Northern India and its surroundings, home to roughly 600 million people, is probably the most heavily irrigated region in the world. Temporal changes in Earth's gravity field in this region as ...recorded by the GRACE satellite mission, reveal a steady, large‐scale mass loss that we attribute to excessive extraction of groundwater. Combining the GRACE data with hydrological models to remove natural variability, we conclude the region lost groundwater at a rate of 54 ± 9 km3/yr between April, 2002 (the start of the GRACE mission) and June, 2008. This is probably the largest rate of groundwater loss in any comparable‐sized region on Earth. Its likely contribution to sea level rise is roughly equivalent to that from melting Alaskan glaciers. This trend, if sustained, will lead to a major water crisis in this region when this non‐renewable resource is exhausted.
Full text
Available for:
FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
ABSTRACT
Management of burn injury has always been the domain of burn specialists. Since ancient time, local and systemic remedies have been advised for burn wound dressing and burn scar prevention. ...Management of burn wound inflicted by the different physical and chemical agents require different regimes which are poles apart from the regimes used for any of the other traumatic wounds. In extensive burn, because of increased capillary permeability, there is extensive loss of plasma leading to shock while whole blood loss is the cause of shock in other acute wounds. Even though the burn wounds are sterile in the beginning in comparison to most of other wounds, yet, the death in extensive burns is mainly because of wound infection and septicemia, because of the immunocompromised status of the burn patients. Eschar and blister are specific for burn wounds requiring a specific treatment protocol. Antimicrobial creams and other dressing agents used for traumatic wounds are ineffective in deep burns with eschar. The subeschar plane harbours the micro-organisms and many of these agents are not able to penetrate the eschar. Even after complete epithelisation of burn wound, remodelling phase is prolonged. It may take years for scar maturation in burns. This article emphasizes on how the pathophysiology, healing and management of a burn wound is different from that of other wounds.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Hot-melt extrusion (HME) is a promising technology for the production of new chemical entities in the developmental pipeline and for improving products already on the market. In drug discovery and ...development, industry estimates that more than 50% of active pharmaceutical ingredients currently used belong to the biopharmaceutical classification system II (BCS class II), which are characterized as poorly water-soluble compounds and result in formulations with low bioavailability. Therefore, there is a critical need for the pharmaceutical industry to develop formulations that will enhance the solubility and ultimately the bioavailability of these compounds. HME technology also offers an opportunity to earn intellectual property, which is evident from an increasing number of patents and publications that have included it as a novel pharmaceutical formulation technology over the past decades. This review had a threefold objective. First, it sought to provide an overview of HME principles and present detailed engineered extrusion equipment designs. Second, it included a number of published reports on the application of HME techniques that covered the fields of solid dispersions, microencapsulation, taste masking, targeted drug delivery systems, sustained release, films, nanotechnology, floating drug delivery systems, implants, and continuous manufacturing using the wet granulation process. Lastly, this review discussed the importance of using the quality by design approach in drug development, evaluated the process analytical technology used in pharmaceutical HME monitoring and control, discussed techniques used in HME, and emphasized the potential for monitoring and controlling hot-melt technology.
Full text
Available for:
EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
We present a method for detection and reconstruction of the gravitational wave (GW) transients with the networks of advanced detectors. Originally designed to search for transients with the initial ...GW detectors, it uses significantly improved algorithms, which enhance both the low-latency searches with rapid localization of GW events for the electromagnetic follow-up and high confidence detection of a broad range of the transient GW sources. In this paper, we present the analytic framework of the method. Following a short description of the core analysis algorithms, we introduce a novel approach to the reconstruction of the GW polarization from a pattern of detector responses to a GW signal. This polarization pattern is a unique signature of an arbitrary GW signal that can be measured independently from the other source parameters. The polarization measurements enable rapid reconstruction of the GW waveforms, sky localization, and helps identification of the source origin.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Introduction: Hot-melt extrusion (HME) technology is applied successfully in the plastic, rubber and food industry. HME has also emerged as an important technology for drug delivery applications in ...pharmaceutical research and manufacturing because of its process automation and low-cost scale-up properties, which reduce labor costs and capital investment. There are a number of commercial FDA-approved HME-derived products, signifying the commercial feasibility of this novel technique in drug delivery applications. HME is a highly efficient, solvent-free continuous processing technique for the development of solid dispersions; thus, research efforts to develop sustained, modified and targeted drug delivery systems to improve the solubility and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are of interest.
Areas covered: This review focuses on both the innovations and applications of HME in the production of pharmaceutical formulations, and on the significant findings of the general principles regarding formulation and process development via HME as described in published articles.
Expert opinion: Challenges faced by pharmaceutical companies to produce efficient drug formulations may be partly overcome by HME's advantages - high drug-loading capacity, good content uniformity, cost-effectiveness, and ease of processing scale-up. Nevertheless, HME's high processing temperatures may be an obstacle if adequate knowledge about the product's formulation is lacking.
SUMMARY A rare case of complete midline mandibular cleft involving lower lip, floor of mouth, base of tongue and anterior neck is being reported after satisfactory completion of first stage of ...reconstruction. Repair included the management of ankyloglossia by separation of tip of tongue from the floor of mouth and closure by mucosal flap from cleft site and repair of cleft lip and soft tissue of chin and neck by Z-plasty.
Full text
Available for:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Highlights • Ethanol-exposed rats showed impaired spatial navigation in both Morris water maze test and elevated plus maze task. • Memory impairment was coupled with enhanced oxidative–nitrosative ...stress and inflammatory signaling. • Co-administration with curcumin significantly prevented all the behavioral, biochemical and molecular deficits.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
We report extracellular synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) from Phoma glomerata and its efficacy against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The bacteria ...exhibiting resistance to various antibiotics showed remarkable sensitivity, when used in combination of antibiotics and Ag-NPs. Biosynthesis of Ag-NPs was carried out by challenging the fungal cell filtrate with 1 mmol l⁻¹ silver nitrate. The Ag-NPs were characterized with the help of UV-Visible spectrophotometer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy was carried out to detect the size of Ag-NPs. Evaluation of the combined effect(s) was studied by disc diffusion method against E. coli, Staph. aureus and Ps. aeruginosa. The biosynthesis route seems to be eco-friendly and easy to scale up the process. Thus, these Ag-NPs may prove as a better candidate for drugs and can potentially eliminate the problem of chemical agents because of their biogenic nature. The bacterial resistance against antibiotics has been increasing with alarming rate. To overcome this problem, there is a pressing need to develop bactericidal agents. Ag-NPs may prove to be an answer to drug-resistant bacteria.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Summary
Background
Differentiation between intestinal tuberculosis and Crohn's disease is difficult and may require therapeutic trial with anti‐tubercular therapy in tuberculosis‐endemic regions.
Aim
...To evaluate the role of therapeutic trial with anti‐tubercular therapy in patients with diagnostic confusion between intestinal tuberculosis and Crohn's disease.
Methods
We performed retrospective‐comparative (n = 288: 131 patients who received anti‐tubercular therapy before being diagnosed as Crohn's disease and 157 intestinal tuberculosis patients) and prospective‐validation study (n = 55 patients with diagnostic confusion of intestinal tuberculosis/Crohn's disease). Outcomes assessed were global symptomatic response and endoscopic mucosal healing.
Results
In the derivation cohort, among those eventually diagnosed as Crohn's disease, global symptomatic response with anti‐tubercular therapy was seen in 38% at 3 months and in 37% who completed 6 months of anti‐tubercular therapy. Ninety‐four per cent of intestinal tuberculosis patients showed global symptomatic response by 3 months. Endoscopic mucosal healing was seen in only 5% of patients with Crohn's disease compared with 100% of intestinal tuberculosis patients. In the validation cohort, all the patients with intestinal tuberculosis had symptomatic response and endoscopic mucosal healing after 6 months of anti‐tubercular therapy. Among the patients with an eventual diagnosis of Crohn's disease, symptomatic response was seen in 64% at 2 months and in 31% who completed 6 months of anti‐tubercular therapy, none had mucosal healing.
Conclusions
Disproportionately lower mucosal healing rate despite an overall symptom response with 6 months of anti‐tubercular therapy in patients with Crohn's disease suggests a need for repeat colonoscopy for diagnosing Crohn's disease. Patients with intestinal tuberculosis showing significant symptomatic response after 2–3 months of anti‐tubercular therapy, suggest that symptom persistence after a therapeutic trial of 3 months of anti‐tubercular therapy may indicate the diagnosis of Crohn's disease.
Full text
Available for:
BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
PDF
