Development and validation of an LC-ESI-MS/MS method for simultaneous quantitation of olmesartan and pioglitazone in rat plasma and its pharmacokinetic application

A simple, high‐throughput and specific high‐performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated according to the FDA guidelines for simultaneous quantification of olmesartan and pioglitazone in rat plasma. The bioanalytical method consists of liquid–liquid extraction and quantitation by triple quadrupole mass spectrometry using electrospray ionization technique, operating in multiple reaction monitoring and positive ion modes. The compounds were eluted isocratically on a C₁₈ column with a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of methanol and water (containing 0.5% formic acid) in a ratio of 9:1. The response to olmesartan and pioglitazone was linear over the range 0.01–10 µg/mL. The validation results demonstrated that the method had satisfactory precision and accuracy across the calibration range. Intra‐ and inter‐day precisions ranged from 0.66 to 3.32 and from 0.94 to 2.93% (%CV), respectively. The accuracy determined at three quality control levels was within 91.27–107.28%. There was no evidence of instability of the analytes in rat plasma following the stability studies. The method proved highly reproducible and sensitive and was successfully applied in a pharmacokinetic study after single dose oral administration of olmesartan and pioglitazone to the rat. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of natural uranium and 226Ra concentration in ground water around the uranium mine at Narwapahar, Jharkhand, India and its radiological significance

A brief study on dissolved radionuclides in aquatic environment, especially in ground water, constitutes the key aspect for assessment and control of natural exposure. In the present study the distribution of natural uranium and ²²⁶Ra concentration were measured in ground water samples collected within a 10 km radius around the Narwapahar uranium mine in the Singhbhum thrust belt of Jharkhand, India in 2007–2008. The natural uranium content in the ground water samples in this region was found to vary from 0.1 to 3.75 μg L^?1 with an average of 0.87 ± 0.73 μg L^?1 and ²²⁶Ra concentration was found to vary from 5.2 to 38.1 mBq L^?1 with an average of 13.73 ± 7.34 mBq L^?1. The mean annual ingestion dose due to intake of natural uranium and ²²⁶Ra through drinking water pathway to male and female adults population was estimated to be 6.55 and 4.78 μSv y^?1, respectively, which constitutes merely a small fraction of the reference dose level of 100 μSv y^?1 as recommended by WHO.     

Optimization under Generalized Equation Constraints in Asplund Spaces

In this article, necessary optimality conditions for mathematical programming problems under generalized equation constraints problems are studied in Asplund spaces. We consider a very general version of the problem and derive necessary optimality conditions under various hypothesis on the problem data and sacrificing the differentiability assumption.     

Bianchi Types V and VI<Subscript>0</Subscript> Cosmic Strings Coupled with Maxwell Fields in Bimetric Theory

Spatially homogeneous Bianchi types V and VI₀ cosmological models are studied with source cosmic cloud strings coupled with electromagnetic field in Rosen’s (Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 4:435, 1973) bimetric theory of relativity. It is observed that Bianchi type V space time is feasible whereas Bianchi type VI₀ is not feasible. In the feasible case different equations of state for cosmic strings with Maxwell fields do not survive in this theory and the space-time turns out to be flat.     

All-optical method of developing a phase encoded latch by using EDFA

Optics has already proved its meaningful application in information processing and computation, where the parallelism of light is exploited to achieve the desired result. In this communication a novel concept of all-optical memory unit based on phase encoding process is proposed. The unit is simple in architecture comprising phase sifters, mirrors (M′) and two blocks of Erbium doped fiber amplifier. The optical feedback is supported by use of beam splitters and mirrors. It is independent of intensity and therefore requires a small switching power and can work at a bit rate far above 100 Gb/s.     

Synthesis and photo physical properties of Au @ Ag (core @ shell) nanoparticles disperse in poly vinyl alcohol matrix

Synthesis of core @ shell (Au @ Ag) nanoparticle with varying silver composition has been carried out in aqueous poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix. Core gold nanoparticle (~15 nm) has been synthesized through seed-mediated growth process. Synthesis of silver shell with increasing thickness (~1–5 nm) has been done by reducing Ag⁺ over the gold sol in the presence of mild reducing ascorbic acid. Characterization of Au @ Ag nanoparticles has been done by UV–Vis, High resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopic study. The blue shift of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band with increasing mole fraction of silver has been interpreted due to dampening of core, i.e. Au SPR by Ag. The dependence of nonlinear optical response of spherical core @ shell nanoparticles has been investigated as a function of relative composition of each metal. Simulation of SPR extinction spectra based on quasi-static theory is done. A comparison of our experimental and the simulated extinction spectra using quasi-static theory of nanoshell suggests that our synthesized bimetallic particles have core @ shell structure rather than bimetallic alloy particles.     

Gold nanoparticle induced conformational changes in heme protein

Change of α-helical structure of heme protein (Hb) to a β-sheet and random coil conformation because of the interaction of glycine capped gold nanoparticles (20–60 nm) as observed from attenuation total reflectance, absorption, Fourier transform infra red, and Circular Dichroism spectroscopy has been reported in this article. Upon interaction, protein takes a cylindrical shape of length 12 μm and diameter 0.35 μm as revealed from scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The Selected-Area Electron beam Diffraction pattern shows change of crystalline structure in GNP to amorphous nature with the interaction of Hb.     

Molecular conformation and liquid structure of 2-propanol through neutron diffraction

The neutron diffraction data analysis of deuterated liquid 2-propanol at room temperature to define its molecular conformation is presented. 2-Propanol being a large molecule with twelve atomic sites, the conformation analysis is tricky and an improved method of data analysis is given. The intermolecular structural correlations, i.e., hydrogen-bonded liquid structure, can be modelled accurately to extract the nature of the average hydrogen-bonded molecular association in liquid state at room temperature. Like other alcohols these are mostly hexamer ring chain (HRC) clusters. The cluster analysis of recent X-ray data available in the literature also support the same liquid structure.