Modelling Ground-Foundation Interactions

Geotechnical practice deals with designing foundations and earth structures. Structure – Foundation –\ud Grou nd interaction is a unique field or topic that concerns both structural and geotechnical engineers. Most geotechnical problems are very sensitive to foundation geometry (length, diameter, spacing), flexural stiffness etc. Even basic parameters such as bearing capacity of shallow foundations, ultimate axial and lateral load capacities of deep/pile foundations, are influenced by the foundation characteristics. More importantly, the serviceability criterion can be satisfied only by proper and rational estimates of structure – found ation – ground interactions. The paper summarizes modelling approaches for foundation – ground interactions, a leaning instability approach for tall structures, and analysis of geosynthetic-reinforced foundation beds

CHRONOTHERAPEUTIC DELIVERY OF DICLOFENACSODIUM USING ALMOND GUM AS CARRIER FOR THE TREATEMENT OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

  Objective: The objective of the present work was to develop and evaluate a matrix system for chronotherapeutic delivery of diclofenac sodium using almond gum as a carrier for the treatment rheumatoid arthritis.Methods: Matrix tablets of diclofenac sodium were prepared using 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70% w/w of tablet using almond gum as a carrier by wet granulation technique. These tablets were compression coated with Eudragit S100 to prevent drug release in the stomach. All formulations were evaluated for hardness, friability, weight variation, drug content, in vitro and in vivo studies. The release kinetics were studied. The almond gum was characterized by viscosity measurements and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The coated (FC1 to FC5) and uncoated tablets (F1 to F5) were evaluated for in vitro release of diclofenac sodium after sequential exposure to pH 1.2, pH 7.4, and pH 6.8, respectively, for 2 hr, 3 hr, and 19 hr in the absence as well as presence of rat cecal content. The selected formulation was subjected to in vivo targeting efficacy studies by roentgenography technique.Results: In vitro release studies indicated that the matrix tablets (F1 to F5) failed to control the drug release in the physiological environment of the stomach and small intestine. On the other hand, compression-coated formulations were able to protect the tablet cores from premature drug release. In the presence of rat cecal contents, FC5 formulation has shown highest release for longer period when compared to that of FC5 in the absence of cecal contents. The values of the correlation coefficient indicated that the drug release followed zero order drug release kinetics with Peppas drug release mechanism. FTIR studies confirmed that there was no interaction between the drug and the carrier. X-ray studies confirmed that the tablet successfully reached colon without getting disintegrated in upper gastrointestinal tract.Conclusion: Based on the results, selective delivery of diclofenac sodium to the colon could be achieved using 70% w/w (FC5) of almond gum matrix tablets compression coated with Eudragit S100 as a carrier.Keywords: Diclofenac sodium, Gum almond, Eudragit S100, Roentgenography, Rat cecal content

Reduced adhesion of macrophages on anodized titanium with select nanotube surface features

One of the important prerequisites for a successful orthopedic implant apart from being osteoconductive is the elicitation of a favorable immune response that does not lead to the rejection of the implant by the host tissue. Anodization is one of the simplest surface modification processes used to create nanotextured and nanotubular features on metal oxides which has been shown to improve bone formation. Anodization of titanium (Ti) leads to the formation of TiO2 nanotubes on the surface, and the presence of these nanotubes mimics the natural nanoscale features of bone, which in turn contributes to improved bone cell attachment, migration, and proliferation. However, inflammatory cell responses on anodized Ti remains to be tested. It is hypothesized that surface roughness and surface feature size on anodized Ti can be carefully manipulated to control immune cell (specifically, macrophages) responses. Here, when Ti samples were anodized at 10 V in the presence of 1% hydrofluoric acid (HF) for 1 minute, nanotextured (nonnanotube) surfaces were created. When anodization of Ti samples was carried out with 1% HF for 10 minutes at 15 V, nanotubes with 40–50 nm diameters were formed, whereas at 20 V with 1% HF for 10 minutes, nanotubes with 60–70 nm diameters were formed. In this study, a reduced density of macrophages was observed after 24 hours of culture on nanotextured and nanotubular Ti samples which were anodized at 10, 15, and 20 V, compared with conventional unmodified Ti samples. This in vitro study thus demonstrated a reduced density of macrophages on anodized Ti, thereby providing further evidence of the greater efficacy of anodized Ti for orthopedic applications

Evaluation of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) varieties in high altitude and tribal zone of Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh

The yield performance and simple association between yield and its components were studied in eight varieties of ginger during kharif 2007 and 2008. The variety Suprabha was taller and recorded more number of leaves, tillers plant-1 and number of finger rhizomes plant-1. It produced significantly more fresh rhizome yield of 21.71 t ha-1 than all the other the varieties tested. Among the varieties Chintapalli local produced more number of mother rhizomes plant-1. Number of tillers plant-1, number of mother and finger rhizomes plant-1 and fresh rhizome yield showed high GCV, PCV, heritability and genetic advance as per cent mean. The simple correlation studies indicated that number of tillers plant-1, number of mother and finger rhizomes plant-1 recorded highly significant association with yield. &nbsp

Physicochemical and Phytochemical Examination of Medicinal Plants Used in Indigenous System of Medicine

The present paper deals with the physicochemical and phytochemical examination of seventy-six medicinal plants belonging to thirty-six dicot and six monocot families. These are used in indigenous system of medicine as well as local inhabitants either as single drugs or in combination, for the cure of various ailments. In physicochemical study, the parameters such as moisture content, pH (1% aqueous), total ash, acid insoluble ash, water-soluble extractive and alcohol soluble extractive were carried out. The preliminary phytochemical study was done for the detection of secondary metabolites such as alkaloid, flavonoid, glycoside, phenol, saponin, resin, steroid and tannin. The preliminary phytochemical study revealed the presence of alkaloid and saponin in 68.4%; flavonoid in 44.7%; glycoside, phenol and steroid in 72.37%; resin in 60.5% and tannin in 71% of selected medicinal plants

A Study on Menstrual Hygiene Practices among Girls Attending High Schools in Nellore City

In India, menstruation and menstrual practices are clouded by taboos and socio-cultural restrictions for women as well as among adolescent girls. There is a substantial lacuna in the knowledge about menstruation among adolescent girls. Most of the adolescent girls have incomplete and inaccurate information about the menstrual physiology and hygiene. Good hygienic practices such as the use of sanitary pads and adequate washing of the genital area are essential during menstruation. Anecdotal evidence suggest that lack of access to menstrual hygiene (which includes sanitary napkins, toilets in schools, availability of water, privacy and safe disposal) could constrain school attendance and possibly contribute to local infections during this period. With this background, an attempt is made to study menstrual hygiene practices among high school girls

Addressing the IoT Schemes for Securing the Modern Healthcare Systems with Block chain Neural Networks

This paper provides a wide-range of literature review of various IOT with AI based enabling wearable technologies and protocols used for medical (IoT) with a taught of examining the present and future smart health care technologies. Despite recent advances in medical systems, biomedical hardware, the growth of IoT in medicine continues to advance in terms of biomedical hardware, monitoring figures like cancer patient data disease indicators, temperature levels, oxygen levels, and glucose levels. In the near future, medical IoT is expected to replace the old traditional healthcare systems to smart Ai-IoT based healthcare systems. In our paper we provided a theoretical approach of the most relevant protocols and wearable technologies used for the IoT health care medical systems. We also provided a proposed smart AI based intelligent IoT frameworks for hospital systems settings

Probiotic Potential of Sorghum and Pearl Millet of The Semi-arid Tropics

Cereals such as rice and wheat are the predominant staple food for millions across the world that lead not only to an array of emerging life style diseases but also challenges human health and nutrition. Hence, there is an urgent need for identifying and recommending diversity of other cereals which can enhance the nutrition of the mal-nourished population of the world. Two of ICRISAT’s mandate crops, sorghum and pearl millet, can serve this purpose as these can be the source of prebiotics (Total dietary fiber, resistant starch, total oligosaccharides, (3-glucan, etc.) for functional food.The main objective of the present investigation is to understand the probiotic potential of sorghum and pearl millet which is grown extensively in the Semi-Arid Tropics of the world

Standardization Study of Antifertility Drug - Pippalyadiyoga

The present paper deals with the standardization study of pippalyadiyoga powder. It is used as a long acting contraceptive. The standardization of compound drug has been achieved by physico-chemical analysis and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fingerprint studies. Quantitative evaluation of borax in pippalyadiyoga showed 19.08% as sodium borate. RP-HPLC was performed using methanol and water as mobile phase. The detection and quantification was performed at a wavelength of 345 nm. Linearity of detector response for piperine was between the concentrations 0.005% to 0.1%. The correlation coefficient obtained for the linearity was 0.998. The recovery value of standard piperine was 99.4%. Low value of standard deviation and coefficient of variation are indicative of high precision of the method. Quantitative evaluation of piperine in pippalyadiyoga was found to be 0.339%