Amiodarone-Induced Thyrotoxicosis and Ventricular Arrhythmias: Case Report and Review of the Literature

INTRODUCTION Amiodarone is a common drug used to treat arrhythmias and its side effects are diverse. An important adverse effect is amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis (AIT), which can potentially lead to a pro-arrythmogenic state. There have been limited studies on the pathogenesis of how thyrotoxicosis increases the risk of ventricular arrhythmias, which causes providers to face a therapeutic challenge in patients who require this medication for the prevention of life threatening arrhythmias. This case report will present a patient with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) who had recurrent ventricular arrhythmias on chronic amiodarone therapy in the setting of AIT

AirSim: High-Fidelity Visual and Physical Simulation for Autonomous Vehicles

Developing and testing algorithms for autonomous vehicles in real world is an expensive and time consuming process. Also, in order to utilize recent advances in machine intelligence and deep learning we need to collect a large amount of annotated training data in a variety of conditions and environments. We present a new simulator built on Unreal Engine that offers physically and visually realistic simulations for both of these goals. Our simulator includes a physics engine that can operate at a high frequency for real-time hardware-in-the-loop (HITL) simulations with support for popular protocols (e.g. MavLink). The simulator is designed from the ground up to be extensible to accommodate new types of vehicles, hardware platforms and software protocols. In addition, the modular design enables various components to be easily usable independently in other projects. We demonstrate the simulator by first implementing a quadrotor as an autonomous vehicle and then experimentally comparing the software components with real-world flights.Comment: Accepted for Field and Service Robotics conference 2017 (FSR 2017

FAST TIME OF FLIGHT CAMERA LENS FOR MOBILE PHONE APPLICATIONS

A lens design for a TOF camera system is disclosed for use in mobile phone applications. The design is physical hardware comprising a four-element camera lens with an image sensor and infrared (IR) filter. The camera lens system, even with a small 9mm diameter, has significantly high performance in terms of contrast, resolution, field of view and working distance

Influencing the Influencers: Analyzing Impact of Prior Review Sentiments on Product Reviews

Extant research has widely studied the impact of online product review on sales and most studies have found a significant impact of these reviews as an e-WOM tool. Given the importance of the online reviews, we study a hitherto understudied area of antecedents of sentiments in user reviews. We assess the impact of contagion effect of past review sentiments on reviewers\u27 choice to write a review. We analyze the impact of emotional response of users while writing product reviews triggered by the appraisal response to prior online reviews. A short selection of reviews, which most e-commerce websites show, along with the numerical product rating (if any) could strongly bias the sentiments in a review being written under their influence. Through a mix of experimental methods and text analysis of online reviews, we find that review writers tend to veer towards extreme reviews in absence of any benchmark or prior review

Enhancing the dissolution rate of poorly soluble drug Febuxostat using spray dried amorphous solid dispersion technique

Introducción: El febuxostat pertenece a los fármacos clase II del Sistema de Clasificación Biofarmacéutica, los cuales presentan baja solubilidad y alta permeabilidad. La dispersión sólida amorfa es una de las técnicas que pueden ser útiles para mejorar la solubilidad y las características del polvo. Objetivo: optimizar la concentración de polímeros hidrofílicos e hidrofóbicos para mejorar la velocidad de disolución y la solubilidad de las tabletas de febuxostat. Métodos: La dispersión sólida amorfa de febuxostat se preparó mediante el método de secado por aspersión utilizando Kolliphor P237 (1:2). Esta dispersión sólida amorfa se utilizó además para comprimir el comprimido. Para mejorar la solubilidad y la tasa de disolución, se aplicó un diseño factorial completo para optimizar la concentración crítica de KollidonSR e hidroxi propil metil celulosa (HPMC K4M). Los comprimidos preparados se caracterizaron por parámetros de precompresión y poscompresión. Resultados: La velocidad de liberación del fármaco se mantuvo mediante la formulación de una técnica de dispersión sólida amorfa. Se encontró que el lote optimizado (FSRT-OB) era apto para la liberación promedio del 93,30 % del fármaco en forma de liberación sostenida hasta 12 horas. Los datos de la cinética de liberación sugieren que la liberación del fármaco estuvo controlada por una combinación de mecanismo de relajación de cadena y difusión. Se encontró que la concentración optimizada para Kollidon SR y HPMC K4M era 38,50 % y 7,72 % respectivamente. Conclusión: La técnica de dispersión sólida amorfa es útil para mejorar la solubilidad, la velocidad de disolución y la biodisponibilidad de la tableta de Febuxostat.Introduction: Febuxostat belongs to Biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) class II drugs, which have low solubility and high permeability. Amorphous solid dispersion is one of the techniques which can be useful to improve solubility and powder characteristics. Objective: To optimize the concentration of hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers to improve the dissolution rate and solubility of febuxostat tablets. Methods: The amorphous solid dispersion of febuxostat was prepared by spray drying method using Kolliphor P237 (1:2). This amorphous solid dispersion was further used to compress the tablet. To improve solubility and dissolution rate, a full factorial design was applied to optimize the critical concentration of Kollidon SR and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC K4M). The prepared tablets were characterized by pre-compression and post-compression parameters. Result: The rate of drug release was sustained by formulating an amorphous solid dispersion technique. The optimized batch (FSRT-OB) was found to be fit for release average 93.30 % of the drug in sustain release manner up to 12hrs. The release kinetic data suggests that the drug release was controlled by combination of diffusion and chain relaxation mechanism. The optimized concentration for Kollidon SR and HPMC K4Mwas found to be 38.50 % and 7.72 % respectively. Conclusion: Amorphous solid dispersion technique is useful to enhance solubility, dissolution rate, and bioavailability of the Febuxostat tablet