DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF CHRONOMODULATED DELIVERY SYSTEM OF METOCLOPRAMIDE HYDROCHLORIDE

Objective: Metoclopramide hydrochloride (meto) is indicated in the treatment of diabetic gastro paresis. It is also used in the treatment of pregnancy-induced morning sickness. Present work involved the development of a chrono-modulated delivery system of meto, intended to be taken at bedtime which would elicit the therapeutic response early in the morning when needed the most to prevent the symptoms of diabetic gastro paresis and morning sickness. Methods: Immediate release tablets of meto were prepared and optimized for disintegration time and in vitro drug release. Subsequently, these tablets were compression coated using various ratios of glyceryl dibehenate and diluents. The resulting tablets were evaluated for disintegration time and in vitro drug release. Optimized formulation was subjected to accelerated stability studies for 3 mo. Results: The optimized immediate release tablets exhibited disintegration time of 2-3 min and more than 90% drug release within 30 min. These tablets when compression coated with the optimized ratio of glyceryl dibehenate and di-calcium phosphate could delay the disintegration time to 251 min. In vitro release study of the tablets showed the lag phase of 4 h after which there was a complete drug release within 1 h. Accelerated stability studies indicated good physical and chemical stability of the formulation. Conclusion: Chrono-modulated formulation of meto could delay the release of the drug by four h. This lag in the release is expected to modulate the time of therapeutic response of meto early in the morning at 6-7 h interval after the administration of dosage form at bedtime

Role of Type I IFNs in the in Vitro Attenuation of Live, Temperature-Sensitive Vaccine Strains of Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus

AbstractThe contributions of type I interferons (IFNs) to the in vitro attenuation of three temperature-sensitive (Ts) subgroup A and one subgroup B deletion mutant RSV strains were evaluated. The ability of these vaccine viruses to induce IFNs at their permissive and restrictive temperatures and their sensitivity to the antiviral effects of exogenous I IFNs were tested in human lung epithelial A549 cells. Our results show that the highly attenuated and immunogenic subgroup A vaccine strain Ts1C produced higher levels of IFN-β than its parent RSS-2 or two related strains, Ts1A and Ts1B, at their permissive temperature. Growth of RSV-infected A549 cultures at restrictive temperatures or prior UV inactivation of the virus abolished the observed induction of IFN-β, suggesting a strict requirement of viral replication for cellular IFN induction. The enhanced induction of IFN-β by the highly immunogenic Ts1C at permissive temperature may be an advantageous characteristic of a live intranasal vaccine candidate. The subgroup B strain RSV B1 and its mutant cp-52 (with SH and G gene deletions) both induced similar but low levels of IFN-β. Hence the observed overattenuation of cp-52 in human infants is probably not due to enhanced IFN induction during its replication in the host. The ability of cp-52, which does not express the SH and G proteins, to induce IFN-β levels similar to those of its parent strain suggests that these viral proteins may not have a role in the induction of IFN-β in the host. In addition, both subgroup A and B mutants and their respective parent strains were similarly resistant to the antiviral effects of exogenous IFN-α or -β. Therefore, increased sensitivity of the mutants to IFNs does not seem to contribute to their attenuation

Effect of γ-​irradiation on the dielectric and conductivity properties of nano-​Wollastonite

Nanocryst. porous CaSiO3 ceramic powders have been synthesized by a novel low-​temp. initiated self-​propagating, gas-​producing soln. combustion method. Single phase β-​CaSiO3 (Wollastonite) is formed by calcination at 900°C for 3h. The crystn. and phase formation temps. in this method are found to be lower compared to the powder obtained via solid state reaction method. The powder is characterized by powder XRD (X-​Ray Diffraction)​, and crystallite sizes are evaluated using Scherrerf's formula as well as from TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy)​. The Wollastonite powder is exposed to 60Co γ-​radiation to accumulated doses of 1, 3, and 5 KGy and low-​frequency (102-​106 Hz) dielec. measurements are carried out before and after irradn. The dielec. cond. is estd. from the dielec. const. and loss tangent. Exposure to γ-​radiation results in substantial modification in the properties of the ceramic powder due to changes in the porosity of the material. The correlation between dielec. and cond. properties is discussed in relation to porosity effect

PREVALENCE OF AMPC Î’-LACTAMASES IN CLINICAL ISOLATES OF E. COLI FROM A TERTIARY CARE RURAL HOSPITAL

Objective: Organisms over expressing AmpC (Ambler Class C) β-lactamases are of clinical concern because they restrict therapeutic options causing treatment failures and are increasing in occurrence worldwide. So the present study was to undertaken with the aim to know the prevalence of plasmid mediated AmpC and inducible AmpC β-lactamases in clinical isolates of E. coli in our tertiary care rural hospital.Methods: 74 cefoxitin resistant E. coli isolates were tested for AmpC production by combined disc diffusion test and disk approximation test.Results: Out of 74 cefoxitin resistance E. coli isolated from various clinical specimen 25(33.78%) showed AmpC β-lactamases production. PMABL was seen in 22(29.73%) and inducible AmpC in 3(4.05%). Among 25 AmpC producing E. coli, 8(32%) were from urine, 5(20%) from miscellaneous, 4(16%) from sputum and 12% respectively from stool and Pus and in Blood 2(8%). Age-wise higher distribution of AmpC β-lactamase was in an age group below 1yr (44.44%) and in age group of 20-39yrs (40%). The higher distribution of AmpC b lactamases producer from Medicine, Obgy, ICU(20% respectively) paediatric 16%,surgery 8%, TB 12% and lower from OPD(4%). In our study, multidrug resistance has been observed among the PMABL producing strains. Higher resistance was seen in gentamicin 22(88%), ciprofloxacin 23(92%), ceptazidime 25(100%), cefaclor 25(100%). Whereas PMABL isolates was susceptible to tigecycline (100%), meropenem (92%), amikacin(60%).Conclusion: The overall prevalence of 10.50% AmpC β-lactamase in E. coli and Multidrug resistance is a matter of concern. So identification of AmpC may help in formulating the hospital infection control committee decreasing the selective antibiotic pressure.Â

The ESO UVES Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample - VI. Sub-Damped Lyman-α\alpha Metallicity Measurements and the Circum-Galactic Medium

The Circum-Galactic Medium (CGM) can be probed through the analysis of absorbing systems in the line-of-sight to bright background quasars. We present measurements of the metallicity of a new sample of 15 sub-damped Lyman-$\alpha$ absorbers (sub-DLAs, defined as absorbers with 19.0 < log N(H I) < 20.3) with redshift 0.584 < $\rm z_{abs}$ < 3.104 from the ESO Ultra-Violet Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample (EUADP). We combine these results with other measurements from the literature to produce a compilation of metallicity measurements for 92 sub-DLAs as well as a sample of 362 DLAs. We apply a multi-element analysis to quantify the amount of dust in these two classes of systems. We find that either the element depletion patterns in these systems differ from the Galactic depletion patterns or they have a different nucleosynthetic history than our own Galaxy. We propose a new method to derive the velocity width of absorption profiles, using the modeled Voigt profile features. The correlation between the velocity width delta_V90 of the absorption profile and the metallicity is found to be tighter for DLAs than for sub-DLAs. We report hints of a bimodal distribution in the [Fe/H] metallicity of low redshift (z < 1.25) sub-DLAs, which is unseen at higher redshifts. This feature can be interpreted as a signature from the metal-poor, accreting gas and the metal-rich, outflowing gas, both being traced by sub-DLAs at low redshifts.Comment: 64 pages, 31 figures, 27 tables. Submitted to MNRA

Feasibility of breast crawl in a tertiary care teaching institute

Background: Early initiation of breastfeeding has many beneficial effects for both the mother and the baby. The breast crawl has been&nbsp;established as the ideal method for promoting early skin-to-skin contact and early initiation of breastfeeding. Objective: The objective&nbsp;of the study was to assess the feasibility of breast crawl in a busy tertiary care institute. Materials and Methods: An observational&nbsp;study was performed including 50 mother-baby pairs, admitted to the labor room of Sassoon General Hospital, Pune, from January2018 for 6 months. Observations were made on patient and nurse attitude and behavior and were further analyzed. Results: Of the&nbsp;total subjects, 23 (46%) mothers had not received any counseling about breastfeeding during the antenatal period and none of them&nbsp;were familiar with the idea of breast crawl from the antenatal period. Of the 50 mothers, 27 mothers (54%) were concerned about&nbsp;privacy, 8 (16%) were concerned about environmental cold, 6 (12%) were worried about exposure, and 9 mothers (18%) were&nbsp;concerned about the baby, whereas 6 mothers (12%) had no concerns and 6 mothers had more than one concern. The attitude of the&nbsp;nursing staff was favorable (enthusiastic) 19 times, indifferent 23 times, reluctant 6 times, and unfavorable (uncooperative) 2 times.&nbsp;Conclusion: While it is highly desirable to implement breast crawl as a routine practice, there are several roadblocks such as lack&nbsp;of antenatal counseling, lack of awareness and motivation, lack of specific guidelines and instructions, skewed staff-to-patient and&nbsp;bed-to-patient ratio, and lack of privacy

Non-ionizing 405nm light as a potential bactericidal technology for platelet safety : evaluation of in vitro bacterial inactivation and in vivo platelet recovery in severe combined immunodeficient mice

Bacterial contamination of ex vivo stored platelets is a cause of transfusion-transmitted infection. Violet-blue 405 nm light has recently demonstrated efficacy in reducing the bacterial burden in blood plasma, and its operational benefits such as non-ionizing nature, penetrability, and non-requirement for photosensitizing agents, provide a unique opportunity to develop this treatment for in situ treatment of ex vivo stored platelets as a tool for bacterial reduction. Sealed bags of platelet concentrates, seeded with low-level Staphylococcus aureus contamination, were 405 nm light-treated (3-10 mWcm-2) up to 8 hr. Antimicrobial efficacy and dose efficiency was evaluated by quantification of the post-treatment surviving bacterial contamination levels. Platelets treated with 10 mWcm-2 for 8 hr were further evaluated for survival and recovery in severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. Significant inactivation of bacteria in platelet concentrates was achieved using all irradiance levels, with 99.6-100% inactivation achieved by 8 hr (P<0.05). Analysis of applied dose demonstrated that lower irradiance levels generally resulted in significant decontamination at lower doses: 180 Jcm-2/10 mWcm-2 (P=0.008) compared to 43.2 Jcm-2/3 mWcm-2 (P=0.002). Additionally, the recovery of light-treated platelets, compared to non-treated platelets, in the murine model showed no significant differences (P ≥ 0.05). This report paves the way for further comprehensive studies to test 405 nm light treatment as a bactericidal technology for stored platelet

GALEX Discovery of a Damped Ly-alpha System at Redshift z = 1

We report the first discovery of a QSO damped Ly-alpha (DLA) system by the GALEX satellite. The system was initially identified as an MgII absorption-line system (z_abs=1.028) in the spectrum of SDSS QSO J0203-0910 (z_em=1.58). The presence of unusually strong absorption due to metal lines of ZnII, CrII, MnII, and FeII clearly suggested that it might be a DLA system with N{HI} > 2 x 10^20 atoms cm^-2. Follow-up GALEX NUV grism spectroscopy confirms the system exhibits a DLA absorption line, with a measured HI column density of N{HI} = 1.50+/-0.45 x 10^21 atoms cm^-2. By combining the GALEX N{HI} determination with the SDSS spectrum measurements of unsaturated metal-line absorption due to ZnII, which is generally not depleted onto grains, we find that the system's neutral-gas-phase metal abundance is [Zn/H] = -0.69+/-0.22, or ~20% solar. By way of comparison, although this system has one of the largest Zn^+ column densities, its metal abundances are comparable to other DLAs at z~1. Measurements of the abundances of Cr, Fe, and Mn help to further pin down the evolutionary state of the absorber.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; Submitted to The Astronomical Journa

A Groundbased Imaging Study of Galaxies Causing DLA, subDLA, and LLS Absorption in Quasar Spectra

We present results from a search for galaxies that give rise to damped Lyman alpha (DLA), subDLA, and Lyman limit system (LLS) absorption at redshifts 0.1 ~< z ~< 1 in the spectra of background quasars. The sample was formed from a larger sample of strong MgII absorbers (W_0^(2796) >= 0.3 A) whose HI column densities were determined by measuring the Ly-alpha line in HST UV spectra. Photometric redshifts, galaxy colors, and proximity to the quasar sightline, in decreasing order of importance, were used to identify galaxies responsible for the absorption. Our sample includes 80 absorption systems for which the absorbing galaxies have been identified, of which 54 are presented here for the first time. The main results of this study are: (i) the surface density of galaxies falls off exponentially with increasing impact parameter, b, from the quasar sightline relative to a constant background of galaxies, with an e-folding length of ~46 kpc. Galaxies with b >~ 100 kpc calculated at the absorption redshift are statistically consistent with being unrelated to the absorption system. (ii) log N(HI) is inversely correlated with b at the 3.0 sigma level of significance. DLA galaxies are found systematically closer to the quasar sightline, by a factor of two, than are galaxies which give rise to subDLAs or LLSs. The median impact parameter is 17.4 kpc for the DLA galaxy sample, 33.3 kpc for the subDLA sample, and 36.4 kpc for the LLS sample. (iii) Absorber galaxy luminosity relative to L*, L/L*, is not significantly correlated with W_0^(2796), log N(HI), or b. (iv) DLA, subDLA, and LLS galaxies comprise a mix of spectral types, but are inferred to be predominantly late type galaxies based on their spectral energy distributions. The implications of these results are discussed. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Initial Virologic Response and HIV Drug Resistance Among HIV-Infected Individuals Initiating First-line Antiretroviral Therapy at 2 Clinics in Chennai and Mumbai, India

Human immunodeficiency virus drug resistance (HIVDR) in cohorts of patients initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) at clinics in Chennai and Mumbai, India, was assessed following World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. Twelve months after ART initiation, 75% and 64.6% of participants at the Chennai and Mumbai clinics, respectively, achieved viral load suppression of <1000 copies/mL (HIVDR prevention). HIVDR at initiation of ART (P <.05) and 12-month CD4 cell counts <200 cells/μL (P <.05) were associated with HIVDR at 12 months. HIVDR prevention exceeded WHO guidelines (≥70%) at the Chennai clinic but was below the target in Mumbai due to high rates of loss to follow-up. Findings highlight the need for defaulter tracing and scale-up of routine viral load testing to identify patients failing first-line AR