FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF FAST DISSOLVING FILMS OF ELETRIPTAN HYDROBROMIDE

Objective: The main aim of the present research was to develop an oral fast dissolving polymeric film (FDF) with good mechanical properties, faster disintegration and dissolution when placed on the tongue.Methods: Eletriptan hydrobromide is prescribed for the treatment of mild to a moderate migraine. The polymers selected for preparing films were Pullulan, Maltodextrin (MDX), Acacia, Sodium alginate (SA), Locust bean gum (LBG), Guar gum (GG), Xanthan gum (XG), Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), Polyvinyl pyrrolidine (PVP), Hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) E5, and HPMC E15. Twelve sets of films FN1–FN12 were prepared by solvent casting method with Pullulan and combination of Acacia, MDX, SA, LBG, GG, XG, PVA, PVP, HPMC E5 and HPMC E15. Five sets of films FS1–FS5 were prepared using synthetic polymers like PVA, PVP, HPMC E5 and HPMC E15.Results: From all the prepared polymer formulations, FN2, FN8, and FS3 were selected based on disintegration time, and drug release and amongst this three FN2 was optimised based on its disintegration time (D. T). The percent drug release of the optimised film was compared with the percent release of the pure drug.Conclusion: The optimised formulation had a D. T of 16 s and a percent drug release of 97.5% in 10 min in pH 6.8 phosphate buffer and 100.6% drug release in 10 min in 0.1N HCl

Texas-Oklahoma Producer Cotton Market Summary: 2002/2003

The volume of the Texas-Oklahoma spot cotton market analyzed by the Daily Price Estimation System (DPES) for the 2002/03 marketing year increased from 364,267 bales the previous year to 606,661 bales this year. The average price received by producers during the 2002/03 marketing year was 41.98 cents/lb, which is about 16 cents/lb. higher than the previous year. The 2002 crop was generally of good quality. The average micronaire level was slightly lower in 2002 at 4.33, and the average number of bales having level 1 bark was up in comparison to the 2002 crop. With the exception of strength and micronaire, price discounts for the 2002 crop increased for all quality attributes. Premiums remained about the same for all quality attributes with the exception of leaf. The premiums for lower levels of leaf in the 2002-03 market year showed a relative increase. In regard to strength, the first digit of the color grade, and staple length, producers did not appear to receive much of a premium for better than base qualities.Crop Production/Industries,

Foreign bodies in upper aero-digestive tract: a clinical study

Background: Foreign-body ingestion and aspiration are common childhood adverse events, hence are commonest causes of morbidity and mortality in infants and children worldwide.Aim of current study was to identify the patients with foreign-body ingestion and aspiration, develop a suitable algorithm for their management and study various complications following their removal.Methods: The present study was carried out in G.R. medical college, Gwalior, M. P. during last one year on hundred patients diagnosed as case of foreign-body in upper aero-digestive tract on the basis of history, examination and investigations.Results: Foreign-bodies in upper aero-digestive tract were seen mostly in children less than 10 years of age (91%). The youngest was 8 months old and the oldest 48 years. Coins were the most common foreign-bodies in oesophagus (90%) while whistle in the upper airway (40%). Right bronchus is the commonest site of impaction in the airway (50%), while cricopharynx is most common in the oesophagus (95.55%). Patients with oesophageal foreign bodies presented mostly with the chief complaint of foreign body sensation (63.4%) in the throat whereas those with airway foreign body presented mostly with dyspnoea and choking sensation (60%). Pooling of saliva was most commonly seen in patients with oesophageal foreign bodies (43.3%). Tachypnoea was the most common sign in cases of trachea-bronchial foreign bodies (80%). Positive radiological evidence was present in 88% of upper aero-digestive foreign-bodies. Only 2.2% cases showed complications following oesophagoscopy. Tracheo-bronchial foreign-bodies were removed by emergency bronchoscopy. 20% cases had complications post-operatively.Conclusion: Early detection by meticulous history, imaging modality & prompt management remains basis for favourable outcome and prevents fatal complications.

Egfr/Ras pathway mediates interactions between peripodial and disc proper cells in Drosophila wing discs

All imaginal discs in Drosophila are made up of a layer of columnar epithelium or the disc proper and a layer of squamous epithelium called the peripodial membrane. Although the developmental and molecular events in columnar epithelium or the disc proper are well understood, the peripodial membrane has gained attention only recently. Using the technique of lineage tracing, we show that peripodial and disc proper cells arise from a common set of precursors cells in the embryo, and that these cells diverge in the early larval stages. However, peripodial and disc proper cells maintain a spatial relationship even after the separation of their lineages. The peripodial membrane plays a significant role during the regional subdivision of the wing disc into presumptive wing, notum and hinge. The Egfr/Ras pathway mediates this function of the peripodial membrane. These results on signaling between squamous and columnar epithelia are particularly significant in the context of in vitro studies using human cell lines that suggest a role for the Egfr/Ras pathway in metastasis and tumour progression

Borderline Ovarian Malignancies : A Single Institute Retrospective Study.

Background: Borderline ovarian tumors are histologically characterized as epithelial tumors with a stratified growth pattern but without destructive stromal invasion. Little is known about the histological subtypes and outcome, role of fertility sparing surgery and role of postoperative therapy in advanced stage in Indian scenario. While there is ample data in the world literature about this disease, prognosis in Indian patients is largely unknown due to dearth of studies in our setting. Objective: To study the demographic profile, clinical features, imaging, treatment and outcome of borderline ovarian tumors. Methods: This is a retrospective study of eighty seven patients with pathologically proven diagnosis of borderline ovarian tumor, diagnosed and treated from January 2006 to October 2011 at our institution. Most patients underwent surgical staging which incuded total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salphingo-oophorectomy, infracolic omentectomy, bilateral pelvic and para aortic lymphadenectomy. Young patients who had not completed their family underwent fertility sparing surgery. Patients with invasive metastatic implants received adjuvant chemotherapy. The outcome of these patients was correlated with stage, type of peritoneal implant, type of surgical procedure and with histological subtype. Results: At a median follow-up of 48 months, 100 percent survival was noted. One patient with stage III disease had recurrence. Conclusions: Borderline ovarian tumors occur at a younger age compared to invasive tumors. In patients with early stage disease who wish to preserve fertility, hysterectomy and contralateral oophorectomy are not necessary. Serous tumors occur at a younger age. They can be associated with invasive peritoneal implants and raised CA125 values. Majority of the serous tumors are bilateral and smaller in size compared to mucinous and endometroid tumors. Raised CA125 values did not correlate with the stage of disease. These patients have an excellent prognosis even in Indian scenario where majority of patients present with big ovarian masses

Tb3+-Cleavage Assays Reveal Specific Mg2+ Binding Sites Necessary to Pre-fold the btuB Riboswitch for AdoCbl Binding

Riboswitches are RNA elements that bind specific metabolites in order to regulate the gene expression involved in controlling the cellular concentration of the respective molecule or ion. Ligand recognition is mostly facilitated by Mg2+ mediated pre-organization of the riboswitch to an active tertiary fold. To predict these specific Mg2+ induced tertiary interactions of the btuB riboswitch from E. coli, we here report Mg2+ binding pockets in its aptameric part in both, the ligand-free and the ligand-bound form. An ensemble of weak and strong metal ion binding sites distributed over the entire aptamer was detected by terbium(III) cleavage assays, Tb3+ being an established Mg2+ mimic. Interestingly many of the Mn+ (n = 2 or 3) binding sites involve conserved bases within the class of coenzyme B12-binding riboswitches. Comparison with the published crystal structure of the coenzyme B12 riboswitch of S. thermophilum aided in identifying a common set of Mn+ binding sites that might be crucial for tertiary interactions involved in the organization of the aptamer. Our results suggest that Mn+ binding at strategic locations of the btuB riboswitch indeed facilitates the assembly of the binding pocket needed for ligand recognition. Binding of the specific ligand, coenzyme B12 (AdoCbl), to the btuB aptamer does however not lead to drastic alterations of these Mn+ binding cores, indicating the lack of a major rearrangement within the three-dimensional structure of the RNA. This finding is strengthened by Tb3+ mediated footprints of the riboswitch's structure in its ligand-free and ligand-bound state indicating that AdoCbl indeed induces local changes rather than a global structural rearrangement

Correlation analysis of reactivity in the oxidation of substituted mandelic acids by pyridinium fluorochromate

706-709Kinetics of oxidation of nine substituted mandelic acids by pyridinium fluorochromate (PFC) have been studied. The main product is the corresponding arylglyoxylic acid. The reaction is first order in [PFC] and Michaelis- Menten type kinetics has been observed with respect to the reductant. The formation constants of the complexes and the rates of their decomposition have been calculated. The formation constants are not sensitive to substitution in the benzene ring. The rates of decomposition of the complexes showed an excellent correlation with Brown's σ+ values with negative reaction constants. The effect of solvent has been analysed using multiparametric equations and mechanistic aspects are discussed

An AI framework for Change Analysis and Forecast Modelling of Temporal Series of Satellite Images

The study focuses on change analysis and predicting future LULC map of capital city of Karnataka state, India. The chosen study area is more prone to urbanisation and greatly affected by population in recent years. Spatial-temporal data from 1989-2019 are considered. LULC classes comprise of Water bodies, Urban, Forest, Vegetation and Openland. An optimal LULC maps from 1989 to 2019 obtained by deep neural network technique are used to perform change analysis which would mainly give the change LULC map with number and percentage of change pixels. According to the analysis performed major change as environmental affecting factor was noticed between 2009 and 2019 where in urban with the area of 189.3861 sq. km remain unchanged and noticeable transitions from other LULC classes to urban. Later, time series classification was performed using Cellular Automata, Cellular Automata-Neural Networks, techniques to predict the LULC map of 2024. Among these CA-NN outperformed with an average kappa coefficient of 0.83. Also, this was validated with projected LULC map of 2024 provided by USGS