Low Cost Efficient Treatment for Contaminated Water

8 p.International audienceHeavy metals pose a risk of contaminating groundwater and surface water sources due to geogenic activities, industries and agricultural sources. The removal of heavy metals e.g., cadmium, lead, and zinc from drinking, industrial and irrigation water at low concentrations is a recurring challenge, especially in developing countries. Biosorption is a relatively new process that has proved to be very promising for removal of heavy metals from aqueous solutions. The removal of contaminants viz., Cd(II), Pb(II) and Zn(II) by rice husk (lignin containing material) was studied in the laboratory. Batch studies were performed to evaluate the influences of various experimental parameters like pH, initial concentration of metal ions, biosorbent dosage and contact time. The selectivity of the process is also studied. The findings show the efficiency of material for the removal these contaminants with a low concentration in the range 1-5 mg/L. The removal efficiency is up to 95%

INTRANASAL TOPIRAMATE POLYMERIC NANOPARTICLES FOR EPILEPSY: IN VITRO AND EX-VIVO INVESTIGATION

Objective: The presence of tight junctions in blood-brain barrier creates a major problem for the delivery of drugs and severely affects adequate therapeutic concentration to reach the brain. For the treatment of epilepsy, oral route of administration is most convenient but shows delayed absorption. Moreover, in emergency cases, parenteral administration is not possible as it requires medical assistance. Thus, an alternative route of drug delivery is highly desirable for an effective outcome. Methods: In the present study, bioadhesive chitosan nanoparticles of topiramate for intranasal administration were prepared by ionotropic gelation method using chitosan as bioadhesive polymer and sodium tripolyphosphate as the crosslinking agent. The prepared nanoparticles were evaluated for physicochemical properties like particle size, surface morphology, drug content, entrapment efficiency, thermal behavior and crystallinity, in vitro drug diffusion, ex vivo bio adhesion, and ex vivo biocompatibility studies in excised sheep nasal mucosa. Results: Differential scanning calorimetry and x-ray diffraction study showed molecular dispersion of drug into the polymer matrices and conversion of it into an amorphous form. Nanoparticles obtained were discrete in nature (size 313.5 nm) and appropriate for intranasal administration. The topiramate nanoparticles revealed high encapsulation efficacy, strong bioadhesion potential and high ex vivo permeation and did not exhibit any deformity to the nasal mucosa. In vitro drug diffusion of optimized formulation showed 92.91% release of drugs after 180 min. Ex-vivo permeation of drugs across nasal mucosa was 89.03 % after 180 min. Conclusion: Hence, the intranasal administration of topiramate using chitosan can be a promising alternative for brain targeting and the treatment of epilepsy

CRYSTALLO-CO-AGGLOMERATION: A NOVEL TECHNIQUE TO IMPROVE FLOW AND COMPRESSIBILITY

Crystallo-co-agglomeration is a particle design technique in which a drug is crystallized and agglomerated with an excipient or another drug, which may or may not be crystallized in same system. The various parameters optimized were type, amount and mode of addition of bridging liquid, temperature and agitation speed. They were characterized for micrometritic properties (particle size and shape, flowability, packability, bulk density, wettability and compressibility). The prepared spherical crystals with different polymers exhibited excellent physicochemical properties like flowability, pack ability and wettability compared with the pure drug. The process is simple and inexpensive enough for scaling upto a commercial level. It reduces time and cost by enabling faster operation, less machinery and fewer personnel. Keywords: Crystallo-co-agglomeration, flowability, compressibility, bioavailability

A Novel Approach for Shadow Detection and Removal from Image

Image processing has been one region of studies that draws the interest of extensive form of researchers. Surveillance structures are in big demand specially, for their packages in public areas, consisting of airports, stations, subways, front to buildings and mass events. Shadow occurs while objects consist of light from light source. Shadows offer wealthy information about the item shapes as well as light orientations. Shadow in picture reduces the reliability of many computer imaginative and prescient algorithms. Shadow regularly degrades the visual exceptional of an image. Shadow removal in an image is pre-processing step for computer imaginative and prescient algorithm and image enhancement. Shadow detection and removal in numerous actual lifestyles situations consisting of surveillance device and laptop vision machine remained a hard project. Shadow in visitors surveillance system might also misclassify the actual item, lowering the gadget overall performance

Effects of organic selenium on productive and reproductive traits of Japanese quail vary on the length of dietary exposure

<p>An experiment was conducted with Wild Japanese quail (<i>Coturnix coturnix japonica) </i>to find out the best dose of the supplementation of dietary selenium (Se) and evaluate its effects on reproductive performance and egg quality traits. Initially, a 2-week trial of dietary Se supplementation with 0, 0.02, 0.2, 2 and 20 mg/kg feed was performed on 48 quail (36 laying females and 12 adult males). There were 3 males and 6 females under a dietary treatment group those had been housed in a pen of 1 male 2 females as a replication. Under standard management and feeding regime, 2mg/kg feed supplementation of Se was found to be the best dose of highest combined performance index (CPI). Upon selecting the best dose, the supplementation was continued to the similar birds for further 5-week period. During the extended period, an increased rate of egg production along with higher egg weight and shell weight was observed in the Se supplemented group compared to the control. A decrease in fertility rate and some other egg quality parameters were noticed at the terminal week of supplementation. However, Se supplementation during further 5-week period had no effect on yolk weight. Current findings suggested that none of the doses of the Se supplementation to laying quail for short-period excel a single trait but achieve the higher CPI, but longer period supplementation can negatively impact the reproductive trait. Therefore, the duration of a single dose of Se supplementation in laying Japanese quail needs consideration on purposes.</p&gt

Power Generation from a Hybrid Generator (TENG-EMG) Run by a Thermomagnetic Engine Harnessing Low Temperature Waste Heat

This work explored the scavenging of low temperature waste heat and conversion of it into electrical energy through the operation of a gadolinium (Gd) based thermomagnetic engine. Gd is one of the unique materials whose magnetic property changes from ferromagnetic to paramagnetic depending on the temperature (“the Curie temperature”), which is around 20 °C. In the present work, two different types of generators were designed and applied to the rotating shaft of a Gd-based thermomagnetic engine developed for low temperature differential (LTD) applications. Of these, one is the so-called triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), and the other is the electromagnetic generator (EMG). These have been designed to produce electricity from the rotating shaft of the thermomagnetic engine, exploiting both the electromagnetic and triboelectric effects. When operated at a rotational speed of 251 rpm with a temperature difference of 45 °C between the hot and cold water jets, the hybrid (TENG-EMG) generator produced a combined pulsating DC open circuit voltage of 5 V and a short circuit current of 0.7 mA. The hybrid generator effectively produced a maximum output power of 0.75 mW at a loading resistance of 10 kΩ