The gastroprotective effect of oxycellulose pellets on gastric ulcers

Oxycellulose belongs to the wide range of pharmaceutically and medically used cellulose derivatives unique in its properties of biodegradability, non-toxicity, antioxidative activity, haemostasis supporting, tissue healing improvement, etc. Glycyrrhizin (Gly) represents the most prominent licorice triterpenoid glycoside, which is responsible for its pharmacological activity, and is closely linked to increasing levels of gastroprotective prostaglandins. In order to study the anti-ulcer activity of oxycellulose sodium and Gly, pellets containing only oxycellulose, or in combination with glycyrrhizin, were prepared using an extrusion/spheronization method. The physical properties and in vitro release rate of the prepared pellets were tested. Based on the obtained results, one sample prepared from oxycellulose only, and one containing glycyrrhizin were chosen for in vivo testing. The healing effect of the prepared pellet formulations was evaluated in the acetic acid induced gastric ulcers in rats. The improvement in gastric ulcer healing was documented for myeloperoxidase activity, alkaline phosphatase activity and gastric wall mucin levels using the Alcian blue binding capacity. The tested pellets significantly reduced myeloperoxidase and alkaline phosphatase activity, and increased gastric wall mucus levels compared to the non-treated group. The in vivo tests showed that oral administration of the prepared pellets accelerated the healing of gastric ulcers in rats.     

On a Theorem of Dubins and Freedman

Under a notion of splitting the existence of a unique invariant probability, and a geometric rate of convergence to it in an appropriate metric, are established for Markov processes on a general state space S generated by iterations of i.i.d. maps on S. As corollaries we derive extensions of earlier results of Dubins and Freedman;⁽¹⁷⁾ Yahav;⁽³⁰⁾ and Bhattacharya and Lee⁽⁶⁾ for monotone maps. The general theorem applies in other contexts as well. It is also shown that the Dubins–Freedman result on the necessity of splitting in the case of increasing maps does not hold for decreasing maps, although the sufficiency part holds for both. In addition, the asymptotic stationarity of the process generated by i.i.d. nondecreasing maps is established without the requirement of continuity. Finally, the theory is applied to the random iteration of two (nonmonotone) quadratic maps each with two repelling fixed points and an attractive period-two orbit.     

Evaluation of finite-plasticity theories for torsion-tension members made of tresca materials

Finite-incremental Tresca and von Mises theories are developed for solid circular-section torsion-tension members subjected to proportionate and nonproportionate loading. The materials are assumed to be isotropic and even. Two Tresca theories and a von Mises theory are compared with test data obtained from torsion-tension members. Three different kinds of steels were tested; they are hot-rolled mild steel, annealed mild steel, and hot-rolled SAE 1017 steel. The fully plastic values of axial load and torque predicted by the Tresca theories agree with the experimental results; however, the deformations, in the strain-hardening region, predicted by both of the Tresca theories were greater than observed. The von Mises theory is nonconservative in predicting the fully plastic loads of torsion members and torsion-tension members and in predicting the deformations of torsion members in the strain-hardening region, but gives good correlation between predicted and experimental deformations for the torsion-tension members in the strain-hardening region.     

Spectral Properties of Bifunctional Schiff Bases, [Bis (X-Phenyl)-Ethane Diimine]

Electronic spectra of five (Bis(X-phenyl)-Ethane diimine] compounds I-V, have been investigated in various organic solvents and aqueous buffer solutions of varying pH's. The observed visible band is assigned to intramolecular CT transition. Furthermore, it is deduced that structure of the o-hydroxy derivative is not entirely planar. The acid dissociation constant values of the hydroxy derivatives have been determined and are discussed.