Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder due to relative or absolute lack of insulin, resulting in elevated blood glucose levels in association with long-term vascular and neurological complications. Despite the availability of many antidiabetic medicines in the market, diabetes and its related complications continue to be major medical problems. The currently used hypoglycaemic drugs in the treatment of diabetes are not completely effective and are associated with adverse effects both in the short and long run. Some studies have reported many different medicinal properties of mulberry leaves (Morus alba) like neuroprotective property, cardioprotective property, anti-depressant property. It is used as an anti-inflammatory, diuretic, expectorant and antidiabetic in traditional Chinese medicine. So this study is undertaken to evaluate the hypoglycaemic effect of aqueous extract of leaves of Morus alba in Alloxan induced diabetic albino rats. OBJECTIVES To study the hypoglycaemic activity of Morus alba in Alloxan induced model of diabetes in albino rats. To compare the hypoglycaemic activity of Morus alba with that of standard drug Glibenclamide. METHODSTotal 24 albino rats of either sex weighing 150-200 gms were selected and randomly divided into 4 equal groups containing 6 rats in each group. First group (Non-diabetic control) was given normal saline (0.5 mL). Other 3 groups were induced diabetes by giving Alloxan (150 mg/kg ip). They were subdivided into diabetic control group receiving normal saline (0.5 mL), standard control group receiving Glibenclamide (0.5 mg/kg body weight) and test group receiving Morus alba extract (600 mg/kg). Fasting blood sugar level was estimated on day 0, 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 by using glucometer. Data were statistically analysed by Tukey's Post Hoc test and ANOVA. RESULTSMorus alba at the above doses significantly reduced blood glucose levels as compared to control group (p<0.01), but as compared to standard drugs (Glibenclamide) it is statistically insignificant (p>0.05). CONCLUSIONThe result suggests that Morus alba leaves have hypoglycaemic activity.

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Background: Schizophrenia is one of most serious chronic psychiatric disorder, which affects about 1% of population. Treatment of schizophrenia comprises of typical antipsychotics and or atypical antipsychotics. Typical antipsychotics like haloperidol have extrapyramidal side effects which limit their use in chronic cases. Atypical antipsychotics though have better treatment response, they have metabolic side effects like hypercholesteremia, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycaemia. As there is paucity of data in Indian population the present study has been taken up to compare the metabolic side effects of risperidone and olanzapine in the treatment of schizophrenic patients in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: It was a comparative study conducted on 60 patients of Schizophrenia for one year in a tertiary care hospital. The study subjects were randomly assigned into 2 groups of 30 patients each, where group 1 were treated with atypical antipsychotic drug risperidone and group 2 with Olanzapine and both groups received the treatment for one year. Metabolic side effects like hypercholesteremia, hypertriglyceridemia and hyperglycaemia were evaluated and compared over a period of one year.Results: Both risperidone and olanzapine were associated with comparable baseline to endpoint increase in metabolic side effects. However, risperidone treated subjects had significantly less metabolic side effects compared to olanzapine.Conclusions: Apart from total cholesterol and triglycerides, other metabolic side effects were less in risperidone treated patients than olanzapine treated patients.

It is characterised by positive symptoms like delusions, hallucinations, grossly disorganised thought, agitation and negative symptoms include alogia, flattened affect, anhedonia and avolition. 2 There are several neurotransmitters like dopamine (D), serotonin (5HT), acetylcholine (Ach) and glutamate imbalances are being implicated in its pathophysiology. 2 Disease course is variable and mostly chronic, characterized by on-going functional impairment and the frequent recurrence of acute psychotic symptoms. 3It is a chronic debilitating disease with significant morbidity and mortality that often requires antipsychotic pharmacotherapy for life. The treatment of schizophrenia remains an enormous challenge. Typical antipsychotic medications like haloperidol, chlorpromazine and trifluoperazine are shown to suppress the acute psychotic ABSTRACT Background: Schizophrenia is a chronic debilitating disease with significant morbidity and mortality that often requires either typical or atypical antipsychotic pharmacotherapy. Atypical antipsychotic drugs are preferred over typical because of lower risk of extra pyramidal side effects. As there is paucity of data in Indian population, the present study was taken up to evaluate the efficacy of haloperidol and risperidone in the treatment of schizophrenia. Methods: It was a comparative study conducted on 60 patients of Schizophrenia for one year in a tertiary care hospital. The study subjects were randomly assigned into 2 groups of 30 patients each, where group 1 were treated with atypical antipsychotic drug risperidone and group 2 with typical antipsychotic drug Haloperidol and both groups received the treatment for one year. Efficacy was measured using positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), clinical global impression -severity of illness (CGI-S), clinical global impression -improvement (CGI-I) scales. Results: Both haloperidol and risperidone were associated with comparable baseline to endpoint reduction in symptom severity. However, risperidone treated subjects had significantly greater decrease in symptom severity as measured by PANSS score and total score, CGI-S scale. However, there is no significant difference between two groups in terms of CGI-S score. Conclusions: The reduction in positive, negative and general scores in risperidone treated patients were significant with that of haloperidol treated patients.

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