FORMULATION AND IN VITRO EVALUATION OF ORAL DISINTEGRATING TABLETS OF AMLODIPINE BESYLATE

Objective: The present investigation was undertaken with an objective of formulating oral disintegrating tablets of amlodipine besylate to enhance convenience and compliance of the elderly and pediatric patients for better therapeutic efficacy.Methods: The tablets were prepared by using direct compression method and evaluated for weight variation, hardness, friability, wetting time, disintegration time and in vitro drug release study. Prepared tablets were evaluated for compatibility by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.Results: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy studies revealed that there was no physicochemical interaction between amlodipine besylate and other excipients. All the tablets hardness was found to be around 3.5 kg/cm2 and friability of all the formulations was less than 1%, Drug content in all the formulations was found in the range of 97.05% to 99.13%.Conclusion: The study clearly indicated that the type and concentration of superdisintegrants plays an important role in disintegration and dissolution of drug from oral disintegrating tablets. Among all the formulations, the maximum percentage of drug release and less disintegration time was found in F9 formulation containing 4% of crospovidone.Â

When a DNA Triple helix melts: An analog of the Efimov state

The base sequences of DNA contain the genetic code and to decode it a double helical DNA has to open its base pairs. Recent studies have shown that one can use a third strand to identify the base sequences without opening the double helix but by forming a triple helix. It is predicted here that such a three chain system exhibits the unusual behaviour of the existence of a three chain bound state in the absence of any two being bound. This phenomenon is analogous to the Efimov state in three particle quantum mechanics. A scaling theory is used to justify the Efimov connection. Real space renormalization group (RG), and exact numerical calculations are used to validate the prediction of a biological Efimov effect.Comment: Replaced by the (almost) published version, except the word "curiouser

Dynamic phase transition in the conversion of B-DNA to Z-DNA

The long time dynamics of the conformational transition from B-DNA to Z-DNA is shown to undergo a dynamic phase transition. We obtained the dynamic phase diagram for the stability of the front separating B and Z. The instability in this front results in two split fronts moving with different velocities. Hence, depending on the system parameters a denatured state may develop dynamically eventhough it is thermodynamically forbidden. This resolves the current controversies on the transition mechanism of the B-DNA to Z-DNA.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. New version with correction of typos, new references, minor modifications in Fig 2, 3. To appear in EP

Alternative Dispute Resolution in India - ADR: status/effectiveness study

This study focuses on the effectiveness of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms in India. The broad targets included (a) a comparative analysis of institutional ADRs and ad-hoc ADR, (b) cost and time benefit analysis of ADRs in comparison with adjudication through courts; (c) study of the effectiveness of pre-trial mediation centres; and (e) to make concrete suggestions. The study proves that ADR in India has not been that effective when compared to adjudication through courts. The report favored institutional ADRs given the high rate of corruption and bureaucratic hitches prevalent in ad-hoc ADRs. The study also found that pre-trial mediation centres were developing in the right track

Haematological Studies in High Altitude Natives at Plains and on Return to High Altitude

Haematologic studies were carried out in 20 high altitude natives during two months stay at plains (200 m) and on their return to an altitude of 3,500 m. Haemoglobin, erythrocyte count, haematocrit and reticulocyte count decreased rapidly on arrival to plains and attained minimum level by the end of fourth week. All these parameters increased rapidly on return to high altitude and were found to attain maximum values by 23rd day on return to high altitude. Mean cell volume and mean cell haemoglobin showed significant increase at altitude. Blood volume and red cell mass increased significantly at altitude. It is concluded that the high altitude natives of Ladakh were well adapted to hypoxic environment due to normocythaemic hypervolemia

Flood Prediction using MLP, CATBOOST and Extra-Tree Classifier

Flooding can be one of the many devastating natural catastrophes, resulting in the annihilation of life and damaging property. Additionally, it can harm farmland and kill growing crops and trees. Nowadays, rivers and lakes are being destroyed, and the natural water reservoirs are converted into development sites and buildings. Due to this, even just a bit of rain can cause a flood. To minimize the number of fatalities, property losses, and other flood-related issues, an early flood forecast is necessary. Therefore, machine learning methods can be used for the prediction of floods.To forecast the frequency of floods brought on by rainfall, a forecasting system is built using rainfall data. The dataset is trained using various techniques like the MLP classifier, the CatBoost classifier, and the Extra-Tree classifier to predict the occurrence of floods. Finally, the three models' performances are compared and the best model for flood prediction is presented. The MLP, Extra-Tree, and CatBoost models achieved accuracy of 94.5%, 97.9%, and 98.34%, respectively, and it is observed that CatBoost performed well with high accuracy to predict the occurrence of floods

BANDGAP ANALYSIS OF NANO CRYSTALLINE L0.1ZY0.9BCCO CERAMICS

Crystalline Ceramic Lanthanum Zirconium Yttrium barium Calcium Copper oxide(L0.1ZY0.9BCCO)  was prepared by a high-energy ball milling process through mechanically assisted synthesis at a high temperature to acquire the desired homogeneity and phase formation. Inorder to study the optical properties like reflectivity, absorptivity, refractive index, the UV-VIS analysis of the above nonstochiometric sample was carried out. The dispersion of refractive index was analyzed by the Wemple-DiDomenico single-oscillator model.The band gap energy of the sample was elucidated from the Tauc plot. The refractive index n was calculated and  the results obtained are plotted  with the wavelength.Â

Prediction of outcomes in acute exacerbation of COPD with DECAF score and BAP 65 score in a rural population

Background: Prognostic research in exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) requiring hospitalization has been limited and there appears to be little common ground between predictors of mortality in stable disease and during AECOPD. Furthermore, none of the prognostic tools developed in stable disease have been tested on hospitalised patients, and most require clinical measurements not routinely available at hospital admission. This study intends to test dyspnoea, eosinopenia, consolidation, acidemia, and atrial fibrillation (DECAF) and biological assessment profile (BAP) 65 Scores on Indian patients in a tertiary care set up and validate the same to be used as a routine and effective score in predicting the outcome in AECOPD.  Methods: Hospital based prospective observational study was carried out in 100 patients with AECOPD who was present to general medicine. DECAF and BAP-65 Scores were calculated. Data was analyzed using SPSS 22 version software.Results: In our study both DECAF score and BAP‑65 score performed equally well for prediction of need for Mechanical Ventilation. The AUROC for need for Mechanical Ventilation was 0.77 (95% CI=0.67–0.84) for DECAF score and 0.77 (95% CI=0.67–0.85) for BAP‑65 score. The AUROC for prediction of mortality for DECAF score was 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.74–0.89) and for BAP‑65 score was 0.79 (95% CI=0.69–0.86).Conclusions: DECAF and BAP-65 are good and also equal in predicting mortality as well as need for mechanical ventilation. Both scores can be easily applicable in AECOPD patients, so that death during hospitalization for AECOPD and need for mechanical ventilation can be minimized.