Objective: To study the profile of the patient, the pattern of their illness and their drug use patterns attending to general ward of quaternary care hospital.Methods: Prospective observational study of 2 mo was performed at neurology unit of the quaternary care private hospital, India. Patients aged above 20 y with at least one neurological drug in prescription were included to observe their demographic profile, illness pattern and drug use. The data was analysed and summarised as frequency and percentage using microsoft excel and presented as tables.Results: Among 60 patient that were enrolled, more were males (N=33, 55%) than females (N=27, 45%) and within the age group of 60-70 y (N=22, 36.67%). The majority of patients were diagnosed with strokes (N= 48, 80%) where the cerebrovascular accident was most common (N=16, 26.66%). Males (N=29, 60.4%) were more prone to get stroke than females (N=19,39.6%). An average number of drugs per prescription was 5.7, the percentage of antibiotics, generic drugs and injections were 36.6%, 0.05% and 44.14% respectively. A total of 28 different drug classes with 61 different drugs was utilised. Fourteen drug classes had been accounted for 90% of drugs utilisation. Clopidegrol+Aspirin have frequently used the drug. Conclusion:Most people attending neurology unit were elderly. Stroke occupies 1 st list for the burden. Average drugs for neurology visit remain high. Wide types of drug classes are utilised in neurological wards.

Background: Poisoning is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in Nepal and also a major public health problem worldwide. It needs specific epidemiological surveillance to determine the extent and pattern of poisoning of a place, and to take preventive measures. Hence this study is aimed to explore the demographic, etiological, and clinical characteristics of poisoning cases of MMTH and to assess the effect of variables such as age, sex, and agent of poisoning frequency.Methods: A retrospective, descriptive, unicentric and semi-quantitative study was conducted in a year of 2074 at Manmohan memorial teaching hospital after institution review committee approval in customised data collection form. Data from Baishakh 2070 (April 2013) to Kartik 2074 (October 2017) were reviewed. The data was entered in SPSS 16 version for analysis.Result: Among 144 patients, poisoning was common among people from the age group of 15-25 years and 26-40 years. The females were more vulnerable than male. The male to female ratio was 1:1.4. Married females (32%) and married males (31%) were more vulnerable than unmarried ones. Poisoning incidence was found more during night (40.3%) and midnight (18.80%). 81.2% of poisoning cases were found with suicidal intention. Organophosphorous poisoning was abundant with 75 cases.Conclusion: This study reveals that OP poisoning is most common for self-harm with females and young at more risk. Therefore, awareness among youths is a must.JMMIHS.2018;4(1):55-65

Background: There is increased interest on cost utilisation of psychotropic drugs in recent years. Objective of this study was to perform cost and generic prescription analysis of psychotropics in psychiatric outpatient department at tertiary care teaching hospital.Methods: This was cross sectional, observational and uni-centric study of 6 month duration which was performed at Psychiatric Outpatient Department at one of the tertiary care hospital, Karnataka India. Cost analysis of prescriptions containing at least one psychotropic drug was performed based on cost/defined daily dose method from hospital perspective. Direct drug cost of psychiatric illness per day and pattern of generic prescribing were also studied. The data was analysed & summarised as mean, frequency, percentage (%), standard deviation (SD), and chi square test( at 95% confidence level) as appropriate using Microsoft excel and Graph Pad InStat statistical software.Results: We observed 15 different types of psychotropics among 101 prescriptions that was reviewed. Most expensive psychotropic was Divalproex whereas Clonazepam was the cheapest one. Most money was spent by hospital on Sertraline (24.19%) and least on Lithium (1.92%). Most expensive therapeutic categories were antidepressants (32.39%) followed by mood stabilisers (27.06%), antipsychotics (24.77%) and sedative/hypnotics (15.76%). Among different antidepressants; Amitriptyline was cheaper option and Mirtazepine was expensive. Likewise Quetiapine was expensive and Risperidone was cheaper among antipsychotics. Zolpidem and Divalproex were expensive sedative/hypnotic and mood stabilisers respectfully. Most expensive psychiatric illness was found to be bipolar disorder (Rs 20.53±12.84). 19 out of 147 were prescribed with generic names.Conclusion: The cost burden due to psychiatric drugs is high. Expensive and cheaper psychotropic for psychiatric OPD were Divalproex and Clonazepam respectively. Expensive therapeutic category was found to be antidepressants. From hospital perspective much money was spent on Sertraline and less on Lithium respectively. Similarly high cost of illness was observed in bipolar disorder and less in dissociative disorder. Generic name prescribing is very less.JMMIHS.2018;4(1):43-54

Alopecia is common and most frequently complaint dermatological disorder since the time immemorial. Various herbal and allopathic formulations are reported to have hair growth promoting activity. Minoxidil and Finasteride are only US FDA approved drugs for alopecia and hair loss. Maharanga bicolor and Hibiscus rosa sinensis are two ethnomedicinal herbs commonly used for hair growth promotion. Present study was conducted to determine hair growth promoting activity of petroleum ether extract of M. bicolor and H. rosa sinensis in Aloe vera gel. Minoxidil Sulphate and Different formulations of petroleum ether extract of M. bicolor and H. rosa sinensis was formulated in Aloe vera gel and applied to denuated area of rats for 30 days. Hair growth pattern, hair growth initiation, hair growth completion and length of hair was measured. M. bicolor (2%) formulation shows shortest hair growth initiation time on 6 th day compared to 11 th day in blank sample. Formulation containing 2% of each extract have shortest hair growth completion time on 19 th day of sample application and showed potent hair growth pattern observed by blind investigation. The result suggests that petroleum ether extract of M. bicolor and H. rosa sinensis possess good hair growth promoting activity.