Athar Ali Khan

Antibacterial efficacy of the seed extracts of Melia azedarach against some hospital isolated human pathogenic bacterial strains.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the antibacterial potential of the polar and non-polar extracts of the seeds of Melia azedarach (M. azedarach) L. (Meliaceae) against eighteen hospital isolated human pathogenic bacterial strains. METHODS Petrol, benzene, ethyl acetate, methanol, and aqueous extracts at five different concentrations (1, 2, 5, 10 and 15 mg/mL) were evaluated. Disk diffusion method was followed to evaluate the antibacterial efficacy. RESULTS All extracts of the seeds demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against tested pathogens. Among all extracts, ethyl acetate extract revealed the highest inhibition comparatively. The present study also favored the traditional uses reported earlier. CONCLUSIONS Results of this study strongly confirm that the seed extracts of M. azedarach could be effective antibiotics, both in controlling gram-positive and gram-negative human pathogenic infections.

Antibacterial activity of leaves extracts of Trifolium alexandrinum Linn. against pathogenic bacteria causing tropical diseases

OBJECTIVE To investigate antibacterial potential of Trifolium alexandrinum (T. alexandrinum) Linn. against seven gram positive and eleven gram negative hospital isolated human pathogenic bacterial strains responsible for many tropical diseases. METHODS Non-polar and polar extracts of the leaves of T. alexandrinum i.e., hexane, dichloromethane (DCM), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), methanol (MeOH) and aqueous (AQ) extracts at five different concentrations (1, 2, 5, 10 and 15 mg/mL) were prepared to evaluate their antibacterial value. NCCL standards were strictly followed to perform antimicrobial disc susceptibility test using disc diffusion method. RESULTS Polar extracts demonstrated significant antibacterial activity against tested pathogens. EtOAc and MeOH extracts showed maximum antibacterial activity with higher inhibition zone and were found effective against seventeen of the tested pathogens. While AQ plant extract inhibited the growth of sixteen of the test strains. EtOAc and MeOH plant extracts inhibited the growth of all seven gram positive and ten of the gram negative bacterial strains. CONCLUSIONS The present study strongly confirms the effectiveness of crude leaves extracts against tested human pathogenic bacterial strains causing several tropical diseases. Since Egyptian clover is used as a fodder plant, it could be helpful in controlling various infectious diseases associated with cattle as well.

Herbal cure for poisons and poisonous bites from Western Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract Objective To conduct ethnopharmacobotanical field explorations in rural areas of five districts of Uttar Pradesh, India with regard to the folk herbal formulations associated with the management of poisons and poisonous bites. Methods Local traditional healers known as “ Vaidya ” and “ Hakeems ” in the study area were interviewed to gather ethnopharmacobotanical information using a questionnaire attending various medical practices. Results Information on 49 herbal formulations prepared from 39 plant species belonging to 28 plant families in the treatment of poisons and poisonous bites is presented in this scientific communication. Conclusion Present communication revealed that study area is rich in its ethnopharmacobotanical knowledge. The plant species discussed here also encompasses new reports on Chenopodium album, Solanum xanthocarpum, Solanum melongena, Sesamum indicum, Calotropis procera, Coriandrum sativum, Cynodon dactylon, Brassica campestris, Triticum aestivum, Vitis vinifera, Sorgum vulgare and Nerium indicum . This study further concludes that there lies a lot of potential in the Indian herbal repository which should be explored systematically and later subjected to thorough study under the light of latest available scientific research methodologies for the drug standardization and pharmaco-toxicological studies with a view to making cheaper and safer drugs for the benefit of humanity periodically encountered with poisons and poisonous bites.

Bayesian analysis of generalized log-Burr family with R

Log-Burr distribution is a generalization of logistic and extreme value distributions, which are important reliability models. In this paper, Bayesian approach is used to model reliability data for log-Burr model using analytic and simulation tools. Laplace approximation is implemented for approximating posterior densities of the parameters. Moreover, parallel simulation tools are also implemented using ‘LaplacesDemon’ package of R.

Reliability analysis using an exponential power model with bathtub-shaped failure rate function: a Bayes study.

Models with bathtub-shaped hazard function have been widely accepted in the field of reliability and medicine and are particularly useful in reliability related decision making and cost analysis. In this paper, the exponential power model capable of assuming increasing as well as bathtub-shape, is studied. This article makes a Bayesian study of the same model and simultaneously shows how posterior simulations based on Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms can be straightforward and routine in R. The study is carried out for complete as well as censored data, under the assumption of weakly-informative priors for the parameters. In addition to this, inference interest focuses on the posterior distribution of non-linear functions of the parameters. Also, the model has been extended to include continuous explanatory variables and R-codes are well illustrated. Two real data sets are considered for illustrative purposes.