Influence of different formulation variables on the performance of transdermal drug delivery system containing tizanidine hydrochloride: in vitro and ex vivo evaluations

The present study was aimed at preparation of transdermal patches of tizanidine HCl, evaluation of the effect of polymers on in vitro release pattern of the drug, and the effect of permeation enhancers on the penetration of the drug through the rabbit skin. Various proportions of hydrophilic (HPMC) and hydrophobic (Eudragit L-100) polymers were used with PEG 400 as film-forming agent, and Span 20 or DMSO as permeation enhancer. The formulations were assessed for physicochemical characteristics and in vitro drug release studies using USP paddle over disc method in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) at 32.0±1°C. On the basis of in vitro studies and physicochemical evaluations, S03-A and S04-A were selected at Eudragit : HPMC ratios of 8 : 2 and 7 : 3, respectively, for further ex vivo analysis. The effects of different concentrations of Span 20 and DMSO were evaluated on excised rabbit skin using Franz diffusion cell. Cumulative drug permeation, flux, permeability coefficient, target flux, and enhancement ratio were calculated and compared with the control formulations. Kinetic models and Tukey’s multiple comparison test were applied to evaluate the drug release patterns. Formulation SB03- PE containing Eudragit L-100:HPMC (7:3) with Span 20 (15% w/w) produced the highest enhancement in drug permeation, and followed zero order kinetic model with super case-II drug release mechanism

Genotoxic and cytotoxic potential of whole plant extracts of Kalanchoe laciniata by Ames and MTT assay

Lack of data on safety of herbal medicines have endangered human health and life. The present study evaluated the genotoxic and mutagenic effect of Kalanchoe laciniata to access the safety and usefulness of the medicinal plant. Aqua-methanolic and n-hexane extracts of K. laciniata were evaluated for the genotoxic potential using Ames assay and cytotoxicity was evaluated using MTT assay. Ames assay was conducted using two strains of Salmonella typhimurium TA-100 and TA-102 whereas MTT assay was performed on baby hamster kidney cell line BHK-21. Aqua-methanolic extract of K. laciniata exhibited significant mutagenicity when exposed to TA- 102 strain with a mutagenic index of 50.66 and 54.74 at maximum dose 150 mg/plate. The extract was also muta- genic to TA-100 strain but to a lesser extent. M.I of n-hexane extract was 12.15 and 15.51 for TA-100 and TA- 102 respectively. n-hexane extract was mutagenic but little difference was observed between results of two strains. Both extracts were found to be cytotoxic with an IC50 of 321.9 and 638.5 µg/mL for aqua-methanolic and n-hexane extracts respectively. On the basis of results it was concluded that aqua-methanolic and n-hexane extracts of K. mutagenic and cytotoxic potential. It is suggested to explore the plant further to evaluate its safety in rodents and other species

Air Pollution and Clean Energy: Latest Trends and Future Perspectives

Energy and the environment are among the top global issues of this era. Environmental degradation specifically due to consumption of fossil fuels in conventional energy generation systems has become a critical challenge for the whole world. With the introduction of advance industrial processes and operations, the air quality deterioration has also become very complex. There is a dire need to replace the conventional energy systems with alternative energy resources for reducing air pollutants. Renewable energy systems generate clean energy with less environmental footprints. This chapter will highlight the latest trends and future strategies in clean and renewable energy supply systems to mitigate air pollution for environmental sustainability

Rise of Xenophobia in the West: Indian Exploitation and its Implication on Pakistani Diaspora

The world is witnessing the rise of xenophobia in the Western society and culture that is massively deteriorating the social fabric of the western society and creating a gulf between the natives of different countries and the locals. A considerable number of Political Scientists including the famous Noam Chomsky are of the view that it is nothing but a planned manipulation of minds of the local people by the ruling elite for getting their electoral gains and portray Muslims as a monster that are serious threat for the stability and security of the Western society. The paper intends to unfold the xenophobic trends and the Indian role in fueling the xenophobia against the Pakistani Diaspora. The theoretical lens that will magnify the literature would be the Social Constructivism. The paper will highlight the exploitation of minds by the Western political parties that ultimately help them to get the desired results in the electoral process with primary focus on the Pakistani Diaspora. The paper will also illuminate the fears of the Western society about the decaying trends in their culture and linguistics

Effects of International Migration on Human Socio-Economic Development in Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK): A Case Study of District Bhimber

Purpose: This study aims to explore the effects of international migration on human socio-economic development in district Bhimber, AJK. Methodology: Data were collected through a survey with the help of a well-structured questionnaire. Multistage sampling technique was used for selection of study respondents. At the first stage one tehsil (Ambala Barnala) out of three tehsils of district Bhimber was selected randomly. In second stage, five localities (Union Councils) viz; Barnala, Watala, Pangali, Patni and Mallot were selected randomly. At the final stage, migrated families were identified through snowball sampling technique and convenient sample of 200 respondents (40 from each locality) from the emigrants’ family were picked up. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used for data analysis using SPSS software. Findings: Results revealed that migration increased their income, stabilized their employment, and ensured better living conditions. We also find that various pull factors which negated migration included i.e. opportunities of higher income and better educational facilities and push factor like favored migration included lack of employment opportunities. We also find that age, education, income, duration of migration, and nature of work were associated determinants of human socio-economic development. Implications: It is recommended that Government should provide basic health, educational and economic opportunities to people in the selected area. Moreover, vocational training and technical institutions for capacity building of people is a workable and viable strategy to change the migration attitude. Keywords:     Migration, Immigrants, determinant factors, Socio-economic developmen

Study of Multi-Drug Resistance Associated with Anti-Tuberculosis Treatment by DOT Implementation Strategy in Pakistan

Purpose: The present prospective cross sectional study was aimed to access the prevalence and trend of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in different age groups and gender, in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. Tuberculosis is a disease of poverty affecting mostly young adults in their most productive years; however, all age groups are at risk.Method: The study population consisted of patients under DOT program with MDR-TB among males and females and in different categories of age groups. The data was collected from 100 MDR-TB patients from 7800 TB patients that were admitted in duration of 6 months and analyzed to evaluate the drug resistance associated with patient’s noncompliance. Moreover, drugs resistance ratio was also calculated from the data.Results: TB is a specific infectious disease, caused by M. tuberculosis strains, which is becoming resistant to anti-tuberculosis agents especially to Isoniazid and Rifampicin that are two key drugs of TB treatment and are termed as MDR-TB. The disease was seen in 66% males and 34% in female. The highest drug resistance ratio was in found in adults (age group)

Study of Multi-Drug Resistance Associated with Anti-Tuberculosis Treatment by DOT Implementation Strategy in Pakistan

Purpose: The present prospective cross sectional study was aimed to access the prevalence and trend of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in different age groups and gender, in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. Tuberculosis is a disease of poverty affecting mostly young adults in their most productive years; however, all age groups are at risk.Method: The study population consisted of patients under DOT program with MDR-TB among males and females and in different categories of age groups. The data was collected from 100 MDR-TB patients from 7800 TB patients that were admitted in duration of 6 months and analyzed to evaluate the drug resistance associated with patient’s noncompliance. Moreover, drugs resistance ratio was also calculated from the data.Results: TB is a specific infectious disease, caused by M. tuberculosis strains, which is becoming resistant to anti-tuberculosis agents especially to Isoniazid and Rifampicin that are two key drugs of TB treatment and are termed as MDR-TB. The disease was seen in 66% males and 34% in female. The highest drug resistance ratio was in found in adults (age group)

Influence of different formulation variables on the performance of transdermal drug delivery system containing tizanidine hydrochloride: in vitro and ex vivo evaluations

The present study was aimed at preparation of transdermal patches of tizanidine HCl, evaluation of the effect of polymers on in vitro release pattern of the drug, and the effect of permeation enhancers on the penetration of the drug through the rabbit skin. Various proportions of hydrophilic (HPMC) and hydrophobic (Eudragit L-100) polymers were used with PEG 400 as film-forming agent, and Span 20 or DMSO as permeation enhancer. The formulations were assessed for physicochemical characteristics and in vitro drug release studies using USP paddle over disc method in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4) at 32.0±1°C. On the basis of in vitro studies and physicochemical evaluations, S03-A and S04-A were selected at Eudragit : HPMC ratios of 8 : 2 and 7 : 3, respectively, for further ex vivo analysis. The effects of different concentrations of Span 20 and DMSO were evaluated on excised rabbit skin using Franz diffusion cell. Cumulative drug permeation, flux, permeability coefficient, target flux, and enhancement ratio were calculated and compared with the control formulations. Kinetic models and Tukey’s multiple comparison test were applied to evaluate the drug release patterns. Formulation SB03-PE containing Eudragit L-100:HPMC (7:3) with Span 20 (15% w/w) produced the highest enhancement in drug permeation, and followed zero order kinetic model with super case-II drug release mechanism

An Efficient Fault Detection Method for Induction Motors Using Thermal Imaging and Machine Vision

Induction motors (IMs) are the backbone of industry, and play a vital role in daily life as well. However, induction motors face various faults during their operation, which may cause overheating, energy losses, and failure in the motors. Keeping in mind the severity of the issues associated with fault occurrence, this paper proposes a novel method of fault detection in induction motors by using “Machine Vision (MV)” along with “Infrared Thermography (IRT)”. It is worth mentioning that the timely prevention of faults in the IM ensures the motor’s safety from failures, and provides longer service life. In this work, a dataset of thermal images of an induction motor under different conditions (i.e., normal operation, overloaded, and fault) was developed using an infrared camera without disturbing the working condition of the motor. Then, the extracted thermal images were effectively used for the feature extraction and training by local octa pattern (LOP) and support-vector machine (SVM) classifiers, respectively. In order to enhance the quality of feature extraction from images, the LOP was implemented along with a genetic algorithm (GA). Finally, the proposed methodology was implemented and validated by detecting the faults introduced in an induction motor in real time. In addition to that, a comparative study of the suggested methodology with existing methods also verified the supremacy and effectiveness of the proposed method in comparison to the previous techniques