Animals like plants are also medicinal agents for the prevention and cure of different health problems all over the world practically in about all human cultures. The concept of zootherapy is very old and has strong evidence of the medicinal use of animal resources. Different animals their body parts and preparations are used in folk medicines. Zootherapy reveals that medical practitioners have always considered animals as a source of surprising and numerous therapeutic effects. A high diversity of animals, their parts and derivative products are used and this is a heritage that could constitute a fundamental step for the discovery and isolation of natural extracts and new and low-cost alternative drugs from animals. About 12% of people in the world are affected by different types of urolithiasis and the recurrence rate in female is 47-60% and in male is 70-80%. According to WHO 75% population rely on traditional medicines for the prevention and cure of different diseases. Hence there is a need to concentrate on all folk natural products effective in urolithiasis for their pharmacological evaluation, isolation of single drug molecule responsible for anti-urolithiatic activity to developed suitable formulations used against urolithiasis.

Off-label drug prescribing (OLDP) must be based on strong scientific evidence to make sure that patients get the optimum therapeutic outcomes. Adherence to the prerequisites is determined by the physicians’ attitude and knowledge. In this context, the present study was conducted with the goal of investigating psychiatrists’ perceptions of the use of OLDP in their clinical practice. A total of 14 psychiatrists were interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. Thematic content analysis was performed. Data saturation was achieved at the 12th interview. Six major themes and fifteen subthemes emerged from qualitative interviews. Among the major themes were knowledge and concepts about the off-label drugs, attitude and current practice of prescribing off-label drugs, and rationale of prescribing and suggestions for reducing the use of off-label drugs. Almost all of the respondents interviewed provided detailed comments concerning the OLDP concept, depicted an optimistic approach and deemed that OLDP is quite common in psychiatry. Off-label usage of benzodiazepines such as clonazepam, diazepam and lorazepam in mania, depression, and obsessive–compulsive disorder were commonly reported. It was observed that the majority of the respondents did not inform the patients before prescribing off-label drugs. The present findings revealed that respondents had awareness; however, they depicted diverse attitudes towards prescribing off-label drugs. Further education and sensitization in regions with impoverished knowledge would certainly assist in preventing the risks associated with the use of OLDP.

Cognitive enhancers (CEs) encompass a wide range of drugs, including prescription medications for attention deficit disorders and pharmacological compounds for cognitive enhancement. It is well-documented that the students are the leading cohort of CEs users. Exploring how healthcare professionals perceive the use of CEs for academic accomplishments is significant to understand their encouragement of CE use. Hence, the purpose of the current study was to look at healthcare professionals' attitudes and perceived understanding about the usage of CEs in academic contexts. The study was a quantitative cross-sectional research design conducted in different healthcare and academic settings of Karachi. The respondents were approached either through social media platforms or the official email addresses of their working organizations. Data were collected through a web link of an online questionnaire that included four sections; inquiring about the respondents' demographics characteristics, their knowledge about CEs, their attitudes towards the use and impact of CEs, and their inclination to use a hypothetical prescription-only CE. The response rate of the study was 73.3%. The majority of the respondents negated to permit university students to using CEs for cognitive boost (n ¼ 360, 67.1%), to concentrate (n ¼ 406, 75.7%), to increase vigilance (n ¼ 394, 73.5%) or to mitigate the effects of other medicines (n ¼ 312, 58.2%). The pharmacists were more likely to refute that using CEs by the students is safe (pharmacists 10.8% vs. physicians 8.3%, p¼<0.001), beneficial (pharmacists 12.7% vs. physicians 5.3%, p¼<0.001), or necessary (pharmacists 17.6% vs. physicians 12.8%, p¼<0.001). The major reasons for not encouraging the use of CEs were fear of misuse (n ¼ 510, 95.1%), safety concerns (n ¼ 495, 92.3%), and their consideration for CE as unnecessary medical intervention (n ¼ 441, 82.2%). The findings indicated that overall, respondents have a clear consensus of not letting university students use CEs for cognitive improvement or any other purpose implying that cognitive enhancement is not yet a common or approved medical practice by the healthcare professionals in Pakistan.

A large number of people suffer from gall stone worldwide and this problem is now being increased significantly due to the malnutrition, changes in living style, lack of exercise and conditions i.e. industrialization. Medicinal plants are used from centuries due to their cultural acceptability, efficacy, safety and fewer side effects as compared to modern synthetic medicines. The aim of this review is to gather the information of the plants utilized in various parts and societies of the world against gallstones. The information provided is not only useful for common people but also for the scientific community for further phytochemical, toxicological and pharmacological studies which may lead to discovery of new, more effective and safer medicines for gallstones.