A Narrative Review of Potential Future Antidiabetic Drugs: Should We Expect More?

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus, a chronic metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia, is growing worldwide. The majority of the cases belong to type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Globally, India ranks second in terms of diabetes prevalence among adults. Currently available classes of therapeutic agents are used alone or in combinations but seldom achieve treatment targets. Diverse pathophysiology and the need of therapeutic agents with more favourable pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamics profile make newer drug discoveries in the field of T2DM essential. A large number of molecules, some with novel mechanisms, are in pipeline. The essence of this review is to track and discuss these potential agents, based on their developmental stages, especially those in phase 3 or phase 2. Unique molecules are being developed for existing drug classes like insulins, DPP-4 inhibitors, GLP-1 analogues; and under newer classes like dual/pan PPAR agonists, dual SGLT1/SGLT2 inhibitors, glimins, anti-inflammatory agents, glucokinase activators, G-protein coupled receptor agonists, hybrid peptide agonists, apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) inhibitors, glucagon receptor antagonists etc. The heterogeneous clinical presentation and therapeutic outcomes in phenotypically similar patients is a clue to think beyond the standard treatment strategy.     

Neurochemical and Behavioral Dysfunctions in Pesticide Exposed Farm Workers: A Clinical Outcome

The problem of pesticides is not new and its exposure to human due to indiscriminate use is largely associated with the health related problems including neurotoxicological alterations. High levels of pesticide residues and their metabolites in the dietary constituents, food materials, maternal blood, cord blood, placenta breast milk have been reported and linked to alterations in birth weight, crown heel length, head circumference, mid-arm circumference and ponderal index of the neonates. Epidemiological studies have suggested that exposure of pesticide to human could be a significant risk factor for neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Cholinergic and non-cholinergic dysfunctions in pesticide exposed population, especially in children have also been frequently reported in recent years. Developmental neurotoxicity is another concern in the area where pregnant are more prone towards its exposure and which results in the abnormalities in the fetus. In view of the increasing risk of human health through pesticide exposure, the present review has been focused on the studies pertaining to pesticide induced neurochemical alterations and associated behavioral abnormalities in farm workers which could establish a possible link between the its exposure and associated health hazards.     

Effect of thiazide drug compound on the testicular protein and cholesterol contents of albino rat

In this study the effect of thiazide diuretic compound on the protein and cholesterol contents in the testes of albino rats as the experimental model. The drug thiazide was administered orally daily for 10,20 and 30 days at the dose of 100mg/kg body weight. Total protein decrease in the testes of rats were evidenced may be due to the side effects of thiazide drug compound which is linked with the hyponatremia and protein metabolism. An elevated level of cholesterol contents observed in thiazide treated rats also revealed that the side effect of drug compound thiazide and also may be due to the stimulation of catecholamine which is stimulated therefore, the biochemical estimation such as protein and cholesterol in the testes after the thiazide treatment determined the effectiveness of diuretic drug compound would provide clinical evidences of their side effects.     

Associations between different forms of peer victimization and school absences: The moderating role of teacher attachment and perceived school safety

Given the significant negative impacts of peer victimization on youth development, studies have sought to understand what buffers against these consequences. To that end, the present study examined whether teacher attachment and perceptions of school safety moderated the associations between different forms of victimization and school absences over the course of an academic year among a sample of 272 high school students. Findings indicated that teacher attachment moderated the associations between relational and cyber victimization and absences, while perceived school safety moderated associations between relational victimization and absences. However, findings pertaining to cyber victimization were not as anticipated. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts in high schools are discussed.     

Individual participant data meta-analysis of the impact of educational interventions on pupils eligible for Free School Meals

Meta-analysis is the synthesis of findings from research projects, which enables an estimate of the average or pooled effect across various studies. This study presents findings from the intention to treat analysis for a series of educational evaluations in England using a two-stage meta-analysis with standardised outcome data and individual participant data meta-analyses. The research estimates the overall impact of educational trials on pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) and the attainment gap in literacy and mathematics performance between FSM and non-FSM pupils based on analysis of 88 trials and data from over half a million pupils. For the meta-analyses, frequentist and Bayesian multilevel models were used to estimate the individual and pooled effect size across categories of explanatory variables such as age groups (key stages in England) and aspects of the type of interventions (one-to-one, small group, whole class). Results indicated that the overall impact of interventions on the literacy outcomes of FSM pupils was positive, with a pooled effect size of 0.06 (0.03, 0.08). However, for mathematics, no overall effect on FSM pupils was observed. Analysis of the attainment gap indicated that literacy outcomes for FSM pupils were improved by interventions marginally more than for non-FSM pupils (pooled attainment gap 0.01 (−0.01, 0.04)). The risk of bias assessment showed that estimates were consistent across different methodological approaches. Overall, evidence from this study can be used to identify, test and scale educational interventions in schools to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.     

Revisiting the occupational aspirations and destinations of Anglo-Australian and Chinese-Australian high school students

Evidence from Australia lends support to the “Asian high achieving syndrome” in Chinese-Australian students and “self-deprivation syndrome” in Anglo-Australian students. Applying ethnographic case studies approach for doctoral thesis the author collected data on a longitudinal basis from homes and school of these students. All of these students attended the same school located in a predominantly middle class suburb of Perth Metropolitan area in Western Australia. Chinese-Australian families had settled in Perth from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, whereas Anglo-Australian families had been residing in Perth for three generations. Impetus to revisit these students (now young adults with their own families) 10 years later came from an urge to test the validity of the prediction the author had made in the concluding chapter of his doctoral thesis. The author had claimed that “if Anglo-Australian parents keep on dwelling in the era of 1950s and 1960s and do not change their laid-back attitude about education, their children could eventually be under-privileged in their own country”. Ten years later, the author undertook a follow-up study on these young adults from six of the eight original families in order to find out their occupational destinations and future aspirations. Data for the follow-up study were collected from these young adults and their parents. These research cases were interviewed twice, each time approximately for two hours and their parents were interviewed once for two to three hours. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of the follow-up study which reveals a remarkable relationship between the attitude towards schooling and academic performance with their subsequent occupational destination.