Background: Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women. India along with United States and China collectively account for one third of the global burden. The present study reports the clinico-epidemiological data of our patient population. This may help in better understanding of the disease in our population and also form ground for conducting further breast cancer research in India. Methods: The study was conducted at an apex teaching and medical research institution in India from September 2013 to April 2015 as a retrospective review of prospectively collected data of breast cancer patients. The socio-demographic characteristics, reproductive risk factors, clinical presentation, TNM staging and histopathological characteristics for breast cancer in these patients were recorded. The data was recorded on an Xcel spreadsheet and analyzed using IBM SPSS 21. Results:The study comprised of 1310 breast cancer patients with males comprising 1.1%. The median age of presentation was 47 years, and menarche 14 years. Most of women were married and multiparous. More than half of the women were postmenopausal at presentation. All patients were symptomatic at presentation with median duration of symptom of 5 months and median lump size of 5 cm. Most common stage at presentation was Stage II and most common histopathology was Invasive ductal carcinoma. 61.9% tumors were hormone receptor positive. Triple negative cancers formed one third of all tumors. Conclusion: Breast cancer in the Indian scenario is a disease of younger woman who lack the characteristic reproductive and demographic risk factors. This calls for a need to study the clinico-demographic risk factors and characteristics of our own population.

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Background:: Soluble films prepared using polymeric matrices have gained prominence in drug delivery because of its multifarious merits. They are emerging as a momentous technology for designing precision medicines using printing technology, wherein the drugs, proteins/peptides and hormones in printing ink solution can be printed on placebo films targeted for specific age group dosage administration. Advances made in 3D printing technology in biomanufacturing for sophisticated tailor-made scaffolds of bone and tissue have further given impetus to digitally-controlled depositing of materials to create freeform geometries in the field of dosage form development. Objective: The patent expiry of a significant number of existing chemical entities is an encouraging factor for the possible market potential of these films as a novel drug delivery system through the oral route, topical route and ocular route. Most prominent amongst them is the oral route simply because of its substantial advantages over other pre-existing oral dosage forms. Method: Oral soluble films can be tailored for both local action in the buccal cavity as well as for systemic action to other parts of the body by direct absorption into the systemic circulation through the buccal mucosa. Depending upon the material attributes of its polymeric components, they can be targeted for buccal, sublingual, ocular or topical administration and can also be loaded inside hard gelatin capsule shells for administration into the gastrointestinal tract. Polymeric oral film technology has been exploited to address gaps in varied therapeutic segments including pain and inflammation management to provide instant relief, anti-emesis following chemotherapy, central nervous system disorders due to ease of administration to the caregivers and patient compliance, cardiovascular diseases due to faster onset of action, cancer therapy with enhanced safety and efficacy due to direct systemic absorption bypassing the first pass metabolism effect. Conclusion: This review summarizes the research works done to address gaps in varied therapeutic areas with an emphasis on critical material attributes of its polymeric components and the critical process parameters to be considered for manufacturing robust good quality medicinal films.

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Since ancient times, plants have been helping human beings to treat various ailments. Several medicinal plants are commonly being used in the management of diabetes particularly in the developing countries where resources are insufficient. Diabetes mellitus is metabolic disorders which has become very common with almost about 2.8% of the morbidity worldwide. In the present review, a special emphasis is given on some commonly used Ayurvedic medicinal plants having hypoglycemic properties and their anti-diabetic preparations. The review presents information regarding the scientific name (genus-species), family, preparation used, the evidence of hypoglycemic activity, the active agents and safety profile. This review could be useful to researchers, clinicians, pharmacists as well as common man from the society as a basic information for further development of anti-diabetic herbal remedies.