Drying studies of patchouli spent charge – in special reference to its use in incense sticks production

The Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth.) herbaceous medicinal plant is a member of the Lamiaceae family, and is grown for its essential oil extraction.  Aromatic patchouli herbage after steam distillation of essential oil is currently a waste material that can be advantageously used in incense sticks production if dried and powdered to a suitable particle size.  To use this waste spent charge (herbage after steam distillation) in the incense sticks production, drying study of this wet material was conducted.  The drying characteristics of patchouli spent charge were studied under various methods, namely, tray, shade and sun drying.  The initial drying bed thickness was uniformly maintained at 50 mm in all the methods and the spent charge was dried from 60%(wb) initial moisture to 8-9% final moisture.  Under Bangalore climatic conditions (24.4-28°C; 25%-58% RH), patchouli spent charge required 46 h of drying time in shade while under sun, it took just 11 h of drying.  In a convectional electrical tray dryer, the drying time at 50, 60 and 70°C was 10, 6 and 5 h, respectively.   Keywords: Patchouli, spent charge, drying, drying characteristic

Mass exchange evaluation during optimization of osmotic dehydration for Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus sajor-caju) in salt-sugar solution

The objective of this study was to investigate the osmotic dehydration of Oyster mushrooms in salt-sugar solution at different solution concentrations, immersion times, temperatures and solution to fruit ratio to analyze the water loss, solute gain and weight reduction. Salt-sugar uptake and water transfer were quantitatively investigated during osmotic dehydration of Oyster mushrooms using response surface methodology. Experiments were conducted in a thermostatically controlled agitating incubator. With respect to water loss, solute gain and weight reduction both linear and quadratic effects of four process variables were found to be significant. For each response, second order polynomial models were developed using multiple linear regression analysis. ANOVA was performed to check the adequacy and accuracy of the fitted models. The response surfaces and contour maps showing the interaction of process variables were constructed. Applying desirability function method, the optimum operating conditions were found to be: solution temperature – 42.3° C, immersion time – 44.21 min, salt-sugar concentration – 15 %: 52.57° B and solution to fruit ratio 4.99:1. At these optimum values, water loss, solute gain and weight reduction was 41, 2.15 and 38.6 (g/100 g initial mass) respectively

Optimization of osmotic dehydration process for Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus sajor-caju) in sodium chloride solution using RSM

Sodium chloride (NaCl) and water transfer were quantitatively investigated during osmotic dehydration of Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus sajor-caju) using response surface methodology with the NaCl concentration (10– 20%, w/v), solution temperature (30–60° C) immersio n time (15–240 min) and solution to fruit ratio (4:1 to 8:1) were taken as independent process variables. Experiments were conducted in a thermostatically controlled agitating incubator. For each response, second order polynomial models were developed using multiple linear regression analysis. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to check the adequacy and accuracy of the fitted models. The response surfaces and contour maps showing the interaction of process variables were constructed. Applying desirability function method, the optimum operating conditions were found to be: solution temperature – 45o C, immersion time – 53.54 min, salt concentration – 14.09% and solution to fruit ratio 6.08:1. Corresponding to these optimum values water loss, solute gain and weight reduction were 38.13, 2.1 and 36.02 (g/100 g initial mass) respectively

An Introduction to Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth.) – A Medicinal and Aromatic Plant: It’s Importance to Mankind

Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth.) is a plant from Lamiaceae family, well known for its medicinal and aromatic properties.  Patchouli is grown for its essential oil.  Patchouli essential oil is mainly obtained by steam distillation of the shade dried leaves.  It is widely appreciated for its characteristic pleasant and long lasting woody, earthy, camphoraceous odour.  It is especially notable as the essential oil extracted is internationally important and valuable, principally for the aromatherapy, perfumery, cosmetics, incense stick production and food flavouring industries.  This review attempted to give an overview of the relationship between aromatherapy and essential oils, importance of patchouli, harvesting pattern of patchouli, basics behind drying and steam distillation of patchouli crop, as well as trends existing in the various markets for essential oil application and its importance to mankind.   Keywords: patchouli, aromatherapy, drying, steam distillation, essential oil, application

Patchouli in fragrances-incense stick production from patchouli spent charge powder

 Incense sticks are popularly known as the fragrance ambassador of India.  The burning of incense in religious and social activities has been practiced in India since early times.  Patchouli is an aromatic and medicinal plant and is grown for its essential oil.  Patchouli essential oil has greater demand and finds extensive application in flavour, perfumery, cosmetic, food and beverage industry and pharmaceutical industries.  In our present study the residual essential oil content of patchouli spent charge was studied under various methods, i.e. shade, tray and sun drying, after steam distillation extraction of patchouli essential oil.  The residual essential oil content of shade dried spent charge was 0.5% - 0.7%.  So, the ground shade dried patchouli spent charge was used in incense sticks manufacture.  Ten different types of incense sticks were produced by blending the patchouli spent charge powder at various levels along with other traditional ingredients; and it made us clear that patchouli spent charge powder can replace wood powder up to 5% - 10% level which is currently used at 15% level.  Various physical quality parameters of different patchouli spent charge based incense sticks were studied which eventually indicated that incense sticks from spent charge powder were much acceptable at present scenario.  Keywords: patchouli, spent charge powder, wood powder, incense sticks 

Integrative Taxonomic Approach for Describing a New Cryptic Species of Bush Frog (Raorchestes: Anura: Rhacophoridae) from the Western Ghats, India

A new cryptic species of bush frog Raorchestes honnametti sp. nov. is described from the south-eastern part of the Western Ghats, India. This newly described species belongs to the Charius clade and is morphologically similar to other clade members—R. charius and R. griet. Therefore, an integrative taxonomic approach based on molecular and bioacoustic analysis along with morphology was used to delimit the new species. Raorchestes honnametti sp. nov., is currently known only from Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve, a part of Biligiri Rangaswamy horst mountain range (a mountain formed due movement of two faults) formed during the Late Quaternary period (1.8–2.58 Ma). Discovery of cryptic species from a highly speciose and well-studied genus Raorchestes hints at the possible existence of several more cryptic species in this genus. We discuss the possible reasons for crypsis and emphasize the need for continued systematic surveys of amphibians across the Western Ghats

Post-field ionization of Si clusters in atom probe tomography: A joint theoretical and experimental study

A major challenge for Atom Probe Tomography (APT) quantification is the inability to decouple ions which possess the same mass/charge-state ($m/n$) ratio but a different mass. For example, $^{75}{\rm{As}}^{+}$ and $^{75}{\rm{As}}{_2}^{2+}$ at ~75 Da or $^{14}{\rm{N}}^+$ and $^{28}{\rm{Si}}^{2+}$ at ~14 Da, cannot be differentiated without the additional knowledge of their kinetic energy or a significant improvement of the mass resolving power. Such mass peak overlaps lead to ambiguities in peak assignment, resulting in compositional uncertainty and an incorrect labelling of the atoms in a reconstructed volume. In the absence of a practical technology for measuring the kinetic energy of the field-evaporated ions, we propose and then explore the applicability of a post-experimental analytical approach to resolve this problem based on the fundamental process that governs the production of multiply charged molecular ions/clusters in APT, i.e., Post-Field Ionization (PFI). The ability to predict the PFI behaviour of molecular ions as a function of operating conditions could offer the first step towards resolving peak overlap and minimizing compositional uncertainty. We explore this possibility by comparing the field dependence of the charge-state-ratio for Si clusters ($\rm{Si}_2$, $\rm{Si}_3$ and $\rm{Si}_4$) with theoretical predictions using the widely accepted Kingham PFI theory. We then discuss the model parameters that may affect the quality of the fit and the possible ways in which the PFI of molecular ions in APT can be better understood. Finally, we test the transferability of the proposed approach to different material systems and outline ways forward for achieving more reliable results

DESIGN AND IN VITRO EVALUATION OF FAST DISSOLVING FILMS CONTAINING HP ß CD INCLUSION COMPLEXES OF LAMOTRIGINE

Objectives: The objectives of the present study is to design and evaluate fast dissolving films of lamotrigine using HP ß CD inclusion complexes with an aim to achieve rapid drug release thereby controlling the seizures in the shortest possible time. Design: Inclusion complexes of lamotrigine were prepared with hydroxypropyl β cyclodextrin (HP β CD) employing different methods to improve the solubility and mask the bitter taste of the drug. Fast dissolving films were prepared by incorporating the developed inclusion complexes and using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as film forming agents and other suitable excipients by solvent casting method. Results: Inclusion complexes prepared by ultrasonication method resulted in better solubility and dissolution rate compared to other methods studied. The fast dissolving films prepared using inclusion complexes were found to be transparent and smooth in texture. The thickness, drug content, % moisture absorption and moisture loss, folding endurance and weight variation was found to be uniform. In vitro release profiles were inversely proportional to the polymer and directly proportional to superdisintegrant and plasticizer concentration. Optimized formulations (F8 and F12) were subjected for fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) which revealed the absence of any chemical interactions between the excipients of the formulation. The formulations were found to be stable without any significant changes during the stability studies carried out as per the ICH guidelines. Conclusion: The study revealed the successful development of fast dissolving films of lamotrigine with promising results thereby suggesting the possible use of the developed films in the rapid management of epileptic seizures. Keywords: Fast dissolving films; epilepsy; lamotrigine; inclusion complex; HPMC; PVA; physico-chemical characterization

Star Formation Histories of the LEGUS Dwarf Galaxies (I): recent History of NGC1705, NGC4449 and Holmberg II

We use HST observations from the Legacy Extragalactic UV Survey to reconstruct the recent star formation histories (SFHs) of three actively star-forming dwarf galaxies, NGC4449, Holmberg II and NGC1705, from their UV color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). We apply a CMD fitting technique using two independent sets of stellar isochrones, PARSEC-COLIBRI and MIST, to assess the uncertainties related to stellar evolution modelling. Irrespective of the adopted stellar models, all the three dwarfs are found to have had almost constant star formation rates (SFRs) in the last 100-200 Myr, with modest enhancements (a factor of $\sim$2) above the 100 Myr-averaged-SFR. Significant differences among the three dwarfs are found in the overall SFR, the timing of the most recent peak and the SFR$/$area. The Initial Mass Function (IMF) of NGC1705 and Holmberg II is consistent with a Salpeter slope down to $\approx$ 5 M$_{\odot}$, whereas it is slightly flatter, s$=-2.0$, in NGC4449. The SFHs derived with the two different sets of stellar models are consistent with each other, except for some quantitative details, attributable to their input assumptions. They also share the drawback that all synthetic diagrams predict a clear separation in color between upper main sequence and helium burning stars, which is not apparent in the data. Since differential reddening, significant in NGC4449, or unresolved binaries don't appear to be sufficient to fill the gap, we suggest this calls for a revision of both sets of stellar evolutionary tracks.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication on Ap