Development and validation of HPLC method for simultaneous estimation of piperine and guggulsterones in compound Unani formulation (tablets) and a nanoreservoir system

An attempt has been made to develop and validate a simultaneous HPLC method for novel approach of drug release via oil‐in‐water (o/w) nanoemulsion formulation and Habb‐e‐Khardal Unani tablet containing piperine and guggul sterones E and Z as main ingredients. Nanoemulsion was prepared by titration method using sefsol‐218 as an oily phase, cremophor‐EL as a surfactant, transcutol as a co‐surfactant and distilled water as an aqueous phase. The formulation was optimized on the basis of thermodynamic stability and dispersibilty test. The nanoformulation was evaluated for particle size, surface morphology, electrical conductivity and viscosity determination. The in vitro dissolution was carried out by dialysis bag method. Drugs were quantified using an HPLC method developed in‐house with a C₁₈ column as stationary phase and acetonitrile and water as mobile phase at λ_max of 240 nm. The optimized formulation showed higher drug release, lower droplet size and less viscosity as compared with the conventional Habb‐e‐Khardal Unani tablet. The present study illustrated the potential of nanoemulsion dosage form in improving biopharmaceutic performance of piperine and guggul sterone. The HPLC method was also found to be quite sufficient for the routine quality control of formulations containing piperine and guggul sterone E and Z as ingredients and also for in vitro drug release studies. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of Carbon Nanotubes on Phase Composition,Thermal and Post-Heating Behavior of Cementitious Composites

This paper experimentally investigates the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on phase composition, microstructure deterioration, thermal behavior, and residual mechanical strengths of cementitious composites exposed to elevated temperatures. Cement mortars with small dosages of CNTs, 0.05% and 0.2% by weight of cement, were prepared and then heated at 25 °C, 150 °C, 200 °C, 450 °C, and 600 °C for two hours before being tested. The results show positive impact of the CNTs on the hydration process of cement mortar at room temperature and at higher temperatures up to 200 °C. Decomposition of the hydration products is obvious at 450 °C, whereas sever deterioration in the microstructure occurs at 600 °C. The nano reinforcement and bridging effect of the CNTs are obvious up to 450 °C. Thermal behavior characterization shows that CNTs incorporation enhances the thermal conductivity of the unheated and heat-treated mortar specimens. The decomposition of the hydration products needs more heat in the presence of CNTs. Finally, presence of CNTs significantly enhances the residual compressive and flexural strengths of heated mortar specimens for all studied temperatures.     

Improved general correlation for critical heat flux during upflow in uniformly heated vertical tubes

An improved version of the author's earlier correlation for CHF in vertical tubes is presented. It is compared with data that include 23 fluids (water, refrigerants, cryogens, chemicals, and liquid metals), tube diameters 0.315 to 37.5 mm, tube length 1.3 to 940 times diameter, mass flux 4 to 29051 kg/m²s, reduced pressures 0.0014 to 0.96, inlet quality −4 to +0.85, and critical quality −2.6 to +1. These data, from 62 independent sources, are also compared with Katto's general correlation and those of Bowring for water and Subbotin for helium. The present correlation shows much better agreement with data.     

Virtual Screening,Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Streptococcus mutans Mediated Biofilm Inhibitors

Dental caries, a global oral health concern, is a biofilm-mediated disease. Streptococcus mutans, the most prevalent oral microbiota, produces extracellular enzymes, including glycosyltransferases responsible for sucrose polymerization. In bacterial communities, the biofilm matrix confers resistance to host immune responses and antibiotics. Thus, in cases of chronic dental caries, inhibiting bacterial biofilm assembly should prevent demineralization of tooth enamel, thereby preventing tooth decay. A high throughput screening was performed in the present study to identify small molecule inhibitors of S. mutans glycosyltransferases. Multiple pharmacophore models were developed, validated with multiple datasets, and used for virtual screening against large chemical databases. Over 3000 drug-like hits were obtained that were analyzed to explore their binding mode. Finally, six compounds that showed good binding affinities were further analyzed for ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) properties. The obtained in silico hits were evaluated for in vitro biofilm formation. The compounds displayed excellent antibiofilm activities with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 15.26–250 µg/mL.     

Promoting Effect of Soluble Polysaccharides Extracted from Ulva spp. on Zea mays L. Growth

Seaweeds can play a vital role in plant growth promotion. Two concentrations (5 and 10 mg/mL) of soluble polysaccharides extracted from the green macroalgae Ulva fasciata and Ulva lactuca were tested on Zea mays L. The carbohydrate and protein contents, and antioxidant activities (phenols, ascorbic, peroxidase, and catalase) were measured, as well as the protein banding patterns. The soluble polysaccharides at 5 mg/mL had the greatest effect on the base of all of the parameters. The highest effects of soluble polysaccharides on the Zea mays were 38.453, 96.76, 4, 835, 1.658, 7.462, and 38615.19, mg/mL for carbohydrates, proteins, phenol, µg ascorbic/mL, mg peroxidase/g dry tissue, and units/g tissue of catalase, respectively. The total number of protein bands (as determined by SDS PAGE) was not changed, but the density of the bands was correlated to the treatments. The highest band density and promoting effect were correlated to 5 mg/mL soluble polysaccharide treatments extracted from Ulva fasciata in Zea mays, which can be used as a biofertilizer.     

Plumbagin Alleviates Intracerebroventricular-Quinolinic Acid Induced Depression-like Behavior and Memory Deficits in Wistar Rats

Plumbagin, a hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, confers neuroprotection via antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The present study aimed to assess the effect of plumbagin on behavioral and memory deficits induced by intrahippocampal administration of Quinolinic acid (QA) in male Wistar rats and reveal the associated mechanisms. QA (300 nM/4 μL in Normal saline) was administered i.c.v. in the hippocampus. QA administration caused depression-like behavior (forced swim test and tail suspension tests), anxiety-like behavior (open field test and elevated plus maze), and elevated anhedonia behavior (sucrose preference test). Furthermore, oxidative–nitrosative stress (increased nitrite content and lipid peroxidation with reduction of GSH), inflammation (increased IL-1β), cholinergic dysfunction, and mitochondrial complex (I, II, and IV) dysfunction were observed in the hippocampus region of QA-treated rats as compared to normal controls. Plumbagin (10 and 20 mg/kg; p.o.) treatment for 21 days significantly ameliorated behavioral and memory deficits in QA-administered rats. Moreover, plumbagin treatment restored the GSH level and reduced the MDA and nitrite level in the hippocampus. Furthermore, QA-induced cholinergic dysfunction and mitochondrial impairment were found to be ameliorated by plumbagin treatment. In conclusion, our results suggested that plumbagin offers a neuroprotective potential that could serve as a promising pharmacological approach to mitigate neurobehavioral changes associated with neurodegeneration.     

Theoretical estimates for proton-NMR spin–lattice relaxation rates of heterometallic spin rings

Heterometallic molecular chromium wheels are fascinating new magnetic materials. We reexamine the available experimental susceptibility data on MCr₇ wheels in terms of a simple isotropic Heisenberg Hamiltonian for M=Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn and find in that FeCr₇ needs to be described with an iron–chromium exchange that is different from all other cases. In a second step we model the behavior of the proton spin lattice relaxation rate as a function of applied magnetic field for low temperatures as it is measured in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments. It appears that CuCr₇ and NiCr₇ show an unexpectedly reduced relaxation rate at certain level crossings.     

Bright‐Dark Rogue Waves

During the last two decades, revealing mechanisms of origin waves with anomalous amplitude (rogue waves) have been in the focus of researchers from different fields ranging from oceanography to laser physics. Mode‐locked lasers, as a test bed system, provide a unique opportunity to collect more data on rogue waves in the form of random pulses (soliton rain) and to clarify the mechanisms of rogue‐wave emergence caused by soliton–soliton and soliton–dispersive wave interactions. Here, for the first time, for an Er‐doped mode‐locked laser, a new type of vector rogue waves is demonstrated experimentally and theoretically, which is driven by desynchronization of the orthogonal linear states of polarization, so leading to output power oscillations in the form of anomalous spikes‐dips (bright‐dark rogue waves). The results can pave the way to unlocking the universal nature of the origin of rogue waves and thus can be of interest to the broad scientific community.     

Synthesis and optical properties of basic fuchsin dye-doped PMMA polymeric films for laser applications: wide scale absorption band

Basic fuchsin dye-doped poly(methyl methacrylate) polymeric films were sensitized with various dye concentrations ranging from 0.0833 to 1.667 wt% of basic fuchsin. Their structure, linear absorption, and optical limiting properties were examined. The films were prepared using a simple and fast casting technique dissolved in chloroform for both the dye and the polymer. Structural characterizations were achieved by XRD, and the films showed an amorphous hump supporting the noncrystalline structure of studied polymeric composites. Spectrophotometer measurements were used to estimate the spectral absorption measurements of the films such as transmittance, absorbance with the calculations of absorption index (k), and optical energy band gap (E _g ) in the wavelength region from 190 to 2500 nm. Results show that the optical constants change with increasing the dye doping concentrations. It has been found that optical energy gap (E _g ) appearing that, both direct and indirect optical transitions are conceivable for these films. Optical limiting properties of the films with various dye concentrations were studied using a continuous wave He–Ne laser operating at 632.8 nm. The results appeared that the sample has an obvious optical limiting effect. The designed BF/PMMA composites can be applicable in wide-scale applications.     

Characterization of laser sealed coatings of yttria partially stabilized zirconia

The present paper reports an experimental investigation based on X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS) analyses of phases formed after laser sealing of plasma sprayed coatings of 8.5 wt% yttria partially stabilized zirconia (YPSZ). X-ray diffraction and X-ray step-scanning analyses showed that the plasma sprayed and sealed coatings consisted mainly of t′ phase with a very small amount of monoclinic phase (m phase) in the plasma sprayed coatings. It was also found that the small amounts of m and cubic phases (c phase) present in the sealed coatings were dependent on laser processing specific energies (specific energy is equal to laser power/traverse speed x beam diameter). It was also found that rhombohedral (r) phase formed after laser sealing of coatings at higher specific energies. A direct relationship between c/a ratio of transformable tetragonal phase (t phase) produced by thermal treatment of sealed coatings and nontransformable tetragonal phase (t′ phase) and the amount of Yttria was obtained. A new equation was derived, which describes the relationship between Yttria concentration and the c/a ratio of tetragonal phases (t or t′).