Study of serum uric acid in liver cirrhosis and its correlation with Child Turcotte Pugh, MELD and UKELD score

Background: Liver cirrhosis is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality. The availability of liver transplant has stressed on the need for accurate prognostication. Various scoring systems have been developed for the same and studies have been conducted to find the correlation of various biochemical parameters with these.Methods: This is a cross sectional study conducted on 100 patients with stigmata of liver cell failure on clinical examination and substantiated by imaging. Serum Uric acid and other biochemical parameters were determined. Child Turcotte Pugh Score, Model for End Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score, United Kingdom Model for End Stage Liver Disease (UKELD) score was calculated and the correlation obtained.Results: The study showed significant, positive correlation between uric acid level and CTP, MELD and UKELD score. The study also showed the positive correlation of serum uric acid with various biochemical parameters such as total bilirubin, Prothrombin time/ International Normalized Ratio (PT/INR) and serum creatinine and negative correlation with serum albumin, with a significant p value. The mean serum uric acid was found to be 4.79(4.79± 2.0)Conclusions: The study showed a correlation between serum uric acid and the various available scoring systems such as CTP score, MELD and UKELD score. Hence serum uric acid can be used as an alternative prognostic parameter in predicting the severity and prognosis of cirrhosis of liver

Propulsion simulator for magnetically-suspended wind tunnel models

The objective of phase two of a current investigation sponsored by NASA Langley Research Center is to demonstrate the measurement of aerodynamic forces/moments, including the effects of exhaust gases, in magnetic suspension and balance system (MSBS) wind tunnels. Two propulsion simulator models are being developed: a small-scale and a large-scale unit, both employing compressed, liquified carbon dioxide as propellant. The small-scale unit was designed, fabricated, and statically-tested at Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI). The large-scale simulator is currently in the preliminary design stage. The small-scale simulator design/development is presented, and the data from its static firing on a thrust stand are discussed. The analysis of this data provides important information for the design of the large-scale unit. A description of the preliminary design of the device is also presented

Rouse Chains with Excluded Volume Interactions: Linear Viscoelasticity

Linear viscoelastic properties for a dilute polymer solution are predicted by modeling the solution as a suspension of non-interacting bead-spring chains. The present model, unlike the Rouse model, can describe the solution's rheological behavior even when the solvent quality is good, since excluded volume effects are explicitly taken into account through a narrow Gaussian repulsive potential between pairs of beads in a bead-spring chain. The use of the narrow Gaussian potential, which tends to the more commonly used delta-function repulsive potential in the limit of a width parameter "d" going to zero, enables the performance of Brownian dynamics simulations. The simulations results, which describe the exact behavior of the model, indicate that for chains of arbitrary but finite length, a delta-function potential leads to equilibrium and zero shear rate properties which are identical to the predictions of the Rouse model. On the other hand, a non-zero value of "d" gives rise to a prediction of swelling at equilibrium, and an increase in zero shear rate properties relative to their Rouse model values. The use of a delta-function potential appears to be justified in the limit of infinite chain length. The exact simulation results are compared with those obtained with an approximate solution which is based on the assumption that the non-equilibrium configurational distribution function is Gaussian. The Gaussian approximation is shown to be exact to first order in the strength of excluded volume interaction, and is found to be accurate above a threshold value of "d", for given values of chain length and strength of excluded volume interaction.Comment: Revised version. Long chain limit analysis has been deleted. An improved and corrected examination of the long chain limit will appear as a separate posting. 32 pages, 9 postscript figures, LaTe

Thermal effects on nuclear symmetry energy with a momentum-dependent effective interaction

The knowledge of the nuclear symmetry energy of hot neutron-rich matter is important for understanding the dynamical evolution of massive stars and the supernova explosion mechanisms. In particular, the electron capture rate on nuclei and/or free protons in presupernova explosions is especially sensitive to the symmetry energy at finite temperature. In view of the above, in the present work we calculate the symmetry energy as a function of the temperature for various values of the baryon density, by applying a momentum-dependent effective interaction. In addition to a previous work, the thermal effects are studied separately both in the kinetic part and the interaction part of the symmetry energy. We focus also on the calculations of the mean field potential, employed extensively in heavy ion reaction research, both for nuclear and pure neutron matter. The proton fraction and the electron chemical potential, which are crucial quantities for representing the thermal evolution of supernova and neutron stars, are calculated for various values of the temperature. Finally, we construct a temperature dependent equation of state of $\beta$-stable nuclear matter, the basic ingredient for the evaluation of the neutron star properties.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Physical Review

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

Influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from different yarns

102-108The influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from five different yarns has been studied in order to find out their level of performance. In order to study this effect, five types of yarns, namely microdenier polyester, spun polyester, polyester / cotton, filament polyester and 100% cotton, have been converted to knitted fabrics. It is observed that microdenier polyester fabrics having high wicking action and quicker moisture evaporation show superior performance with respect to comfort characteristics

Influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from different yarns

The influence of moisture management finish on comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics made from five different yarns has been studied in order to find out their level of performance. In order to study this effect, five types of yarns, namely microdenier polyester, spun polyester, polyester / cotton, filament polyester and 100% cotton, have been converted to knitted fabrics. It is observed that microdenier polyester fabrics having high wicking action and quicker moisture evaporation show superior performance with respect to comfort characteristic