Effects of polymer addition on the rheology of o/w microemulsions

Microemulsions are profitably employed in the pharmaceutical field to prepare drug delivery systems release for guest drugs sparingly soluble in water. In particular, they can be used for topical and transdermal administration in place of ointments or creams, on condition that their rheological properties are properly modulated. The present work concerns the analysis of the rheological effects produced by the addition of different amounts of Carbopol 940, a polymer widely used for topical applications, to an O/W microemulsion containing a lipophilic phase (Labrafac Hydro, 21 wt%) and stabilized by the surfactant (Cremophor RH40)/co-surfactant (Transcutol) couple. The contribution of the disperse phase is evaluated by comparing the linear and nonlinear properties of the Carbopol/microemulsion system (CM) with those of the corresponding aqueous Carbopol systems with co-surfactant (CWT) and without co-surfactant (CW). Four polymer concentrations (0.25%, 0.5%, 1%, and 2%) are taken into consideration. The linear viscoelastic properties of the microemulsions essentially mirror those of the corresponding aqueous Carbopol systems when the polymer concentration is sufficiently high (1–2%). In these conditions the oil phase is reasonably hosted within the meshes of the three-dimensional polymeric gel network and gives only a slight contribution to the connectivity of the whole system. Similar considerations can be drawn from the flow behavior of the systems examined in the low shear region. Received: 6 February 2000 Accepted: 13 November 2000     

Gentamicin-Coated Tibia Nail in Fractures and Nonunion to Reduce Fracture-Related Infections: A Systematic Review

The incidence of a fracture-related infection (FRI) can reach 30% of open tibia fractures (OTF). The use of antibiotic-coated implants is one of the newest strategies to reduce the risk of infection in orthopedic surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of a gentamicin-coated tibia nail in primary fracture fixation (FF) and revision surgery (RS) of nonunion cases in terms of FRI incidence. We conducted a systematic review according to the PRISMA checklist on Pub-Med, Cochrane, and EMBASE. Of the 32 studies, 8 were included, for a total of 203 patients treated: 114 were FF cases (63% open fractures) and 89 were RS cases, of which 43% were infected nonunion. In the FF group, four FRI were found (3.8%): three OTF (Gustilo-Anderson III) and one closed fracture; bone healing was achieved in 94% of these cases. There were four relapses of infection and one new onset in the RS group; bone healing occurred in 88% of these cases. No side effects were found. There were no significant differences in terms of FRI, nonunion, and healing between the two groups. Gentamicin-coated tibia nail is an effective therapeutic option in the prophylaxis of high-risk fracture infections and in complex nonunion cases.     

Effects of Citicoline,Homotaurine, and Vitamin E on Contrast Sensitivity and Visual-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma: A Preliminary Study

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of supplementation with a fixed combination of citicoline 500 mg, homotaurine 50 mg, and vitamin E 12 mg (CIT/HOMO/VITE) on contrast sensitivity and visual-related quality of life in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in mild stage. This was a multicenter, observational, cross-over, short-term, pilot study on POAG patients with stable controlled intraocular pressure (IOP). Patients were randomly assigned to Group 1 (current topical therapy for 4 months and then current topical therapy plus CIT/HOMO/VITE for 4 months) or Group 2 (CIT/HOMO/VITE in addition to current topical therapy for 4 months and then topical therapy alone for 4 months). Best-corrected visual acuity, IOP, visual field, and the Spaeth/Richman contrast sensitivity (SPARCS) test score were recorded at baseline and after 4 and 8 months. The Glaucoma Quality of Life-15 (GQL-15) questionnaire was administered at each check time. Forty-four patients were assigned to Group 1 and 65 to Group 2. Over the follow-up period, there were no significant changes in IOP or visual field findings, whereas SPARCS and GQL-15 findings significantly varied from baseline, both being improved in subjects treated with CIT/HOMO/VITE fixed combination. These results demonstrate that a daily intake of a fixed combination of citicoline, homotaurine, and vitamin E in addition to the topical medical treatment significantly increased the total score of the contrast sensitivity test and the quality of life in patients with POAG.     

Regular canonical covers

We construct three sequences of regular surfaces of general type with unbounded numerical invariants whose canonical map is 2–to–1 onto a canonically embedded surface. Only sporadic examples of surfaces with these properties were previously known.     

Limitation to complete fusion in the reactions 12,13C+48Ti and 30Si+30Si

Excitation functions of the reactions ^{12, 13}C+⁴⁸Ti and ³⁰Si+³⁰Si were measured by in-beam γ-ray spectrometry in the energy ranges 20–60 MeV for the ^{12, 13}C induced reactions and 55–126 MeV for the ³⁰Si+³⁰Si reaction. Light-particle angular distributions were measured at 46 MeV and 47.5 MeV for the ¹³C and ¹²C induced reactions. Measurements of elastic scattering angular distribution and particle-γ coincidences were carried out for the system ¹³C+⁴⁸Ti at 46 MeV. The limitation to complete fusion detected for the system ³⁰Si+³⁰Si appears to be related to entrance channel effects and is well reproduced by a barrier penetration calculation using the KNS potential. The angular distribution measurements carried out for the ¹²C+⁴⁸Ti and ¹³C+⁴⁸Ti systems allowed to identify an incomplete fusion mechanism with emission of direct α-particles before the formation of a fully equilibrated system.     

Effect of mechanical tissue properties on thermal damage in skin after IR-laser ablation

The damage created instantaneously in dorsal skin and in the subjacent skeletal muscle layer after CO₂ and Er³⁺ laser incisions is histologically and ultrastructurally investigated. Light microscopical examinations show an up to three times larger damage zone in the subcutaneous layer of skeletal muscle than in the connective tissue above. The extent of thermally altered muscle tissue is classified by different zones and characterized by comparison to long time heating injuries. The unexpectedly large damage is a result of the change of elastic properties occurring abruptly at the transition between different materials. This leads to a discontinuity of the cutting dynamics that reduces the ejection of tissue material. We show that the degree of thermal damage originates from the amount of hot material that is not ejected out of the crater acting as a secondary heat source.     

Bootstrapping the mode

The problem of constructing bootstrap confidence intervals for the mode of a density is considered. Estimates of the mode are derived from kernel density estimates based on fixed and data-dependent bandwidths. The asymptotic validity of bootstrap techniques to estimate the sampling distribution of the estimates is investigated. In summary, the results are negative in the sense that a straightforward application of a naive bootstrap yields invalid inferences. In particular, the bootstrap fails if resampling is done from the kernel density estimate. On the other hand, if one resamples from a smoother kernel density estimate (which is necessarily different from the one which yields the original estimate of the mode), the bootstrap is consistent. The bootstrap also fails if resampling is done from the empirical distribution, unless the choice of bandwidth is suboptimal. Similar results hold when applying bootstrap techniques to other functionals of a density.     

Varieties with minimal secant degree and linear systems of maximal dimension on surfaces

In this paper we prove, using a refinement of Terracini's Lemma, a sharp lower bound for the degree of (higher) secant varieties to a given projective variety, which extends the well known lower bound for the degree of a variety in terms of its dimension and codimension in projective space. Moreover we study varieties for which the bound is attained proving some general properties related to tangential projections, e.g. these varieties are rational. In particular we completely classify surfaces (and curves) for which the bound is attained. It turns out that these surfaces enjoy some maximality properties for their embedding dimension in terms of their degree or sectional genus. This is related to classical beautiful results of Castelnuovo and Enriques that we revise here in terms of adjunction theory.     

Computer simulation studies of anisotropic systems XIV. Binary mixtures of liquid crystals

We have simulated the behaviour of a model, binary mixture of nematogens composed of cylindrically symmetric particles using the Monte Carlo technique. The characteristics of the model mixture were chosen to be in accord with most of the assumptions made in the Humphries-James-Luckhurst theory of liquid crystalline mixtures. The results of the simulation experiments allow us to test, for the first time, the validity of the molecular field approximation in this theory. In addition to the second rank long range orientational order parameters for both components of the mixture we have also determined certain orientational pair correlation functions. These enable us to investigate the ability of one component to enhance the order of the other component or the same component in its vicinity.