POLYVINYLIDENE FLUORIDE AND ZINC OXIDE SMART COMPOSITE MATERIAL

This work aimed at fabrication and electromechanical characterization of a smart material system composed of electroactive polymer and ceramic materials. The idea of composite material system is on account of complementary characteristics of the polymer and ceramic for flexibility and piezoelectric activity. Our preliminary work included Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) as the flexible piezoelectric polymer, and Zinc Oxide (ZnO) as the piezoelectric ceramic brittle, but capable to respond strains without poling. Two alternative processes were investigated. The first process makes use of ZnO fibrous formation achieved by sintering PVA/zinc acetate precursor fibers via electrospinning. Highly brittle fibrous ZnO mat was dipped into a PVDF polymer solution and then pressed to form pellets. The second process employed commercial ZnO nanopowder material. The powder was mixed into a PVDF/acetone polymer solution, and the resultant paste was pressed to form pellets. The free standing composite pellets with electrodes on the top and bottom surfaces were then subjected to sinusoidal electric excitation and response was recorded using a fotonic sensor. An earlier work on electrospun PVDF fiber mats was also summarized here and the electromechanical characterization is reported

CONCEPT OF CHARAKOKTA MEDHYARASAYANAS IN AGE RELATED MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT (MCI)

Life expectancy has increased as a result of advancement in medical science. As a result the number of elderly in the population is also greater than ever and there is a need to tackle their problems. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is one of the most common clinical manifestations affecting the elderly population. This is a transitional stage between the cognitive decline of normal ageing and the more serious decline in dementia. Timely intervention is awfully important in these cases as they are at a high risk of developing dementia. According to Sarangadhara Acharya, Medha (grasping and retention power) deteriorates after the fourth decade of life and this may be considered as a warning signal for further Smriti (memory) and Buddhi (intellect) deterioration, in the successive years. Ayurveda has a major role to play in this arena. The 'Medhya Rasayanas' are known to be beneficial to improve the intellectual e.g., Mandukparni Swaras, Yashtimadhu Churna with Ksheer, Guduchi Swaras, and Shankhapushpi Kalka. Medhya Rasayana drugs are used for prevention and treatment of mental disorders of all the age groups. These drugs promote the Intellect (Dhi) Retention power (Dhriti), Memory (Smriti). This review discusses about Medhya Rasayanas as a great player for prevention and management of age related cognitive decline

Enhanced production of dextransucrase by L. mesenteroides MTCC 867 using response surface methodology

In the present study, basal MRS medium was developed by screening of different media components for dextransucrase production for L. mesenteroides MTCC 867. Important MRS media components were screened by Placket Burman method. Further response surface methodology was applied for important media components using central composite design for enhanced enzyme production. The optimum values for the tested variables were; sucrose 34.01%, bacteriological peptone 1.22%, yeast extract 0.88% and K2HPO4 1.62%. A quadratic polynomial equation was suggested and then validated experientially. Validation was carried out in shake flasks under conditions predicted by the model. The predicted yield was 782.68 DSU/mL. On experimentation 760.58 DSU/mL dextransucrase was obtained. The experimental values were found to be very close to the predicted values and hence, the model was successfully validated. This activity is very high as compared to most of the reports. The dextransucrase production was increased by 8.63 fold over the basal medium

DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF RP-HPLC METHOD FOR THE SIMULTENEOUS ESTIMATION OF OLMESARTAN MEDOXOMIL AND CHLORTHALIDONE IN TABLET DOSAGE FORM

Objective: To develop and validate a simple, rapid, accurate and precise RP-HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of olmesartan medoxomil (OLM) and chlorthalidone (CHL) in pharmaceutical formulation.Methods: Chromatographic separation was performed on a Phenomenox, Gemini C18 (250×4.6 mm, 5 µm) column from thermo isocratic mode with mobile phase 55:45 water: acetonitrile with pH adjusted to 3.0 with ortho phosphoric acid at flow rate 1 ml/min. Peak intensity of both the drugs was monitored at 250 nm with UV detection.Results: The retention time (RT) of OLM and CHL was found to be 2.95 and 3.91 min, respectively. The linearity of OLM and CHL were found in the range of 10-60 µg/ml for OLM and 5-30 µg/ml for CHL. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation was 15ng/ml and 70 ng/ml for OLM and 20 ng/ml and 60 ng/ml for CHL.Conclusion: The proposed method was validated in terms of accuracy, precision, linearity, limit of detection and limit of quantification. Furthermore, no interference was observed with extra pharmacopoeial excipients in tablet suggesting its utility for routine quality control analysis of OLM and CHL in pharmaceutical formulations

Multiple cerebral abscesses in decompensated cirrhosis of liver as a mimicker of hepatic encephalopathy: A case report

Cirrhosis of the liver is a state of immune dysregulation. It can give way to many infections. Brain abscess, though uncommonly reported in cirrhotic patients, deserves special attention as it presents a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge for physicians. We present here, the case of a 65-year-old diabetic and hypertensive female patient, with cirrhosis of the liver, who presented to us with fever and altered sensorium. She had mild neutrophilic leukocytosis and her serum ammonia level was slightly elevated. She was managed conservatively for hepatic encephalopathy precipitated by infection. No obvious source of infection was found on routine investigation and culture. Broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotic coverage was provided at the earliest, but the patient succumbed to multiorgan failure

Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome in the backdrop of cerebral venous thrombosis: A post-partum catastrophe

Reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) is an under-recognized condition characterized by the association of acute severe headaches, often of the thunderclap type, with or without additional neurological symptoms, and multifocal constriction of cerebral arteries, that resolve spontaneously within 1–3 months. Here, we report a rare case of post-partum stroke, where cerebral venous thrombosis was followed in quick succession by RCVS. A 24-year-old lady in her immediate post-partum period developed headache, seizure, and papilledema. After a subsequent episode of a severe headache, she had right hemiparesis and dysarthria. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance venography confirmed the presence of thrombosis. Afterward, she had another episode of a severe headache with altered sensorium. MR imaging of the brain revealed widespread infarct in bilateral medial frontal areas, and MR angiography was suggestive of segmental constriction of cerebral arteries bilaterally. The subsequent clinical course was uneventful with slow recovery. Repeat brain imaging, after 4 weeks, revealed near-total disappearance of diffusion restriction and subsidence of the beading pattern in the cerebral vasculature. This rare case depicts the co-occurrence of venous and arterial angiopathies in the setting of a post-partum headache with the stroke that led to a challenging clinical scenario

Effect of Ethrel® on Flowering, Sex-Expression and Yield in Cashew

A field trial was conducted at Regional Fruit Research Station, Vengurle, Dist. Sindhudurg, (Maharashtra) to assess the efficacy of Ethrel® in relation to flowering behavior and yield enhancement in cashew on seven year old Cashew trees of Vengurle -7 variety during 2008-09. Three sprays of Ethrel® @ 100 ppm, 200 ppm and 400 ppm along with water spray were given before flushing, after flushing and during fruit-set. Control consisted of no. spray. Among treatments, Ethrel® @ 100 ppm significantly increased number of flowering panicles m-2 (12.0), number of perfect flowers per panicle (52.8), fruit-set m-2 (28.8), number of nuts per panicle (2.9) and yield tree-1 ( 1.51 kg tree-1) than control and water spray. Thus, lower concentration of Ethrel® had a beneficial effect on cashew

Emotions and Strategies for Preparation of Emotional Speech Database

Abstract The exploration of how we as human beings react to the world and interact with it and each other remains one of the greatest challenges. The ability to recognize emotional states of a person perhaps the most important for successful inter personal social interaction. Automatic emotional speech recognition system can be characterized by the used features, the investigated emotional categories, the methods to collect speech utterances, the languages and the type of the classifier used in the experiment. Since a well defined database is the necessary precondition for improving the performance Automatic emotional speech recognition systems. This paper explores the theories that explain the social and cognitive roles of emotions and mental states and their expression in human behaviors and communication. The paper describes the planning and accomplishment of a native language emotional speech database of acted emotional speech by number of speakers, recording strategies, conversion etc as well as the alternative approach is briefly addressed. Such database would also contribute to research in intonation and emotion

Cytogenetical studies on the effect of omnacortil on root tip cells of Allium cepa L

Abstract: Omnacortil is steroid, an allopathic drug commonly used as analgesic and suppressant in various diseases. In the present work, onion root tips were subjected with a series of omnacortil concentrations, ranging from 0.2 µg/ml, 0.4 µg/ml, 0.6 µg/ml, 0.8 µg/ml and 1.0 µg/ml for 24 hours for studying its effect on root mitosis in Allium cepa L. The roots were examined in permanent root tip squash preparations stained by the aceto-orcein. This work has confirmed that omnacortil have various effects on chromosomes and induced different mitotic abnormalities and structural aberration of chromosomes. Mitotic index (MI), relative division rate (RDR), relative abnormality rate (RAR) of treated material has been determined. Obtained results showed that all the concentrations of omnacortil showed higher MI and RDR, lower concentrations such as 0.2 µg and 0.4 µg showed higher values over rest of the concentrations and control. Among the subjected concentrations 0.8 µg concentration is most effective and showed highest RAR. Low concentrations of steroids act as stimulants while higher concentrations induced various chromosomal aberrations such as clumping and stickiness, fragmentation, C-mitotic effect, anaphase bridge, chromosomal condensation and contraction, dissolution of chromosome, which clearly showed the mutagenic, clastogenic, antimitotic and cytotoxic effect of omnacortil. This is the first report detailing the effects of omnacortil on chromosomes

Effects of Ochratoxin A on Livestock Production

Ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination often causes large economic losses on livestock production. The intake of feed contaminated by OTA also represents a potential risk for animal health and a food safety issue due to the transfer of the toxin through the food chain to humans. The aim of this paper is to review the available literature on: (1) the frequency and degree of occurrence of OTA in different feedstuffs; (2) the toxicological effects of OTA intake on the performance of the main livestock (i.e., poultry, swine, cattle, goats and sheep); and (3) the transfer of OTA, or its metabolites, from animal feed into animal products such as milk, meat and eggs