Efficacy and safety of lamotrigine in patients with trigeminal neuralgia: a comparison with carbamazepine

Background: Antiepileptic drugs are increasingly used in the treatment of pain syndromes. This study evaluates efficacy and safety of lamotrigine in comparison with carbamazepine (CBZ) in trigeminal neuralgia (TN) patients.Methods: A total of 50 previously and newly diagnosed patients of TN were administered with lamotrigine (LTG) in comparison to CBZ. The final titration in dose for LTG was 400 mg/day and 1200 mg/day for CBZ. Clinical assessment (pain relief) was done before and after 15, 30, and 60 days of drug administration by visual analog scale and verbal rating scale. Side effects were recorded during study in both groups.Results: Of 25 patients in Group I who received CBZ, 16 patients (64%) experienced complete pain relief, while in Group II (LTG), 21 patients experienced complete pain relief. LTG was generally well tolerated except one patient was withdrawn due to skin rashes. CBZ was associated with mild hematological and central nervous system side effects.Conclusion: LTG is as effective and safe treatment for the management of TN as compared to CBZ

Design and Validation of Blast Non-propagation Wall for Multi-Compartmented Explosive Storage Structure of Capacity 5T NEC per Compartment

Conventional magazines for hazard division 1.1 are constructed using bricks and reinforced cement concrete (RCC) for which storage inside quantity distance (SIQD) is 2.4 W1/3 m, where W is Net Explosive Content in kg. New composite called laced reinforced concrete (LRC) has been developed recently, for which SIQD has been reduced up to 0.5 W1/3 m. Due to substantial reduction in separation distances, the requirement of land area has been reduced significantly. Although SIQD has been reduced drastically due to development of new composite, the other quantity distances like process inside quantity distance (PIQD) and outside quantity distance (OQD) decreased marginally. To reduce these quantity distances, the solution is multi-compartmented structures based on Unit Risk Principle. The application of unit risk principle enables the separation of explosives into compartments in such a manner that initiation of explosives in one compartment does not result in initiation of the explosives in adjacent compartments. This is achieved by special design of explosive storage buildings incorporating blast non-propagation walls between adjacent compartments storing explosives. Quantity distances are reduced for such magazines, as maximum credible limit corresponds to the quantity of explosive in one compartment. Present paper describes design and full scale testing of blast non-propagation wall between two compartments of a multi-compartmented explosive storage structure with storage capacity of 5 T Net Explosive Content (NEC) of HD 1.1 per compartment. The blast non-propagation wall comprising of sand filling and air gap between LRC walls has been designed for desired attenuation of blast parameters as well as for arresting high velocity fragments/debris. The design has been validated by fully instrumented design validation field trial. The conduct of the trial as well as the results are discussed in this paper

Graphene oxide-enhanced aerosol forming composites: A study for fire extinguishing applications

44-56Condensed aerosol-based fire extinguishing system (CAFES) has emerged as the most proficient fire extinguishing system since the implementation of Montreal protocol 1987. Aerosol forming composite (AFC) is the key constituent of CAFES. For the first time, graphene oxide-based AFCs have been prepared and characterized for use in extinguishing fires. Catalytic activity of bulk graphite, graphite oxide & graphene oxide (1, 3 & 5 %, w/w) on combustion characteristics of AFC is examined by incorporating them in the base AFC. Graphene additives are synthesized and characterized using instrumental techniques such as XRD, FTIR, Raman, SEM and TEM. AFCs with catalysts are also assessed for performance using parameters such as combustion efficiency, minimum fire extinguishing concentration (MEC), burn rate, combustion temperatures and activation energies. Maximum reduction in combustion temperature from 455 to 409 ℃ is observed with 5% graphene oxide containing AFC. Addition of 1% graphene oxide to base AFC remarkably has augmented the performance of AFC by enhancing the burn rate by 12.89%. Prepared high burn rate AFC is under further investigations for potential use in cutting-edge aerosol-based firefighting systems