A wide clinical spectrum of cutaneous ADRs ranging from mild maculopapular rash to serious toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) were observed. The incidence of life threatening cutaneous ADRs like SJS and TEN were found to be higher compared to studies published abroad. Antibiotics were the most commonly implicated drugs. A higher number of cutaneous ADRs were found to newer drugs like cephalosporins and fluroquinolones compared to previous studies.

No abstract

Objectives:Pharmacists are one of the crucial focal points for health care in the community. They have tremendous outreach to the public as pharmacies are often the first-port-of-call. With the increase of ready-to-use drugs, the main health-related activity of a pharmacist today is to assure the quality of dispensing, a key element to promote rational medicine use.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study of 200 pharmacies, 100 each in various residential (R) and commercial (C) areas of Bengaluru, was conducted using a prevalidated questionnaire administered to the chief pharmacist or the person-in-charge by the investigators.Results:Dispensing without prescription at pharmacies was 45% of the total dispensing encounters and significantly higher (χ2 = 15.2, P < 0.001, df = 1) in pharmacies of residential areas (46.64%) as compared to commercial areas (43.64%). Analgesics were the most commonly dispensed drugs (90%) without prescription. Only 31% insisted on dispensing full course of antibiotics prescribed and 19% checked for completeness of prescription before dispensing. Although 97% of the pharmacies had a refrigerator, 31% of these did not have power back-up. Only about 50% of the pharmacists were aware of Schedule H.Conclusion:This study shows a high proportion of dispensing encounters without prescription, a higher rate of older prescription refills, many irregularities in medication counseling and unsatisfactory storage practices. It also revealed that about half of the pharmacists were unaware of Schedule H and majority of them about current regulations. Hence, regulatory enforcement and educational campaigns are a prerequisite to improve dispenser's knowledge and dispensing practices.

Background: Normal weight of organ is one of the most important indicators to discern between normal and abnormal in the departments of Anatomy, Pathology also as in clinical medicine. Objective of the study was to examine the normal adult internal organ weights and their relationship with age, gender, body height. Methods: The present study included 100 autopsy cases from the mortuary of Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad from May 2012 to September 2013. The subjects were selected as per inclusion and exclusion criteria to avoid variations arising out of pathology. The ages ranged from 10 to 60 years and out of which 29 were females and 71 were males. The organs studied were heart and liver. Results: The weight of organs with mean+standard deviation (SD) was represented for males and females respectively; heart 294+48 / 287+44gms, liver 1404 + 191/ 1283+ 169gms. Conclusions: A positive relationship was found between organ weight with age and body height in both males and females. Organ weights in males were comparatively higher than females. Cite this article as: Deepika K, Sushma M, Kumar DV. Study of the weights of human heart and liver in relation with age, gender and body height. Int J Res Med Sci 2017;5:3469-73.

INTRODUCTIONDrugs therapy in elderly is challenging, because of pharmacokinetic changes of ageing which often results in drug-drug interactions leading to disproportionately high rate of ADRs. ADRs are responsible for 3%-13% of all the admissions and complicate 5%-20% of hospital stay in patients aged more than 65 years.1 Age-related polypathology often demands multiple medications giving rise to polypharmacy among elderly. Polypharmacy increases the risk of drug-related events such as falls, confusion and functional decline in elderly. Polypharmacy, in-turn increases the risks of negative health outcomes like drug interactions, ADRs, hospital admission leading to economic burden. Previous studies have reported depression, cumulative co-morbidity; inappropriate prescribing practice and selected chronic conditions like diabetes mellitus and congestive heart failure as the Positive correlates of polypharmacy.2 The other factors negatively influence polypharmacy were identified to be smoking, alcohol consumption, cognitive ability, physical status and ADRs before admission. 3Identifying the predictors of polypharmacy in elderly will help to frame interventional strategies to rationalize the prescribing practices.Psychological well-being is considered as one of the important index of successful aging. Elderly population often succumbs to depression because of multiple medical ailments or individual's self-perceived health. 4 The association of depression and polypharmacy appears to be bidirectional. Depression was found to be a main ABSTRACT Background: Polypharmacy is a reliable indicator of irrational prescribing particularly among elderly. Polypharmacy increases the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) exponentially imposing higher economic burden. Addressing and evaluating the prescribing practices in elderly will rationalize the drug utilization leading to improvement in quality of health care. The present study was taken to evaluate the determinants of polypharmacy and its association with depression, defined as a 15 item geriatric depression scale (GDS) >6, in elderly patients. Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted at department of medicine, Victoria hospital, Bengaluru 100 patients aged 60 and above years was enrolled. Relevant data regarding patients' demographic details, smoking and alcohol consumption, medical diagnosis and drug details were collected. Geriatric Depression Scale was used to diagnose depression. Results: Out of 100 patients screened, 36% were males and 64% were females. Polypharmacy was noted in 73% of the elderly, of which 43% had cumulative co morbidity (≥4 diagnoses). 68% were found to have a GDS score of ≥6, which corresponded to Depression. Patients with depression (GDS score ≥6) had 1.54 (OR-1.54, 95% CI-0.59-4.01) times more risk of encountering polypharmacy (≥4 drugs). Cumulative co-morbidity (OR-1.52, 95% CI-1.08-2.11, p <0.05) was identified as an independent correlate of polypharmacy. Conclusions: Increasing age, males, Cumulative comorbidity of ≥4 diagnoses and ...