Objectives: Safe disposal of expired, unwanted, or unused medications by the consumers is a major challenge worldwide. The knowledge, attitude and practice of consumers on disposal of unused and expired medicines were assessed. Methods: Data on demographics, educational, occupation, socioeconomic status, drugs purchased, number of unused or expired drugs were obtained from medicine consumers. Knowledge, attitude and practice of safe disposal methods, number, most common class, dosage forms of leftover drugs and the reasons were assessed using a questionnaire. Effect of educational, occupational, socioeconomic status on purchase of drugs, awareness on the consequences of improper disposal of drugs were assessed using chi square test. Results: Of 145 participants, 46 % were females and 54% were males with a mean age of 36.76 + 13.60 years. 66 participants stated 1-5 drugs as leftover at home and the reason for possession of unused medicines as self-discontinuation after the condition was resolved. Most common drugs left unused at home were analgesics and the dosage form was tablets. 76.6% were unaware of the consequences of improper drug disposal. 65.5% stated the acceptable method to dispose medicines as collection of unused drug by Municipality. Majority (88%) disposed unused or expired medicines in the garbage. There was a statistically significant association between educational, occupational and socio economic status, purchase of drugs and awareness on consequences of improper drug disposal (P<0.05). Conclusion: Most of the participants had leftover of unused or expired drugs in their households and there was lack of awareness on safe disposal of medicines.

Background The study aimed at the formulation of atorvastatin-loaded chitosan-hydroxyapatite composite bioscaffolds and determination of its wound-healing activity on animals. Hydroxyapatite was prepared from the biowaste eggshell cross-linked with calcium chloride and loaded with atorvastatin. The prepared bioscaffold was characterized for physicomechanical properties, morphological studies, differential scanning calorimetry, and in vitro drug release study. In vitro antibacterial activity was determined using the agar diffusion method, and in vivo wound-healing activity was evaluated using the excision wound-healing model. Results Results exhibited that bioscaffold containing 1:1 ratio of chitosan to hydroxyapatite (Hac1) with calcium chloride of 1.5 g (Hbc3) and loaded with atorvastatin (Hcc3) showed effective physicomechanical properties, i.e., thickness (60 μm), swelling behavior (68%), folding endurance (101), tensile strength (0.0283 Mpa), and burst time (1.9 s). Hcc3 scaffold was highly effective and exhibited the highest zone of inhibition against Bacillus subtilis (3.2 cm), Staphylococcus aureus (3.0 cm), Escherichia coli (3.5 cm), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2.7 cm). The group treated with Hcc3 scaffold was significant in healing wounds by showing 100% wound contraction. Conclusion It can be concluded from the study that atorvastatin-loaded chitosan-hydroxyapatite composite bioscaffolds may be a significantly more effective scaffold in healing excision wounds.

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Background: Nurses and paramedical staff face a high risk of infection due to excessive COVID-19 exposure. In this study, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were measured among nurses and paramedical staff, with an aim to determine the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and the characteristics associated with it.Methods: After obtaining IEC Clearance and informed consent from the study subjects, a cross sectional study was conducted from August to September, 2020. Data was collected from 127 nurses and paramedical staff, Government general hospital, Kurnool, selected by simple random sampling, using a semi-structured questionnaire and chemiluminescence immunoassay test for which IgM antibodies cut off value was 10 AU/ml. Test results and participant characteristics were recorded and data was analysed by MS Excel 13. Results: Among the study participants, seroprevalence was found to be 2.4%. Majority were females (66.9%). Most of them were aged 20-29 (24.4%) followed by 40-49 (19.7%) and 50-59 (10.2%) years. 56.7% were working in COVID wards. 42.5% worked in 3-6 hour shifts.Conclusions: The present study did show a low prevalence of IgM among nurses and paramedical staff. This might be an indicator that the personal protection measures were effective. Further it can provide an overview of the current seroprevalence of the health care workers.

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