Oxidation of tricyclic antidepressant drugs with chloramine-T in acidic solutions: Kinetic, mechanistic and thermodynamic studies

The kinetics of the oxidation of two tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) namely, imipramine (IMP) and clomipramine (CLM) with sodium N-chloro-p-toluenesulfonamide or chloramine-T (CAT) in HClO4 medium was studied at 300 K. The two reactions followed identical kinetics with a first-order dependence of rate on CATo and fractional order dependence on TCAo. The reaction is catalyzed by H+ ions with a fractional order dependence. The reaction was studied at different temperatures and activation parameters were evaluated. The reaction constants involved in the mechanism were computed. The solvent isotope effect was studied using D2O. Addition of p-toluenesulfonamide retards the reaction rate. The rate increased with decreasing dielectric constant of the medium. Variation of ionic strength of the medium and addition of halide ions (Cl- or Br-) showed no effect on the rate. The stoichiometry of the reaction was found to be 1:1 and the oxidation products were identified as imipramine-5-N-oxide and clomipramine-5-N-oxide. The rate of oxidation of IMP is faster than CLM. The observed results have been explained in terms of a mechanism and a relevant rate law has been deduced. © 2013 Sukhdev and Puttaswamy; licensee Springer

Postoperative pain as a risk factor for stiff knee following total knee arthroplasty and excellent patient-reported outcomes after manipulation under anesthesia

Background and purpose - Manipulation under anesthesia (MUA) is the first-choice treatment for stiffness following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) unresponsive to pain management and physiotherapy. Some of the predisposing factors and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) following MUA remain poorly studied. We retrospectively investigated the etiological risk factors and the outcomes of MUA. Patients and methods - 391 TKA patients from a randomized trial comparing the use of a tourniquet and anesthesia (spinal or general) were analyzed, and patients needing MUA were identified (MUA group). We evaluated in-hospital opioid consumption, Oxford Knee Score (OKS), range of motion (ROM), and pain assessed by the Brief Pain Inventory-short form with a 1-year follow-up. Results - 39 (10%) MUA patients were identified. The MUA patients were younger (60 years vs. 64 years, difference -4, 95% CI -6 to -1) and had higher postoperative oxycodone consumption (66 mg vs. 51 mg, median difference 11, CI 1-22) than the no-MUA patients. The proportion of MUA patients who contacted the emergency department within 3 months because of pain was larger than that of non-MUA patients (41% vs. 12%, OR 5, CI 3-10). At the 1-year follow-up, the ROM was improved by 39 degrees following MUA, but the total ROM was worse in the MUA group (115 degrees vs. 124 degrees, p < 0.001). No difference was found in the OKS between the MUA and no-MUA patients. Interpretation - Higher postoperative pain seems to predict MUA risk. MUA performed 3 months postoperatively offers substantial ROM improvement and comparable PROMs to no-MUA patients 1 year after TKA.Peer reviewe

The negative compatibility effect: A case for self-inhibition

In masked priming, a briefly presented prime stimulus is followed by a mask, which in turn is followed by the task-relevant target. Under certain conditions, negative compatibility effects (NCNCEs) occur, with impaired performance on compatible trials (where prime and target indicate the same response) relative to incompatible trials (where they indicate opposite responses). However, the exact boundary conditions of NCEs, and hence the functional significance of this effect, are still under discussion. In particular, it has been argued that the NCE might be a stimulus-specific phenomenon of little general interest. This paper presents new findings indicating that the NCE can be obtained under a wider variety of conditions, suggesting that it reflects more general processes in motor control. In addition, evidence is provided suggesting that prime identification levels in forced choice tasks – usually employed to estimate prime visibility in masked prime tasks – are affected by prior experience with the prime (Exp. 1) as well as by direct motor priming (Exp. 2 & 3)

Major and minor fisheries harbours of India. 8. Fisherries harbours along the coasts of North Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal

The present account gives information about the three major and five minor fisheries harbours along the coasts of north Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Benga

Impact of recent cyclone lashed along West Bengal, Orissa and northern Andhra Pradesh coasts on the marine fishery sector

Impact of recent cyclone lashed along West Bengal, Orissa and northern Andhra Pradesh coasts on the marine fishery secto

An agenda for integrated system-wide interdisciplinary agri-food research

© 2017 The Author(s)This paper outlines the development of an integrated interdisciplinary approach to agri-food research, designed to address the ‘grand challenge’ of global food security. Rather than meeting this challenge by working in separate domains or via single-disciplinary perspectives, we chart the development of a system-wide approach to the food supply chain. In this approach, social and environmental questions are simultaneously addressed. Firstly, we provide a holistic model of the agri-food system, which depicts the processes involved, the principal inputs and outputs, the actors and the external influences, emphasising the system’s interactions, feedbacks and complexities. Secondly, we show how this model necessitates a research programme that includes the study of land-use, crop production and protection, food processing, storage and distribution, retailing and consumption, nutrition and public health. Acknowledging the methodological and epistemological challenges involved in developing this approach, we propose two specific ways forward. Firstly, we propose a method for analysing and modelling agri-food systems in their totality, which enables the complexity to be reduced to essential components of the whole system to allow tractable quantitative analysis using LCA and related methods. This initial analysis allows for more detailed quantification of total system resource efficiency, environmental impact and waste. Secondly, we propose a method to analyse the ethical, legal and political tensions that characterise such systems via the use of deliberative fora. We conclude by proposing an agenda for agri-food research which combines these two approaches into a rational programme for identifying, testing and implementing the new agri-technologies and agri-food policies, advocating the critical application of nexus thinking to meet the global food security challenge