A Miniaturized Wide Band Implantable Antenna for Biomedical Application

In this paper, a miniaturized high gain antenna was designed for biomedical applications. The designed antenna operates on the industrial, medical, and scientific(2.40 - 2.4835) GHz band. The proposed antenna consists of the radiating element having rectangular, and circular slots, and a ground plane with rectangular slots. The total volume of the designed antenna is (7x7xO.2) mm 3 , and the thickness of the superstrate and substrate is 0.1 mm. The Rogers ULTRALAM (e , = 2.9, tanD = 0.0025) material is used for substrate and superstrate. The proposed antenna is placed inside the different phantoms of the human body. The maximum gain achieved by the simulations of the proposed antenna is -12 dBi at 2.45 GHz. The designed antenna has better results than the antennas discussed in the literature in term of size, gain, and bandwidth

BIOLOGICAL SCREENING OF ARAUCARIA COLUMNARIS

Objective: The present research is biological screening of aerial part of Araucaria columnaris (Araucariaceae). There were investigation for their antibacterial, antifungal, phytotoxic and cytotoxic activities of Dichloromethane and methanol extract.Methods: Anti-bacterial, Anti-fungal, cytotoxicity and phytotoxicity activity was performed by Disc diffusion method, Agar tube dilution assay, Brine Shrimp Lethality bioassay and Lemna bioassay respectively.Results: Dichloromethane and methanolic extract exhibited significant phytotoxicity against Lemna minor having Paraquat as standard drug and incubation condition (28±1 °C). None of extracts presented any significant antibacterial and cytotoxic activity having Imipenum and Etoposide as standard drug respectively. Both extract had non-significant antifungal activity but it has been noted that MeOH and DCM extract of Araucaria columnaris showed 10% and 20% inhibition with linear growth at 90 mm and 80 mm respectively, when compared with control; against Fusarium solani and Aspergillus flavus respectively.Conclusion: Araucaria columnaris exhibited significant phytotoxicity bioassay. The phytotoxicty assay is a useful primary screen for weedicide research. Synthetic weedicides are expensive, toxic and non-specific. This study will help to discover the phytotoxic constituents of the plant by isolation, purification and structure elucidation to find out as effective herbicidal.Â

A Bibliometric Analysis of the Top 100 Cited Articles on Hepatic Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The purpose of this study is to guide the readers to the impact of the articles published on hepatic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We searched Scopus using 10 different search terms for hepatic MRI. The selected studies were thoroughly reviewed by two independent authors and any disagreement was sorted out by mutual consensus. The list of articles and journals was downloaded into an excel spreadsheet. Only the top 100 cited articles were selected by mutual consensus among all the authors. These articles were further read in the full-text form and were further categorized into subgroups. Three authors independently reviewed the top 100 selected articles, and subsequently data was extracted from them and analyzed. Our study showed that the highest number of top 100 cited articles on hepatic MRI were from Radiology (30 articles) followed by European Radiology (14 articles). The American Journal of Roentgenology, Radiographics, and Journal of Magnetic Resonance had seven articles each. The United States had the highest number of articles by region. Nineteen other journals contributed only one article each to the list of top 100 cited articles. The contribution of authors to the top 100 cited articles was reviewed; all the authors contributing with more than two articles to the highly cited articles are given in Table 3 in the supplementary material. The maximum number of articles were published during 2009 (14 articles), and for a five-year period, the maximum contribution was made during 2008-2013 (44 articles). Our analysis gives an insight on the frequency of citations of top articles on hepatic MRI, categorizes the subtopics, the timeline of the publications, and contributions from different geographic distributions

Antipyretic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of methanol extract of root bark of Acacia jacquemontii Benth (Fabaceae) in experimental animals

Purpose: To investigate the ethnomedicinal claims regarding the use of Acacia jacquemontii Benth. (Fabaceae) in fever, pain and inflammation.Methods: The methanol root bark extract (AJRBM) of the plant was used in the studies. Preliminary phytochemical screening of the extract was carried out according to established methods. Analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic activities were evaluated using acetic acid-induced writhing, carrageennan-induced rat paw edema and Brewer’s yeast-induced pyrexia models, respectively. The extract was administered at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg. Aspirin (300 mg/kg, p.o.) was used as a reference drug in all models. Normal saline (10 mL/kg p.o.) was used as negative control.Results: Phytochemical screening results indicate the presence of cardioactive glycosides, tannins, flavonoids and saponins. In the acetic acid-induced writhing model, the methanol extract exhibited significant (p < 0.05) analgesic effect with 58.98 % reduction in writhing response at a dose of 100 mg/kg, compared with untreated control group. The extract significantly (p < 0.05) reduced carrageenan-induced edema at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg to 36.84 and 47.36 %, respectively, after 1h of extract administration. The extract exhibited predominantly dose-dependent antipyretic effect in Brewer’s yeast-induced pyrexia model. Maximum reduction in body temperature to 37.07 and 38.29 ºC at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg, respectively, was observed, compared with untreated group (38.90 ºC) after 1 h, but this was not significant (p < 0.05).Conclusion: The plant extract exerts inhibitory effect on peripheral pain stimuli, edema and dosedependent anti-pyrexia, and thus justifies the ethnomedicinal use of Acacia jacquemontii Benth. in the management of pain, fever and inflammation.Keywords: Acacia jacquemontii, Antipyretic, Analgesic, Anti-inflammator

Formulation optimization and in vitro characterization of rifampicin and ceftriaxone dual drug loaded niosomes with high energy probe sonication technique

The aim of the present study was to prepare niosomal formulations for dual drug therapy of ceftriaxone sodium and poorly water-soluble rifampicin by the ecological probe sonication method. Pluronic L121 and Span 60 were used as surface active agents and the optimization of the composition was made with the aid of Design of Experiment (DoE) concept. Concentration levels of charge inducing agent, dicetylphosphate (DCP), and Pluronic L121 were studied as variables. Prepared niosomes with varying concentrations of DCP and Pluronic L121 resulted in small sized niosomes with sizes ranging from 165 nm to 893 nm. During the four weeks stability testing, the particle sizes of the empty niosomes were reduced, while the particle sizes of the drug loaded niosomes were increased very slightly. The optimized formulations resulted in stable niosomes with high drug entrapment efficiencies: entrapment efficiency was 99% for rifampicin and 96% for ceftriaxone. All the niosomal formulations showed faster in vitro drug release rates as compared to bulk drug formulations. In conclusion, ceftriaxone and rifampicin loaded niosomes prepared with Pluronic L121 and Span 60 resulted in stable, small sized niosomes with high drug entrapment efficiencies and improved drug release profiles.Peer reviewe

Process optimization of ecological probe sonication technique for production of rifampicin loaded niosomes

The aim of the present study was to develop an optimized niosome formulation for the encapsulation of a poorly water-soluble drug by the ecological probe sonication method. Pluronic L121 and Span 60 were used as surface active agents and the optimization of the composition was made with the aid of Design of Experiment (DoE) concept. Rifampicin was used as a model drug. Concentration levels of charge inducing agent, dicetylphosphate (DCP), and Pluronic L121 were studied as variables. Prepared niosomes with varying concentrations of DCP and Pluronic L121 resulted in small sized niosomes with sizes ranging from 190 nm to 893 nm. During the four weeks stability testing, the particle sizes were reduced slightly. The formulation containing 2 mg of DCP resulted in most stable niosomes with 75.37% entrapment efficiency. All the niosomal formulations showed higher in vitro drug release rates as compared to bulk drug formulation. As a conclusion, rifampicin loaded niosomes prepared with Pluronic L121 and Span 60 resulted in stable, small sized niosomes with improved drug release profile.Peer reviewe

Third-Party Verification Immunization Coverage Survey (TPVICS) - 2021

• Background• Survey Design and Methodology• Implementation of Survey• Survey Results• Referenceshttps://ecommons.aku.edu/pakistan_coe-wch_survey_report/1000/thumbnail.jp

Utilization of Green Formulation Technique and Efficacy Estimation on Cell Line Studies For Dual Anticancer Drug Therapy With Niosomes

The aim of the present study was to prepare niosome formulations for the simultaneous encapsulation, dual drug therapy, of two anticancer drugs by the ecological probe sonication method. Poloxamer and sorbitan monostearate were used as surface active agents in niosomes, and the water soluble doxorubicin and poorly-water soluble paclitaxel were used as anticancer drugs. Thorough physicochemical analysis were performed for the niosomes, and their cytotoxicity and activity were evaluated on MCF-7 and PC3-MM2 cancer cell lines. Prepared niosomes were small in size with sizes ranging from 137 nm to 893 nm, and entrapment efficiencies were high, ranging from 91.24% to 99.99%. During the four weeks stability testing, the particle size remained stable. The niosomal formulations showed in vitro sustained drug release profiles for doxorubicin and clearly increased the dissolution rate of poorly water soluble paclitaxel. The incorporation of both the drugs into niosomes improved cell penetration and antiproliferative activity of the drugs PC3-MM2 cell lines. As a conclusion, doxorubicin and paclitaxel loaded niosome formulations resulted in relatively stable, small sized niosomes with improved drug release profiles, low toxicity, better cell penetration and antiproliferative activity. The niosomes showed synergistic effect due to the presence of both drugs, which can overcome multidrug resistance.Peer reviewe