Formulation design and evaluation of Cefuroxime axetil 125 mg immediate release tablets using different concentration of sodium lauryl sulphate as solubility enhancer

Cefuroxime axetil immediate release tablets were formulated by direct compression method with different percentages of sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS) such as 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and also without SLS. Resulting batches of tablets were evaluated by both pharmacopeial and non-pharmacopeial methods to ascertain the physico-mechanical properties. Dissolution test were carried out in different medium like 0.07 M HCl, distilled water, 0.1M HCl of pH 1.2 and phosphate buffers at pH 4.5 and 6.8 to observe the drug release against the respective concentration of SLS used. Later, test formulations were compared by f1(dissimilarity) and f2(similarity) factors using a reference brand of cefuroxime axetil. Significant differences (p<0.05) in dissolution rate were recorded with the change in concentration of SLS in different media. Test formulation T3 containing 1% SLS was found to be best optimized formulation based on assay, disintegration, dissolution and similarity and dissimilarity factors

Erratum: Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Interpretation: By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Tephra glass chemistry provides storage and discharge details of five magma reservoirs which fed the 75 ka Youngest Toba Tuff eruption, northern Sumatra

The Youngest Toba Tuff contains five distinct glass populations, identified from Ba, Sr and Y compositions, termed PI (lowest Ba) \u2013 PV (highest Ba), representing five compositionally distinct pre-eruptive magma batches that fed the eruption. The PI\u2013PV compositions display systematic changes, with higher FeO, CaO, MgO, TiO2 and lower incompatible element concentrations in the low-SiO2 PIV/PV, than the high-SiO2 PI\u2013PIII compositions. Glass shard abundances indicate PIV and PV were the least voluminous magma batches, and PI and PIII the most voluminous. Pressure estimates using rhyolite-MELTS indicate PV magma equilibrated at ~6 km, and PI magma at ~3.8 km. Glass population proportions in distal tephra and proximal (caldera-wall) material describe an eruption which commenced by emptying the deepest PIV and PV reservoirs, this being preferentially deposited in a narrow band across southern India (possibly due to jet-stream and/or plinian eruption transport), and as abundant pumice clasts in the lowermost proximal ignimbrites. Later, shallower magma reservoirs erupted, with PI being the most abundant as the eruption ended, sourcing the majority of distal ash from co-ignimbrite clouds (PI- and PIII-dominant), where associated ignimbrites isolated earlier (PIV- and PV-rich) deposits. This study shows how analysis of tephra glass compositional data can yield pre-eruption magma volume estimates, and enable aspects of magma storage conditions and eruption dynamics to be described

Investigation of tensile and in-plane shear properties of carbon fiber reinforced composites with and without piezoelectric patches for micro-crack propagation using extended finite element method

The smart materials are capable to integrate the remarkabale active functions into a traditional structure of the composites. There is a wide research possibility towards the embedded patches into a composite primary structure. This particular study aims to investigate the effect of the embedded smart materials in a conventional composite laminate. Carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRC) specimens with and without PZT piezo elements embedded in the structure are studied for Tensile, In-plane Shear and three point bending properties. Previously researched mechanical behaviour and the operational influence of the piezo sensors are sequentially analysed, particularly for the electric capacitance during all the categories of testing. The limitations have also been studied into the comparison of the structure with and without the piezoelectric material patches. The extended finite element (XFEM) modelling approach has been applied to study the sensorized damage model for the numerical and experimental study. Thisstudy also presents simplified and understandable techniques and offers a new direction for the experimental and computational modelling design for the progressive damage, based on the principles of extended finite element method (XFEM). The extensive experimentation and numerical modelling for interlaminar and intralaminar crack of CFRCs materials are studied, with and without piezoelectric patches. The experiments and simulations are designed and grouped into categories of load, boundary conditions and types arranged accordingly for fracture, delamination, fiber breakage and matrix crack towards the damage evolution. The dimensions of the specimens and the effects are also studied regarding lengths, thickness and width in multiple categories. The loading cases of tension and the inplane shear are studied for multiple cases for numerical as well as experimental investigation having different orientations and dimensions. The delaminated and fractured mode I and mode II specimen were analysed for the expectedand the real time values of strength to figure out the precise values of trends to predict the composite properties.Peer reviewe

Record of the giant imperial Purlisa gigantea distant, 1881 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) in Dempo Mountain, South Sumatra, Indonesia

A specimen of the Giant Imperial Purlisa gigantea Distant, 1881 (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) was collected on 5th February 2020 from lower Dempo Mountain, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia and preserved. This finding is likely to represent the first record of P. gigantea in Dempo Mountain, South Sumatra Province, Indonesia

Spatio-temporal assessment of rice self-sufficiency in West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia

Agriculture is an important economic sector in human life. One of the analyses of agricultural resources is food adequacy which is closely related to food availability and food needs. The research location of this study is West Sulawesi Province which has the potential for economic development to improve the welfare of its people and be able to implement sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to determine rice sufficiency from 2016 to 2020 for each district and to projected it for several years. The research was conducted by quantitative methods and analyzed descriptively and spatially. The data collection method is documentation method by literature studies to collect secondary data from Central Statistics Bureau (BPS) of West Sulawesi Province. In general, rice sufficiency in West Sulawesi Province from 2016 to 2020 is included in the sufficient category. However, for several years there were two districts with inadequate amounts of rice, which were Majene and North Mamuju. The projection results in 2025 and 2030 also show the same thing, Majene and North Mamuju are still in the insufficient category and it will get worse in 2030. So in general, West Sulawesi Province is predicted to be unable to meet food needs. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences

First discovery of Pleistocene orangutan (Pongo sp.) fossils in Peninsular Malaysia: Biogeographic and paleoenvironmental implications

Nine isolated fossil Pongo teeth from two cave sites in Peninsular Malaysia are reported. These are the first fossil Pongo specimens recorded in Peninsular Malaysia and represent significant southward extensions of the ancient Southeast Asian continental range of fossil Pongo during two key periods of the Quaternary. These new records from Peninsular Malaysia show that ancestral Pongo successfully passed the major biogeographical divide between mainland continental Southeast Asia and the Sunda subregion before 500ka (thousand years ago).If the presence of Pongo remains in fossil assemblages indicates prevailing forest habitat, then the persistence of Pongo at Batu Caves until 60ka implies that during the Last Glacial Phase sufficient forest cover persisted in the west coast plain of what is now Peninsular Malaysia at least ten millennia after a presumed corridor of desiccation had extended to central and east Java. Ultimately, environmental conditions of the peninsula during the Last Glacial Maximum evidently became inhospitable for Pongo, causing local extinction. Following post-glacial climatic amelioration and reforestation, a renewed sea barrier prevented re-colonization from the rainforest refugium in Sumatra, accounting for the present day absence of Pongo in apparently hospitable lowland evergreen rainforest of Peninsular Malaysia. The new teeth provide further evidence that Pongo did not undergo a consistent trend toward dental size reduction over time