Self-induction of rifampicin metabolism in man

Self-induction of rifampicin metabolism caused by daily administration of the drug was studied in 7 healthy subjects. Rifampicin 600 mg was administered daily for 10 days and additional doses were administered on the 4th and 8th days after drug administration ceased. The mean serum half-life of rifampicin decreased from 4.9 h on the 1st day to 3.5 h on the 4th day (P<0.01), to 2.7 h on the 7th day (P<0.001), and 2.5 h on the 10th day (P<0.001). The difference between the mean values on the 7th and the 10th days was not significant. The mean value on the 8th day after stopping drag administration (3.8 h), was significantly higher than that on the last day of daily administration (P=0.02), but was still lower than that on the 1st day (P=0.05). There was a decrease in the excretion of both rifampicin and desacetylrifampicin in urine on induction, followed by a gradual return to normal when drug administration was stopped

Annual Thermodynamic Analysis of Solar Power with Steam Injection Gas Turbine (STIG) Cycle for Indian Conditions

AbstractSolar thermal energy is now being widely utilized to meet the world's energy demand due to its huge potential. Power generation from solar is varying and high cost of solar thermal energy systems that makes sense only in regions with high solar insolation. In order to overcome these practical issues, low cost solar hybrid steam injection gas turbine (STIG) cycle is adapted. Both gas turbine exhaust stream and solar heat are used for steam generation, and then it is injected into the combustor. The steam injection reduces NOX and CO2 emission in addition to increased power output and plant efficiency compared to the simple cycle. It offers a path for high conversion efficiency without the requirement of operating at high temperature and high pressure in the solar components. The objective of the proposed work is to investigate a conversion method for solar radiation that offers potentially high conversion efficiency and for increased competitiveness against fossil fuels. The annual performance of the cycle for sites in India with local climatic conditions such as ambient temperature, relative humidity and availability of direct normal irradiance to the solar concentrators under two modes of constant and variable power is presented in this paper. The results reveal that the solar to electricity efficiency of solar hybrid STIG plant with a simple Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) is similar to existing solar thermal technologies and higher solar share is obtained. The study also reveals that the annual CO2 emission is similar to combined cycle plants and lower than gas turbine technologies

Acclimatization of the Growth of Brassica Juncea to Temperature Stress: Future of IoT Technology in Sustainable Agriculture

Agriculture and global warming are correlated with each other, particularly, it may affect nutrient cycles, microbial activities, and physiological activities of the crops. Agricultural development plays a crucial role in the growth of the economy of developing countries. The agriculture sector is a major source of employment in most of the developing countries. Over the year, there were changes and productivity loss due to the abiotic stresses and imbalance of nutrients of the plants. A continuous increase in temperature may affect the yields of crops up to 17%. Each plant has different characteristics in growth and some plants are susceptible to high temperature, some are quite the opposite. A Brassica Juncea L. belongs to a mustard family Brassicaceae or Cruciferae that are susceptible to high temperature. So, in this work, an attempt has been made for Brassica Juncea L. to grow and yield under temperature stress by controlling the temperature with the use of the Internet of Things (IoT). The experiment has been conducted where Brassica Juncea neither production nor consumption. IoT sensors are used to monitor the temperature and humidity in two different scenarios. This paper analyses the factors that affect the growth of Brassica Juncea and provide a solution to increase productivity. View Article DOI: 10.47856/ijaast.2022.v09i04.00

Induction of rifampicin metabolism during treatment of tuberculous patients with daily and fully intermittent regimens containing the drug

Self-induction of rifampicin metabolism during daily and intermittent chemotherapy was studied by monitoring the changes in the serum half-life of the drug over a 4-week period in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Rifampicin 450 mg was administered to 8 patients who received treatment daily, 7 on thrice-weekly and 7 others on twice-weekly treatment. Serum half-life was computed from concentrations of the drug determined at 3, 4½ and 6 hours after drug administration, on admission and at 1, 2 and 4 weeks after start of treatment. In the daily series, the mean serum half-life decreased from 4.9 hours on admission to 3.6 hours at 1 week (P = 0.02), and treatment beyond this had no further effect. In the thrice-weekly series, maximal induction was observed at the 2nd week, the mean values on admission and at 2 weeks being 5.8 and 3.7 hours, respectively (P < 0.01). In the twiceweekly series, maximal induction was observed only at the 4th week, the mean values on admission and at 4 weeks being 4.9 and 3.7 hours, respectively (P < 0.01). Serum activity of gamma glutamyl transferase was not found to be a suitable in vivo marker to monitor induction of the hepatic microsomal enzymes as no significant changes were observed in the activity of this enzyme in any of the 3 series during the 4-week period

A biaxial nematic liquid crystal composed of matchbox-symmetric molecules

By means of Monte Carlo simulations in the isothermal-isobaric ensemble, we investigate the structure and phase behaviour of a thermotropic liquid crystal composed of matchbox-symmetric (or board-like) molecules. Besides the isotropic phase the liquid crystal exhibits also uniaxial and biaxial nematic phases. The interaction potential is derived through an expansion in terms of Stone's rotational invariants [A. J. Stone, Mol. Phys. 78, 241–256 (1978).] that can be reexpressed in terms of Cartesian tensors. This latter formulation is particularly well suited for computer simulations. We analyse the orientation distribution function which allows us to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic biaxiality. In addition, we study the orientation-dependent correlation functions. In the limit of large intermolecular separations, the value of the orientation correlation function corresponds to the uniaxial and biaxial order parameters which are coupled in a complex fashion

Achieving the Neel state in an optical lattice

We theoretically study the possibility of reaching the antiferromagnetic phase of the Hubbard model by starting from a normal gas of trapped fermionic atoms and adiabatically ramping up an optical lattice. Requirements on the initial temperature and the number of atoms are determined for a three dimensional square lattice by evaluating the Neel state entropy, taking into account fluctuations around the mean-field solution. We find that these fluctuations place important limitations on adiabatically reaching the Neel state.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX. Revised version incorporates minor corrections. Journal reference adde

Exploring phase coherence in a 2D lattice of Bose-Einstein condensates

Bose-Einstein condensates of rubidium atoms are stored in a two-dimensional periodic dipole force potential, formed by a pair of standing wave laser fields. The resulting potential consists of a lattice of tightly confining tubes, each filled with a 1D quantum gas. Tunnel-coupling between neighboring tubes is controlled by the intensity of the laser fields. By observing the interference pattern of atoms released from more than 3000 individual lattice tubes the phase coherence of the coupled quantum gases is studied. The lifetime of the condensate in the lattice and the dependence of the interference pattern on the lattice configuration are investigated.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Tropical storm off Myanmar coast sweeps reefs in Ritchie’s Archipelago, Andaman

The reefs in some islands of Andaman and Nicobar suffered severe damage following a tropical storm in the Bay of Bengal off Myanmar coast during 13–17 March 2011. Surveys were conducted at eight sites in Andaman, of which five were located in the Ritchie’s Archipelago where maximum wind speeds of 11 ms-1 was observed; and three around Port Blair which lay on the leeward side of the storm and had not experienced wind speeds of more than 9 ms-1. Corals in the shallow inshore reefs were broken and dislodged by the thrust of the waves. Significant damage in the deeper regions and offshore reefs were caused by the settlement of debris and sand brought down from the shallower regions. The fragile branching corals (Acropora sp.) were reduced to rubbles and the larger boulder corals (Porites sp.) were toppled over or scarred by falling debris. The reefs on the windward side and directly in the path of the storm winds were the worst affected. The investigation exposes the vulnerability of the reefs in Andaman to the oceanographic features which generally remain unnoticed unless the damage is caused to the coastal habitats