Spectrophotometric determination of fluoride in drinking water using aluminium complexes of triphenylmethane dyes

A sensitive spectrophotometric determination of fluoride in drinking water has been developed using aluminium complexes of triphenylmethane dyes (chrome azurol B and malachite green) as spectrophotometric reagents. The method allowed a reliable determination of fluoride in the range of 0.5–4.0 mg·l-1 for chrome azurol B and 0.0–2.0 mg·l-1 for malachite green. The molar absorptivity for the complexes of chrome azurol B at 582 nm and malachite green at 622 nm is 1.44 × 104 and 2.56 × 104 l·mol-1·cm-1, respectively. The sensitivity, detection limit, quantitation limit, and percentage recovery for 1.5 mg·l-1 fluoride for the method using chrome azurol B were found to be 0.125 ± 0.003 µg·ml-1, 0.2 mg·l-1, 0.5 mg·l-1, and 97.1 ± 4.2, respectively, and for malachite green were 0.143 ± 0.002 µg·ml-1, 0.1 mg·l-1, 0.3 mg·l-1, and 97.9 ± 4.1, respectively

Acinetobacterlwoffii Induced Cellulitis with Allergy-like Symptoms

Few reports document the misdiagnosis of Acinetobacterlwoffii skin infections for allergic reactions. In addition, A. lwoffii is frequently misidentified when applying conventional diagnostic methods. The bacterium has been reported to cause a multitude of diseases including skin and wound infections. The application of the newly established method “The Universal Method” allowed definite identification of the bacterium isolated from a leg and foot cellulitis case (Isolate QUBC mk1) that was misdiagnosed as an allergic reaction and was treated with intramuscular injections of diclofeneac sodium, anonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug.The isolate was identified as A. lwoffii, it failed to grow on MacConkey agar, and it was sensitive to ciprofloxacin but resistant to cefazolin. The 51-year old male patient was successfully treated with intravenous administration of ciprofloxacin, doxacillin, and cefazolin. He was released in good health after ten days.This work emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between skin infections and allergies. It also stresses the importance of prompt and accurate identification of A. Lwoffii and its possible relationship to allergic reactions. Misdiagnosis isdiscussed in the context of “The Hygiene Hypothesis”

The red leg dilemma: a scoping review of the challenges of diagnosing lower limb cellulitis

Background: Suspected lower limb cellulitis presentations are commonly misdiagnoses, resulting in avoidable antibiotic prescribing or hospital admissions. Understanding the challenges posed in diagnosing cellulitis may help enhance future care.Objectives: To examine and map out the challenges and facilitators identified by patients and health professionals in diagnosing lower limb cellulitis.Methods: A scoping systematic review was performed in MEDLINE and Embase in October 2017. Thematic analysis was used to identify key themes. Quantitative data was summarised by narrative synthesis.Results: Three themes were explored: (i) clinical case reports of misdiagnosis, (ii) service development and (iii) diagnostic aids. Forty‐seven different pathologies were misdiagnosed, including seven malignancies. Two different services have been piloted to reduce the misdiagnosis rates of lower limb cellulitis and save costs. Four studies have looked at biochemical markers, imaging and a scoring tool to aid diagnosis.Conclusions: This review highlights the range of alternative pathologies that can be misdiagnosed as cellulitis, and emerging services and diagnostic aids developed to minimise misdiagnosis. Future work should focus on gaining a greater qualitative understanding of the diagnostic challenges from the perspective of patients and clinicians.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Comparative analysis of co-processed starches prepared by three different methods

Co-processing is currently of interest in the generation of high-functionality excipients for tablet formulation. In the present study, comparative analysis of the powder and tableting properties of three co-processed starches prepared by three different methods was carried out. The co-processed excipients consisting of maize starch (90%), acacia gum (7.5%) and colloidal silicon dioxide (2.5%) were prepared by co-dispersion (SAS-CD), co-fusion (SAS-CF) and co-granulation (SAS-CG). Powder properties of each co-processed excipient were characterized by measuring particle size, flow indices, particle density, dilution potential and lubricant sensitivity ratio. Heckel and Walker models were used to evaluate the compaction behaviour of the three co-processed starches. Tablets were produced with paracetamol as the model drug by direct compression on an eccentric Tablet Press fitted with 12 mm flat-faced punches and compressed at 216 MPa. The tablets were stored at room temperature for 24 h prior to evaluation. The results revealed that co-granulated co-processed excipient (SAS-CG) gave relatively better properties in terms of flow, compressibility, dilution potential, deformation, disintegration, crushing strength and friability. This study has shown that the method of co-processing influences the powder and tableting properties of the co-processed excipient

Comparative analysis of co-processed starches prepared by three different methods

Co-processing is currently of interest in the generation of high-functionality excipients for tablet formulation. In the present study, comparative analysis of the powder and tableting properties of three co-processed starches prepared by three different methods was carried out. The co-processed excipients consisting of maize starch (90%), acacia gum (7.5%) and colloidal silicon dioxide (2.5%) were prepared by co-dispersion (SAS-CD), co-fusion (SAS-CF) and co-granulation (SAS-CG). Powder properties of each co-processed excipient were characterized by measuring particle size, flow indices, particle density, dilution potential and lubricant sensitivity ratio. Heckel and Walker models were used to evaluate the compaction behaviour of the three co-processed starches. Tablets were produced with paracetamol as the model drug by direct compression on an eccentric Tablet Press fitted with 12 mm flat-faced punches and compressed at 216 MPa. The tablets were stored at room temperature for 24 h prior to evaluation. The results revealed that co-granulated co-processed excipient (SAS-CG) gave relatively better properties in terms of flow, compressibility, dilution potential, deformation, disintegration, crushing strength and friability. This study has shown that the method of co-processing influences the powder and tableting properties of the co-processed excipient

O+ and H+ ion heat fluxes at high altitudes and high latitudes

Higher order moments, e.g., perpendicular and parallel heat fluxes, are related to non-Maxwellian plasma distributions. Such distributions are common when the plasma environment is not collision dominated. In the polar wind and auroral regions, the ion outflow is collisionless at altitudes above about 1.2RE geocentric. In these regions wave–particle interaction is the primary acceleration mechanism of outflowing ionospheric origin ions. We present the altitude profiles of actual and “thermalized” heat fluxes for major ion species in the collisionless region by using the Barghouthi model. By comparing the actual and “thermalized” heat fluxes, we can see whether the heat flux corresponds to a small perturbation of an approximately bi- Maxwellian distribution (actual heat flux is small compared to “thermalized” heat flux), or whether it represents a significant deviation (actual heat flux equal or larger than “thermalized” heat flux). The model takes into account ion heating due to wave–particle interactions as well as the effects of gravity, ambipolar electric field, and divergence of geomagnetic field lines. In the discussion of the ion heat fluxes, we find that (1) the role of the ions located in the energetic tail of the ion velocity distribution function is very significant and has to be taken into consideration when modeling the ion heat flux at high altitudes and high latitudes; (2) at times the parallel and perpendicular heat fluxes have different signs at the same altitude. This indicates that the parallel and perpendicular parts of the ion energy are being transported in opposite directions. This behavior is the result of many competing processes; (3) we identify altitude regions where the actual heat flux is small as compared to the “thermalized” heat flux. In such regions we expect transport equation solutions based on perturbations of bi-Maxwellian distributions to be applicable. This is true for large altitude intervals for protons, but only the lowest altitudes for oxygen

A comparison study between observations and simulation results of Barghouthi model for O⁺ and H⁺ outflows in the polar wind

To advance our understanding of the effect of wave-particle interactions on ion outflows in the polar wind region and the resulting ion heating and escape from low altitudes to higher altitudes, we carried out a comparison between polar wind simulations obtained using Barghouthi model with corresponding observations obtained from different satellites. The Barghouthi model describes O+ and H+ outflows in the polar wind region in the range 1.7 RE to 13.7 RE, including the effects of gravity, polarization electrostatic field, diverging geomagnetic field lines, and wave-particle interactions. Wave-particle interactions were included into the model by using a particle diffusion equation, which depends on diffusion coefficients determined from estimates of the typical electric field spectral density at relevant altitudes and frequencies. We provide a formula for the velocity diffusion coefficient that depends on altitude and velocity, in which the velocity part depends on the perpendicular wavelength of the electromagnetic turbulence λ⊥. Because of the shortage of information about λ⊥, it was included into the model as a parameter. We produce different simulations (i.e. ion velocity distributions, ions density, ion drift velocity, ion parallel and perpendicular temperatures) for O+ and H+ ions, and for different λ⊥. We discuss the simulations in terms of wave-particle interactions, perpendicular adiabatic cooling, parallel adiabatic cooling, mirror force, and ion potential energy. The main findings of the simulations are as follows: (1) O+ ions are highly energized at all altitudes in the simulation tube due to wave-particle interactions that heat the ions in the perpendicular direction, and part of this gained energy transfer to the parallel direction by mirror force, resulting in accelerating O+ ions along geomagnetic field lines from lower altitudes to higher altitudes. (2) The effect of wave-particle interactions is negligible for H+ ions at altitudes below ~7 RE, while it is important for altitudes above 7 RE. For O+ wave particle interaction is very significant at all altitudes. (3) For certain λ⊥ and at points, altitudes, where the ion gyroradius is equal to or less than λ⊥, the effect of wave-particle interactions is independent of the velocity and it depends only on the altitude part of the velocity diffusion coefficient; however, the effect of wave-particle interactions reduce above that point, called saturation point, and the heating process turns to be self-limiting heating. (4) The most interesting result is the appearance of O+ conics and toroids at low altitudes and continue to appear at high altitudes; however, they appear at very high altitudes for H+ ions. We compare quantitatively and qualitatively between the simulation results and the corresponding observations. As a result of many comparisons, we find that the best agreement occurs when λ⊥ equals to 8 km. The quantitative comparisons show that many characteristics of the observations are very close to the simulation results, and the qualitative comparisons between the simulation results for ion outflows and the observations produce very similar behaviors. To our knowledge, most of the comparisons between observations (ion velocity distribution, density, drift velocity, parallel and perpendicular temperatures, anisotropy, etc.) and simulations obtained from different models produce few agreements and fail to explain many observations (see Yau et al., 2007; Lemaire et al., 2007; Tam et al., 2007; Su et al., 1998; Engwall et al., 2009). This paper presents many close agreements between observations and simulations obtained by Barghouthi model, for O+ and H+ ions at different altitudes i.e. from 1.7 RE to 13.7 RE

O<sup>+</sup> and H<sup>+</sup> ion heat fluxes at high altitudes and high latitudes

Higher order moments, e.g., perpendicular and parallel heat fluxes, are related to non-Maxwellian plasma distributions. Such distributions are common when the plasma environment is not collision dominated. In the polar wind and auroral regions, the ion outflow is collisionless at altitudes above about 1.2 RE geocentric. In these regions wave–particle interaction is the primary acceleration mechanism of outflowing ionospheric origin ions. We present the altitude profiles of actual and "thermalized" heat fluxes for major ion species in the collisionless region by using the Barghouthi model. By comparing the actual and "thermalized" heat fluxes, we can see whether the heat flux corresponds to a small perturbation of an approximately bi-Maxwellian distribution (actual heat flux is small compared to "thermalized" heat flux), or whether it represents a significant deviation (actual heat flux equal or larger than "thermalized" heat flux). The model takes into account ion heating due to wave–particle interactions as well as the effects of gravity, ambipolar electric field, and divergence of geomagnetic field lines. In the discussion of the ion heat fluxes, we find that (1) the role of the ions located in the energetic tail of the ion velocity distribution function is very significant and has to be taken into consideration when modeling the ion heat flux at high altitudes and high latitudes; (2) at times the parallel and perpendicular heat fluxes have different signs at the same altitude. This indicates that the parallel and perpendicular parts of the ion energy are being transported in opposite directions. This behavior is the result of many competing processes; (3) we identify altitude regions where the actual heat flux is small as compared to the "thermalized" heat flux. In such regions we expect transport equation solutions based on perturbations of bi-Maxwellian distributions to be applicable. This is true for large altitude intervals for protons, but only the lowest altitudes for oxygen