CAUSE-EFFECT RELATIONS AND OPTIMIZATION OF TABLET CONTAINING EUCOMMIA ULMOIDES AND GARDENIA JASMINOIDES SPRAY-DRIED EXTRACTS

Objective: The E. ulmoides and G. jasminoides (EG) tablets containing 67 mg E. ulmoides spray-dried extract (ESE) and 173 mg G. jasminoides spray-dried extract (GSE) were prepared by employing the direct compression method. Due to the poor flowability and compressibility of the two spray-dried extracts, various excipients were added at different ratios so that the blends can be compressed into tablets with the required standards. This study aimed at the cause-effect relations and optimization of the EG tablet formulation.Methods: Different diluents including dibasic calcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA), silicified microcrystalline cellulose (SMCC), spray-dried lactose (SDL) and the active ingredients (blend of ESE and GSE at the ratio of 67:173, w/w) were separately investigated their own physical properties. The binary mixtures of the active ingredients with different ratios of DCPA, SMCC, and SDL were evaluated their flowability. D-optimal design based on three independent variables (% DCPA, % croscarmellose sodium (CCS) and % SMCC) was applied to evaluate the cause-effect relations and optimize the EG tablet formulation. The weight variation, disintegration time, hardness and friability were investigated as four dependent variables.Results: The flowability of the powders was found to be affected by the particle size distribution, particle shape and density. The three diluents could significantly improve the flowability of the active ingredients. All independent variables had significant effects on the dependent variables. An increase in % SMCC reduced the weight variation, hardness and increased the friability of tablets. Disintegration time was found to be in the negative relations with % CCS. The tablet hardness was in positive relations with % DCPA. The optimized EG tablet formulation composed of 9 % DCPA (w/w), 35 % SMCC (w/w), and 14 % CCS (w/w) of the excipient blend. The weight variation, disintegration time, hardness and friability of the optimized EG tablets were found to be 1.8 %, 11.7 min, 61.4 N, and 0.5 %, respectively.Conclusion: The ESE and GSE could be formulated into tablet by using direct compression method. The cause-effect relations and optimization of EG tablet formulation were studied and reported for the first time

Study of the Correlation Between Bronchial Hyperresponsiveness and Exhaled Nitric Oxide in Subjects with Suspected Symptoms of Asthma

Background: Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) is one of main features of asthma within chronic inflammation and reversible bronchoconstriction. Actually, methacholine challenge is useful method to detect BHR in subjects with suspected asthma symptoms. However, this method has some limitations due to its safety and side effects. The measure of exhaled nitric oxide (NO) demonstrates currently as the alternative method for methacholine challenge. Methods: Ninety-five subjects had at least one of the following symptoms were included in this study: wheezing or chest tightness during exercise, chronic cough, or nocturnal coughing. They were divided into two groups depending on the positivity or negativity of BHR. Lung function test, exhaled NO measurement, and methacholine challenge were done for each study subject. Results: There were no significant differences between two groups for age and male/female ratio (41 ± 22 vs 38 ± 23 years old and 0.9 vs 1.1; P > 0.05 and P > 0.05; respectively). The percentage of wheezing and nocturnal coughing in subjects with positive BHR (BHR+) was significantly higher than that in subjects with negative BHR (BHR-: 70.9% and 64.5% vs 31.2% and 45.1%; P<0.001 and P<0.01; respectively). FENO measured at 50 mL/s in subjects with BHR+ was significantly higher subjects with BHR- (36 ± 10 ppb vs 11 ± 9 ppb; P<0.001). There was a significant correlation between FENO-50 mL/s and methacholine dose in subjects with BHR+ (R= -0.695; P<0.001). FENO-50 mL/s at 35 ppb had 86.7% of sensibility and 82.9% of specificity for diagnosis of BHR. Conclusion: FENO is a useful biomarker for diagnosis of asthma in subjects with suspected symptoms of asthma. FENO level has a high sensitivity and specificity for screening out subjects with BHR. The measurement of exhaled NO may be an alternative method for detecting BHR in diagnosis of asthma in clinical practice

Joint Communication and Computation Framework for Goal-Oriented Semantic Communication with Distortion Rate Resilience

Recent research efforts on semantic communication have mostly considered accuracy as a main problem for optimizing goal-oriented communication systems. However, these approaches introduce a paradox: the accuracy of artificial intelligence (AI) tasks should naturally emerge through training rather than being dictated by network constraints. Acknowledging this dilemma, this work introduces an innovative approach that leverages the rate-distortion theory to analyze distortions induced by communication and semantic compression, thereby analyzing the learning process. Specifically, we examine the distribution shift between the original data and the distorted data, thus assessing its impact on the AI model's performance. Founding upon this analysis, we can preemptively estimate the empirical accuracy of AI tasks, making the goal-oriented semantic communication problem feasible. To achieve this objective, we present the theoretical foundation of our approach, accompanied by simulations and experiments that demonstrate its effectiveness. The experimental results indicate that our proposed method enables accurate AI task performance while adhering to network constraints, establishing it as a valuable contribution to the field of signal processing. Furthermore, this work advances research in goal-oriented semantic communication and highlights the significance of data-driven approaches in optimizing the performance of intelligent systems.Comment: 15 pages; 11 figures, 2 table

STUDY ON CAUSE-EFFECT RELATIONS AND OPTIMIZATION OF TABLETS CONTAINING AQUILARIA CRASSNA SPRAY-DRIED EXTRACT

Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and optimize the formulation of tablets containing Aquilaria crassna extract using the direct compression method.Methods: D-optimal design based on three independent variables was applied to evaluate the cause-effect relations and optimize the A. crassna tablet formulation. The weight variation (Y1), disintegration time (Y2), hardness (Y3) and friability (Y4) were investigated with respect to three independent variables including % dicalcium phosphate anhydrous (DCPA) in filler (X1), % filler (X2) and % croscarmellose sodium (CCNa) (X3). The dissolution study of the optimized A. crassna tablets were investigated in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) (pH 1.2) using a validated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for mangiferin analysis.Results: All investigation factors were found to have significant effects on the physical properties of A. crassna tablet. The tablet hardness and the disintegration time increased in positive relations with the ratios of DCPA. The results exhibited the negative relations between disintegration time and the percentages of CCNa. The optimized A. crassna tablet formulation which included 35 % (w/w) DCPA in filler, 60 % (w/w) filler and 7% (w/w) CCNa possessed the weight variation of 1.38 % (w/w), the disintegration time of 6.29 min, the hardness of 85.63 N and the friability of 0.41 % (w/w). The optimized A. crassna tablet formulation was experimentally examined which demonstrated a good agreement between the experimental and predicted values. Mangiferin was found to release completely from the optimized A. crassna tablets within 30 min.Conclusion: The cause-effect relations and optimization of A. crassna tablet formulation were investigated and reported for the first time. The A. crassna spray-dried extract could be formulated into tablet by direct compression method with good mechanical properties and acceptable release profile

Theranostic Gold Nanoshells: from Synthesis to Imaging and Photothermal Therapy Applications

Gold nanoshells (GNSs) were grown on monodispersed aminoprotpyltriethoxysilane (APTES) functionalized of silica nanoparticles (NPs) cores with varying sizes ranging from 40-180 nm synthesized by Stober route. Gold shells were deposited onto the surface of silica NPs by tetrakis(hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride (THPC) and electroless gold plating method. The coverage of the gold nanoshells on the surfaces of the silica NPs was evaluated using UV-VIS/NIR spectrospcopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The plasmon resonance wavelengths of these gold nanoshells were tunable from visible to near infrared region. The GNSs were also bioconjugated with anti-HER2 monoclonal antibody for diagnostic breast cancer cells using dark field microscope technique. These GNS NPs play a role as nanoheaters transforming light to heat. With the present of these GNS NPs at volume density of $3.6\times 10^{10}$ NPs.cm$^3$ in chicken tissue samples, illuminated by 808 nm laser at the power density of 62~W.cm$^2$ the temperature of tissue sample reachs 110\rc{ }C after 20 minutes illumination

Targeting effect of folate on cancer cell through curcumin carrier nano-system

Folate receptor (FR) is well known for its overexpression on surface of various cancer cell lines, which is identical to normal tissue. Folic-based targeting drug delivery systems, therefore, are one of the most effective targeting carriers that effectively bind to FR up-regulated cancer cells. Curcumin was used both for labeling and chemotherapy. The materials were characterized and structurally confirmed by FT-IR spectra, fluorescent images and FE-SEM images. Bioassays were conducted on HeLa and HT29 cancer cell lines after 4 and 12 hours. Results show that folic acid significantly enhanced both targeting efficiency and internalization of curcumin to FR-expressing cancer cells

Synthesis and Optical Characterization of Dye Doped in Ormosil Nanospheres for Bioapplications

Dye-doped ORMOSIL (organically modified silicate) nanoparticles (NPs) have significant advantages over single-dye labeling in signal amplification, photostability and surface modification for various biological applications. The dyes: Rhodamine 6G (R6G) and Rhodamine B (RB) were successfully incorporated into ORMOSIL nanoparticles fabricated by micellar nanochemistry from Trimethoxysilane CH$_3$Si(OCH$_3$)$_3$ precursor. The optical characterization of dye-doped ORMOSIL NPs was studied in comparison with it’s of free dye in solution. The results shown that the photostability of ORMOSIL dye doped nanospheres is much improved in comparison with it’s of dye in solution. Other studies of the photophysical properties such as anisotropy, fluorescence lifetime and energy transfer were also done