Hepatotoxicity Effects of Alcohol Consumption during Paracetamol Therapy of Malaria Patients

The risk of paracetamol induced hepatotoxicity could increase with alcohol consumption. Paracetamol was usually given to tropical malaria patients to treat fever. The aim of this study was to determine the hepatotoxicity effect of alcohol consumption in malaria tropica patients receiving paracetamol. This study was a cross-sectional study which was conducted during April-June 2015 at a hospital in Jayapura, Indonesia. The data were obtained from questionnaires and medical records. Alcohol status was determined by Short Michigan Alcoholics Screening Test (SMAST) questionnaire. Level of ALT, AST and bilirubin were observed before and after receiving paracetamol therapy for 5 days. Based on the results, the ALT and bilirubin levels of alcoholic group were higher than in non-alcoholic. However, chi-square test showed that alcohol status did not have a significant influence in ALT, AST, and bilirubin levels. Otherwise, logistic regression analysis showed that age gave a significant effect on AST level (P=0.067). Keywords: alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alcohol, malari

Exploiting the power of DSM and SMP clusters for parallel CFD

The new generation of powerful DSM and SMP cluster computers enables simulations of fluid dynamics at sufficient resolution to compute the complex nonlinear interactions of small-scale turbulent motions with a large-scale driving flow. With a new programming model of hierarchical shared memory multitasking, it is possible to exploit these new systems without disrupting the flow of small and medium-sized jobs that makes their existence possible

Harnessing the power of the new SMP cluster architecture

In 1993, members of our team collaborated with Silicon Graphics to perform the first full-scale demonstration of the computational power of the SMP cluster supercomputer architecture. That demonstration involved the simulation of homogeneous, compressible turbulence on a uniform grid of a billion cells, using our PPM gas dynamics code. This computation was embarrassingly parallel, the ideal test case, and it achieved only 4.9 Gflop/s performance, slightly over half that achievable by this application on the most expensive supercomputers of that day. After four to five solid days of computation, when the prototype machine had to be dismantled, the simulation was only about 20% completed. Nevertheless, this computation gave us important new insights into compressible turbulence and also into a powerful new mode of cost-effective, commercially sustainable supercomputing [S]. In the intervening 6 years, the SMP cluster architecture has become a fundamental strategy for several large supercomputer centers in the US, including the DOE's ASCI centers at Los Alamos National Laboratory and at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the NSF's center NCSA at the University of Illinois. This SMP cluster architecture now underlies product offerings at the high-end of performance from SGI, IBM, and HP, among others. Nevertheless, despite many successes, it is our opinion that the computational science community is only now beginning to exploit the full promise of these new computing platforms. In this paper, we will briefly discuss two key architectural issues, vector computing and the flat multiprocessor architecture, which continue to drive spirited discussions among computational scientists, and then we will describe the hierarchical shared memory programming paradigm that we feel is best suited to the creative use of SMP cluster systems. Finally, we will give examples of recent large-scale simulations carried out by our team on these kinds of systems and point toward the still more challenging work which we foresee in the near future

Harnessing the Power of the New SMP Cluster Architecture Harnessing the Power of the New SMP Cluster Architecture

Introduction

Formulation and Evaluation of Fast Dissolving Films for Delivery of Triclosan to the Oral Cavity

The present investigation was undertaken with the objective of formulating TC containing fast dissolving films for local delivery to oral cavity. Various film forming agents, film modifiers and polyhydric alcohols were evaluated for optimizing the composition of fast dissolving films. The potential of poloxamer 407 and hydroxypropyl-β- cyclodextrin (HPBCD) to improve solubility of TC was investigated. Fast dissolving films containing hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), xanthan gum, and xylitol were formulated. Use of poloxamer 407 and HPBCD resulted in significant improvement in the solubility of TC. Fast dissolving films containing TC-HPBCD complex and TC-Poloxamer 407 were formulated and were evaluated for the in vitro dissolution profile and in vitro microbiological assay. Films containing TC-Poloxamer 407 exhibited better in vitro dissolution profile and in vitro antimicrobial activity as compared to the films containing TC-HPBCD complex. Effect of incorporation of eugenol on the in vivo performance of TC-Poloxamer 407 containing films was evaluated in human volunteers. Eugenol containing films improved the acceptability of TC-Poloxamer 407 films with respect to taste masking and mouth freshening without compromising the in vivo dissolution time

Development and evaluation of Cetirizine HCl taste-masked oral disintegrating tablets

The purpose of the current study was to mask the taste of cetirizine HCl and to incorporate the granules produced in oral disintegrating tablets (ODT). The bitter, active substance was coated by fluidized bed coating using Eudragit® RL30-D at levels between 15% and 40% w/w. The ODTs were developed by varying the ratio of superdisintegrants such as sodium croscarmellose, crospovidone grades and low substituted hydroxypropyl cellulose (L-HPC). A direct compression process was used to compress the ODTs under various compaction forces to optimize tablet robustness. The properties of the compressed tablets including porosity, hardness, friability and dissolution profiles were further investigated. The in vitro and in vivo evaluation of the tablet disintegration times showed almost identical rapid disintegration below 10 s at the optimal levels of each superdisintegrant. Finally, the taste and sensory evaluation in human volunteers demonstrated excellence in masking the bitter active and tablet palatability