Design and in Vitro Evaluation of a New Nano-Microparticulate System for Enhanced Aqueous-Phase Solubility of Curcumin

Curcumin, a yellow polyphenol derived from the turmeric Curcuma longa, has been associated with a diverse therapeutic potential including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, and anticancer properties. However, the poor aqueous solubility and low bioavailability of curcumin have limited its potential when administrated orally. In this study, curcumin was encapsulated in a series of novel nano-microparticulate systems developed to improve its aqueous solubility and stability. The nano-microparticulate systems are based entirely on biocompatible, biodegradable, and edible polymers including chitosan, alginate, and carrageenan. The particles were synthesized via ionotropic gelation. Encapsulating the curcumin into the hydrogel nanoparticles yielded a homogenous curcumin dispersion in aqueous solution compared to the free form of curcumin. Also, the in vitro release profile showed up to 95% release of curcumin from the developed nano-microparticulate systems after 9 hours in PBS at pH 7.4 when freeze-dried particles were used.CONACYTCUPIAPharmac

Improvement in the efficiency of hydrolysis of anaerobic digestion in sewage sludge by the use of enzymes

The effects of enzymatic pre-treatment on a mixture of sludge (primary, secondary, digested) collected from different municipal wastewater-treatment plants was investigated by Batch experiments in the laboratory to enhance the hydrolysis of sludge. The experiments were carried out at mesophilic (37 degrees C) temperature. Six commercially available enzymes, supplied by Novo Industries, were used which ware Alcalase, Caresyme, Celluclast, Lipolase, Termamyl and Viscosyme. The experiment showed that with 50% digested sludge and 0.1% enzyme dosage of Carezyme and the mixed enzymes there was 11.5% and 10.6% decrease in volatile solids (VS), whereas with 25% digested sludge and 0.1% Viscosyme enzyme was very much effective for VS reduction compared with the blank (it shows 16.3% higher than blank). In another set of experiments, which differed in sludge characteristics with 25% digested sludge and 0.5% enzyme dosage the culture containing the mixed enzymes presents the highest percentage of VS reduction among all the samples (13.6% higher than blank), where with 25% digested sludge and 0.5% enzyme dosage of Termamyl and mixed enzymes show 13.5% and 12.8% greater VS reduction respectively compared with the blank. The experimental work showed that enzymatic pre-treatment can be successfully used as a pre-treatment step for treating sludge mixture produced from municipal wastewater treatment plant and the performance of individual enzymes largely depends on the characteristics of sludge

Teneurs en 18O et concentration saline d'eaux paraliques et continentales égyptiennes

Plusieurs corps d'eau lagunaires et continentaux égyptiens sont comparés quant à l'abondance en oxygène-18 et la concentration saline (ici appréciée par la teneur en Cl¯) de leurs eaux superficielles.En Egypte, les eaux continentales de surface proviennent toutes du système nilotique dont les eaux, après leur longue traversée du grand Desert Oriental, se trouvent très évaporées et fortement enrichies en oxygène-18 à leur arrivée dans le delta.Dans les bassins alimentés uniquement par la mer (lagunes de Mer Rouge et du Golfe de Suez) soit par l'eau du Nil (Lac du Fayoum), les deux paramètres considérés augmentent conjointement depuis les zones d'alimentation vers les reculées marginales selon le déplacement des eaux.Dans les bassins à alimentation mixte, (Partie terminale du delta, lac Temsah sur le Canal de Suez), les eaux les plus diluées sont aussi les plus riches en isotopes lourds.Ainsi, dans le contexte climatique et géographique très particulierde l'Egypte, il est possible de reconnaître les eaux continentales, marines ou paraliques à partir des deux paramètres étudiés mais non à partir d'un seul, notamment la teneur en oxygène-18.The aim of this paper is to study some aspects of the geochemical behaviour (18O, (Cl-)) of waters of some basins in Egypt. Several types of basin are studied (figure 1).1) Basin with marine seawater input only, either wide open to the Red sea such as Zeit Bay (27°45'N, 33°25'E), relatively open such as Guesmah Lagoon (27°40'N, 33°30'E) or indirectly linked to the sea through a coastal sand bar such as the pools of sebkha Melaha (28°10'N, 33°10'E).2) Basin supplied by continental water without outflow such as Fayoum Lake (= Birket Karoum) (29°25'N, 30°30'E) which receives fresh waters from a Nile diversion.3) Water bodies with a mixed water input (continental and marine waters) such as the Nile delta and Temsah Lake (= Ismaïla Lake), (30°25'N, 31°30'E), the katter being on the Suez Canal and receiving waters from Mediterranean Sea and from the eastern branch of the Nile.Local means climatic parameter are those of Cairo, Alexandria, Queseir and Louxor (table 1).RESULTS AND DISCUSSION1 - Nile delta (figure 2 and 3)Sampling period was performed in August 1984.- At the beginning of the Nile delta the water at Beni-Suez (station 14) presents a low chloride concentration (0.1 to 0.2 g l-1) and a relatively high 18O content (+ 3 ‰) due to evaporation of the Nile water during its downstream course from the Aswan High Dam which collects waters in the upper part of the Nile watershed.- The content of both (Cl-) and 18O stightly increases in the delta region in relation to the anastomosis of branches of the Nile due to an intensive irrigation network.- In the coastal region, due to mixing with sea water or/and brackish water, the isotope content decreases while the chloride concentration increases.2 - Temsah or Ismaïla LakeTwo periods of sampling : March and August 1984. The general trend is a decrease of 18O and an increase of (Cl-) from the Nile waters to the central part of the lake, and an increase of both 18O and (Cl-) at the fringes of the lake, due to evaporation.3 - Coastal basins from the Red SeaZeit Bay and Guesmah Lagoon. Two sampling periods : March and August 1984. The isotope content and chloride concentration act in parallel and depend principally on the movement of water bodies. For the surface waters wind velocity and direction play a major rote in the spatial distribution of the chlorinity and isotope content. A slight enrichment is noted during the summer period.4 - Pools in Sebkha MelahaThe isotope composition and chloride content of the ponds water fed by sea water through the sand salt bar increased during the summer as it is the case in the first stages of evaporation of salt pans (PIERRE and FONTES, 1982).5 - Fayoun Lake : Birket KaroumTwo sampling periods : March and August 1984. Because of a lack of sufficient data (salinity and isotopic composition of the input, water flux of the incoming water, local values of the relative humidity and temperature of the atmosphere, isotopic composition of the water vapour...) a water mass balance coupled with a chloride and isotopic mass balance was not possible. Nevertheless, with our data measured (18O, (Cl-) lake levels), some estimations were made of the temperature, evaporation, wind velocities (from meteorological tables) and the isotopic composition of the input : δA in the lake (SIMPSON et al., 1987), and if we assume that the lake presents a long term dynamic equilibrium, it is possible to estimate with reasonable accuracy that : i) the total isotopic enrichment factor (ɛ) is between 8 ‰ and 24 ‰ (figure 12) : ɛ= ɛe + ɛk , with ɛe = equilibrium isotopic enrichment factor; ɛk = kinetic isotopic enrichment factor. ii) the salt content of the incoming water δA is ≈20 g l-1. The principal consequence is that the important loss of water observed between the sampling periods (1.5 m difference in water level) was not due to evaporation only, but more by seepage from the bottom of the take (≈ 560 106 m3 for a total volume of ≈800 106 m3).CONCLUSIONS1) On a diagram δ18O - CL- (figure 13 and 14) where all the data for the Egyptian basins studied are represented, the similarity in the geochemical behaviour of the basins with a single input, is noted; the relation between isotopic composition and chloride content is approximatively logarithmic. In the case of a mixed input basin (Temsah Lake) two branches on the diagram are distinct; the first branch shows the effect of mixing in the west part of the lake, between evaporated Nile water and water from the Mediterranean Sea. The shape of this branch is very similar to that of the Nile delta: the second branch represents evaporation in the east part of the take (figure 13 and 14).2) In the case of a semi-arid environment, this study shows that with two simple parameters only, such as isotopic composition and the chloride content of waters, it is possible to distinguish the marine, paralic and continental domain (figure 15)

Ethanol application at veraison decreases acidity in Cabernet Sauvignon grapes

Research NoteSpraying ethanol (5 % v/v in water) onto grape clusters at mid-veraison led to a 30 % drop in the malic acid concentration at harvest. As a consequence, titratable acidity also dropped by 10 %. The concentration of tartaric acid did not change significantly. The mode of action of ethanol on malic acid metabolism is discussed.

Motion artifacts in kidney stone imaging using single-source and dual-source dual-energy CT scanners: a phantom study

PURPOSE: Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) has shown the capability of differentiating uric acid (UA) from non-UA stones with 90-100% accuracy. With the invention of dual-source (DS) scanners, both low- and high-energy images are acquired simultaneously. However, DECT can also be performed by sequential acquisition of both images on single-source (SS) scanners. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of motion artifacts on stone classification using both SS-DECT and DS-DECT. METHODS: 114 kidney stones of different types and sizes were imaged on both DS-DECT and SS-DECT scanners with tube voltages of 80 and 140 kVp with and without induced motion. Postprocessing was conducted to create material-specific images from corresponding low- and high-energy images. The dual-energy ratio (DER) and stone material were determined and compared among different scans. RESULTS: For the motionless scans, all stones were correctly classified with SS-DECT, while two cystine stones were misclassified with DS-DECT. When motion was induced, 94% of the stones were misclassified with SS-DECT versus 11% with DS-DECT (P < 0.0001). Stone size was not a factor in stone misclassification under motion. Stone type was not a factor in stone misclassification under motion with SS-DECT, although with DS-DECT, cystine showed higher number of stone misclassification. CONCLUSIONS: Motion artifacts could result in stone misclassification in DECT. This effect is more pronounced in SS-DECT versus DS-DECT, especially if stones of different types lie in close proximity to each other. Further, possible misinterpretation of the number of stones (i.e., missing one, or thinking that there are two) in DS-DECT could be a potentially significant problem

Calcium Tartrate Tetrahydrate, Case Report of a Novel Human Kidney Stone

Background: Calcium tartrate tetrahydrate has been reported as the main mineral in urinary stones in rats that have significant tartrate in their diet, but in humans, there has been only one mention of calcium tartrate stones in the form of bladder stone, and that case was in Africa., Case Presentation: Patient is a 34-year-old Caucasian male who presented with typical symptoms of nephrolithiasis. CT abd/pelvis (renal stone protocol) revealed a 2 cm nonobstructing stone of the right renal pelvis. Patient underwent an uncomplicated right percutaneous nephrolithotomy and was noted to be stone free after surgery. Stone analysis was difficult with regard to determining composition, but was finally identified as calcium tartrate tetrahydrate., Conclusion: This was an unusual case, as this is the first recorded case of a calcium tartrate tetrahydrate outside of Africa. This type of stone had only been mainly described in rat models with dl-bitartrate in their diet. Our patient was an otherwise healthy, relatively muscular individual with no obvious source for this stone other than a vitamin and amino acid supplement that he takes regularly that contains l-carnitine (as tartrate) and choline (as bitartrate and citrate). The prevalence of this stone type is presently unknown, as stone analysis laboratories have not had the ability to recognize it. Although a connection between the supplement and stone formation is conjecture at this time, we believe this necessitates further investigation

Highly selective recovery of Ni(II) in neutral and acidic media using a novel Ni(II)-ion imprinted polymer

In this work, an original ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) was synthetized for the highly selective removal of Ni(II) ions in neutral and acidic media. First a novel functional monomer (AMP-MMA) was synthetized through the amidation of 2-(aminomethyl)pyridine (AMP) with methacryloylchloride. Following Ni(II)/AMP-MMA complex formation study, the Ni(II)-IIP was produced via inverse suspension polymerization (DMSO in mineral oil) and characterized with solid state 13C CPMAS NMR, FT-IR, SEM and nitrogen adsorption/desorption experiments. The Ni(II)-IIP was then used in solid-phase extraction of Ni(II) exploring a wide range of pH (from neutral to strongly acidic solution), several initial concentrations of Ni(II) (from 0.02 to 1 g/L), and the presence of competitive ions (Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), Mn(II), and Mg(II)). The maximum Ni(II) adsorption capacity at pH 2 and pH 7 reached values of 138.9 mg/g and 169.5 mg/g, that are among the best reported in literature. The selectivity coefficients toward Cd(II), Mn(II), Co(II), Mg(II) and Cu(II) are also very high, with values up to 38.6, 32.9, 25.2, 23.1 and 15.0, respectively. The Ni(II)-IIP showed good reusability of up to 5 cycles both with acidic and basic Ni(II) eluents.Peer reviewe

Performance Analysis of Solar Adsorption Cooling System - Effect of Position of Heat Storage Tank

An insulated storage tank has been added with adsorption cooling system run by solar heat collected by CPC panel. It has been expected and seen that the storage tank has a vital contribution in the performance of the chiller. The storage tank is connected with a solar heat driven single stage two bed basic adsorption chillers activated with silica gel-water pair in two ways. The tank is connected in such a way that (i) the solar collectors supply hot water to the desorption bed, the outflow of the desorber is collected in the reserve tank. The reserve tank supplies water to the collector and complete the heat transfer cycle. (ii) The solar collector supply hot water which is collected in the storage tank first and then supplied to the desorber. The outflow of the desorber is carried to the collector again. Comparative studies have been conducted at the steady state for both of the systems with heat storage. It has been observed that the system is robust with design (i) while with design (ii) performance enhances beyond the sunset time with heat storage

The neutralino projector formalism for complex SUSY parameters

We present a new formalism describing the neutralino physics in the context of the minimal supersymmetric model (MSSM), where CP violation induced by complex $M_1$ and $\mu$ parameters is allowed. The formalism is based on the construction of neutralino projectors, and can be directly generalized to non-minimal SUSY models involving any number of neutralinos. It extends a previous work applied to the real SUSY parameter case. In MSSM, the method allows to describe all physical observables related to a specific neutralino, in terms of its CP eigenphase and three complex numbers called its "reduced projector elements". As the experimental knowledge on the neutralino-chargino sectors will be being accumulated, the problem of extracting the various SUSY parameters will arise. Motivated by this, we consider various scenarios concerning the quantities that could be first measured. Analytical disentangled expressions determining the related SUSY parameters from them, are then derived, which also emphasize the efficiency of the formalism.Comment: Version accepted in Phys. Rev. D. e-mail: [email protected]

Real life experience with the wearable cardioverter-defibrillator in an international multicenter Registry

Patients at high risk for sudden cardiac death (SCD) may benefit from wearable cardioverter defibrillators (WCD) by avoiding immediate implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation. Different factors play an important role including patient selection, compliance and optimal drug treatment. We aimed to present real world data from 4 centers from Germany and Switzerland. Between 04/2012 and 03/2019, 708 patients were included in this registry. Patients were followed up over a mean time of 28 ± 35.5 months. Outcome data including gender differences and different etiologies of cardiomyopathy were analyzed. Out of 708 patients (81.8% males, mean age 61.0 ± 14.6), 44.6% of patients had non-ischemic cardiomyopathy, 39.8% ischemic cardiomyopathy, 7.9% myocarditis, 5.4% prior need for ICD explantation and 2.1% channelopathy. The mean wear time of WCD was 21.2 ± 4.3 h per day. In 46% of patients, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was > 35% during follow-up. The younger the patient was, the higher the LVEF and the lower the wear hours per day were. The total shock rate during follow-up was 2.7%. Whereas an appropriate WCD shock was documented in 16 patients (2.2%), 3 patients received an inappropriate ICD shock (0.5%). During follow-up, implantation of a cardiac implantable electronic device was carried out in 34.5% of patients. When comparing German patients (n = 516) to Swiss patients (n = 192), Swiss patients presented with longer wear days (70.72 ± 49.47 days versus 58.06 ± 40.45 days; p = 0.001) and a higher ICD implantation rate compared to German patients (48.4% versus 29.3%; p = 0.001), although LVEF at follow-up was similar between both groups. Young age is a negative independent predictor for the compliance in this large registry. The most common indication for WCD was non-ischemic cardiomyopathy followed by ischemic cardiomyopathy. The compliance rate was generally high with a decrease of wear hours per day at younger age. Slight differences were found between Swiss and German patients, which might be related to differences in mentality for ICD implantation