Preparation and Characterization of Sustained Release Matrix Tablets of Tizanidine Hydrochloride for Spinal Injuries

Purpose: To formulate matrix type sustained-release (SR) tablets of tizanidine hydrochloride (TH) for prolonged drug release and improvement in motor activity after spinal injuries.Methods: Matrix tablets were prepared by the wet granulation method using four polymers (hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose [HPMC] K 100, ethyl cellulose [EC], guar gum, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K30) and characterized for hardness, friability, drug content, swelling, weight variation, in vitro drug release, and in vivo motor function activity using the spinal injury rat model.Results: All tablets showed good drug content, hardness, and other physicochemical properties. The tablet formulations showed a percent drug release ranging from 92.54 ± 1.02 to 98.56 ± 1.26 % at the end of 12 h. Using the spinal injury rat model, negative control had a motor activity of only 12.75 %, while F4 (containing HPMC, EC, and PVP) and F5 (containing EC, guar gum, and PVP) had motor activities of 62.25% and 57.5%, respectively, compared with 68.0 % for normal controls.Conclusion: SR matrix tablets of TH showed significant improvement in motor activity in post-traumatic spinal injury rat model.Keywords: Sustained release tablet, Spinal injuries, Matrix tablet, Tizanidine hydrochlorid

Constructing the general partial waves and renormalization in EFT

We construct the general partial wave amplitude basis for the $N\to M$ scattering, which consists of Poincar\'e Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, with Lorentz invariant forms given in terms of spinor-helicity variables. The inner product of the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients is defined, which converts on-shell phase space integration into an algebraic problem. We also develop the technique of partial wave expansions of arbitrary amplitudes, including those with infrared divergence. These are applied to the computation of anomalous dimension matrix for general effective operators, where unitarity cuts for the loop amplitudes, with an arbitrary number of external particles, are obtained via partial wave expansion.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 tabl

Up-expression of GAD65 in the Amygdala of the Rat Model of Chroric Immobilization Stress with Elevated Blood Glucose

It is believed that the hypothalamus is the regulating center for blood glucose levels, but how chronic stress leads to hyperglycemia is not known. In this experiment, we use the chronic immobilization stressed rat as a model, and found that only rats with increased expression of GAD65 in the amygdala have an elevated level of blood glucose. Considering there are fiber tracks between the amygdala and hypothalamus, including GABAergic projections, this result suggests that the changes in GAD65 expression in the amygdala may correlate with the changes in blood glucose levels, and point to the importance of the the amygdala in blood glucose regulation

GO-2D: identifying 2-dimensional cellular-localized functional modules in Gene Ontology

BACKGROUND: Rapid progress in high-throughput biotechnologies (e.g. microarrays) and exponential accumulation of gene functional knowledge make it promising for systematic understanding of complex human diseases at functional modules level. Based on Gene Ontology, a large number of automatic tools have been developed for the functional analysis and biological interpretation of the high-throughput microarray data. RESULTS: Different from the existing tools such as Onto-Express and FatiGO, we develop a tool named GO-2D for identifying 2-dimensional functional modules based on combined GO categories. For example, it refines biological process categories by sorting their genes into different cellular component categories, and then extracts those combined categories enriched with the interesting genes (e.g., the differentially expressed genes) for identifying the cellular-localized functional modules. Applications of GO-2D to the analyses of two human cancer datasets show that very specific disease-relevant processes can be identified by using cellular location information. CONCLUSION: For studying complex human diseases, GO-2D can extract functionally compact and detailed modules such as the cellular-localized ones, characterizing disease-relevant modules in terms of both biological processes and cellular locations. The application results clearly demonstrate that 2-dimensional approach complementary to current 1-dimensional approach is powerful for finding modules highly relevant to diseases

Effectiveness of erythropoietin supplementation against chronic heart failure with anemia, and its effect on serum hypersensitive C reaction protein, homocysteic acid and Btype natriuretic peptide

Purpose: To study the effectiveness of exogenous erythropoietin (EPO) against chronic heart failure (CHF) with anemia, and its effect on serum hypersensitive C reaction protein (hs-CRP), homocysteic acid (Hcy ) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP).Methods: A total of 136 patients suffering from CHF with anemia from June 2015 to June 2017 were randomly divided into observation group (n = 68) and control group (n = 68). On the basis of conventional anti-heart failure therapy, the control group received oral ferrous sulfate tablets, while the observation group received oral ferrous sulfate tablets combined with EPO subcutaneous injection. Blood indices, cardiac function and serology were determined and tested in all patients before treatment, and at 4 months after treatment.Results: After treatment, hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrit (HCT), red blood cell (RBC), blood platelet count (PLT) and serum iron were significantly higher than those before treatment in the two groups; the levels in the observation group were significantly higher than those in control group (p <0.05). Following treatment, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and 6-minute walking distance in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group, while end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), end-systolic dimension (LVESD) and cardiac functional grading in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.05). After treatment, hs-CRP, Hcy and BNP were significantly lower than pre-treatment values in the two groups, while the values for the observation group were significantly lower than those of control group (p <0.05). Correlation analysis showed that LVEF and Hb were negatively correlated with hs-CRP, Hcy and BNP (p <0.05).Conclusion: Serum hs-CRP, Hcy and BNP are involved in the occurrence and progression of CHF with anemia. Exogenous EPO can effectively improve anemia and cardiac function in these patients.Keywords: Erythropoietin, Chronic heart failure, Anemia, C-reaction protein, B-type natriuretic peptid

Development of Bionic Air Cooler Used in High Temperature Coal Mine

In high temperature coal mine, the surface air cooler heat exchange efficiency decreases greatly because of high humidity and dust. In order to improve the heat exchange efficiency, the surface of the air cooler needs to be designed to reduce the dust adhesion, and improve the heat exchange efficiency. Based on the self-cleaning effect of lotus leaf, the surface of air cooler is designed and fin and tube are processed into the constructure of lotus leaf surface. With Ansys, the cooling effect of air cooler is simulated, and the experiment is done to test the heat exchange effect of the common air cooler and bionic air cooler in lab. By analysis, it can be concluded that the surface of bionic air cooler has the function of self-cleaning, and the structure can increase the heat exchange efficiency, which is higher above 30% than that of common air cooler. Key words: High temperature coal mine; Air cooler; Self-cleaning; Heat exchange efficienc