FORMULATION AND IN VITRO CHARACTERIZATION SOLID SELF EMULSIFYING DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM OF RAMIPRIL PREPARED BY ADSORPTION TECHNIQUE

Objective: The primary goal of the present work was to formulate solid self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (S-SEDDS) in order to improve the solubility of the highly lipophilic antihypertensive drug, ramipril. Methods: SEDDS are generally liquid form preparations obtained by homogeneously mixing oils, surfactants and co-surfactants along with drug component. Based on solubility studies Capmul PG8 NF, Gelucire 44/14 and Transcutol P were selected as oil, surfactant, co-surfactant respectively in order to prepare liquid SEDDS (L-SEDDS). Nine different liquid SEDDS were prepared and subjected to various evaluation tests in order to obtain optimized L-SEDDS. Finally, the optimized formulation was converted to S-SEDDS by physical adsorption technique using an inert carrier. Further, S-SEDDS were also subjected to solid state characterization. Results: Out of 9 different L-SEDDS, S9 formulation was optimized as it formed thermodynamically stable emulsion without any drug precipitation and phase separation on storage and also showed least globule size (22.56 nm). The optimized formulation was loaded onto inert carrier (Sylysia FCP 350) to obtain S-SEDDS. S-SEDDS showed acceptable flow properties. They were further processed for solid state characterization such as XRD, DSC and SEM and the results confirmed the transformation of native crystalline nature of drug to an amorphous state. FTIR analysis also confirmed no drug-excipient interaction. S-SEDDS showed improved in vitro dissolution behaviour of ramipril over that of pure drug. Conclusion: Ramipril S-SEDDS retained emulsification characteristics of L-SEDDS. Further, S-SEDDS was encapsulated in hard gelatin capsules and this formulation proved to have improved solubility for ramipril

An Extreme Learning Machine-Relevance Feedback Framework for Enhancing the Accuracy of a Hybrid Image Retrieval System

The process of searching, indexing and retrieving images from a massive database is a challenging task and the solution to these problems is an efficient image retrieval system. In this paper, a unique hybrid Content-based image retrieval system is proposed where different attributes of an image like texture, color and shape are extracted by using Gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), color moment and various region props procedure respectively. A hybrid feature matrix or vector (HFV) is formed by an integration of feature vectors belonging to three individual visual attributes. This HFV is given as an input to an Extreme learning machine (ELM) classifier which is based on a solitary hidden layer of neurons and also is a type of feed-forward neural system. ELM performs efficient class prediction of the query image based on the pre-trained data. Lastly, to capture the high level human semantic information, Relevance feedback (RF) is utilized to retrain or reformulate the training of ELM. The advantage of the proposed system is that a combination of an ELM-RF framework leads to an evolution of a modified learning and intelligent classification system. To measure the efficiency of the proposed system, various parameters like Precision, Recall and Accuracy are evaluated. Average precision of 93.05%, 81.03%, 75.8% and 90.14% is obtained respectively on Corel-1K, Corel-5K, Corel-10K and GHIM-10 benchmark datasets. The experimental analysis portrays that the implemented technique outmatches many state-of-the-art related approaches depicting varied hybrid CBIR system

Instability of the heliopause driven by charge exchange interactions

The stability of the heliopause that separates the tenuous hot magnetized heliosheath plasma from the dense cool local interstellar magnetized plasma is examined using a fully general model that includes all the essential physical processes. Charge exchange coupling between plasma protons and primary interstellar neutral atoms provides an effective gravity that drives Rayleigh-Taylor (RT)-like instabilities. The velocity difference or shear between the heliosheath and interstellar flows, when coupled to energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), drives a Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH)-like instability on the heliopause. The shoulder region of the heliopause is unstable to a new instability that has characteristics of a mixed RT-KH-like mode. The instabilities are not stabilized by typical values of the magnetic fields in the inner and outer heliosheath (OHS). ENAs play an essential role in driving the KH-like instability, which is fully stabilized in their absence by magnetic fields. The nonlinear phase of these instabilities is briefly discussed. We also discuss the possibility that RT-like or mixed KH-RT-like instabilities drag outer heliosheath/very local interstellar medium (OHS/VLISM) magnetic field lines into the inner heliosheath (IHS) with the VLISM flow, and the possibility that IHS and VLISM magnetic field lines experience reconnection. Such reconnection may (1) greatly enhance the mixing of plasmas across the heliopause and (2) provide open magnetic field lines that allow easy ingress of galactic cosmic rays into the heliosphere and corresponding easy loss of anomalous cosmic rays from the heliosphere

Patient experience in outpatient clinics: Does appointment time impact satisfaction?

The objective of this study is to understand patient experience by appointment time by analyzing the Consumer Assessment of Hospital Provider and Systems (CAHPS) scores at a granular level across pre-determined time periods (AM and PM). This study utilized quantitative and qualitative methods. A deidentified secondary data set from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Press Ganey website was used to analyze the difference in CAHPS scores across AM and PM time periods. Unstructured survey responses were analyzed as a way to further enrich the quantitative findings. The data sample consisted of 821 responses from a dermatology clinic for the period of May 2017 to May 2018. Results suggested more positive patient experience for AM appointments when compared to PM appointments. The only positive experience for PM appointments was associated with the support staff and timeliness of care. This study indicated that time of day of the appointment is one of the contributing factors for patient satisfaction in the outpatient setting. While this study was conducted in a dermatology setting, it has applicability to the broader outpatient environment. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Infrastructure & Governance lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework) Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Probing Gauge String Formation in a Superconducting Phase Transition

Superconductors are the only experimentally accessible systems with spontaneously broken gauge symmetries which support topologically nontrivial defects, namely string defects. We propose two experiments whose aim is the observation of the dense network of these strings thought to arise, via the Kibble mechanism, in the course of a spontaneous symmetry breaking phase transition. We suggest ways to estimate the order of magnitude of the density of flux tubes produced in the phase transition. This may provide an experimental check for the theories of the production of topological defects in a spontaneously broken gauge theory, such as those employed in the context of the early Universe.Comment: 16 pages (Latex), 4 figures included, change in title, some minor changes, published versio

Fishery and length based population parameters of little tuna, Euthynnus affinis (Cantor, 1849) from Gulf of Mannar, Southwestern Bay of Bengal.

1708-1714Little tuna is the third major tuna species landed along Tuticorin coast after Yellow fin and Skipjack tuna. The species is mostly harvested by large meshed drift gillnets where minor and seasonal catches comes from trawls and lines. Few months post fishing ban period are peak fishing season with high catch rates. There does exist, a seasonal shift in fishing ground in response to changing wind and current pattern. The species showed a positive allometric growth with ‘b’ estimated as 3.1989. Asymptotic length (L∞) and growth coefficient (K) were 79.0 cm and 0.63 yr-1, respectively. The natural, fishing and total mortality were calculated as 1.03 yr-1, 1.37 yr-1 and 2.40 yr-1, respectively. The current exploitation ratio of 0.57 is considerably lower than Emax indicating the possibility of enhancing the production from the capture fisheries

Role of plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) in PCOS patient

Background: There has been few studies done demonstrating elevated level of PAI-1 in women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). PAI-1 has been associated with insulin resistance, obesity, anovulatory infertility, increased risk of cardiovascular disease in PCOS patient. The objective of the study was to find out the plasma level of PAI-1 in PCOS and compare with healthy age matched control. To correlate PAI-1 with various demographic, anthropometric, biochemical and hormonal parameters in PCOS patient and specific relation of PAI-1 with the insulin resistance, obesity, hyperandrogenemia.Methods: A prospective case control study was carried out in 50 patients having PCOS (fulfilling Rotterdam Criteria, 2003). 25 healthy age matched control were taken. Blood samples were taken for estimation of fasting glucose, fasting insulin, lipid profile, LH, FSH, Prolactin, Testosterone, insulin sensitive indices (HOMA-IR, glucose: insulin ratio). Plasma level of PAI-1 was estimated with Human ELISA invitorgen kit. The data were statistically analysed with SPSS 16.0 version (student T test, Pearson ranked correlation coefficient, linear regression analysis was applied) and PAI-1 was correlated with various parameters.Results: Mean level of PAI-1 was significantly raised in PCOS patient (893.36±234.97) pg/mL than in control (259.68±97.75) pg/mL (p<0.001). PAI-1 significantly correlated with insulin resistance, obesity; that is; PAI-1 significantly correlated with BMI (r=0.557; p<0.001), waist: hip ratio (r=0.550; p<0.001), fasting glucose (r=0.429; p=0.002), fasting insulin (r=0.357; p=0.001), triglyceride (r=0.492; p=0.000), LDL (r=0.604; p=0.001), HOMA-IR (r=0.467; p=0.001). On regression analysis LDL, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR altogether explained 54.9% of total variability of PAI-1.Conclusions: Plasma level of PAI-1 is elevated in PCOS patient and it is significantly correlated with insulin resistance and obesity