Formulation and evaluation of a sublingual tablet containing terbutaline sulphate: optimisation and in vivo studies

La finalidad de este trabajo de investigación es la formulación de un comprimido sublingual de sulfatode terbutalina de acción rápida y mejorar la biodisponibilidad y el cumplimiento de las pautas por partedel paciente. Para la preparación de los gránulos se utilizó una técnica de granulación húmeda. Seprepararon formulaciones basadas en el diseño factorial con variables de formulación 32: la cantidad decelulosa microcristalina (MCC) (X1) y la crospovidona como componente bioadhesivo (X2). Comovariables de respuesta se evaluaron la resistencia al aplastamiento, la friabilidad y el tiempo de desintegración(DT). Los principales efectos y términos de interacción se evaluaron cuantitativamente medianteun modelo cuadrático. Los resultados revelaron que la cantidad de MCC y crospovidona afectabansignificativamente a las variables de respuesta. La formulación optimizada de comprimidos contiene 31,5mg de MCC y 4,5 mg de crospovidona, se desintegra en un período corto con un índice DT de 30,2+ 5,5 seg. y tiene una resistencia al aplastamiento suficiente y una friabilidad aceptable. Las concentracionesplasmáticas de terbutalina se obtuvieron a los 5 minutos. Los resultados indican que lacrospovidona, un componente bioadhesivo, impide tragar la terbutalina, sin afectar a su liberación yabsorción. En conclusión, la formulación del comprimido sublingual se puede extrapolar a otros fármacosen los que se desee una absorción rápida.The objective of this research was to formulate a sublingual tablet formulation of terbutaline for rapidaction, and to improve both bioavailability and patient compliance to therapy. A wet granulation techniquewas adapted to prepare the granules. Granule formulations were prepared using an adapted wet granulationtechnique based on a 32 full factorial design. The formulation variables were expressed as follows;quantity of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), (X1), and bioadhesive component crospovidone, (X2),while crushing strength, friability and disintegration time (DT) were determined as response variables.The main effects and interaction terms were quantitatively evaluated using a quadratic model. The resultsobtained showed that the quantity of MCC and crospovidone significantly affect response variables. Anoptimised tablet formulation, containing 31.5 mg of MCC and 4.5 mg of crospovidone, provides a shortDT of 30.2 + 5.5 sec with sufficient crushing strength and acceptable friability, while DT for serumconcentrations of terbutaline were obtained within 5 min. The results indicate that the inclusion ofcrospovidone, a bioadhesive component, in sublingual tablet formulations, makes the swallowing of tablets unnecessary, because the release and absorption of the terbutaline in such formulations isacceptably effective. In conclusion, the developed sublingual tablet formulations is of interest, becauseit can be extrapolated to other drugs, where rapid absorption is desirable

PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF CYCLODEXTRIN COMPLEXES OF ANTI-TUBERCULAR DRUG RIFAMPICIN FOR IMPROVED BIOAVAILABILITY

The aim of the study was to increase the aqueous solubility, dissolution rate, stability, in vitro anti-tubercular activity and bioavailability of rifampicin by the way of inclusion complexation. Methyl B-cyclodextrin in case of rifampicin were used. Based on phase solubility studies that stoichiometry of complex of with respect to B-cyclodextrin for rifampicin was found to be 1:1 molar ratio. Different methods of preparation such as kneading and common solvent were employed to prepare the complexes. Formation of complexes In case of rifampicin, interaction of 4-methyl piperazin-1-ylimino-methyl (side chain) of rifampicin with the cyclodextrin molecule was confirmed by FTIR and 1H-NMR. The complexes prepared by different methods were subjected to solubility and in vitro dissolution studies. In case of rifampicin, in vitro anti-tubercular activity was found to be enhanced for the complexes of rifampicin indicated by a reduction in MIC of rifampicin. The oral bioavailability of rifampicin-MB-CD complex prepared by common solvent method was improved significantly. The results of stability studies revealed that stability of the drugs in solution and solid state were improved significantly due to complexation. Photostability of rifampicin is enhanced significantly by the way of complexation. Thus inclusion complexation of rifampicin with B-cyclodextrin, B-cyclodextrin derivatives and y-cyclodextrin improved its physical properties, bioavailability and in vitro activity

Selfish Herd Optimisation based fractional order cascaded controllers for AGC study

In a modern, and complex power system (PS), robust controller is obligatory to regulate the frequency under uncertain load/parameter change of the system. In addition to this, presence of nonlinearities, load frequency control (LFC) of a Power System becomes more challenging which necessitates a suitable, and robust controller. Single stage controller does not perform immensely against aforesaid changed conditions. So, a novel non-integer/fractional order (FO) based two-stage controller incorporated with 2-degrees of freedom (2-DOF), derivative filter (N), named as 2-DOF-FOPIDN-FOPDN controller, is adopted to improve the dynamic performance of a 3-area power system. Each area of the power system consists of both non-renewable and renewable generating units. Again, to support the superior performance of 2-DOF-FOPIDN-FOPDN controller, it is compared with the result produced by PID, FOPID, and 2-DOF-PIDN-PDN controllers. The optimal design of these controllers is done by applying Selfish Herd Optimisation (SHO) technique. Further, the robustness of the 2-DOF-FOPIDN-FOPDN controller is authenticated by evaluating the system performance under parameter variation. The work is further extended to prove the supremacy of SHO algorithm over a recently published article based on pathfinder algorithm (PFA)

Estimation of plant nitrogen content using digital image processing

A manually operated four wheel test trolley was designed and developed for acquiring outdoor color images of plant under controlled illumination to predict crop nitrogen content in field.  This set up consists of a camera to capture the plant image, four lights to control illumination and a laptop for processing the signal.  The developed unit was evaluated rigorously for paddy crop for four observations at fifteen days interval after transplantation.  The results were compared with the chlorophyll content of the crop measured by SPAD meter and the chemical analysis of plant leaf.  The processing of the color plant image was done in MATLAB 7.0 program.  Various features such as R, G, B, normalized ‘r’ and normalized ‘g’ were analyzed for both the processes.  Regression models were developed and evaluated between various image feature and the plant nitrogen content and observed that, the minimum accuracy was found to be 65% with an average accuracy of 75% (Standard Deviation +1.9), actual and predicted values of nitrogen percent were linearly correlated with R2 value (0.948), this showed that the plant nitrogen content can be successfully estimated by its color image feature.   Keywords: precision agriculture, digital image processing, site specific nitrogen applicatio

Real-time Thermal Error Compensation Module for Intelligent Ultra Precision Turning Machine (iUPTM)

AbstractAccuracy & precision are 1he main requirements for ultra precision machine tools. Many factors affect 1he performance of 1he system 1hat in turns affect 1he product quality. Among all sources of errors, the thermo mechanical deformation errors are the main contributor for 1he overall geometrical errors. This paper mainly aims at establislunent of methodology to compensate thermal deformation errors in real-time for ultra precision machine tools. The real-time thermal error compensation module has been developed and integrated to intelligent Ultra Precision Turning machine. The module includes temperatures as inputs, neural network algorithm for computing the thermal deformations errors, ‘C’ programming for real-time calculations and integration with open architecture CNC controller. The module runs in silent mode which avoids human intervention for correction of thermal deformation errors

Cannabidiol Attenuates Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Model of Multiple Sclerosis Through Induction of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic debilitating autoimmune disease without a cure. While the use of marijuana cannabinoids for MS has recently been approved in some countries, the precise mechanism of action leading to attenuate neuroinflammation is not clear. We used experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine model of MS, to explore the anti-inflammatory properties of cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid. Treatment with CBD caused attenuation of EAE disease paradigms as indicated by a significant reduction in clinical scores of paralysis, decreased T cell infiltration in the central nervous system, and reduced levels of IL-17 and IFNγ. Interestingly, CBD treatment led to a profound increase in myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in EAE mice when compared to the vehicle-treated EAE controls. These MDSCs caused robust inhibition of MOG-induced proliferation of T cells in vitro. Moreover, adoptive transfer of CBD-induced MDSCs ameliorated EAE while MDSC depletion reversed the beneficial effects of CBD treatment, thereby conclusively demonstrating that MDSCs played a crucial role in CBD-mediated attenuation of EAE. Together, these studies demonstrate for the first time that CBD treatment may ameliorate EAE through induction of immunosuppressive MDSCs

IRS-IC applications for coastal zone management

IRS-1A and 1B data have been found to be useful in providing information on the extent and condition of coastal habitats, coastal processes and water quality of coastal waters. These inputs formed major elements for preparing coastal zone management plans. IRS-1C data having improved spatial resolution (5.6 m PAN data), extended spectral range inclusion of middle infra-red band in LIAA-III) and increased repetitivity (5 days for WiFS data have opened up new vistas of applications in the coastal zone. Preliminary analysis of IRS-1C data indicates that coral reef zonation, identification of tree and shrub mangroves, seaweed/sea grass beds, improved delineation of coastal features such as fringe mangroves, mudflats, beach, dune vegetation, saline areas, etc. as well as better understanding of suspended sediment patterns are now possible. These additional information will certainly form vital remote-sensing-based input for preparing coastal zone management plans

Delivery and Evaluation of Participatory Education for Animal Keepers Led by Veterinarians and Para-Veterinarians around the Kanha Tiger Reserve, Madhya Pradesh, India.

<div><p>Aim</p><p>We aim to investigate local perceptions of animal health challenges; current animal health knowledge; and methods to provide effective, relevant education to animal keepers in the Kanha Tiger Reserve area.</p><p>Materials and methods</p><p>A farmer education programme was undertaken in the Kanha Tiger Reserve area. Local animal health priorities were investigated through participatory village meetings (n = 38), individual animal keeper questionnaires (n = 100) and a written survey of local paravets (n = 16). Educational interventions were: veterinary surgeon led education meeting (VE); paravet led education meeting (PVE); distribution of printed materials (PM). 230 village meetings were carried out across 181 villages, contacting 3791 animal keepers. 20 villages received printed materials. Information was gathered on perceptions of local animal health challenges and current remedies. Efficacy of knowledge transfer was assessed four to five months later using a purposeful sample of 38 villages.</p><p>Results</p><p>Group meetings identified ticks (35/38), foot and mouth disease (FMD) (31/38) and diarrhoea (30/38) as the greatest animal health challenges. Individual interviews identified haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS) (87/100), blackquarter (BQ) (66/100) and plastic ingestion (31/100). Paravets identified FMD (7/16), BQ (6/16) and HS (6/16), and also indicated that animal husbandry and socio-economic factors were important. Current treatments were primarily home remedies and herbalism, but also included contacting a paravet, use of pharmaceuticals and faith healing. Animal treatment knowledge prior to intervention was not significantly different between groups (P = 0.868). Following intervention animal health knowledge was assessed: PVE performed better than controls (P = 0.001) and PM (P = 0.003); VE performed better than controls (P = 0.009). There was no significant difference between VE and PVE (P = 0.666) nor PM and controls (P = 0.060).</p><p>Conclusions and recommendations</p><p>Open access participatory village meetings are an effective way to provide animal health education. In this region distribution of posters and leaflets did not appear to be an effective way to contact animal keepers. Meetings led by paravets can be as effective as those led by veterinarians and paravets can rapidly and sustainably contact large numbers of animal keepers. Investigation of the local animal health situation is essential to ensure education is relevant and accessible to intended recipients. Interventions must be carefully planned to maximise engagement of all sections of the community, particularly women.</p></div