DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF UV-SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC METHOD FOR ESTIMATION OF HYDROQUINONE IN BULK, MARKETED CREAM AND PREAPARED NLC FORMULATION

Objective: The aim of the present work was to develop a simple, rapid, accurate and economical UV-visible spectrophotometric method for the determination of hydroquinone (HQ) in its pure form, marketed formulation as well as in the prepared nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) systems and to validate the developed method. Methods: HQ was estimated at UV maxima of 289.6 nm in pH 5.5 phosphate buffer using UV-Visible double beam spectrophotometer. Following the guidelines of the International Conference on Harmonization (ICH), the method was validated for various analytical parameters like linearity, precision, and accuracy robustness, ruggedness, limit of detection, quantification limit, and formulation analysis. Results: The obtained results of the analysis were validated statistically. Recovery studies were performed to confirm the accuracy of the proposed method. In the developed method, linearity over the concentration range of 5-40 μg/ml of HQ was observed with the correlation coefficient of 0.998 and found in good agreement with Beer Lambert's law. The precision (intra-day and inter-day) of the method was found within official RCD limits (RSD<2%). Conclusion: The sensitivity of the method was assessed by determining the limit of detection and limit of quantification. It could be concluded from the results obtained that the purposed method for estimation of HQ in pure form, in the marketed ointment and in the prepared NLC-formulation was simple, rapid, accurate, precise and economical. It can be used successfully in the quality control of pharmaceutical formulations and for the routine laboratory analysis

Increasing social equity in transport planning: a case study in Fortaleza, Brazil

State-led land takings have been at the forefront of the battle ignited by a light rail development project in Fortaleza, Brazil. The project was planned to repurpose an old railroad upon which informal settlements have become established over the past fifty years due to a multitude of reasons including urbanization, lack of governmental resources to create serviced land, and inflated land values due to speculation. In order to clarify the land expropriation, the justification of the light rail development, and the planning process in general, this work includes a literature review, a spatial analysis, participant observations, and interviews with formal state planners and informal residents affected by the development. This work attempts to understand how the planning process must be improved if planners and government officials truly want to mitigate social inequities created by the planning process and progress towards more socially just planning, with a focus on public transportation investments. The findings include discrepancies in the planning process in terms of participatory strategies and engagement of civil society. In order to reconcile these gaps, a clear planning process including information sharing, public educating, and participation benchmarks needs to be established. Furthermore, pro-poor and social justice goals need to be explicitly supported by being tied to municipal budgets for projects, the planning field itself needs to establish diversity goals and accountability measures in order to increase representation of underrepresented groups among professional planners, and emphasis needs to be placed on research in general, especially qualitative research that produces more insightful and holistic planning resolutions. In Fortaleza, Brazil, these principles can be tangibly achieved as the government organizes itself to establish protocols and planning systems as civil society is able to insert itself in these initial stages of development

Navigating family planning: unveiling rural-urban disparities among women in India: insights from Indian demographic health survey-5

Background: Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the usage of family planning methods. Female sterilization remains the most commonly used method of contraception. However, there are still disparities in the use of family planning methods between urban and rural areas in India, which can be attributed to differences in education levels, cultural factors, and socio-economic factors. The study aimed to evaluate contraceptive prevalence and urban-rural disparities among married women in India. Methods: The study was based on the data collected under the National family health survey 2019-21. The NFHS-5 covered 5,12,408 currently married women (women in the age group 15-49). Descriptive and analytical analyses were used. The chi-square test and Bivariate logistic regression model were used to find the association between background characteristics and contraception use. Results: The study showed that 65.7% of the participants were using contraception, with female contraception being the most common method of contraception. The use of contraception in urban and rural settings was 67.9% and 65% respectively. Conclusions: The use of contraception has increased, with woman’s age, religion, caste, educational level, wealth index, place of residence and other factors such as total children living, total children ever born, exposure to mass media, son preference and ideal number of children being significant determinants

IRIS RECOGNITION USING DISCRETE COSINE TRANSFORM AND WAVELET PACKET DECOMPOSITION

ABSTRACT Iris recognition is basic technology for personal identification and verification and is most reliable and accurate for biometric identification system. Iris recognition system gives security to the organization and Institutes from the unauthorized access . Digital templates encoded from iris pattern using mathematical and statistical algorithms allow the identification of an individual. In this paper for iris recognition, 2-D discrete cosine transformation is used for the compression of the image and wavelet packet decomposition is done, to obtain distinctive feature from an iris image and will give more effective results

Correlation of Vitamin D Levels with COVID-19 Severity and Outcome

Background and aims: Low vitamin D levels have been associated with an increase in inflammatory cytokines and a significantly increased risk of pneumonia and viral upper respiratory tract infections. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in thrombotic episodes, which are frequently observed in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These conditions are reported to carry a higher mortality in COVID-19. So, we conducted a study to prove the correlation of vitamin D levels with COVID-19 infection and severity. Material and methods: The present study was conducted at RNT Medical College, Udaipur, Rajasthan. This study was done over a period of 2 months after getting approval from Institutional Ethics Committee. Written and informed consent was obtained from patients. In this study, 81 patients admitted in COVID wards and ICU, with COVID reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive reports were included. Results: Out of a total 81 patients, 37 (45.7%) were in the 41-60 years age group, 29 (35.8%) were more than 60 years of age and 15 (18.5%) were less than 40 years of age. Seventeen patients had severe vitamin D deficiency, 27 patients had moderate vitamin D deficiency, 20 patients had mild vitamin D deficiency and 17 patients had normal vitamin D level. Out of 17 patients who had severe vitamin D deficiency, 11 (64.7%) patients required invasive mechanical ventilation and out of these 17 patients, 13 (76.47%) patients died. Out of 17 patients who had normal level of vitamin D, 16 (94.1%) maintained SpO2 at room air and only 1 patient required invasive mechanical ventilation. As the level of vitamin D increased from severely low to normal level, requirement of high oxygen support decreased and SpO2 at room air increased. Mean of vitamin D among the patients who died was 10.4963 while mean of vitamin D level among patients who survived and were discharged was 27.2362. All 17 patients who had normal level of vitamin D were discharged from the hospital. Mean of serum ferritin and mean of interleukin (IL)-6 was high in patients who died and low in patients who were discharged. Conclusions: Vitamin D level plays an important role in COVID-19 disease. Vitamin D have significant role in protection from severe form of diseas

Correlation of Vitamin D Levels with COVID-19 Severity and Outcome

Background and aims: Low vitamin D levels have been associated with an increase in inflammatory cytokines and a significantly increased risk of pneumonia and viral upper respiratory tract infections. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in thrombotic episodes, which are frequently observed in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). These conditions are reported to carry a higher mortality in COVID-19. So, we conducted a study to prove the correlation of vitamin D levels with COVID-19 infection and severity. Material and methods: The present study was conducted at RNT Medical College, Udaipur, Rajasthan. This study was done over a period of 2 months after getting approval from Institutional Ethics Committee. Written and informed consent was obtained from patients. In this study, 81 patients admitted in COVID wards and ICU, with COVID reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) positive reports were included. Results: Out of a total 81 patients, 37 (45.7%) were in the 41-60 years age group, 29 (35.8%) were more than 60 years of age and 15 (18.5%) were less than 40 years of age. Seventeen patients had severe vitamin D deficiency, 27 patients had moderate vitamin D deficiency, 20 patients had mild vitamin D deficiency and 17 patients had normal vitamin D level. Out of 17 patients who had severe vitamin D deficiency, 11 (64.7%) patients required invasive mechanical ventilation and out of these 17 patients, 13 (76.47%) patients died. Out of 17 patients who had normal level of vitamin D, 16 (94.1%) maintained SpO2 at room air and only 1 patient required invasive mechanical ventilation. As the level of vitamin D increased from severely low to normal level, requirement of high oxygen support decreased and SpO2 at room air increased. Mean of vitamin D among the patients who died was 10.4963 while mean of vitamin D level among patients who survived and were discharged was 27.2362. All 17 patients who had normal level of vitamin D were discharged from the hospital. Mean of serum ferritin and mean of interleukin (IL)-6 was high in patients who died and low in patients who were discharged. Conclusions: Vitamin D level plays an important role in COVID-19 disease. Vitamin D have significant role in protection from severe form of disease

Post-COVID-19 Disease Associated with Mucormycosis and Guillain-Barré Syndrome: A Causal Association or Just a Coincidence?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Originating from Wuhan, China, COVID-19 has rapidly spread worldwide. COVID-19 is primarily considered to be a respiratory illness, but with time there is enough evidence about the extrapulmonary manifestations of the disease. One of the neurological manifestations is Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). It may be associated with mucormycosis, with majority of cases occurring in India. Here, we report a case of a 40-year-old male patient, a known case of hypertension and diabetes mellitus who presented with the complaints of fever, cough and shortness of breath since May 10, 2021. He was found to be RT-PCR positive for COVID-19 on May 12, 2021. While recovering from COVID-19, on May 25, he was suspected to have rhino-orbital mucormycosis, which was confirmed on tissue specimen. While recovering from rhino-orbital mucormycosis, on July 26, the patient complained of weakness in bilateral lower limbs, followed by weakness in both upper limbs after 2 days. GBS was confirmed on nerve conduction study (NCS) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examination. Patient was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), and while on treatment, the patient showed no significant improvement. Invasive ventilation was started in view of respiratory muscle involvement. The patient also developed autonomic dysfunction. He went into cardiac arrest and despite best efforts, couldn’t be revived. Currently, to the best of our knowledge, there is no data to tell that both mucormycosis and GBS can occur in association with COVID-19. This case aims to raise awareness among the healthcare providers for this type of association. COVID-19 may be a cause or it may just be a mere coincidence, needs further stud

Development and optimization of nanoparticles loaded with erucin, a dietary isothiocyanate isolated from Eruca sativa: Antioxidant and antiproliferative activities in ehrlich-ascites carcinoma cell line

The study on Erucin (ER) has gained interest of nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries because of its anti-cancer properties. Erucin is an isothiocyanate obtained from the seeds of Eruca sativa which possess certain drawbacks such as poor aqueous solubility and bioavailability. Therefore, the present study aimed at developing ER-cubosomes (CUB) by solvent evaporation technique followed by applying Central Composite Design to optimize ER loaded cubosomes. For this purpose, independent variables selected were Monoolein (MO) as lipid and Pluronic-84 (P-84) as a stabilizer whereas dependent variables were particle size, percentage of ER loading and percentage of its entrapment efficiency. The cubosomal nanocarriers exhibited particle size in the range of 26 nm, entrapment efficiency of 99.12 ± 0.04% and drug loading of 3.96 ± 0.0001%. Furthermore, to investigate the antioxidant potential, we checked the effect of ER and ER-CUB by DNA nicking assay, DDPH assay and Phosphomolybdate assay, and results showed significant improvement in antioxidant potential for ER-CUB than ER. Similarly, ER-CUB showed enhanced anticancer activity with a marked reduction in IC50 value than ER in MTT assay. These results suggested that ER-CUB produced notable escalation in antioxidant potential and enhanced anticancer activity than ER

An overview of biomass thermochemical conversion technologies in Malaysia

The rising pressure on both cleaner production and sustainable development have been the main driving force that pushes mankind to seek for alternative greener and sustainable feedstocks for chemical and energy production. The biomass ‘waste-to-wealth’ concept which convert low value biomass into value-added products which contain high economic potential, have attracted the attentions from both academicians and industry players. With a tropical climate, Malaysia has a rich agricultural sector and dense tropical rainforest, giving rise to abundance of biomass which most of them are underutilized. Hence, the biomass ‘waste-to-wealth’ conversion through various thermochemical conversion technologies and the prospective challenges towards commercialization in Malaysia are reviewed in this paper. In this paper, a critical review about the maturity status of the four most promising thermochemical conversion routes in Malaysia (i.e. gasification, pyrolysis, liquefaction and hydroprocessing) is given. The current development of thermochemical conversion technologies for biomass conversion in Malaysia is also reviewed and benchmarked against global progress. Besides, the core technical challenges in commercializing these green technologies are highlighted as well. Lastly, the future outlook for successful commercialization of these technologies in Malaysia is included