20 research outputs found
Eye of horus â Erratum revealed a prescription survey
Background: The aim of this study was to survey the quality and the content of prescription of practitioners and also assess the legibility of alphabet, and short form of the drug.Methods: AÂ survey of all prescription received by the patients that were written by general practitioners, consulting physicians and dentists in and around Virajpet and Madikeri (south Coorg) was included.The prescriptions were photocopied and returned back to the patients. The prescription was scored and analyzed by a qualified medical investigator.Results: AÂ total of 171 prescription samples were collected. In most prescriptions, one or more aspects of patientâs personal details were missing. Concerned doctorâs details also lacked in most cases. 40.3% of the prescriptions were obtained wherein short form of the drug was used for prescribing drug. Legibility of alphabet was also evaluated and the most confusing letter noted in our study was letter âCâ; followed by A, T, S, O, G, and D in this study the letter Rx was written in 7% of the prescription and in 19% prescription it was replaced by word âAdvâ and 74% of prescription without symbol of Rx.Conclusions: The present data shows most prescriptions in the study was inadequate and important details were lacking, legibility of prescription was poor in rating
Dynamic mechanical behaviour of nanoparticle loaded biodegradable PVA films for vaginal drug delivery
Traore, Y. L., Fumakia, M., Gu, J., & Ho, E. A. Dynamic mechanical behaviour of nanoparticle loaded biodegradable PVA films for vaginal drug delivery, Journal of Biomaterials Applications 32(8) pp. 1119â1126. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885328217739451In this study, we investigated the viscoelastic and mechanical behaviour of polyvinyl alcohol films formulated along with carrageenan, plasticizing agents (polyethylene glycol and glycerol), and when loaded with nanoparticles as a model for potential applications as microbicides. The storage modulus, loss modulus and glass transition temperature were determined using a dynamic mechanical analyzer. Films fabricated from 2% to 5% polyvinyl alcohol containing 3âmg or 5âmg of fluorescently labeled nanoparticles were evaluated. The storage modulus and loss modulus values of blank films were shown to be higher than the nanoparticle-loaded films. Glass transition temperature determined using the storage modulus, and loss modulus was between 40â50â and 35â40â, respectively. The tensile properties evaluated showed that 2% polyvinyl alcohol films were more elastic but less resistant to breaking compared to 5% polyvinyl alcohol films (2% films break around 1 N load and 5% films break around 7 N load). To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the influence of nanoparticle and film composition on the physico-mechanical properties of polymeric films for vaginal drug delivery.Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery grant (Grant No.: RGPIN-2015-06008)
Research Manitoba Operating Grant and a Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Leaders Opportunity Fund
Leslie F Buggey Professorship
Manitoba Graduate Scholarship from the province of Manitob
A nonlinear method of removing harmonic noise in geophysical data
A nonlinear, adaptive method to remove the harmonic noise that commonly resides in geophysical data is proposed in this study. This filtering method is based on the ensemble empirical mode decomposition algorithm in conjunction with the logarithmic transform. We present a synthetic model study to investigate the capability of signal reconstruction from the decomposed data, and compare the results with those derived from other 2-D adaptive filters. Applications to the real seismic data acquired by using an ocean bottom seismograph and to a shot gather of the ground penetrating radar demonstrate the robustness of this method. Our work proposes a concept that instead of Fourier-based approaches, the harmonic noise removal in geophysical data can be achieved effectively by using an alternative nonlinear adaptive data analysis method, which has been applied extensively in other scientific studies
Biodegradable Film for the Targeted Delivery of siRNA-Loaded Nanoparticles to Vaginal Immune Cells
The goal of this study was to develop
and characterize a novel
intravaginal film platform for targeted delivery of small interfering
RNA (siRNA)-loaded nanoparticles (NP) to dendritic cells as a potential
gene therapy for the prevention of sexually transmitted human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) infection. PolyÂ(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-functionalized
polyÂ(D, L-lactic-<i>co</i>-glycolic acid) (PLGA)/polyethylenimine
(PEI)/siRNA NP (siRNA-NP) were fabricated using a modified emulsion-solvent
evaporation method and characterized for particle size, zeta potential,
encapsulation efficiency (EE), and siRNA release. siRNA-NP were decorated
with anti-HLA-DR antibody (siRNA-NP-Ab) for targeting delivery to
HLA-DR+ dendritic cells (DCs) and homogeneously dispersed in a biodegradable
film consisting of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and λ-carrageenan.
The siRNA-NP-Ab-loaded film (siRNA-NP-Ab-film) was transparent, displayed
suitable physicomechanical properties, and was noncytotoxic. Targeting
activity was evaluated in a mucosal coculture model consisting of
a vaginal epithelial monolayer (VK2/E6E7 cells) and differentiated
KG-1 cells (HLA-DR+ DCs). siRNA-NP-Ab were rapidly released from the
film and were able to penetrate the epithelial layer to be taken up
by differentiated KG-1 cells. siRNA-NP-Ab demonstrated higher targeting
activity and significantly higher knockdown of synaptosome-associated
23-kDa protein (SNAP-23) mRNA and protein when compared to siRNA-NP
without antibody conjugation. Overall, these data suggest that our
novel siRNA-NP-Ab-film may be a promising platform for preventing
HIV infection within the female genital tract
Population genomics unravels the Holocene history of Triticum-Aegilops species
Deep knowledge of crop biodiversity is essential to improve global food security. Despite bread wheat serving as a keystone crop worldwide, the population history of bread wheat and its wild relatives (a.k.a. wheats) remains elusive. By analyzing whole-genome sequences of 795 wheats, we found that bread wheat originated southwest of the Caspian Sea âŒ11,700 years ago and underwent a slow speciation process, lasting âŒ3,300 years due to persistent gene flow from wild relatives. Soon after, bread wheat spread across Eurasia and reached Europe, South Asia, and East Asia âŒ7,000 to âŒ5,000 years ago, shaping a diversified but occasionally convergent adaptive landscape of bread wheat in novel environments. Opposite to cultivated wheat, wild wheat populations have declined by âŒ82% in the past âŒ2,000 years due to the food choice shift of humans, and likely continue to drop because of the changing climate. These findings will guide future efforts in protecting and utilizing wheat biodiversity to improve global food security