A randomized controlled trial to assess the clinical and cost effectiveness of a nurse-led Antenatal Asthma Management Service in South Australia (AAMS study)

Background: Pregnancy presents a unique situation for the management of asthma as it can alter the course of asthma severity and its treatment, which in turn can affect pregnancy outcomes. Despite awareness of the substantial adverse effects associated with asthma during pregnancy, little has been done to improve its management and reduce associated perinatal morbidity and mortality. The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the clinical and cost effectiveness of an Antenatal Asthma Management Service. Methods/design: Design: Multicentre, randomized controlled trial. Inclusion criteria: Women with physician diagnosed asthma, which is not currently in remission, who are less than 20 weeks gestation with a singleton pregnancy and do not have a chronic medical condition. Trial entry and randomization: Eligible women with asthma, stratified by treatment site, disease severity and parity, will be randomized into either the ‘Standard Care Group’ or the ‘Intervention Group’. Study groups: Both groups will be followed prospectively throughout pregnancy. Women in the ‘Standard Care Group’ will receive routine obstetric care reflecting current clinical practice in Australian hospitals. Women in the ‘Intervention Group’ will receive additional care through the nurse-led Antenatal Asthma Management Service, based in the antenatal outpatient clinic. Women will receive asthma education with a full assessment of their asthma at 18, 24, 30 and 36 weeks gestation. Each antenatal visit will include a 60 min session where asthma management skills are assessed including: medication adherence and knowledge, inhaler device technique, recognition of asthma deterioration and possession of a written asthma action plan. Furthermore, subjects will receive education about asthma control and management skills including trigger avoidance and smoking cessation counseling when appropriate. Primary study outcome: Asthma exacerbations during pregnancy. Sample size: A sample size of 378 women will be sufficient to show an absolute reduction in asthma exacerbations during pregnancy of 20% (alpha 0.05 two-tailed, 90% power, 5% loss to follow-up). Discussion: The integration of an asthma education program within the antenatal clinic setting has the significant potential to improve the participation of pregnant women in the self-management of their asthma, reduce asthma exacerbations and improve perinatal health outcomes.Luke E Grzeskowiak, Gustaaf Dekker, Karen Rivers, Kate Roberts-Thomson, Anil Roy, Brian Smith, Jeffery Bowden, Robert Bryce, Michael Davies, Justin Beilby, Anne Wilson, Philippa Middleton, Richard Ruffin, Jonathan Karnon, Vicki L Clifton and for the AAMS study grou

Spectroscopic analysis on the binding interaction of biologically active pyrimidine derivative with bovine serum albumin

A biologically active antibacterial reagent, 2–amino-6-hydroxy–4–(4-N, N-dimethylaminophenyl)-pyrimidine-5-carbonitrile (AHDMAPPC), was synthesized. It was employed to investigate the binding interaction with the bovine serum albumin (BSA) in detail using different spectroscopic methods. It exhibited antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus which are common food poisoning bacteria. The experimental results showed that the fluorescence quenching of model carrier protein BSA by AHDMAPPC was due to static quenching. The site binding constants and number of binding sites (n≈1) were determined at three different temperatures based on fluorescence quenching results. The thermodynamic parameters, enthalpy change (ΔH), free energy (ΔG) and entropy change (ΔS) for the reaction were calculated to be 15.15 kJ/mol, –36.11 kJ/mol and 51.26 J/mol K according to van't Hoff equation, respectively. The results indicated that the reaction was an endothermic and spontaneous process, and hydrophobic interactions played a major role in the binding between drug and BSA. The distance between donor and acceptor is 2.79 nm according to Förster's theory. The alterations of the BSA secondary structure in the presence of AHDMAPPC were confirmed by UV–visible, synchronous fluorescence, circular dichroism (CD) and three-dimensional fluorescence spectra. All these results indicated that AHDMAPPC can bind to BSA and be effectively transported and eliminated in the body. It can be a useful guideline for further drug design

Waste packaging polymeric foam for oil-water separation: An environmental remediation

Nowadays, its urgent need to develop and fabricate efficient, low cost, eco-friendly, oil-water separation methodologies especially for variety of polluted water in the environments. To deals with serious oil spills and industrial organic pollutants, here in we have developed a highly efficient oil-water separation methodology by using waste material such as expanded polyethylene (EPE) polymeric foam which is most commonly used for packaging as a shock absorber and most abundantly available in the surroundings as waste. Oil-water separation setup was fabricated by using waste EPE polymeric foam without any pre-treatment. By simply scratching, special properties (wettability performance) such as hydrophobicity, leophilicity, and low water adhesion was imparted to the EPE polymeric foam. The different types of oil-water mixture used for the study and separation were achieved almost up to 78%. The oil absorption efficiency of the EPE polymeric foam was within range of 0.491–0.788 g/g. In addition to efficient oil-water separation, the modified EPE polymeric foam exhibited fast and continuous oil-water separation solely by gravity. The easy operation, chemical durability, and efficiency of the waste EPE polymeric foam give it high potential for use in industrial and consumer applications for large scale oil-water separation. Keywords: Waste, Packaging foam, Oil-water separation, Removal, Wastewater, Environmental remediatio

Trouble-Free Multicomponent Method for Combinatorial Synthesis of 2‑Amino-4-phenyl-5‑<i>H</i>‑indeno[1,2‑<i>d</i>]pyrimidine-5-one and Their Screening against Cancer Cell Lines

The present study describes an alkaline water–ethanol mediated series of combinatorial synthesis of 2-amino-4-phenyl-5-<i>H</i>-indeno­[1,2<i>d</i>]­pyrimidine-5-one derivatives through sequential multicomponent reaction of 1,3indandione, aromatic aldehydes, and guanidine hydrochloride along with their anticancer evaluation. The effect of sequential addition of the components in the configuration of the desired product has been studied by UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. The synthetic method obeys most of the green chemistry principles in regard to high atom economy and greener, nontoxic, and noncarcinogenic solvent system (water–ethanol). The selected synthesized compounds have been screened against the human breast cancer cell line MCF7, human colon cancer cell line HT29, and normal viro monkey cell line, out of which 2-amino-4-(4-meth­oxy­phenyl)-5<i>H</i>-indeno­[1,2-<i>d</i>]­pyrimidin-5-one showed significant potency toward human breast cancer cell line (MCF7)