Influence of Organic Acids on Diltiazem HCl Release Kinetics from Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose Matrix Tablets

The matrix tablets of diltiazem hydrochloride were prepared by direct compression using hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) and various amounts (2.5%, 5.0%, 10% and 20%) of citric acid, malic acid and succinic acid. The characterization of physical mixture of drug and organic acids was performed by Infra-red spectroscopy. An organic acid was incorporated to set up a system bringing about gradual release of this drug. The influence of organic acids on the release rate were described by the Peppas equation: M t /M∞ = Kt n and Higuchi’s equation: Q t = K1t1/2. The addition of organic acids and the pH value of medium could notably influence the dissolution behavior and mechanism of drug-release from matrices. Increasing amounts of organic acid produced an increase in drug release rate, which showed a good linear relationship between contents of organic acid and drug accumulate release (%) in phosphate buffer, pH 7.4. The drug release increased significantly (P < 0.05) with use of succinic acid in tablet formulation. Increasing amounts of succinic acid above 10% produced decreasing values of n and increasing values of k, in a linear relationship, which indicated there was a burst release of drug from the matrix. Optimized formulations are found to be stable upon 3-month study

Feasibility of an Audit and Feedback Intervention to Facilitate Journal Policy Change Towards Greater Promotion of Transparency and Openness in Sports Science Research

Objectives: To evaluate (1) the feasibility of an audit-feedback intervention to facilitate sports science journal policy change, (2) the reliability of the Transparency of Research Underpinning Social Intervention Tiers (TRUST) policy evaluation form, and (3) the extent to which policies of sports science journals support transparent and open research practices. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, audit-feedback, feasibility study of transparency and openness standards of the top 38 sports science journals by impact factor. The TRUST form was used to evaluate journal policies support for transparent and open research practices. Feedback was provided to journal editors in the format of a tailored letter. Inter-rater reliability and agreement of the TRUST form was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients and the standard error of measurement, respectively. Time-based criteria, fidelity of intervention delivery and qualitative feedback were used to determine feasibility. Results: The audit-feedback intervention was feasible based on the time taken to rate journals and provide tailored feedback. The mean (SD) score on the TRUST form (range 0–27) was 2.05 (1.99), reflecting low engagement with transparent and open practices. Inter-rater reliability of the overall score of the TRUST form was moderate [ICC (2,1) = 0.68 (95% CI 0.55–0.79)], with standard error of measurement of 1.17. However, some individual items had poor reliability. Conclusion: Policies of the top 38 sports science journals have potential for improved support for transparent and open research practices. The feasible audit-feedback intervention developed here warrants large-scale evaluation as a means to facilitate change in journal policies. Registration: OSF (https://osf.io/d2t4s/)

Heart Rate Recovery After Exercise Is Associated With Arrhythmic Events in Patients With Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia

BACKGROUND: Risk stratification in catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia remains ill defined. Heart rate recovery (HRR) immediately after exercise is regulated by autonomic reflexes, particularly vagal tone, and may be associated with symptoms and ventricular arrhythmias in patients with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia. Our objective was to evaluate whether HRR after maximal exercise on the exercise stress test (EST) is associated with symptoms and ventricular arrhythmias. METHODS: In this retrospective observational study, we included patients ≤65 years of age with an EST without antiarrhythmic drugs who attained at least 80% of their age- and sex-predicted maximal HR. HRR in the recovery phase was calculated as the difference in heart rate (HR) at maximal exercise and at 1 minute in the recovery phase (ΔHRR1'). RESULTS: We included 187 patients (median age, 36 years; 68 [36%] symptomatic before diagnosis). Pre-EST HR and maximal HR were equal among symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. Patients who were symptomatic before diagnosis had a greater ΔHRR1' after maximal exercise (43 [interquartile range, 25-58] versus 25 [interquartile range, 19-34] beats/min; P<0.001). Corrected for age, sex, and relatedness, patients in the upper tertile for ΔHRR1' had an odds ratio of 3.4 (95% CI, 1.6-7.4) of being symptomatic before diagnosis (P<0.001). In addition, ΔHRR1' was higher in patients with complex ventricular arrhythmias at EST off antiarrhythmic drugs (33 [interquartile range, 22-48] versus 27 [interquartile range, 20-36] beats/min; P=0.01). After diagnosis, patients with a ΔHRR1' in the upper tertile of its distribution had significantly more arrhythmic events as compared with patients in the other tertiles (P=0.045). CONCLUSIONS: Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia patients with a larger HRR following exercise are more likely to be symptomatic and have complex ventricular arrhythmias during the first EST off antiarrhythmic drug

Effect of lead acetate on Sertoli cell lactate production and protein synthesis in vitro

The effects of lead acetate on protein synthesis and lactate production by cultures of rat Sertoli cells in vitro were studied. Sertoli cell cultures prepared from 20 day old Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 0.01, 0.05 and 0.10 mM lead acetate. Lactate production was significantly elevated by all concentrations of lead after 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours of exposure. Protein biosynthesis as measured by [ 3 H]-leucine incorporation was significantly depressed by 0.05 and 0.10 mM lead acetate after 2 hours of exposure. These results support the hypothesis that lead acetate may inhibit spermatogenesis by a disturbance of the metabolic activities of the Sertoli cells.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42549/1/10565_2004_Article_BF00122696.pd

Measurement of the View the tt production cross-section using eμ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section (σtt¯) with a data sample of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state. Jets containing b-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously σtt¯ and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: σtt¯ = 818 ± 8 (stat) ± 27 (syst) ± 19 (lumi) ± 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented

The performance of the jet trigger for the ATLAS detector during 2011 data taking

The performance of the jet trigger for the ATLAS detector at the LHC during the 2011 data taking period is described. During 2011 the LHC provided proton–proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and heavy ion collisions with a 2.76 TeV per nucleon–nucleon collision energy. The ATLAS trigger is a three level system designed to reduce the rate of events from the 40 MHz nominal maximum bunch crossing rate to the approximate 400 Hz which can be written to offline storage. The ATLAS jet trigger is the primary means for the online selection of events containing jets. Events are accepted by the trigger if they contain one or more jets above some transverse energy threshold. During 2011 data taking the jet trigger was fully efficient for jets with transverse energy above 25 GeV for triggers seeded randomly at Level 1. For triggers which require a jet to be identified at each of the three trigger levels, full efficiency is reached for offline jets with transverse energy above 60 GeV. Jets reconstructed in the final trigger level and corresponding to offline jets with transverse energy greater than 60 GeV, are reconstructed with a resolution in transverse energy with respect to offline jets, of better than 4 % in the central region and better than 2.5 % in the forward direction

Search for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying vector boson in pp collisions at sqrt (s) = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for dark matter produced in association with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson using 3.2 fb−1 of pp collisions at View the MathML sources=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events with a hadronic jet compatible with a W or Z boson and with large missing transverse momentum are analysed. The data are consistent with the Standard Model predictions and are interpreted in terms of both an effective field theory and a simplified model containing dark matter

Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photon–jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon–jet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements

Search for resonances in the mass distribution of jet pairs with one or two jets identified as b-jets in proton–proton collisions at √s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for high-mass resonances in the dijet invariant mass spectrum with one or two jets identi-fied as b-jets are performed using an integrated luminosity of 3.2fb−1of proton–proton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of √s=13TeVrecorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Noevidence of anomalous phenomena is observed in the data, which are used to exclude, at 95%credibility level, excited b∗quarks with masses from 1.1TeVto 2.1TeVand leptophobic Z bosons with masses from 1.1TeVto 1.5TeV. Contributions of a Gaussian signal shape with effective cross sections ranging from approximately 0.4 to 0.001pb are also excluded in the mass range 1.5–5.0TeV

Measurement of the double-differential high-mass Drell-Yan cross section in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the double-differential cross section for the Drell-Yan Z/γ∗ → ℓ+ℓ− and photon-induced γγ → ℓ+ℓ− processes where ℓ is an electron or muon. The measurement is performed for invariant masses of the lepton pairs, mℓℓ, between 116 GeV and 1500 GeV using a sample of 20.3 fb−1 of pp collisions data at centre-of-mass energy of √s = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2012. The data are presented double differentially in invariant mass and absolute dilepton rapidity as well as in invariant mass and absolute pseudorapidity separation of the lepton pair. The single-differential cross section as a function of mℓℓ is also reported. The electron and muon channel measurements are combined and a total experimental precision of better than 1% is achieved at low mℓℓ. A comparison to next-to-next-to-leading order perturbative QCD predictions using several recent parton distribution functions and including next-to-leading order electroweak effects indicates the potential of the data to constrain parton distribution functions. In particular, a large impact of the data on the photon PDF is demonstrated