Study Design: Randomized controlled 2-group, pretest-posttest, multivariate study of patients with shoulder musculoskeletal disorders. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the immediate effect of soft tissue mobilization (STM) with proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) to increase glenohumeral external rotation at 45°of shoulder abduction and overhead reach. Background: It is postulated that limitation in glenohumeral external rotation, when measured at 45°of shoulder abduction, represents subscapularis muscle flexibility deficits and is associated with the inability to fully reach overhead. No research, however, is available to demonstrate whether intervention strategies intended to improve subscapularis flexibility and glenohumeral external rotation range of motion at 45°of shoulder abduction will improve a patient's ability to reach overhead. Methods and Measures: Twenty patients (10 males, 10 females; age range, 21-83 years) with limited glenohumeral external rotation and overhead reach of 1 year duration or less served as subjects. The subjects were randomly assigned to a treatment group, which consisted of soft tissue mobilization to the subscapularis and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation to the shoulder rotators, or a control group. Goniometric measurements of glenohumeral external rotation at 45°a bduction and overhead reach were taken preintervention and immediately postintervention for the treatment group or at prerest and postrest periods for the control group. Results: The treatment group improved by a mean of 16.4°(95% confidence interval [CI], 12.5°-20.3°) of glenohumeral external rotation, as compared to less than a 1°gain (95% CI, Ϫ0.2°-2.0°) in the control group (PϽ.0005). Overhead reach in the treatment group improved by a mean of 9.6 cm (95% CI, 5.2-14.0 cm) in comparison to a mean gain of 2.4 cm (95% CI, Ϫ0.8-5.6 cm) for the control group (P = .009). Conclusion: These findings suggest that a single intervention session of STM and PNF was effective for producing immediate improvements in glenohumeral external rotation and overhead reach in patients with shoulder disorders. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2003;33:713-718.

Traditional medicines, including Chinese herbal formulations, can serve as the source of potential new drugs, and initial research focuses on the isolation of bioactive lead compound(s). The development of novel plant-derived natural products and their analogs for anticancer activity details efforts to synthesize new derivatives based on bioactivity- and mechanism of action-directed isolation and characterization coupled with rational drug design - based modification. Also, the anticancer activity of certain natural products and their analogs can be enhanced by synthesizing new derivatives based on active pharmacophore models; drug resistance and solubility and metabolic limitations can be overcome by appropriate molecular modifications; and new biological properties or mechanisms of action can be added by combining other functional groups or molecules. Preclinical screening for in vitro human cell line panels and selected in vivo xenograft testing then identifies the most promising drug development targets.

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A simple and sensitive high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) method has been developed for the quantitative estimation of gatifloxacin and ornidazole in its combined dosage forms. Gatifloxacin and ornidazole were chromatographed on silica Gel 60 F254 TLC plate using n-butanol:methanol:ammonia (6 M) (8:1:1.5 v/v) as the mobile phase and scanned at 302 nm using a Camag TLC Scanner 3. The Rf value of gatifloxacin and ornidazole was found to be 0.21 ± 0.02 and 0.76 ± 0.04, respectively. The linearity of gatifloxacin and ornidazole were in the range of 100 -500 ng/spot and 250 -1250 ng/spot, respectively. The limit of detection was found to be 40 ng/spot for gatifloxacin and 100 ng/spot for ornidazole. The proposed method was applied for the determination of gatifloxacin and ornidazole in combined dosage forms.

Objective:Present investigation was undertaken to study the effectiveness of hydroalcoholic extract of roots of Boerhaavia diffusa in experimental benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in rats using various animal models.Materials and Methods:BPH in rats was induced by subcutaneous injection of testosterone (5 mg/kg) daily for 28 days. Rats were divided in to five groups (six rats each). A negative control group received arachis oil (1 ml/kg s.c.) and four groups were injected testosterone. These four groups were further divided into reference group (finasteride 1 mg/kg), model group (testosterone), study group A (B. diffusa 100 mg/kg), and study group B (B. diffusa 250 mg/kg). On the 29th day, rats were sacrificed and body weight, prostate weight, bladder weight, and serum testosterone level were measured and histological studies were carried out. Further in vitro analysis of B. diffusa extract on contractility of isolated rat vas deferens and prostate gland, produced by exogenously administered agonists were carried out. All results were expressed as mean ± SEM. 0 Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance followed by Tukey's test.Results:B. diffusa (100 mg/kg) treatment for 28 days resulted in significant inhibition of prostate growth (P < 0.05). Drug extract did not have significant change on serum testosterone level. Histopathological analysis of prostate gland supported above results. Results of in vitro experiment suggest that extracts had attenuated the contractile responses of isolated vas deferens and prostate gland to exogenously applied agonists.Conclusion:The results suggested that treatment with B. diffusa may improve symptoms of disease and inhibit the increased prostate size. In vitro study implies that herbal extracts has the machinery to produce beneficial effect on prostatic smooth muscle, which would relieve the urinary symptoms of disease. B. diffusa could be a potential source of new treatment of prostatic hyperplasia.

a b s t r a c tObjective: The objective of present work was to prepare a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) between chitosan (polycation) & pectin (polyanion) and to develop enteric coated tablets for colon delivery using the PEC. Methodology: The PECs were prepared using different concentrations of chitosan and pectin. Drug loaded enteric coated tablets were prepared by wet granulation method using PEC to sustain the release at colon and coating was done with Eudragit S 100 to prevent the early release of the drug in stomach and intestine. Two independent variable, % PEC (chitosan/pectin) and % coating were optimized by 3 2 full factorial design. Statistical model were also used to supplement the optimization. DSC was performed to confirm the interaction between the polyions. Developed formulations were evaluated for physical appearance, weight variation, thickness, hardness, friability, % swelling, assay, in-vitro and ex-vivo drug release studies to investigate the PEC's ability to deliver the drug to colon. Ex-vivo release study using rat caecal content was also carried out on optimized formulation. Results and discussion: DSC results confirmed chitosan/pectin interaction and subsequent formation of PEC. The optimized formulation containing 1.1% of PEC and 3% of coating showed highest swelling and release in alkaline pH mechanism of which was found to be microbial enzyme dependent degradation established by ex-vivo study using rat caecal content.

The present study focuses on the formulation of ethosomal gel of ropinirole hydrochloride (ropinirole HCl), an anti-Parkinsonian drug, for delivery as a carrier for transdermal application. The ethosomes were prepared using different concentrations of phospholipids (2-5 % w/v), ethanol (20-50 % w/v), ropinirole HCl (5 % w/v) and water. They were optimized using 3(2) full factorial designs to study the effect of independent variables, concentrations of ethanol and lecithin on dependent variables, entrapment efficiency and in-vitro drug release at 24 hrs. The drug release profile exhibited Higuchi's and zero order kinetics. From the regression analysis, it was observed that independent variables had significant effect on response variables. Formulations were optimized using contour plot and response surface plot. The optimized formulation was found to be RS10 containing 30 % w/v ethanol and 4% w/v lecithin. The optimized formulation was evaluated for assay, particle characteristics, zeta potential, skin retention and stability. Ethosomal gel was prepared by incorporation of optimized ethosomal suspension into gel base. The ethosomal gel was characterized for physical appearance, pH, content uniformity, rheological behaviour, skin-retention, in-vitro and in-vivo drug release and stability. From the results it can fairly be concluded that ethosomes are capable of delivering ropinirole hydrochloride into systemic circulation by transdermal route. The amounts thus delivered are also equitable to those delivered orally and are delivered at a rate slow enough to achieve longer blood levels.

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