Safety profile of oxcarbazepine: results from a prescription-event monitoring study

Purpose: To monitor safety of oxcarbazepine, prescribed in primary care in England, using prescription-event monitoring (PEM). Methods: Postmarketing surveillance using observational cohort technique of PEM. Exposure data were obtained from dispensed British National Health Service prescriptions issued by general practitioners (GPs) March 2000–July 2003. Demographic, drug utilization, and clinical event data were collected from questionnaires posted to GPs at least 6 months after first prescription date for each patient. Incidence densities (IDs) (number of first reports per 1,000 patient-months of treatment) were calculated and differences for events reported in month 1 (ID1) and months 2–6 (ID2–6) (99% confidence intervals) were examined for changes in event rates. Follow-up and causality assessment of medically significant events were undertaken. Results: The cohort comprised 2,243 patients [mean age 40.4 years; range 2–99 years; standard deviation (SD) 18.8; 46.3% (n = 1,038) male]. Most frequently reported primary indications were epilepsy, convulsion (n = 1,111; 49.5%, n = 209; 9.3%, respectively). GPs recorded 932 reasons for stopping medication in 698 (31.1%) patients; most frequent clinical reason “drowsiness/sedation” (n = 57; 2.5% of cohort). Clinical events (excluding indication) associated with starting treatment (lower 99% CI > 0) included: “drowsiness/sedation” (ID1-ID2–6 = 14.2), “nausea/vomiting” (ID1-ID2–6 = 13.0), and dizziness (ID1-ID2–6 = 11.6). Events followed up and assessed as probably related to oxcarbazepine use included rash (7 of 11) and hyponatremia (15 of 38). Discussion:  There were no serious adverse drug reactions reported during this study. Results of the study should be taken in context with other epidemiologic studies

POLITICAL ISLAM AND DEMOCRATIZATION: THE OUTLOOK FOR MALDIVES' POLITICAL PROCESS

Despite the widespread dominance of democracy across the globe and many countries undergoing regime transitions and modernization, the importance of political socialization in fostering a stable and legitimate democracy and reducing political violence in Islamic states remains largely unexplored. Political Islam and democracy appear to be developing concurrently, albeit not at the same rate and often not in harmony. Without adequate and effective political socialization of democratic values in developing democracies, particularly in South Asia, the changing political landscape provides fertile ground for Islamists to shape the cultural and political narrative, to hamper democratization, and even to fuel political violence. Since 2008, the Maldives’s young democracy has struggled to introduce the values and practices of modern Western democracy in a way that resonates with its traditional culture. This thesis explores the challenges of democratizing the Maldives’s political system, in which native socio-cultural and religious beliefs shape the country's identity as a Muslim society. Using regression analysis, the study also develops a model to predict how likely certain values are, if not properly socialized, to spark political violence going forward. Contextualizing politics in the Maldives, striving toward democracy, it is found that the legendary native religious, socio-cultural, and constitutional bearings in the Maldives remain the same.Lieutenant Colonel, Maldives National Defence ForceApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited

Throughput analysis for cognitive radio networks with multiple primary users and imperfect spectrum sensing

In cognitive radio networks, the licensed frequency bands of the primary users (PUs) are available to the secondary user (SU) provided that they do not cause significant interference to the PUs. In this study, the authors analysed the normalised throughput of the SU with multiple PUs coexisting under any frequency division multiple access communication protocol. The authors consider a cognitive radio transmission where the frame structure consists of sensing and data transmission slots. In order to achieve the maximum normalised throughput of the SU and control the interference level to the legal PUs, the optimal frame length of the SU is found via simulation. In this context, a new analytical formula has been expressed for the achievable normalised throughput of SU with multiple PUs under prefect and imperfect spectrum sensing scenarios. Moreover, the impact of imperfect sensing, variable frame length of SU and the variable PU traffic loads, on the normalised throughput has been critically investigated. It has been shown that the analytical and simulation results are in perfect agreement. The authors analytical results are much useful to determine how to select the frame duration length subject to the parameters of cognitive radio network, such as network traffic load, achievable sensing accuracy and number of coexisting PUs

ANTI-ATHEROSCLEROTIC ACTIVITY OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF CHRYSANTHEMUM INDICUM L. FLOWERS AGAINST HIGH-FAT DIET-INDUCED ATHEROSCLEROSIS IN MALE WISTAR RATS

  Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the anti-atherosclerotic activity of ethanolic extract of Chrysanthemum indicum (EECI) flowers against high-fat diet induction in male Wistar rats.Methods: The method used for induction of atherosclerosis was high-fat diet for 28 days. Rats were divided into five groups (n=6). Group I served as normal. Group II serves as high-fat diet-treated group. Group III serves as standard treated with high-fat diet+atorvastatin (30 mg/kg, p.o). Group IV serves as low dose treated with high-fat diet+EECI (150 mg/kg, p.o.). Group V serves as high dose treated with high-fat diet+EECI (300 mg/kg, p.o.). The following parameters, glucose, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol (TC), very LDL (VLDL), triglycerides (TG), atherogenic index (AI), serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase, total protein, food consumption, and body weight, were evaluated and histopathological studies were performed.Results: The results showed that EECI at a dose of 150 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg exhibited significant decrease in glucose, TG, TC, LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C), HDL, VLDL, AI, and total protein levels when compared to high-fat diet group. This investigation reveals that the extract-treated groups lower the serum TC and LDL-C levels significantly, which reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.Conclusion: The experimental studies show that the EECI of both doses 150 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg, respectively, showed significant reduction in lipid profile, glucose, and total protein. From the study, the plant extract showed anti-atherosclerotic activity and thus authenticates its ethnomedicinal use.Â

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF DAPAGLIFLOZIN BY REVERSED-PHASE HIGH-PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY METHOD AND IT'S FORCED DEGRADATION STUDIES

  Objective: To develop and validate a simple, selective, precise, and accurate method for the estimation of dapagliflozin using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) technique in bulk and tablet formulation.Methods: The proposed method utilizes chromatographic conditions hypersil BDS (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μ), mobile phase was buffer:acetonitrile (60:40) ratio, flow rate was maintained 1 ml/minute, column temperature was set at 30°C, detection wave length was 245 nm, and diluent was mobile phase.Results: By injecting 5 times of the standard solution system suitability parameters were studied, and results were found well under the acceptance criteria. The linearity study was performed by taking 25-150% levels, and the R2 value was found to be 0.999, precision was found to be 0.5 for repeatability and 0.31 for intermediate precision. The % recovery was found to be 99.89%. Limit of detection and limit of quantitation were found to be 0.60 μg/ml and 1.81 μg/ml, respectively. The % purity was found to be 99.71%. Degradation study on dapagliflozin was performed and concluded that the purity threshold was more than purity angle and within the acceptable range.Conclusion: The developed RP-HPLC method for dapagliflozin was found to be simple, precise, accurate, reproducible, and cost effective. Statistical analysis of the developed method conforms that the proposed method is an appropriate and it can be useful for the routine analysis. This method gives the basic idea to the researcher who is working in area such as product development and finish product testing

Design of Film Bulk Acoustic Wave Sensor for Internet of Things (IoT) Applications

التوسع السريع لإنترنت الاشياء أدى إلى زيادة الطلب على تقنيات الاستشعار المبتكرة التي يمكن أن توفر بيانات في الوقت الفعلي لمختلف التطبيقات. رنانات الموجات الصوتية ذات الاغشية الرقيقة (FBARs) هي رنانات مصغرة تستخدم التأثير الكهرو إجهادي لإنشاء إشارات كهربائية باستخدام الاهتزازات الميكانيكية والعكس صحيح. ظهرت رنانات FBAR كمتحسسات واعدة لتطبيقات الاستشعار في إنترنت الأشياء نظرًا لحجمها الصغير وحساسيتها العالية وتوافقها مع تقنيات التصنيع الدقيق. يقدم هذا البحث تصميم مستشعر FBAR  لتطبيقات انترنت الاشياء التي تتكون من أكسيد الزنك (ZnO) و ليثيوم نيوباتيت(LiNbO3)  كمواد كهروضغطية والالمنيوم كأقطاب كهربائية علوية وسفلية. تظهر النتائج الأداء المتفوق للرنان المقترح. بناءً على نتائج النمذجة ، فإن تردد الرنين هو 12.02 و 10.36 جيجاهرتز مع عامل جودة 936.7 و 941.3 ومعامل الاقتران الفعال 18.35 و 18.27٪ لـ أكسيد الزنك و ليثيوم نيوباتيت على التوالي.The Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding quickly, which has increased demand for innovative sensing technologies that can provide real-time data for various applications. Film Bulk Acoustic Wave Resonators (FBARs) are miniature resonators that utilize the piezoelectric effect to create electrical signals using mechanical vibrations and vice versa. FBAR resonators have emerged as promising candidates for sensor applications in IoT due to their compact size, high sensitivity, and compatibility with microfabrication techniques. This paper presents design of FBAR sensor as gas and pressure sensor for IOT applications consisting of zinc oxide (ZnO) and Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) as piezoelectric film and Aluminum (Al) as top and bottom electrodes. The results show the superior performance of the proposed resonator. Based on the modeling results, the structure's resonance frequency is 12.02 and 10.36 GHz with a quality factor of 936.7 and 941.3 and an effective coupling coefficient of  18.35 and 18.27 % for ZnO and LiNbO3 respectively

Flow injection analysis for the photometric determination of promethazine-HCl in pure and pharmaceutical preparation via oxidation by persulphate using Ayah 3SX3-3D solar micro photometer

The first flow injection spectrophotometric method is characterized by its speed and sensitivity which have been developed for the determination of promethazine-HCl in pure and pharmaceutical preparation. It is based on the in situ detection of colored cationic radicals formed via oxidation of the drug with sodium persulphate to pinkish-red species and the same species was determined by using homemade Ayah 3SX3-3D solar flow injection photometer. Optimum conditions were obtained by using the high intensive green light emitted diode as a source. Linear dynamic range for the absorbance versus promethazine-HCl concentration was 0-7 mmol.L-1, with the correlation coefficient (r) was 0.9904 while the percentage linearity (r2%) was 98.09%. the L.O.Q was 3.97 µg/sample, while L.O.D (S/N=3) = 0.2407µg/sample (5 µmol.L-1) from the stepwise dilution for the minimum concentration of lowest concentration in the linear dynamic range of the calibration graph. The R.S.D% at 2 mmol.L-1 promethazine-HCl is less than 1% (eight replicates) using 150 µL sample volume. Throughput 30 sample.hr-1. The method was applied successfully for the determination of promethazine-HCl in pharmaceutical preparation. By using paired t-test it was shown that there was no significant difference between the proposed method and official method and on that basis the new method can be accepted as an alternative analytical method