Evaluation of the ability of powdered milk to produce mini-tablets to deliver paracetamol in pediatrics

Paper presented at the 7th International Granulation Workshop. 1-3 July 2015, University of Sheffield, UK"This work aims to evaluate the usefulness of powdered milk as a vehicle of drugs for direct compression into mini-tablets specifically designed for the pediatric population. A 23 full factorial design was carried out to identify the effect of selected variables and their interactions (paracetamol to milk ratio, fraction of disintegrant and compression force), on selected responses (weight variation, thickness and tensile strength of minitablets and dissolution time of paracetamol) of the mini-tablets. Tablets were manufactured according to a matrix design resulting in eight combinations of four different tableting formulations compacted at two distinct forces. Each batch of tablets was evaluated for thickness (n=6), uniformity of weight (n=20), diametric crushing strength and tensile strength (σ) (n=6) and dissolution testing (n=12). A stepwise multiple linear regression was used to identify and quantify the relationships between each response and the variables studied and their interactions. Results were analyzed by ANOVA to identify the significant variables and variable interactions responsible for the effects observed.The increase on milk fraction in the formulation improved the compressibility of paracetamol with a decrease on weight variation. Thinner and harder compacts with slower paracetamol releases were also obtained. These observations were not surprising if powdered milk composition is taken into consideration: milk proteins, lactose (widely used as diluent) and lipids (often used as binders, lubricants and taste masking agents), which individually or in combination contribute to easier the production of tablets. A marked decrease on the dissolution time was observed as sodium croscarmellose was added to the milk rich formulations, as anticipated. The increase of the compression force was reflected by the production of thinner compacts with slightly higher tensile strengths but little effect on the dissolution median time. At high forces it was often observed a higher crushing strength and an increase of the importance of particle deformation in disintegration time.The study has proved the viability of using powdered milk on the production of minitablets to the delivery of drugs. The experimental design and statistical analysis enabled the identification of the most significant variables and their interactions affecting the properties of the mini-tablets, particularly the milk/paracetamol ratio which proved to be critical for the proprieties of the final product."Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT

Effect of different excipients and processing conditions on casein micellar formulation for children

Poster presented at the AAPS Annual Meeting and Exposition (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists). October 25-29, 2015, Orlando (FL), USA"Purpose: Investigation of the potential of casein micellar formulations as drug vehicles in pediatrics."Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/DTP-FTO/1057/2012

Evaluation of the ability of powdered milk to produce minitablets containing paracetamol for the paediatric population

The work aims at evaluating the usefulness of powdered milk as a drug matrix for the production of minitablets specifically designed for children. Mixtures made of powdered milk, paracetamol, mannitol, sodium croscarmellose and magnesium stearate (evaluated for flow properties, cohesiveness and caking tendency) were compacted into beams (evaluated for deformation, elasticity and stiffness) and minitablets (evaluated for uniformity of mass, thickness, tensile strength and paracetamol mean dissolution time) and a 23 factorial design performed. The increase on milk fraction in the formulation improved the compressibility of paracetamol and hardness of compacts, reducing weight variation and paracetamol release. A marked decrease on the dissolution time was observed as sodium croscarmellose was added to the milk rich formulations. The increase of the compression force resulted in the production of thinner compacts but had little effect on dissolution time. The production of beams has shown that deformation, bending strength and stiffness increased with both milk and compaction pressure, and decreased with sodium croscarmellose, whereas elasticity decreased when all variables increased. Tensile strength and mean dissolution time described minitablets well, unlike compaction force. The study has proved that powdered milk is suitable for the production of minitablets by direct compression of poor compressible drugs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A comparison between on-site measured and estimated based adjustment factor values used to calculate heat losses to unconditioned spaces in dwellings

Steady-state methods have been widely used in Europe to analyse the energy performance of low-energy buildings. The accuracy of such methods depends on the assumptions regarding the compensation of non-stationary effects but also on the input design data, such as the temperature of unconditioned spaces (UnSp). This temperature depends mainly on the thermal characteristics of UnSp envelope, air ventilation rate, temperature of the conditioned spaces, and the external environment. External environment varies over time, daily and seasonally, making it difficult to accurately estimate UnSp temperature. European Union (EU) directives stated that the UnSp temperature can be evaluated by the adjustment factor (b) set by EN ISO 13789. However, each Member State may adjust procedures, by proposing simplified approaches, either for new or existing buildings. In this paper the b-values measured on-site in three dwellings were compared to those calculated by EN ISO 13789, as well as those estimated based on simplified procedures, allowed in the regulatory framework of some EU Member States, namely Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy. The study allowed to conclude that EN ISO 13789 and Irish BR 443 provided similar values. However, if the purpose is to simplify procedures and reduce computation effort, French RE2020 proved to be very effective. The thermal characteristics of the UnSp envelope and air ventilation rate were identified as the parameters that most affect the estimation of the b-value, while thermal losses through linear thermal bridges and the ground do not seem to have a significant impact.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Natural variability of lotic Mediterranean ecosystems or wildfire perturbations: who will win?

This study evaluates the impacts of wildfires in lotic Mediterranean ecosystems. It was carried out at Monchique ridge after big wildfires occurred during 2002 and 2003. Deferential impacts were evaluated comparing historical results obtained before the wildfires (1999 and 2001), with the post fire ones (2006 and 2007). Physical and chemical parameters of the water, habitat morphology, diatoms, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and fishes were evaluated at 10 collecting places, before and after wildfires. High recovering rates were observed to the vegetation, but it is still possible to found fire impacts over macrophytes and river morphology. Wildfires, contributed to canopy decrease and, consequently to the growth of plants that usually are controlled by shadow. As a result, vegetation biodiversity tend to increase. River banks tend also to be invaded by terrestrial plants. Higher post fires recover rates were observed to the more aquatic communities (diatoms, macroinvertebrates and fishes). For those communities, comparing spring situations before and after the fires no substantial differences were observed. Sometimes differences between consecutive years are even higher. So it can be concluded that magnitude of wildfire impacts is less than the natural inter-annual variability of Mediterranean rivers. Long-term effects of forest fires, resulting from large woody debries, were also detected by morphological alterations, like debries dams. Habitat diversity increase and impacts on aquatic communities are expected

Degradation of C.I. Reactive Orange 4 and its simulated dyebath wastewater by heterogeneous photocatalysis

The commercial azo dye C.I. Reactive Orange 4 in its reactive and hydrolysed forms can be efficiently photodegraded, using commercial samples of TiO2 as a photocatalyst. With UV light, aqueous solutions containing only dye and no dyebath additives are decolorised slightly more rapidly with Riedel-de-Häen TiO2 than with Degussa P-25 TiO2 . The rate of decolorisation increases markedly with increasing pH. Sunlight is also very effective as a light source. On the other hand, comparison experiments involving UV irradiation of hydrolysed and unhydrolysed Reactive Orange 4 in a simulated spent dyebath showed Degussa P-25 TiO2 to be significantly the more efficient catalyst, giving more than 90% decolorisation after 20 minutes.PRAXIS XXI/2/2.1/44/94. FEDER

Trichome density in relation to volatiles emission and 1,8-Cineole synthase gene expression in Thymus albicans vegetative and reproductive organs

1,8-Cineole is the main volatile produced by Thymus albicans Hoffmanns. & Link 1,8-cineole chemotype. To understand the contribution of distinct plant organs to the high 1,8-cineole production, trichome morphology and density, as well as emitted volatiles and transcriptional expression of the 1,8-cineole synthase (CIN) gene were determined separately for T. albicans leaves, bracts, calyx, corolla and inflorescences. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and stereoscope microscopy observations showed the highest peltate trichome density in leaves and bracts, significantly distinct from calyx and corolla. T. albicans volatiles were collected by solid phase micro extraction (SPME) and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and by GC for component identification and quantification, respectively. Of the 23 components identified, 1,8-cineole was the dominant volatile (57-93 %) in all T. albicans plant organs. The relative amounts of emitted volatiles clearly separated vegetative from reproductive organs. Gene expression of CIN was assigned to all organs analyzed and was consistent with the relatively high emission of 1,8-cineole in leaves and bracts. Further studies will be required to analyze monoterpenoid biosynthesis by each type of glandular trichome.Ceratonia Project MONOTHYMUS, Universidade do Algarve, PortugalFCTPortuguese Foundation for Science and TechnologyEuropean Commission [SFRH/BPD/84033/2012]University of AlgarveCESAM [UID/AMB/50017-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007638]FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement[FCT/UID/Multi/04326/2019/CCMAR]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A designed cyclic analogue of gomesin has potent activity against Staphylococcus aureus biofilms

© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact [email protected]: Infections caused by bacterial biofilms are very difficult to treat. The use of currently approved antibiotics even at high dosages often fails, making the treatment of these infections very challenging. Novel antimicrobial agents that use distinct mechanisms of action are urgently needed. Objectives: To explore the use of [G1K,K8R]cGm, a designed cyclic analogue of the antimicrobial peptide gomesin, as an alternative approach to treat biofilm infections. Methods: We studied the activity of [G1K,K8R]cGm against biofilms of Staphylococcus aureus, a pathogen associated with several biofilm-related infections. A combination of atomic force and real-time confocal laser scanning microscopies was used to study the mechanism of action of the peptide. Results: The peptide demonstrated potent activity against 24 h-preformed biofilms through a concentration-dependent ability to kill biofilm-embedded cells. Mechanistic studies showed that [G1K,K8R]cGm causes morphological changes on bacterial cells and permeabilizes their membranes across the biofilm with a half-time of 65 min. We also tested an analogue of [G1K,K8R]cGm without disulphide bonds, and a linear unfolded analogue, and found both to be inactive. Conclusions: The results suggest that the 3D structure of [G1K,K8R]cGm and its stabilization by disulphide bonds are essential for its antibacterial and antibiofilm activities. Moreover, our findings support the potential application of this stable cyclic antimicrobial peptide to fight bacterial biofilms.This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 828774. This work was supported by project grants funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT-MCTES, Portugal; UIDB/04565/2020 and PPBI-POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122). S.A.D. acknowledges FCT for the fellowship PD/BD/114425/2016. S.T.H. is an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow (FT150100398) and is supported by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide & Protein Science (CE200100012).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Atypical form of acute myocardial infarction with tamponade

Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2019.Background: Nowadays it is well recognized that the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease in a patient presenting with symptoms suggestive of ischemia and ST-segment alterations does not preclude an atherothrombotic etiology. CMR is an essential method for the investigation of Myocardial infarction (MI) with non obstructive coronary artery disease (MINOCA). Clinical Case: A 66 years-old female patient was referred after an episode of acute oppressive chest pain, nausea and hypersudorese, followed by syncope. She had a previous medical history of rheumatoid arthritis, under immunosuppression, occlusion of the cilioretinal artery, hypertension and dyslipidemia. On admission she was hypotensive (80/60mmHg). The ECG showed sinus rhythm and mild ST depression in V2-V3 leads, and the echocardiogram a small circumferential pericardial effusion (10mm) with signs of hemodynamic compromise. The blood tests documented a slight leukocytosis and an elevated troponin (hs-TnT 619ng/L).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rehabilitation of water contaminated with an organic solvent by an aerobic bacterium: tolerance and bioremoval assays

e Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the research project PTDC/AAG-TEC/5269/2014, the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the scope of Norte2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norteinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio