OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study is to explore the student's perspectives toward the interactive lectures as a teaching and learning method in an integrated curriculum.MATERIALS AND METHODS:This cross-sectional study was conducted among 1st, 2nd and 3rd year male medical students (n = 121). A self-administered questionnaire based on the Visual, Auditory, Reader, Kinesthetic learning styles, learning theories, and role of feedback in teaching and learning on five-point Likert rating scale was used. The questionnaire was constructed after extensive literature review.RESULTS:There was an 80% response rate in this study. The total number of undergraduate medical students responded in the study were n = 97, 34 students of 1st year, n = 30 students of 2nd year and n = 33 student were in 3rd year, the mean scores of the student responses were calculated using Independent samples Kruskal–Wallis. There was no significant difference in the responses of the students of different years except for the question “The Interactive lectures facilitate effective use of learning resources.” Which showed significant difference in the responses of the 3 years students by Independent samples Kruskal–Wallis test. No significant association was found between the year of study and items of the questionnaire except for the same item, “ The Interactive lectures facilitates effective use of learning resources” by Spearman rank correlation test.CONCLUSION:The students perceive interactive lecture as an effective tool for facilitating visual and auditory learning modes, and for achieving curricular strategies. The student find the feedback given during the interactive lectures is effective in modifying learning attitude and enhancing motivation toward learning.

Background: Leishmaniasis is caused by a protozoan parasite, Leishmania. It is common in more than 98 countries throughout the world. Due to insufficient availability of antileishmanial chemotherapeutics, it is an urgent need to search for new molecules which have better efficacy, low toxicity and are available at low cost. Objectives: There is a high rate of diabetic cases throughout the world that is why we planned to test the antileishmanial activity of glyburide, an effective sugar lowering drug used for the treatment of diabetes. In this study, glyburide showed a significant decrease in the parasite growth and survival in vitro in a dose-dependent manner. Methods: Anti-leishmanial activity of glyburide was checked by culturing Leishmania donovani promastigotes in the presence of glyburide in a dose and time dependent manner. Docking study against Leishmania donovani-Trypanothione synthetase (LdTrySyn) protein was performed using Autodock Vina tool. Results: Growth reversibility assay shows that growth of treated parasite was not reversed when transferred to fresh culture media after 7 days. Moreover, docking studies show efficient interactions of glyburide with key residues in the catalytic site of Leishmania donovani- Trypanothione synthetase (LdTrySyn), a very important leishmanial enzyme involved in parasite’s survival by detoxification of Nitric Oxide (NO) species, generated by the mammalian host as a defense molecule. Thus this study proves that the drug-repurposing is a beneficial strategy for identification of new and potent antileishmanial molecules. Conclusion: The results suggest that glyburide binds to LdTrySyn and inhibits its activity which further leads to the altered parasite morphology and inhibition of parasite growth. Glyburide may also be used in combination with other anti-leishmanial drugs to potentiate the response of the chemotherapy. Overall this study provides information about combination therapy as well as a single drug treatment for the infected patients suffering from diabetes. This study also provides raw information for further in vivo disease model studies to confirm the hypothesis.

The negative effects of leishmanicidal medications are numerous, and drug resistance to all of them has been observed. As a result, new medication development and the identification of novel therapeutic targets are critical. Leishmania major trypanothione reductase (Lm-TR), a NADPH-dependent flavoprotein oxidoreductase critical for thiol metabolism, is required for parasite viability.  Since it lowers trypanothione, a chemical required by Leishmania's tryparedoxin/tryparedoxin peroxidase system to neutralise hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) produced by host macrophages during infection, this enzyme is essential for parasite survival in the host. Because it is not found in the mammalian host, this enzyme is a promising target for novel anti-leishmania medicines. A three-dimensional model of Lm-TR was created using I-TASSER server. Virtual screening of about 5000 sigma aldrich compounds, acquired from the ZINC database, was carried out using Autodock vina tool. Top ten compounds were tabulated based on binding affinity.  The molecules with the ids ZINC04245710 and ZINC03869768 had the highest binding affinities of -11.4 and -11.2 kcal/mol, respectively. These compounds had the maximum binding affinity and the appropriate amount of hydrogen bonds. These molecules may be able to efficiently block the activity of the target enzyme (Lm-TR) and so serve as novel agents to combat cutaneous leishmaniasis. In search for new anti-Leishmania medications that are more effective and less cytotoxic, these molecules may provide a good starting point for a hit-to-lead procedure.

Introduction: The global burden of obesity doubled in children, tripled in adolescents and adults between 1975 and 2016.The central obesity is strongly associated with risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary artery diseases.Therefore,it is important to screen/detect obesity and its complications in early stages.Aim: of this study is to evaluate early markers of adult overweight/obesity, visceral obesity and aerobic fitness in young, healthy men, and also to find out association between visceral obesity and VO max as adequate research data is not available in this field. Forty young, 2 Methods: healthy adult men (aged 18-40 years) were randomly selected from the population of Vijayapura,Karnataka,India,in this study. The anthropometric parameters; weight, height, BMI, BSA, waist circumference and hip circumference were measured. The waist-hip ratio, Conicity index and A Body surface Index were calculated.VO max was measured by 2 Rockport 1-Mile walk test. A series of Pearson's correlation tests were performed to find out the influence of visceral adiposity indices on aerobic fitness. Results: All anthropometric parameters and adiposity indices measured in our study were within the normal range.A significant positive correlation was observed between age vs conicity index and age vs ABSI.We also found a significant negative correlation between adiposity indices and VO max in young healthy 2 adult males. Conclusion: Waist circumference, waist-hip ratio, conicity index and ABSI can be considered as useful anthropometric tools to diagnose central/visceral obesity in healthy men with normal BMI.Total fat and visceral fat may probably have some negative influence on cardiorespiratory function and aerobic fitness.