The effects of ambient temperature on the compaction of pharmaceutical powders

International audienceThis article presents an experimental study of the effects of raised ambient temperature in dies and punches on the compaction of pharmaceutical powders. The experiments use an instrumented hydraulic press having a temperature-controlled enclosure allowing the ambient temperature of die and punch to be varied from 20 to 57 degrees C. A pharmaceutical powder was compacted at temperatures in this range and mechanical parameters, such as stress transfer ratio, stress transmission ratio, and die-wall friction, were analysed to examine the effects of heat transfer between tools and powder. In particular, it is shown that increasing the environmental temperature of die and punch increases the transfer ratio and the die-wall friction. The radial pressure is also slightly increased at the first stages of the compaction. However, the stress transmission is reduced by increasing the temperature. This may indicate an increase of shear stress. It is also observed that the particles undergoing compaction are `softened' by increase of the temperature. This softening is certainly due to rise in temperature of the powder generated by the compaction and by the heat flux transfer between the die and the tablet. It is suggested that these effects could be important in industrial tablet production installations without air conditioning and thus subject to variations in ambient temperature

A multi-site assessment of knowledge of Ebola virus disease among health workers in south-west Nigeria

Objective: Nigeria may have been certified free from Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) by the World Health Organization, but not without its aftermath on many, especially among health workers who came in contact with the infected during the West African outbreak in 2014.This study was conducted among health workers in three tertiary hospitals in South-West Nigeria. It aimed at assessing their knowledge of EVD in a bid to forestall future contagion from patients.Method: 600 consenting participants selected through two-stage sampling method were involved in the study. Primary data was retrieved through self-administered questionnaire.Results: Majority (84.0%) of the participants knew that EVD can be contacted through blood and bodily fluid of an infected person, (78.0%) knew that EVD can be prevented by avoiding contact with an infected person, while (76.0%) identified bleeding from orifices as one of the signs of EVD. However, (6.0%) of the participants did not know how EVD can be prevented.Conclusion: Result showed that participants have average knowledge of EVD and therefore, are not adequately informed of EVD. The study recommended wider dissemination of adequate information on EVD among health workers in tertiary hospitals to forestall future contagion of the infection from patients.Keywords: Knowledge, EVD, Contagion, Outbreak, Prevention, Bleedin

A comparison of outcomes in ultrasonography guided versus landmark guided corticosteroid injection for the treatment of adhesive capsulitis

Background: Adhesive capsulitis is a debilitating disease in an otherwise healthy individual. Intra-articular corticosteroid injections offer a cost-effective, non-operative treatment option. However, it is currently unclear whether an ultrasound-guided injection relieves the symptoms of shoulder pain more effectively than if the injection was delivered landmark-guided. Methods: Eighty patients with adhesive capsulitis were randomized to two intervention groups - landmark guided and ultrasound (USG) guided. The functional status of the patients was documented prior to the intervention. Following allocation, the intra-articular steroid was administered either under USG guidance or following identification of the site of injection using landmarks. Follow-up was done on day 5, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, and 12 weeks post procedure to document the functional status. Results: The difference in visual analogue score (VAS) between the two arms was found to be statistically significant in favour of the ultrasound guided technique only on day 5 and day 21. On the other hand, the difference in disability of arm, shoulder, and hand (DASH) score between the 2 arms was found to be statistically significant in favour of the ultrasound guided technique on day 5, 21, 42 and 84. Finally, in our study, both shoulder flexion and abduction on day 84 achieved a statistically significant improvement, favouring the ultrasound guided arm. Conclusions: Ultrasound guided corticosteroid injections may offer modestly better short-term functional outcome and symptom relief when compared with landmark guided corticosteroids

Les osteomes sinusiens a extension orbitaire a propos de trois cas

Introduction : L’ostéome des sinus paranasaux est une tumeur bénigne rare, dévolution lente et qui peut être responsable de complications ophtalmologiques, sinusiennes et endocrâniennes. Son traitement lorsqu’il s’impose, n’est que chirurgical.Observations : Nous rapportons les observations médicales de trois patients opérés dans le service d’ORL et de chirurgie cervico-faciale de l’hôpital 20 aout de Casablanca pour des ostéomes sinusiens a extension orbitaire. L’origine de l’ostéome était frontale dans 1 cas et ethmoïdal dans 2 cas. La tumeur était le plus souvent révélée par une exophtalmie d’apparition progressive associée ou non a des céphalées L’indication opératoire a été posée chez les trois malades. La voie d’abord a été transfaciale dans deux cas et bicoronale dans un cas. L’évolution a été favorable chez tous les patients.Conclusion : : l’ostéome sinusien est une néoformation osseuse bénigne dont le traitement est chirurgical dans les formes symptomatiques. La voie d’abord dépend de la localisation tumorale.Mots clés : Ostéome, Sinus paranasaux, Extension orbitaire, Traitement.Objective : The osteoma of paranasal sinuses is a rare benign tumour, slow devolution and which may be responsible for ocular, intracranial and sinus complications. The treatment when it is required, is that surgical.Case report : We report the medical observations of three patients operated in the ENT service and cervical-facial surgery in the Hospital 20 August of Casablanca for sinus osteomas with orbital extension. The origin of the osteoma was frontal in one case, ethmoid in two cases. The tumor was most often revealed by a gradual exophthalmia associated or not with headache. The operative indication has been raised in three patients. The incision was transfacial in two cases and bicoronale in one case. The evolution was favorable in all patients.Conclusion: the sinus osteomas is a benign bone neoformation with surgical treatment in symptomatic forms. The surgical approach depends on tumor location.Keyswords : Osteoma, Paranasal sinuses, Orbital Extension, Treatment

A Novel Approach for Education Indoor Air Quality Management using Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract: Learning environments are a very important component in the educational system, and have a major role in improving learners' performance. However changes in Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) factors such as temperature, CO2 level, and noise in addition to the number of students per class can harm learners' health and decrease their knowledge acquisition capacities. Due to the number of studies that showed how IEQ improvement leads to students' performance increase, this paper present the implementation, design and results of a WSN based IEQ monitoring system for the sake of students' performance improvement and decision making accuracy increase

The global oscillation network group site survey. II. Results

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Project will place a network of instruments around the world to observe solar oscillations as continuously as possible for three years. The Project has now chosen the six network sites based on analysis of survey data from fifteen sites around the world. The chosen sites are: Big Bear Solar Observatory, California; Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii; Learmonth Solar Observatory, Australia; Udaipur Solar Observatory, India; Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife; and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, Chile. Total solar intensity at each site yields information on local cloud cover, extinction coefficient, and transparency fluctuations. In addition, the performance of 192 reasonable components analysis. An accompanying paper describes the analysis methods in detail; here we present the results of both the network and individual site analyses. The selected network has a duty cycle of 93.3%, in good agreement with numerical simulations. The power spectrum of the network observing window shows a first diurnal sidelobe height of 3 × 10⁻⁴ with respect to the central component, an improvement of a factor of 1300 over a single site. The background level of the network spectrum is lower by a factor of 50 compared to a single-site spectrum