase in serum cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL levels was observed. All parts attenuate the cholesterol 18.79 to 40.17% triglycerides 25.97 to 37.01% and LDL 14.49 to 26.09%. All parts reduced the serum glucose significantly by enhancing insulin secretion. From the present study, it is deduced that bitter gourd extract can be supplemented in food products for the management of these maladies.
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic illness with high prevalence and mortality, leading toeconomic burden ofhealth due to prolonged hospital stay and re-admissions. Failure to comprehend the importance of identifying mental illnesses could lead to explanations that why the morbidity and mortality of heart failure patients endure to be very high. Objective: To determine the frequency of anxiety and depression in heart failure patients. Methods: It is a descriptive cross sectional study including 323 CHF patients admitted to the Faisalabad Institute of Cardiology hospital, 250 were males and 73 were females, mean age was 54.1 ± 9.2 years having 70 years as maximum and 25 years as minimum. Data was collected with the help of HADS questionnaire. Patients were interviewed for assessment of anxiety and depression. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 24. Mean and standard deviation was calculated for quantitative data and for qualitative data frequency and percentageswas calculated. To measure the association of anxiety and depression with age categories and gender, chi square test was used. P values less than and equal to 0.05 were taken as significant. Results: The results showed that 43% subjects had <11 score indicating no anxiety, 57% had >11score indicating anxiety. 45% subjects had<11 score indicating no depression, 55% had >11score indicating depression. Conclusions: The study concluded that frequency of depression and anxiety is high in congestive heart failure patients. Strategies are required to assess and diagnose these mental illnesses to establish early treatment which may foster multidisciplinary health care team approach and interventions that address the psychological burden.
The present study represents a maiden attempt to develop and evaluate a combined hemorrhagic septicemia (HS) and mastitis vaccine in cows and buffaloes. The study was compartmentalized into two phases. In phase I (laboratory settings), isolates of Pasteurella multocida, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus agalactiae recovered from field cases of HS and mastitis were scrutinized for virulence/pathogenicity and immunogenicity in laboratory animals. Bacterin- toxoids of S. aureus and Str. agalactiae were blended with prepared antigen of P. multocida, Montanide® ISA 201 VG, thimerosal and sodium azide to prepare combined HS- mastitis vaccine that was evaluated for sterility, safety and side effects underin vitro conditions/in cattle, buffaloes and mice. A challenge-protection assay conducted in immunized mice indicated 100% survival of challenged mice. The vaccine was physically stable in terms of pH, sedimentation, color, appearance, and syringibility for 6 months observation period at 37°C. In Phase II (field evaluation), the combined vaccine was evaluated in cows, buffaloes and calves. To this end, a total of 70 S. aureus and Str. agalactiae free lactating buffaloes (n=45) and cows (n=25), 50 lactating cows (n=25) and buffaloes (n=25) positive for S. aureus/Str. agalactiae and dairy calves (buffalo calves n=70; cow calves n=50) aged up to 1 year were treated with 2 doses of combined HS-mastitis vaccine at 21 day interval and evaluated (where relevant) for 6 months in terms of ELISA based antibody titers against P. multocida, S. aureus and Str. agalactiae, incidence of HS, local and systemic reactions, incidence and prevalence of S. aureus and Str. agalactiae mastitis, severity of mastitis, milk somatic cell count, milk yield, cost effectiveness and vaccine efficacy. ELISA based antibody titers against P. multocida, S. aureus and Str. agalactiae were higher in vaccinated groups than in un-vaccinated groups. Two cases of HS were recorded in vaccinated animals vis-à-vis 7 cases in un-vaccinated animals. Incidence of S. aureus and Str. agalactiae over 180 days in vaccinated and un-vaccinated cows and buffaloes initially cultural –ve for these pathogens was 3 and 10, respectively; the corresponding figures in groups initially culture +ve for these pathogens being 2 and 12, respectively. Cumulative mean somatic cell counts in vaccinated groups were significantly lower (P>0.05) than those in respective unvaccinated controls. Milk yield was significantly higher (P<0.05) in vaccinated cows and buffaloes than in un-vaccinated controls. Mastitis severity scores were lower in vaccinated groups than in un-vaccinated controls. The vaccine tested had a vaccine efficacy 84.78 and 90.25% against HS and mastitis, respectively with a financial benefit worth Rs 2,060,300. In sum, Montanide® adjuvanted combined HS-mastitis vaccine had preventative role against HS and both preventative and curative role against S. aureus and Str. agalactiae associated mastitis. In view of the preliminary nature of the study, additional work involving much larger number of cows, buffaloes and calves is clearly warranted.