Objective: The present study was aimed to assess the drug prescribing pattern and analyze the prescribing pattern using Beers criteria among elderly patients aged over 60 years. Methods:The present study was a prospective observational study conducted in the outpatient Department of General Medicine in a tertiary care hospital for the duration of 3 months. Institutional Ethics Committee approval was taken prior to the initiation of the study. Written informed consent was taken from each study subject. A total of 287 subjects who were aged more than 60 years recruited into the study. The data were collected in a pre-structured case record form. Subjects' demographic details, medical conditions, and drugs included in prescription their dose; frequency, and duration were noted in the case record form.Results: Among 287 subjects, 91.64% subjects belonged to 61-70 years age group, remaining 8.36% subjects were >71 year older, and 57.14% were males and 42.86% were females. Hypertension (HTN) was the most common cause of attending hospital followed by diabetes mellitus, central nervous system disorders, respiratory, cardiovascular disorders other than HTN, and infectious diseases. A total of 1574 formulations containing 1669 active ingredients and 90 fixed dose drug combinations were prescribed. And only 152 formulations were prescribed from the outside hospital formulary. The average number of drugs per prescription was 5.48±2.00. Among the individual drugs, vitamin B complex was the most commonly prescribed drug. Conclusion:There is a need for more rational prescribing and to form guidelines for safe and effective use of medicines in elderly patients.

The paper presents a detailed study on synthesis and preparation of nanocomposite membranes of sulfonated polyphenylsulfone embedded with carbon nanoball fillers. The effect of various synthesis parameters such as temperature, time, and concentration of the sulfonating agent on sulfonation of polyphenylsulfone and; the production of carbon nanoballs by non catalytic chemical vapour deposition method were investigated. The synthesized carbon nanoball were added to the polyphenylsulfone membrane in order to optimize the mechanical properties of the sulfonated membrane. The successful sulfonation of polymeric membrane and production of carbon nanoballs were confirmed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR) and transmission electron microscopic (TEM) analysis, respectively. Nano composite membranes with varying loading levels from 0.25 wt% to 4 wt% were successfully prepared using ultrasonication technique at varying amplitudes of 20%, 60% and 75%, and simple evaporative casting technique was used to cast the composite membrane. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the addition of carbon nanoballs has significantly increased the thermal stability of sulfonated polyphenylsulfone membrane and all the composite membranes prepared with varying carbon nanoball loading showed similar decomposition profile. The nanocomposites prepared at 60% amplitude produced homogenous membranes; and the membrane with 1.75wt% carbon nanoball loading had high % Resilience and satisfactory water uptake capacity than other membranes. The results confirmed that the addition of carbon nanoballs in low volumes increase the thermal stability and % resilience which are very crucial for fuel cell applications.