Spectrophotometric method for the determination of Captopril in pharmaceutical formulations

A simple, rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of captopril in aqueous solution. The method is based on reaction of captopril with 2,3-dichloro 1,4- naphthoquinon(Dichlone) in neutral medium to form a stable yellow colored product which shows maximum absorption at 347 nm with molar absorptivity of 5.6 ×103 L.mole-1. cm-1. The proposed method is applied successfully for determination of captopril in commercial pharmaceutical tablets

Archaeological and geophysical survey in deserted early islamic village Al-Qusur (Failaka, Kuwait)

Failaka Island, the second largest and the only inhabited off-shore island of Kuwait, is situated 17 km east of Kuwait mainland, in the entrance to Kuwait Bay. They can be found along the shores and approximately in the middle of the island and correspond with occurrence of known archaeological sites. Failaka’s history goes back to the Bronze Age Dilmun civilization. After the decline of the occupation during the Middle Bronze Age, Failaka was again inhabited during Seleucid and post-Seleucid..

Hen’s egg white hypersensitivity among a group of Egyptian atopic children

Background: Egg allergy is potentially life-threatening. The prevalenceof egg allergy in Egypt is still unclear. This study is to evaluate thefrequency of egg hypersensitivity in a group of Egyptian atopic children.Methods: Eighty allergic children were enrolled, each is subjected toclinical evaluation, skin prick testing (SPT) using a commercial eggwhite extract, and serum egg white specific IgE (SpIgE) estimation. Sixpatients with suspected egg allergy consent to perform open oral eggchallenge. Results: Twenty-eight patients had history of exacerbation oftheir allergic diseases upon exposure to egg white, of these patients, 8had negative SPT and serum egg white SpIgE. SPT was positive in 25(31.2%) patients, of these patients, 3 (4%) were +3, 22 (28%) were +2,of whom 5 patients tolerate eggs without adverse effects. Serum eggwhite SpIgE was positive in 19 (24%) patients with a mean of 0.81 IU/ml(range: 0.35-4.52 IU/ML). Egg white allergy based on positive history,positive SPT and/or egg white SpIgE was detected in 23 (28.8%)patients. Open oral egg challenge was positive in one patient withpositive history but negative tests giving an overall frequency of eggallergy of 30 % (n=24).While egg white SpIgE did not correlate with theages, positive SPT was significantly more frequent among youngerpatients (t= 1.7, p=0.02). Egg sensitization and allergy did not affect theseverity of asthma (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Although positive SPT/ serumspecific IgE to eggs are good tools for diagnosis, oral food challengeremains the gold standard in suspected cases. Further wide-scale studiesare needed to outline the real prevalence of egg allergy in Egypt.Keywords: Egg allergy; children; skin prick test

Secure and Robust Fragile Watermarking Scheme for Medical Images

Over the past decade advances in computer-based communication and health services, the need for image security becomes urgent to address the requirements of both safety and non-safety in medical applications. This paper proposes a new fragile watermarking based scheme for image authentication and self-recovery for medical applications. The proposed scheme locates image tampering as well as recovers the original image. A host image is broken into 4×4 blocks and Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is applied by inserting the traces of block wise SVD into the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the image pixels to figure out the transformation in the original image. Two authentication bits namely block authentication and self-recovery bits were used to survive the vector quantization attack. The insertion of self-recovery bits is determined with Arnold transformation, which recovers the original image even after a high tampering rate. SVD-based watermarking information improves the image authentication and provides a way to detect different attacked area. The proposed scheme is tested against different types of attacks such are text removal attack, text insertion attack, and copy and paste attack

Postfault operation of five-phase induction machine with minimum total losses under aingle open-phase fault

Five-phase induction machines (FPIM) have attracted notable interest in safety critical applications as well as wind energy generation systems. This is largely due to their additional degrees of freedom that retain the machine starting/running steadily under fault conditions. In the available literature, postfault operation of multiphase machines is typically implemented using two techniques: minimum losses (ML) or maximum torque per ampere (MT) strategies. The optimization embedded into the control strategy, however, mostly addresses minimization of the stator copper loss, while the effect of the rotor loss and core loss are discarded in the optimal current calculation. This paper revisits postfault operation of the FPIM under single open phase fault (1OPF) by including the effect of both rotor loss and core loss on the machine's optimal current calculation over the full achievable loading range. The proposed searching algorithm, which combines the advantages of both MT and ML techniques, attempts to minimize the total machine losses induced by the current components of both the fundamental \alpha \beta and the secondary xy subspaces. The theoretical findings have been experimentally validated using a 1.5Hp five-phase prototype system

Flexural Response of RC beams cast with normal and steel fibre concrete internally reinforced with various types of FRP bars

Šipke od vlaknima armiranih polimera (FRP) mogu se koristiti kao zamjena za čelične šipke da bi se izbjegla korozija čelika. U ovom radu su pripremljeni i ispitani uzorci armiranobetonskih greda od običnog betona i betona s čeličnim vlaknima (SFC) armirani šipkama od staklenih vlakana, armiranih polimera (GFRP) ili čeličnim šipkama. Rezultati ispitivanja pokazali su da se tlačna čvrstoća betona povećala s povećanjem omjera čeličnih vlakana (SF) koji su korišteni u ovom istraživanju (od 0 % do 1,5 %). Jednako tako, grede armirane GFRP šipkama imale su nižu početnu krutost i veću duktilnost nego one armirane čeličnim šipkama.Fibre Reinforced Polymer (FRP) bars can be used as an alternate for reinforcing bars to avoid corrosion of steel. Samples of reinforced concrete beams cast with normal or steel fibre concrete (SFC), internally reinforced with Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) or steel bars, are prepared and tested in this paper. Experimental results show that compressive strength of concrete increases with an increase in steel fibre (SF) ratio used in this study (from 0% to 1.5%). Also, the beams reinforced with GFRP bars have a lower initial stiffness and higher ductility than those reinforced with steel bars

The Effects of Stress on Surgeons and Surgical Performance: An Analytical Study

This study aimed at exploring the effects of stress on surgeons and surgical performance, as the researchers adopted the methodology of descriptive analytical statistics by conducting a semi structured interviews on fourteen surgeons in Jordan. The aim of this study also was to investigate surgeons’ perceptions of surgical stress, highlight key stressors and their impact on performance, and identify coping strategies. Stress poses a serious risk for training surgeons since their performance and well‐being in reflected in patients' health. This study focuses on measuring the stress on surgeons and at the same time evaluates prospectively the results of practices that uses alternative techniques to combat the effects of stress. The study concluded that these interviews provided valuable insights into stressors, stress responses, and coping strategies used by surgeons and allowed us to categorize sources of stress. Although surgeons characteristically enjoy the stimulating features of their work, high levels of stress can affect performance adversely

ARL3 mutations cause Joubert syndrome by disrupting ciliary protein composition

Joubert syndrome (JBTS) is a genetically heterogeneous autosomal recessive neurodevelopmental ciliopathy. We investigated further the underlying genetic etiology of Joubert syndrome by studying two unrelated families in whom JBTS was not associated with pathogenic variants in known JBTSrelated genes. Combined autozygosity mapping of both families highlighted a candidate locus on chromosome 10 (chr10: 101569997-109106128 (hg 19)), and exome sequencing revealed two missense variants in ARL3 within the candidate locus. The encoded protein, ADP Ribosylation Factor-Like GTPase 3, ARL3, is a small GTP-binding protein that is involved in directing lipid-modified proteins into the cilium in a GTP-dependent manner. Both missense variants replace the highly conserved Arg149 residue, which we show to be necessary for the interaction with its guanine nucleotide exchange factor ARL13B, such that the mutant protein is associated with reduced INPP5E and NPHP3 localisation in cilia. We propose that ARL3 provides a potential hub in the network of encoded ciliopathy genes, whereby perturbation of ARL3 results in the mislocalisation of multiple ciliary proteins due to abnormal displacement of lipidated protein cargo

Topical bioavailability of diclofenac from locally-acting, dermatological formulations

Assessment of the bioavailability of topically applied drugs designed to act within or beneath the skin is a challenging objective. A number of different, but potentially complementary, techniques are under evaluation. The objective of this work was to evaluate in vitro skin penetration and stratum corneum tape-stripping in vivo as tools with which to measure topical diclofenac bioavailability from three approved and commercialized products (two gels and one solution). Drug uptake into, and its subsequent clearance from, the stratum corneum of human volunteers was used to estimate the input rate of diclofenac into the viable skin layers. This flux was compared to that measured across excised porcine skin in conventional diffusion cells. Both techniques clearly demonstrated (a) the superiority in terms of drug delivery from the solution, and (b) that the two gels performed similarly. There was qualitative and, importantly, quantitative agreement between the in vitro and in vivo measurements of drug flux into and beyond the viable skin. Evidence is therefore presented to support an in vivo − in vitro correlation between methods to assess topical drug bioavailability. The potential value of the stratum corneum tape-stripping technique to quantify drug delivery into (epi)dermal and subcutaneous tissue beneath the barrier is demonstrated.</p

Genotypes and serotype distribution of macrolide resistant invasive and non- invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates from Lebanon

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This study determined macrolide resistance genotypes in clinical isolates of <it>Streptococcus pneumoniae </it>from multiple medical centers in Lebanon and assessed the serotype distribution in relation to these mechanism(s) of resistance and the source of isolate recovery.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forty four macrolide resistant and 21 macrolide susceptible <it>S. pneumoniae </it>clinical isolates were tested for antimicrobial susceptibility according to CLSI guidelines (2008) and underwent molecular characterization. Serotyping of these isolates was performed by Multiplex PCR-based serotype deduction using CDC protocols. PCR amplification of macrolide resistant <it>erm </it>(encoding methylase) and <it>mef </it>(encoding macrolide efflux pump protein) genes was carried out.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 44 isolates resistant to erythromycin, 35 were resistant to penicillin and 18 to ceftriaxone. Examination of 44 macrolide resistant isolates by PCR showed that 16 isolates harbored the <it>erm</it>(B) gene, 8 isolates harbored the <it>mef </it>gene, and 14 isolates harbored both the <it>erm</it>(B) and <it>mef </it>genes. There was no amplification by PCR of the <it>erm</it>(B) or <it>mef </it>genes in 6 isolates. Seven different capsular serotypes 2, 9V/9A,12F, 14,19A, 19F, and 23, were detected by multiplex PCR serotype deduction in 35 of 44 macrolide resistant isolates, with 19F being the most prevalent serotype. With the exception of serotype 2, all serotypes were invasive. Isolates belonging to the invasive serotypes 14 and 19F harbored both <it>erm</it>(B) and <it>mef </it>genes. Nine of the 44 macrolide resistant isolates were non-serotypable by our protocols.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Macrolide resistance in <it>S. pneumoniae </it>in Lebanon is mainly through target site modification but is also mediated through efflux pumps, with serotype 19F having dual resistance and being the most prevalent and invasive.</p