The prevalence of eating disorders among University students has been on rise throughout the world. The present descriptive cross sectional study was conducted to determine the prevalence of eating disorders among the female students of pharmacy department at University of Sargodha, Pakistan using well established EAT-26 questionnaire. The study included 177 female undergraduate pharmacy students from all five years of Pharm D. An EAT-26 score over 20 was indicator of disturbed eating behavior. Out of the total 177 students who participated the study, 47 (26.6%) students had disturbed eating behavior. The mean EAT-26 score was 14.7. According to BMI calculations, 31.64% of total individuals were underweight, 59.32% normal, 6.78% overweight and 2.26% belonged to obese category. The prevalence of eating disorders was found to be much higher than the studies conducted at developed countries. There is an urgent need of an effort to increase awareness of such disorders among students and general public. Conduction of such study at other institutes and at larger scale is recommended.
Convolvulus arvensis L. is rich in phenolic compounds and traditionally used to treat wounds, skin ulcer, and inflammation. The current study is aimed at scientifically potentiating its traditional wound healing use. The methanolic extract of C. arvensis stem (CaME) was analyzed for HPLC and GC-MS analyses. The binding modes of active compounds were investigated against protein targets glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), c-myc, and β-catenin by molecular docking followed by molecular dynamic simulations which revealed some conserved mode of binding as reported in crystal structures. The antioxidant potential of CaME was evaluated by in vitro methods such as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, and ferric reducing power assays. Ointment formulations of 10 and 20% CaME were applied topically and evaluated for wound healing potency against the excisional wound on the skin of Wistar rats. Gentamycin (0.1%) served as standard therapy. The healing process was observed for 20 days in the form of wound size and epithelialization followed by histopathological evaluation of the wound area. Chemical characterization showed the presence of 7-hexadecenoic acid, 2-hexadecylicosan-1-ol, quercetin, gallic acid, ferulic acid, and other compounds. The plant extract exhibited significant in vitro antioxidant activity. The animals treated with 10% ointment showed moderate healing, whereas the treatment with 20% CaME revealed healing potential comparable to the standard 0.1% gentamycin as coevidenced from histopathological evaluation of skin. The study corroborates promising potential of C. arvensis on the healing of wounds, which possibly will be attributed to its antioxidant activity, fatty acids, quercetin, and gallic and caffeic acids, and binding potential of its phytoconstituents (phenolic acids) with wound healing targets.
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