DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF UV SPECTROSCOPIC METHODS FOR SIMULTANEOUS ESTIMATION OF SALBUTAMOL SULPHATE AND DOXOPHYLLINE IN COMBINED SOLID DOSAGE FORM

Objective: Salbutamol sulphate (SBS) and doxophylline (DOX) was used for the treatment of asthma and bronchitis. In the present study, two simple, accurate, precise, reproducible and economical UV-spectroscopic methods (A and B) for simultaneous estimation of SBS and DOX in tablet dosage form have been developed.Methods: In the present study the simultaneous estimation of SBS and DOX was carried out by two methods. Method A employs solving of simultaneous equations based on the measurement of absorbance at two wavelengths, 272 nm and 276 nm which are the ðœ†max values of SBS and DOX respectively in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4). Method B is based on the principle of Q-Analysis where in, absorbance was measured at 225 nm (iso-absorptive point, ðœ†1) and 276 nm (ðœ†max of DOX, ðœ†2) in phosphate buffer (pH 7.4).Results: Both SBS and DOX shows linearity at all the selected wavelengths and obeys beer's law in the concentration range of between 0.2-1.6ðœ‡g/ml and 0.1-3.5μg/ml at 276 nm; 0.2-1.6 µg/ml and 0.1-4.5 µg/ml at 272 nm and 0.2-2.0µg/ml and 0.2-3.5μg/ml at iso-absorptive point 225 nm. Recovery studies for SBS and DOX were performed and the percentage recovery for both the drugs was obtained in the range of 97.45-98.63% (Method A) and 97.49–98.87 % (Method B) confirming the accuracy of the proposed method.Conclusion: Both the methods showed good reproducibility and recovery with % RSD less than 2. Statistical validation of the data shows that the proposed methods can be successfully applied for the routine analysis of drugs in commercial tablets. Hence, it could be used in the analysis of laboratory samples and marketed formulations containing these two drugs in combined dosage form without the interference of common excipients

BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF VITAMIN D ON HIGH-FAT DIET-INDUCED OBESITY IN WISTAR RATS

ABSTRACTObjectives: The aim of the present study was to investigate the antiobesity effects of vitamin D (VD) on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity in Wistarrats.Methods: In the present study, male Wistar rats were selected after 4 weeks feeding of HFD and then treated with different doses of VD(2.5-10 mcg/kg/day, p.o.o.d.) for 6 weeks along with HFD. Orlistat (30 mg/kg/day, p.o.o.d.), which is a lipase inhibitor a standard drug for obesitywas used as a standard control in the present study. The effects of these treatments on body weight parameters, feed intake (Kcal), weight and size offat pads, levels of serum glucose, triglycerides (TGs), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoproteins (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) wereanalyzed.Results: Treatment with VD (2.5-10 mcg/kg/day, p.o.o.d.) produced significant dose-dependent decrease (p<0.05) in body weight parameters, feedintake (Kcal), weight and size of fat pads, levels of serum glucose, TGs, TC, and LDL as compared to HFD group. Moreover, the level of serum HDLs wasincreased as compared to HFD group.Conclusions: VD treatment ameliorated established obesity and associated biochemical consequences. The results suggest that administration of VDcan inhibit the development of obesity and associated metabolic consequences in HFD-induced obesity.Keywords: Obesity, Vitamin D, High-fat diet

Biometrics for Child Vaccination and Welfare: Persistence of Fingerprint Recognition for Infants and Toddlers

With a number of emerging applications requiring biometric recognition of children (e.g., tracking child vaccination schedules, identifying missing children and preventing newborn baby swaps in hospitals), investigating the temporal stability of biometric recognition accuracy for children is important. The persistence of recognition accuracy of three of the most commonly used biometric traits (fingerprints, face and iris) has been investigated for adults. However, persistence of biometric recognition accuracy has not been studied systematically for children in the age group of 0-4 years. Given that very young children are often uncooperative and do not comprehend or follow instructions, in our opinion, among all biometric modalities, fingerprints are the most viable for recognizing children. This is primarily because it is easier to capture fingerprints of young children compared to other biometric traits, e.g., iris, where a child needs to stare directly towards the camera to initiate iris capture. In this report, we detail our initiative to investigate the persistence of fingerprint recognition for children in the age group of 0-4 years. Based on preliminary results obtained for the data collected in the first phase of our study, use of fingerprints for recognition of 0-4 year-old children appears promising.Comment: Michigan State University Technical Repor

Ethnic and Sex Differences in University Students’ Knowledge of AIDS, Fear of AIDS, and Homophobia

One hundred ninety students at a southwestern urban university participated in a study that investigated ethnicity and sex differences in AIDS-related variables: AIDS knowledge, fear of AIDS, and homophobia. Analysis of data (ANOVA) revealed that African-Americans had significantly lower scores on measures of AIDS knowledge and were significantly more homophobic, compared to Caucasian students. African-Americans also had lower average AIDS knowledge scores than Hispanics. Women had a lower fear of AIDS than men. Relationships between homophobia and fear of AIDS on the one hand, and AIDS knowledge on the other hand, were low and counter-intuitive for African-Americans and Hispanics. This suggests the need for differential efforts in AIDS education programs targeting these groups

Authentic Self-Expression: Gender, Ethnicity, and Culture

This chapter explores the portability of the self-silencing construct across a range of contexts and cultures. The authors present findings from their studies investigating correlations between depression, self-esteem, relationship adjustment, role taking, conflict tactics, and social class across diverse ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender. These studies included samples of ethnic minority college students; community samples of young club-going singles and female dancers; urbanites in western India; Pakistani and Indian women immigrants to America with arranged marriages; and community samples of gays, lesbians, and heterosexuals in committed relationships. The results of these studies demonstrate the multifaceted nature of the self-silencing construct, as well as its relevance to topics such as violence and high-risk sexual behaviors. The authors suggest topics for future investigations that grow out of their research

Sexual Coercion in India: An Exploratory Analysis Using Demographic Variables

A 14-item Sexual Coercion Inventory (SCI) wasadministered to an urban university sample in WesternIndia. Twenty-six percent of the sample reported a totalof 160 incidents of sexual coercion ranging in severity from unwanted kissing to sexualintercourse. The most common outcome was intercourse andwas followed by kissing and fondling. No genderdifferences were discovered regarding victim status ortypes of coercion tactics experienced. A MANOVAanalysis found no overall gender effect, but maritalstatus and protected class membership did have asignificant effect with people who are married andprotected class members reporting more sexual coercion.Reasons for the lack of an overall gender effect andlimitations of this research are discussed

Gestational glucose intolerance (GGI) and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among antenatal women attending urban community health centers of Lucknow: A cross-sectional study

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an emerging public health concern in India, which has detrimental effects on both the mother and the baby. The data on prevalence of GDM was unavailable at secondary urban health facilities, from where a majority of pregnant women seek antenatal services, and the following study identifies this burden. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2019 to June 2020 among pregnant women attending the antenatal outpatient department (OPD) at secondary level health facilities in urban Lucknow. A semi-structured interview schedule was administered to the study subjects for collecting the relevant information and 75 g of oral glucose tolerance test was performed irrespective of the meal. The cut-off points taken for the diagnosis of GDM and gestational glucose intolerance (GGI) was as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for diagnosis of GGI/GDM. Results: The overall prevalence of GDM and GGI in the study was 11.6% and 16.8%, respectively. Three-fourth of the women (22/29) were diagnosed with GDM in the second trimester of pregnancy. The prevalence of GDM (16.7%) was significantly higher in pregnant women aged more than 25 years and in those who were overweight. Mean birth weight (3.2 ± 8.1 kg) of the babies was significantly higher in the women with GDM. Among the fetal complications was respiratory distress observed among 28 pregnant women and 31% of them had GDM and this was statistically significant. Conclusion: The prevalence of GGI and GDM was found 16.8% and 11.6%, respectively. Gestational age, pre-pregnancy weight, pre-pregnancy BMI, weight gain during the pregnancy, family history of diabetes. PCOS, macrosomia and GDM in prior pregnancies was found to significant with GDM in the study