Locomotor differences in Mongolian gerbils with the effects of midazolam administration in the form of eye drops

Background: Midazolam is a sedative-hypnotic agent with amnestic and anticonvulsant properties that can be administrated to mammals through various routes, such as intravenous, intramuscular, oral, intrathecal, rectal, and buccal. Midazolam administration in the form of eye drops through the conjunctiva is not reported in the literature. Aim:This study aims to demonstrate the possible central nervous system effects of midazolam administration as eyes drops in Mongolian gerbils. Materials and Methods: Fourteen gerbils were randomly assigned to one of two equal sized groups. The active arm received 2 ml of 10 mg midazolam as eye drops in both eyes. Control group received a total of 2 ml of physiological saline(0.9% NaCl). We subjected the gerbils to an adapted “Open Field” to determine the possible effects on central nervous system of midazolam. Gerbils were allowed to move freely in the open field. Before and after the drug administration, locomotor activities of each gerbil have been recorded. Frequency of loss of righting reflex was quantified. Results: Conjunctival Midazolam administration resulted with the transient loss of righting reflex (p=0.017) and suppressed exploration motion (p=0.018) in the open field test compared to control subjects. Conclusions: In the present study, administration of conjunctival midazolam as an eye drop may affect gerbil’s locomotor activities and open field behaviors. We argue that, using a sedative and anticonvulsive drug such as midazolam via conjunctival route may be useful in some clinical situations. Therefore, it could be beneficial to develop a new conjunctival formulation of midazolam. Also, there is a need for trials in humans with pharmacokinetic studies.Keywords: Righting reflex; Conjunctival Midazolam; Gerbillinae; Midazolam; Eye drop; New administration routeAfrican Health sciences Vol 14 No. 1 March 201

Evaluation of capacity of hybrid energy systems to decrease the environmental pollution

Renewable energy sources emit less carbon than traditional energy sources, although generally cannot sustain a stable storage system. This research focuses on hybrid energy benefits by modeling in the HOMER PRO software. In this study, hybrid power systems in different renewable energy fractions using Solar, wind, and hydrogen systems in two regions which are Karabuk province were investigated in terms of cost, damage to the environment, and system architecture. The most suitable system in terms of net present cost emerged in Eskipazar, the leveled energy cost (LCOE) for this scenario was $0.367. But, in the case of 50$0.389. Besides, the lowest fuel consumption was generated as 196,936,731 L per year in the Eskipazar with a 50% renewable energy fraction, whereas the highest was 353,454,007 L/year in Karabuk without a renewable energy fraction. As the utilization the renewable energy of 50%, the fuel consumption decreased by 28% and 43% in Eskipazar and Karabuk, respectively. Although the system cost increased with the renewable energy utilization, the emission of harmful gases and materials released into the atmosphere decreased

Identifying Breakpoints in Public Opinion

While polls are traditionally used for observing public opinion, they provide a point snapshot, not a continuum. We consider the problem of identifying breakpoints in public opinion, and propose using micro-blogging sites to capture trends in public opinion. We develop methods to detect changes in public opinion, and find events that cause these changes. Ourexperimentsshowthattheproposedmethodsareable to determine changes in public opinion and extract the major news about the events effectively. We also deploy an application where users can view the important news stories for a continuing event and find the related articles on web

Achalasia case detected during endoscopy application accompanied by anaesthesia

WOS: 000390680400014PubMed ID: 28053688

Evaluation of medical drug and herbal product use before anesthesia

WOS: 000374655200518We aimed to determine the prevalence of herbal product and medical drug use among preoperative patients. Patients over the age of 18 applied for preanesthetic evaluation were directly asked by anesthesiologists if they were using any drug. Patients were also asked whether they use any herbal product. We also asked patients whether they know the side effects of herbal product or any drug they have used. 898 surgical patients were evaluated in the anesthesia assessment unit before surgery for a 3-month period. 43.4% patients were taking medical drugs. 9.5% patients reported taking herbal products and 21 of those patients were consuming more than one. 33 of all patients were using both medical drug and herbal product. The most commonly consumed herbal products, in descending order of frequency, were green tea (n=29), lime (n=20), garlic (n=8), ginger (n=7) nettle (n=7) ye daisy (n=5). 375 patients reported using medical drug in the initial assesment. Whereas only 4 patients reported consuming herbal product in the initial assesment. 38 (9.7%) of patients using medical drug and 3 (3.5%) of patients using herbal product said that they know the side effects of drugs. Usage of herbal product is common among patients undergoing surgery. Anesthesiologists should be aware of the herbal use because the patients may not give information about herbal consumption. Most commonly used herbal products may vary according to regions. Most of the patients do not know the side effects of both medical drug and herbal products

Role of Ultrasonography in Detecting the Localisation of the Nasoenteric Tube

WOS: 000399412700011PubMed ID: 28439443Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine the success rate of nasoenteric tube (NET) insertion into the postpyloric area using ultrasonography (USG) and compare with the commonly used method direct abdominal graphy. Methods: A single anaesthesiologist placed all the NETs. The NET was visualised by two radiologists simultaneously using USG. The localisation of the tube was confirmed using an abdominal graph in all patients. Results: The blind bedside method was used for NET insertion into 34 patients. Eleven of the tubes were detected passing through the postpyloric area using USG. In one case, the NET could not be visualised in the postpyloric area using USG; however, it was detected in the postpyloric area through control abdominal radiography. In 22 patients, NETs were detected in the stomach using control abdominal radiography. The rate of imaging post pyloric using USG was 91.6%. When all cases were considered, catheter localisation was detected accurately using USG by 97% (33 in 34 patients). Conclusion: USG is a reliable and practical alternative to radiography, which can be used to detect localisation of the nasogastric tube and NET

Crowd-sourced sensing and collaboration using Twitter

Abstract—Despite the availability of the sensor and smartphone devices to fulfill the ubiquitous computing vision, thestate-of-the-art falls short of this vision. We argue that the reason for this gap is the lack of an infrastructure to task/utilize these devices for collaboration. We propose that Twitter can provide an “open ” publish-subscribe infrastructure for sensors and smartphones, and pave the way for ubiquitous crowd-sourced sensing and collaboration applications. We design and implement a crowd-sourced sensing and collaboration system over Twitter, and showcase our system in the context of two applications: a crowd-sourced weather radar, and a participatory noise-mapping application. Our results from real-world Twitter experiments give insights into the feasibility of this approach and outlines the research challenges in sensor/smartphone integration to Twitter. I

The role of erythropoietin in the protection of gastric mucosa from indometacin-induced gastric injury and its relationship with oxidant and antioxidant parameters in rats

Objectives Erythropoietin has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activity. We wanted to evaluate its activity in preventing damage to the gastric mucosa