Friction between a surrogate skin (Lorica Soft) and nonwoven fabrics used in hygiene products

Incontinence pad wearers often suffer from sore skin, and a better understanding of friction between pads and skin is needed to inform the development of less damaging materials. This work investigated friction between a skin surrogate (Lorica Soft) and 13 nonwoven fabrics representing those currently used against the skin in commercial pads. All fabrics were found to behave consistently with Amontons' law: coefficients of friction did not differ systematically when measured under two different loads. Although the 13 fabrics varied considerably in composition and structure, their coefficients of friction (static and dynamic) against Lorica Soft were remarkably similar, especially for the ten fabrics comprising just polypropylene (PP) fibres. The coefficients of friction for one PP fabric never differed by more than 15.7% from those of any other, suggesting that the ranges of fibre decitex (2.0–6.5), fabric area density (13–30 g m−2) and bonding area (11%–25%) they exhibited had only limited impact on their friction properties. It is likely that differences were largely attributable to variability in properties between multiple samples of a given fabric. Of the remaining fabrics, the one comprising polyester fibres had significantly higher coefficients of friction than the highest friction PP fabric (p < 0.005), while the one comprising PP fibres with a polyethylene sheath had significantly lower coefficients of friction than the lowest friction PP fabric (p < 10−8). However, fabrics differed in too many other ways to confidently attribute these differences in friction properties just to the choice of base polymer

Is GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay reliable for the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis?

Background: Tuberculosis is the most common cause of infectious diseases related mortality globally. Tuberculous pleural effusion is a common presentation of extra pulmonary tuberculosis and a diagnostic challenge most of time. The rapid diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion is essential for early treatment. GeneXpert is a new tool for rapid diagnosis but the ability to correctly diagnose of GeneXpert is a vital concern in the diagnosis of extra pulmonary tuberculosis. Objective: To determine the accurate ability of diagnosing the pleural fluid GeneXpert MTB/RIF assessment in the suspected pleural tuberculosis patients considering as gold standard to the pleural biopsy. Methods: This study was a validational cross sectional survey and it was conducted in pulmonology department of –removed for blind review---from 1st July to 31st December 2018 after approval of IRB. Participants with suspected pathology ≥ 18 year with exudative pleural effusion were included in the study. By implementing the process of standard technique, closed needle pleural biopsy was executed by means of ABRAM’S needle. The collected samples of patients were sent to the pathology department of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for histopathology. Pleural fluid was referred to National Institute of Health Islamabad for GeneXpert MTB/RIF assessment on the alike day and reports were assembled. All findings were entered in a structured Proforma. Data was entered in SPSS version 20 and analyzed. Results: Total 180 patients were included; 65.6% patients were male. When the sensitivity of pleural fluid GeneXpert MTB/RIF examination was calculated it was 10.4% whereas, the calculated specificity was 72.8%. While +ve predictive value of GeneXpert was 22.2% and -ve predictive value was 52.1%. Likelihood ratio was 8.25 and ROC curve also showed similar values.&nbsp; Conclusion: The sensitivity of pleural fluid GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay is very low and specificity is moderate for diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis when compared with pleural biopsy. Key words: Extra pulmonary tuberculosis; GeneXpert; Pleural biopsy; Tuberculosis

Is GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay reliable for the diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis?

Background: Tuberculosis is the most common cause of infectious diseases related mortality globally. Tuberculous pleural effusion is a common presentation of extra pulmonary tuberculosis and a diagnostic challenge most of time. The rapid diagnosis of tuberculous pleural effusion is essential for early treatment. GeneXpert is a new tool for rapid diagnosis but the ability to correctly diagnose of GeneXpert is a vital concern in the diagnosis of extra pulmonary tuberculosis. Objective: To determine the accurate ability of diagnosing the pleural fluid GeneXpert MTB/RIF assessment in the suspected pleural tuberculosis patients considering as gold standard to the pleural biopsy. Methods: This study was a validational cross sectional survey and it was conducted in pulmonology department of –removed for blind review---from 1st July to 31st December 2018 after approval of IRB. Participants with suspected pathology ≥ 18 year with exudative pleural effusion were included in the study. By implementing the process of standard technique, closed needle pleural biopsy was executed by means of ABRAM’S needle. The collected samples of patients were sent to the pathology department of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences for histopathology. Pleural fluid was referred to National Institute of Health Islamabad for GeneXpert MTB/RIF assessment on the alike day and reports were assembled. All findings were entered in a structured Proforma. Data was entered in SPSS version 20 and analyzed. Results: Total 180 patients were included; 65.6% patients were male. When the sensitivity of pleural fluid GeneXpert MTB/RIF examination was calculated it was 10.4% whereas, the calculated specificity was 72.8%. While +ve predictive value of GeneXpert was 22.2% and -ve predictive value was 52.1%. Likelihood ratio was 8.25 and ROC curve also showed similar values.&nbsp; Conclusion: The sensitivity of pleural fluid GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay is very low and specificity is moderate for diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis when compared with pleural biopsy. Key words: Extra pulmonary tuberculosis; GeneXpert; Pleural biopsy; Tuberculosis

Piperidinium 4-hydr­oxy-3-methoxy­carbon­yl-1,2-benzothia­zin-2-ide 1,1-dioxide

In the anion of the title compound, C5H12N+·C10H8NO5S−, the thia­zine ring adopts a distorted half-chair conformation and the enolic H atom is involved in an intra­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond, forming a six-membered ring. The anions and cations are connected via N—H⋯N and N—H⋯O inter­actions