The analgesic and anticonvulsant effects of piperine in mice

Piperine, is the major active principal of black pepper. In traditional medicine, black pepper has been used as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory agent and in the treatment of epilepsy. This study was conducted to evaluate the in vivo analgesic and anticonvulsant effects of piperine in mice. The analgesic and anticonvulsant effects of piperine were studied in mice using acetic acid-induced writhing, tail flick assay, pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)- and picrotoxin (PIC)-induced seizures models. The intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of piperine (30, 50 and 70 mg/kg) significantly inhibited (P\u3c0.01) the acetic acid-induced writhing in mice, similar to the effect of indomethacin (20 mg/kg i.p.). In the tail flick assay, piperine (30 and 50 mg/kg, i.p.) and morphine (5 mg/kg, i.p.) caused a significant increase (P\u3c0.01) in the reaction time of mice. Pre-treatment of animals with naloxone (5 mg/kg i.p.), reversed the analgesic effects of both piperine and morphine in the tail flick assay. Piperine (30, 50 and 70 mg/kg, i.p.) and standard drugs, valproic acid (200 mg/kg, i.p.), carbamazepine (30 mg/kg, i.p.) and diazepam (1 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly (P\u3c0.01) delayed the onset of PTZ-and PIC-induced seizures in mice. These findings indicate that piperine exhibits analgesic and anticonvulsant effects possibly mediated via opioid and GABA-ergic pathways respectively. Moreover, piperine being the main constituent of black pepper, may be contributing factor in the medicinal uses of black pepper in pain and epileps

Modification of cellulose ether with organic carbonate for enhanced thermal and rheological properties: Characterization and analysis

Reduction in viscosity at higher temperatures is the main limitation of utilizing cellulose ethers in high thermal reservoir conditions for petroleum industry applications. In this study, cellulose ether (hydroxyethyl methyl cellulose (HEMC)) is modified using organic carbonates, i.e., propylene carbonate (PC) and diethyl carbonate (DEC), to overcome the limitation of reduced viscosity at high temperatures. The polymer composites were characterized through various analytical techniques, including Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), H-NMR, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), -potential measurement, molecular weight determination, and rheology measurements. The experimental results of structural and morphological characterization confirm the modification and formation of a new organic carbonate-based cellulose ether. The thermal analysis revealed that the modified composites have greater stability, as the modified samples demonstrated higher vaporization and decomposition temperatures. -potential measurement indicates higher stability of DEC- and PC-modified composites. The relative viscometry measurement revealed that the modification increased the molecular weight of PC- and DEC-containing polymers, up to 93,000 and 99,000 g/moL, respectively. Moreover, the modified composites exhibited higher levels of stability, shear strength and thermal resistance as confirmed by viscosity measurement through rheology determination. The observed increase in viscosity is likely due to the enhanced inter- and intramolecular interaction and higher molecular weight of modified composites. The organic carbonate performed as a transesterification agent that improves the overall properties of cellulose ether (HEMC) at elevated temperatures as concluded from this study. The modification approach in this study will open the doors to new applications and will be beneficial for substantial development in the petroleum industry

A decision support system to proactively manage subsurface utilities

Critical infrastructure assets are defined in terms of their purpose (e.g. roads, water, and energy) yet the ground, which supports these assets, can also be considered a critical asset leading to the conclusion that any assessment of critical infrastructure must consider the ground in that assessment. While the interdependency of critical infrastructures is recognised, the consequences of failing to recognise the ground as an asset can lead to failure of the infrastructure it supports. This motivates the need for a decision support system for subsurface utilities that takes into account the surrounding ground and the overlying road structure. These facilities mostly exist in an urban environment. The ground supports the road and the underlying utility which means the failure of any of these assets (road, ground, or utility) can trigger a failure in the others, the most extreme example being the collapse of roads due to erosion of the supporting ground by a leaking pipe. This paper describes the principles that underpin a novel decision support system for those engaged in street works of any kind, and how a multidisciplinary approach is being used to create a practical toolkit to reduce risk and minimise disruption to proactively manage subsurface utilities using site observations and investigations, public and private databases, expert opinions captured in a number of ontologies and an inference engine to produce guidance that takes into account risk and sustainability criteria

Microwave Energy Increases Fatty Acid Methyl Ester Yield in Human Whole Blood Due to Increased Sphingomyelin Transesterification

Dried blood spots (DBS) by fingertip prick collection for fatty acid profiling are becoming increasingly popular due to ease of collection, minimal invasiveness and its amenability to high-throughput analyses. Herein, we assess a microwave-assisted direct transesterification method for the production of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) from DBS. Technical replicates of human whole blood were collected and 25-μL aliquots were applied to chromatography strips prior to analysis by a standard 3-h transesterification method or microwave-assisted direct transesterification method under various power (variable vs constant), time (1-5 min) and reagent (1-10% H2SO4 in methanol) conditions. In addition, a standard method was compared to a 5-min, 30-W power microwave in 1% H2SO4 method for FAME yield from whole blood sphingomyelin, and sphingomyelin standards alone and spiked in whole blood. Microwave-assisted direct transesterification yielded no significant differences in both quantitative (nmol/100 µL) and qualitative (mol%) fatty acid assessments after as little as 1.5- and 1-min reaction times, respectively, using the variable power method and 5% H2SO4 in methanol. However, 30-W power for 5 min increased total FAME yield of the technical replicates by 14%. This increase appears largely due to higher sphingomyelin-derived FAME yield of up to 109 and 399% compared to the standard method when determined from whole blood or pure standards, respectively. In conclusion, microwave-assisted direct transesterification of DBS achieved in as little as 1-min, and 5-min reaction times increase total fatty acids primarily by significantly improving sphingomyelin-derived fatty acid yield

Impacts of In-Accessible and Poor Public Transportation System on Urban Enviroment: Evidence from Hyderabad, Pakistan

City design plays a major role in the way of life of its inhabitants. The growth of urban centers requires careful schemes to ascertain that the quality of life is not adversely influenced. The rate of motorization is increasing in Hyderabad, Pakistan due to inaccessible public transportation. An efficient public transportation system performs a critical part in sustaining and improving urban welfare by providing access to daily necessities. The basic aim of this study is to discuss the impacts of inaccessible public transportation on urban population, the environmental effect of recent urban transport designs, and the expansion in traffic congestion. Landsat images were used to highlight the existing public transportation routes and dynamic and more realistic travel distances and times were measured. Data were collected from local households and further frequency analysis was done through SPSS. The outcome of this research may assist the evolution of a sustainable and accessible transportation system for the urban population

Application of a spectroscopic method to estimate the olive oil oxidative status

A rapid Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectroscopic method coupled with partial least squares (PLS), was developed to estimate the oxidation degree of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). The reference values of EVOO oxidation for the FTIR calibration were obtained by the specific absorptions at 232 and 270 nm, due to the presence of conjugated diene (CD) and conjugated triene (CT) groups, as monitored by the UV spectrophotometric determination. Specific washing procedures were applied to the EVOO to obtain EVOOP and EVOOTP samples, without phenolic compounds and without tocopherols and phenols, respectively. To obtain different oxidation degrees covering wide CD and CT ranges, EVOO, EVOOP, and EVOOTP samples were subjected to a forced oxidation at 608C for 20 days and aliquots of the oils were daily analyzed. Regression of the FTIR/PLS predicted CD and CT of individual oxidized oils EVOO, EVOOP, EVOOTP, and all combined oils (EVOOALL) against UV–Visible reference values demonstrated the good quality of the models in terms of R2 and RMSECV values. The results of the study indicated that a strong correlation existed between FTIR and UV–Visible peak intensities

Simpler and Faster Spectrophotometric Determination of Diclofenac Sodium in Tablets, Serum and Urine Samples

This work describes a simple, sensitive, rapid and economical analytical procedure for direct spectrophotometric evaluation of diclofenac sodium (DS) using aqueous medium without using a chemical reagent. Parameters like time, temperature, acidic and basic conditions and interference by analgesic drugs were studied for a 5µg ml-1 solution of DS at 276 nm. Under optimized parameters, a linear working range of 0.1–30 g ml-1 with regression coefficient of 0.9998 and lower detection limit of 0.01 g ml-1 was obtained. The method was applied for DS contents in tablets, serum and urine samples

Physico-chemical Characteristics of Oil and Seed Residues of Bauhinia variegata and Bauhinia linnaei

Physico-chemical characteristics of two Bauhinia seed varieties (B. variegata and B. linnaei), were evaluated for commercial exploration. Physico-chemical characteristics of the oils for both varieties were demonstrated and mean values found to be refractive index (40 °C) 1.4589 and 1.4588, peroxide value 1.9 and 2.4 (meq O2 / kg of oil), iodine value 84.5 and 92.2 (g of I2/100g of oil), saponification number 191.3 and 195.5 (mg of KOH /g of oil), free fatty acids 0.6% and 0.9%, unsaponifiable matter 0.9% and 1.2% and color (1 in. cell), 2.2-2.9R + 30.0-25.0Y, respectively. Linoleic 42.1 and 45.8 %, oleic 13.4 and 12.6%, stearic 17.5 and 18.8% and palmitic 22.1 and 16.8% were the main fatty acids in the crude seed oils. Minor amounts of palmitoleic, margaric, linolenic, arachidic, behenic, eicosapentaenoic and nervonic acid were also identified. The composition of defatted seed residue of B. variegata and B. linnaei were found as: protein 41.9% and 38.6%, oil 18.0%, and 17.4% ash 4.8% and 4.2%, moisture 6.7% and 6.3%, fiber 6.9% and 7.3% and total carbohydrate 28.4% and 33.8%, respectively. Proximate and fatty acid composition of both Bauhinia varieties were found to be almost similar. It was concluded that Bauhinia seed is a rich source of linoleic acid and could be explored for commercial uses

SB-ATR FTIR Spectroscopic Monitoring of Free Fatty Acids in Commercially Available Nigella sativa (Kalonji) Oil

Free fatty acids (FFA) in Nigella sativa (N. sativa) commercial and seed oil were determined using single-bounce attenuated total reflectance (SB-ATR) Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Gravimetrical mixing was done by adding 0.1–40% oleic acids in neutralized N. sativa oil containing 0.1% FFA. FTIR spectroscopy technique and partial least square (PLS) calibration were used to detect the absorption region of carbonyl (C=O) which is in the range of 1690–1727 cm−1. The results of PLS calibration model and root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC) are 0.999 and 0.449, respectively. Comparing the FFA obtained in N. sativa oil by using FTIR with the FFA obtained using AOCS titrimetric method shows a positive correlation and confirms that the described method is a useful procedure