Optical diagnostics study of air flow and powder fluidisation in Nexthaler (R)-Part I: Studies with lactose placebo formulation

Effective drug delivery to the lungs by a DPI device requires the air-stream through the device to have sufficient power to aerosolise the powder. Furthermore, sufficient turbulence must be induced, along with particle-wall and particle-particle collisions, in order to de-aggregate small drug particles from large carrier particles. As a result, the emitted and the fine particle doses produced by many commercially available DPI devices tend to be strongly affected by the natural inter-patient variability of the inhaled air flow. The Nexthaler® is a multi-dose breath-actuated dry-powder inhaler with minimum drug delivery-flow rate dependency and incorporating a dose protector. The actuation mechanism of the dose-protector ensures that the dose is only exposed to the inhaled air flow if the flow has sufficient power to cause complete aerosolisation. For this study, a proprietary lactose placebo powder blend was filled into “transparent “ Nexthalers® to allow application of high speed imaging and particle image velocimetry (PIV) techniques to successfully interrogate and reveal details of the powder entrainment and emission processes coupled with characterisation of the flow environment in the vicinity of the mouthpiece exit. The study showed that fluidisation of the bulk of the powder occurs very quickly (~20 ms) after withdrawal of the dose protector followed by powder emission from the device within ~50 ms thereafter. The bulk of the metered placebo dose was emitted within 100-200 ms. The visualisation study also revealed that a very small fraction of powder fines is emitted whilst the dose protector still covers the dosing cup as the flow rate through the device accelerates. The PIV results show that the flow exiting the device is highly turbulent with a rotating flow structure, which forces the particles to follow internal paths having a high probability of wall impacts, suggesting that the flow environment inside the Nexthaler® DPI will be very beneficial for carrier-drug de-aggregation

Mastcam-Z multispectral database from the Perseverance rover’s traverse in the Jezero crater floor, Mars (sols 0-380)

NASA’s Mars-2020 Perseverance rover spent its first year in Jezero crater studying the mafic lava flows of the Máaz formation and the ultramafic cumulates of the Séítah formation. Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z instrument, a pair of multispectral, stereoscopic zoom-lens cameras, provides broadband red/green/blue (RGB), narrowband visible to near-infrared color (VNIR, 440-1020 nm wavelength range). We compiled Mastcam-Z spectra from Perseverance’s exploration of the Jezero crater floor in the first 380 sols of its mission. Here, we provide a database of ~2400 representative spectra with extensive metadata, and the locations of the regions of interest (ROIs) from which the spectra were extracted. We also include “natural color” red, green, blue (RGB) images for context, “enhanced color images” derived by stretching narrowband images, and “decorrelation stretch” (DCS) images. This dataset can serve as a baseline to interpret future observations from Perseverance’s ongoing exploration of Jezero crater, Mars

Determination of flavanones in citrus byproducts and nutraceutical products by a validated RP-HPLC method

The aim of this work was to develop and validate a specific reversed phase high performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC) using diode array detection (DAD) for the determination of flavanones, which is the dominant flavonoid class in the genus citrus. The procedures and criteria used for validation of the method including sensitivity, linearity, repeatability, recovery, and robustness were carried out following the EURACHEM guidelines. The validated RP-HPLC-DAD method was applied for the determination of the mainly flavanone glycosides contained in dried blood orange peel and dried lemon peel, and for the quantitation of flavanone glycosides and hesperetin in nutraceutical products

Determinants of emotional distress in neonatal healthcare professionals: An exploratory analysis

Background: High levels of mental health problems have been consistently reported among neonatal healthcare professionals. While studies suggest that personality, coping strategies and safety culture might contribute to the psychological wellbeing of healthcare professionals, they have not been systematically investigated in low-risk (i.e., neonatal wards; NWs) and high-risk (i.e., neonatal intensive care units; NICUs) neonatal contexts. The current study investigated potential predictors of professionals' emotional distress and whether they differ according to the work setting (i.e., NICUs vs. NWs). Methods: Healthcare professionals (N = 314) from 7 level-3 (i.e., NICUs) and 6 level-2 (i.e., NWs) neonatal units in Tuscany were included. Emotional distress (i.e., anxiety, depression, psychosomatic, post-traumatic stress symptoms and emotional exhaustion), Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) and Behavioral Approach System (BAS) sensitivity, coping strategies and safety culture were assessed through well-validated, self-reported questionnaires. Results: Greater BIS/BAS sensitivity, avoidance coping strategies and a sub-dimension of safety culture (i.e., stress recognition) were significantly associated with greater risk of emotional distress, whereas job satisfaction emerged as a protective factor. Three specific profiles of professionals in term of personality, coping and safety culture were identified and further predicted emotional distress. Neonatal wards and NICUs personnel presented different associations between personality, coping and safety culture. Conclusion: These findings highlighted significant modifiable contributors of neonatal mental healthcare professionals' wellbeing. Institutional initiatives that target these factors and, particularly, job satisfaction may promote professionals' emotional wellbeing and thus improve caring processes