Rate of Salmonellae and Bacillus cereus in some Retailed cut-up Chicken and Poultry Meat Products

Food poisoning illness outbreaks brought about by pathogenic bacteria and/ or their toxins are yet worry of both shopper and food industry. Accordingly, one hundred and seventy-five samples were collected randomly, samples included frozen chicken breast, frozen chicken thigh, chicken luncheon, chicken burger and chicken frankfurter (35 of each), collected from different supermarkets in Cairo and New Valley governorate for incidence of Salmonella species and Bacillus cereus. Salmonella typhimurium was detected in percentage of 5.7%, and 2.9% in chicken breast and chicken thigh respectively, while Salmonella enteritidis was isolated from chicken breast and chicken thigh with the same percentage (2.9%), but Salmonellae as a whole failed to be detected in chicken burger, luncheon & frankfurter. On the other hand, Bacillus cereus was isolated in a percentage of 8.6 %, 8.6%, 17.1%, 14.3% and 11.4%, from chicken breast, thigh, burger, luncheon and frankfurter, respectively. Thus, it is important to control contamination of chicken meat in abattoirs with Salmonellae and Bacillus cereus to reduce the incidence of food borne infection to humans

Optimirana i validirana protočna injekcijska spektrofotometrijska analiza topiramata, piracetama i levetiracetama u farmaceutskim pripravcima

Application of a sensitive and rapid flow injection analysis (FIA) method for determination of topiramate, piracetam, and levetiracetam in pharmaceutical formulations has been investigated. The method is based on the reaction with ortho-phtalaldehyde and 2-mercaptoethanol in a basic buffer and measurement of absorbance at 295 nm under flow conditions. Variables affecting the determination such as sample injection volume, pH, ionic strength, reagent concentrations, flow rate of reagent and other FIA parameters were optimized to produce the most sensitive and reproducible results using a quarter-fraction factorial design, for five factors at two levels. Also, the method has been optimized and fully validated in terms of linearity and range, limit of detection and quantitation, precision, selectivity and accuracy. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of pharmaceutical preparations.Opisana je osjetljiva i brza protočna injekcijska analiza (FIA) za određivanje topiramata, piracetama i levetiracetama u farmaceutskim pripravcima. Metoda se temelji na reakciji ortho-ftalaldehida i 2-merkaptoetanola u bazičnom puferu i mjerenju apsorbancije na 295 nm u protočnim uvjetima. U svrhu povećanja osjetljivosti i dobivanja reproducibilnih rezultata optimirane su varijable koje utječu na određivanje kao što su volumen injektiranog uzorka, pH, ionska jakost, koncentracija reagensa, brzina protoka reagensa i drugi FIA parametri koristeći četvrt-frakcijski faktorijalni dizajn, za pet faktora na dva nivoa. Metoda je optimirana i potpuno validirana (linearnost, područje određivanja, granica detekcije i kvantifikacije, preciznost, selektivnost i točnost). Metoda je uspješno primijenjena za analizu farmaceutskih pripravaka

STABILITY-INDICATING LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF PENTOXYVERINE CITRATE AND ITS DEGRADANT

Objectives: The objectives of this research were to develop and validate a HPLC method for determination of Pentoxyverine citrate (PNX) and its degradant (DG). Methods: Forced degradation studies were performed on bulk sample using alkaline (0.1M sodium hydroxide) and acid (1M hydrochloric acid. The proposed method was based on using a 150 x 4.6 mm (i. d.) (Luna, Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA) (5 µm particle size) reversed phase C18 column with mobile phase consisting of a mixture of methanol-10 mM sodium dihydrogen phosphate pH 4 in ratio of (60:40, v/v) and UV detection at 230 nm with flow rate of 1 mL min-1. Results: The linear calibration range was between 10-40 mg ml-1and 10-40 mg ml-1for PNX and DG respectively. The method was found to be accurate with 100.23% and 100.07% recovery for PNX and DG respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was found to be 3.79 x10-2μg ml-1 and 4.24 x10-2μg ml-1 for PNX and DG respectively, while the limit of quantification (LOQ) was found to be 12.62 x10-2μg ml-1 and 14.12 x10-2μg ml-1 for PNX and DG respectively. PNX was found to be most stable at a pH of 5.7. Conclusion: The validation study of the proposed method was successfully carried out and the method was found to be suitable and economic for routine determination of PNX in pharmaceutical syrup, without any interference from the excipients, and in the presence of its acidic and alkaline degradation products

Stability study of thymoquinone, carvacrol and thymol using HPLC-UV and LC-ESI-MS

The aim of this study was to investigate the stability of three major antioxidants of Nigella sativa: thymoquinone (TQ), carvacrol (CR) and thymol (THY), under different stress conditions using HPLC and LC-MS/MS. Forced degradation for each compound was performed under different conditions, including oxidation, hydrolysis, photolysis and thermal decomposition. The results showed that both CR and THY were stable under the studied conditions, whereas TQ was not affected by acidic, basic and oxidative forced conditions but the effect of light and heat was significant. The degradation products of TQ were further investigated and characterized by LC-MS/MS. HPLC-UV method has been fully validated in terms of linearity and range, the limit of detection and quantitation, precision, selectivity, accuracy and robustness. The method was successfully applied to quantitative analysis of the principal antioxidants of Nigella sativa TQ, CR and THY in different phytopharmaceuticals

La narration fragmentée dans Maura à Madrid

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The effect of relaxation techniques on hypertension secondary to menopause

Context Hypertension after menopause sets women up for an increased risk of negative cardiovascular outcomes. A variety of relaxation techniques exist, which aim to relieve stress and reduce blood pressure. Several studies have been conducted to demonstrate the role of several relaxation techniques in lowering the blood pressure in hypertensive patients. Aim The aim of this study was to determine the effect of relaxation techniques on postmenopausal hypertension. Participants and methods Forty postmenopausal hypertensive women were selected randomly from the outpatient clinic at El Agouza Hospital. They were divided randomly into two groups (A, B): group A was treated with antihypertensive drugs (captopril 25 mg twice daily) and relaxation technique sessions (each session 20 min, three times per week for 3 months), whereas group B was treated with antihypertensive drugs (captopril 25 mg twice daily) only. Blood pressure was evaluated before and after performing the program for both groups. Variables were compared using the unpaired t-test, whereas pairwise comparison (pretreatment vs. post-treatment) within the same group was performed using paired t-test. Results Group A, which was treated with antihypertensive drugs and relaxation techniques, showed a statistically highly significant difference (P<0.01) in both diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure compared with group B, as the mean difference was 12.5 and 3.5, respectively, in the diastolic blood pressure of groups A and B and 15.25 and 6.75 in the systolic blood pressure in groups A and B before and after performing the program, respectively. Conclusion The practice of relaxation techniques was a very effective method in reducing blood pressure in postmenopausal women

Green quality by design HPLC approach for the simultaneous determination of Bilastine and Montelukast

Abstract For the simultaneous estimation of two co-formulated antihistaminic drugs (Bilastine and Montelukast), a novel and eco-friendly reversed-phase HPLC approach with both diode array and fluorescence detection modes was designed. Rather than using the routine methodology, the Quality by Design (QbD) approach was adopted to speed up the method development and to test robustness of the method. To evaluate the effect of variable factors on chromatographic response, a full factorial design was used. The chromatographic separation was performed using isocratic elution on the C18 column. The mobile phase consists of 92% methanol, 6% acetonitrile, and 2% phosphate buffer with 0.1 (v/v) triethylamine adjusted to pH 3, it was pumped at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min with an injection volume of 20 μL. The developed stability indicating HPLC approach was used to assess the stability of montelukast (MNT). It was subjected to a variety of stress conditions, including hydrolytic (acid–base), oxidative, thermal, and photolytic stress conditions. All of these conditions were found to have relevant degradation pathways. Under the described experimental conditions, MNT degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The kinetic parameters of its degradation (rate constant and t1/2) were calculated and a proposal for the degradation pathway was postulated

Highly Sensitive In-Capillary Derivatization and Field Amplified Sample Stacking to Analyze Narcotic Drugs in Human Serum by Capillary Zone Electrophoresis

An in-capillary derivatization (in-CAP-D) integrated with field amplified sample stacking (FASS) has been developed for the determination of morphine (MOR) and its metabolite, morphine-6-glucuronide (MOR-6-G) in human serum using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and fluorescence detection (in-Cap-D-FASS-CZE). Acetonitrile was employed in removing proteins and extracting MOR and MOR-6-G into the clear supernatant containing codeine (COD) as an internal standard (IS). The derivatization was achieved in an in-capillary mode by introducing the acetonitrile-treated samples into a running electrolyte containing an oxidizing agent of potassium ferricyanide, whereas MOR, MOR-6-G and COD were oxidized into dimer derivatives with highly fluorescent intensity. The effectiveness and sensitivity of the in-Cap-D-FASS-CZE method were affected by many parameters, and the following conditions were found to be optimal: 70 m Mdisodium tetraboratedecahydrate (pH, 10.5), 0.30 mM ferrricyanide and a separation voltage of 10 kV. In order to perform the FASS, samples were electrokinetically injected for 20 s at 20 kV into the capillary that was pre-field with a 4 s water plug. Analysis was performed at ambient temperature (22 ± 1 °C). The method’s validation revealed good linearity with respect to peak area ratios of MOR and MOR-6-G with the IS and the corresponding concentrations over the ranges of 1–2000 and 1.2 to 2000 ng/mL, respectively. Following one oral dose of controlled-release MOR sulphate tablet, the validated in-Cap-D-FASS-CZE method successfully enabled the determination of MOR and MOR-6-G in clinical serum samples