Development of a bioanalytical method for the quantification of sinococuline in human plasma and its application in phase I clinical pharmacokinetic study

A selective, highly sensitive, precise, and novel bioanalytical method has been developed and validated to quantify sinococuline, an active constituent present in the phytopharmaceutical drug product containing Cocculus hirsutus plant extract, in vivo. Chromatographic separation was achieved on a Luna Omega Polar-C18 bonded analytical column maintained at 45°C. The isocratic mobile phase consisted of methanol and ammonium formate buffer (60:40, v/v) at acidic pH with a low flow rate of 0.250 mL/min. Detection was performed on an API 4000 mass spectrometer using electrospray ionization in positive polarity and multiple reaction monitoring mode to achieve a lower limit of quantification of 1.50 ng/mL. Excellent accuracy and precision were obtained after extracting the analyte from plasma samples using a chemical analogue as an internal standard in the absence of an isotope-labeled compound. The extraction efficacy was evidenced from recovery study, and the analyte was found to be stable in plasma. Validation study demonstrated linearity with coefficient of correlation, r ≥ 0.99, and minimal matrix effect. This bioanalytical method was successfully applied to evaluate pharmacokinetic parameters of sinococuline from a phase I clinical trial of an aqueous extract of C. hirsutus in healthy human volunteers.     

Mesoscopic Modeling of Capillarity-Induced Two-Phase Transport in a Microfluidic Porous Structure

Mesoscopic modeling at the pore scale offers great promise in exploring the underlying structure transport performance of flow through porous media. The present work studies the fluid flow subjected to capillarity-induced resonance in porous media characterized by different porous structure and wettability. The effects of porosity and wettability on the displacement behavior of the fluid flow through porous media are discussed. The results are presented in the form of temporal evolution of percentage saturation and displacement of the fluid front through porous media. The present study reveals that the vibration in the form of acoustic excitation could be significant in the mobilization of fluid through the porous media. The dependence of displacement of the fluid on physicochemical parameters like wettability of the surface, frequency along with the porosity is analyzed. It was observed that the mean displacement of the fluid is more in the case of invading fluid with wetting phase where the driving force strength is not so dominant.     

Self‐Assembly and Gelation of Poly(aryl ether) Dendrons Containing Hydrazide Units: Factors Controlling the Formation of Helical Structures

Self‐assembly of AB₂ and AB₃ type low molecular weight poly(aryl ether) dendrons that contain hydrazide units were used to investigate mechanistic aspects of helical structure formation during self‐assembly. The results suggest that there are three important aspects that control helical structure formation in such systems with acyl hydrazide/hydrazone linkage: i) J‐type aggregation, ii) the hydrogen‐bond donor/acceptor ability of the solvent, and iii) the dielectric constant of the solvent. The monomer units self‐assemble to form dimer structures through hydrogen‐bonding and further assembly of the hydrogen‐bonded dimers leads to macroscopic chirality in the present case. Dimer formation was confirmed by NMR spectroscopy and by mass spectrometry. The self‐assembly in the system was driven by hydrogen‐bonding and π–π stacking interactions. The morphology of the aggregates formed was examined by scanning electron microscopy, and the analysis suggests that aprotic solvent systems facilitate helical fibre formation, whereas introduction of protic solvents results in the formation of flat ribbons. This detailed mechanistic study suggests that the self‐assembly follows a nucleation–elongation model to form helical structures, rather than the isodesmic model.     

A Continuous Transition Between Quantum and Classical Mechanics. II

Examples are worked out using a new equation proposed in the previous paper to show that it has new physical predictions for mesoscopic systems.     

Equivariant Spectral Triples on the Quantum SU(2) Group

We characterize all equivariant odd spectral triples for the quantum SU(2) group acting on its L ₂-space and having a nontrivial Chern character. It is shown that the dimension of an equivariant spectral triple is at least three, and given any element of the K-homology group of SU_q(2), there is an equivariant odd spectral triple of dimension 3 inducing that element. The method employed to get equivariant spectral triples in the quantum case is then used for classical SU(2), and we prove that for p < 4, there does not exist any equivariant spectral triple with nontrivial K-homology class and dimension p acting on the L ₂-space.The first author would like to acknowledge support from the National Board of Higher Mathematics, India.     

Intermittency in the Slow Particle Emission During Hadron–Nucleus Interactions

The study of the angular distribution of slow particles during high energy hadron-nucleus interaction indicates that emission of slow particles takes place from a thermally non-equilibrated system. This evidence has come out from the presence of intermittency - a phenomenon that reveals a fractal structure and represents a self-similarity in the particle production process. Hence, this study highlights inadequacy of cascade-evaporation model and advocates the need of its refinement.     

Water-induced stabilization of ZnS nanoparticles

Surface states become important in particles with reduced size as the surface to volume ratio increases. Here we provide direct evidence of water-induced structure buildup and stabilization of nanocrystalline ZnS. The ZnS nanoparticles, prepared employing a non-equilibrium route, provide an ideal platform to investigate microscopic details of water induced structural transformation and thus demonstrate the role of S-H interactions in the time-evolution of crystalline behaviour in these particles. The colossal changes observed make these materials ideal for water sensing.     

Working group report: Neutrino and astroparticle physics

This is the report of neutrino and astroparticle physics working group at WHEPP-7. Discussions and work on CP violation in long baseline neutrino experiments, ultra high energy neutrinos, supernova neutrinos and water Cerenkov detectors are discussed.     

Preconcentration and recovery of uranium and thorium from Indian monazite sand by using a modified fly ash bed

Adsorption of uranium, as UO₂ ²⁺, and thorium, as Th⁴⁺, has been studied using a modified fly ash bed. Effects of pH and various ions like La³⁺, Fe³⁺, Ce⁴⁺, SiO₃ ^2- etc., have been examined. Synthetic mixtures of UO₂ ²⁺ and Th⁴⁺ in different concentrations were passed through the bed and eluted separately with various selective reagents viz. ammonium carbonate, sodium carbonate and acetic acid-sodium hydroxide buffer. Separations of these elements at ppm level are shown to be very effective. The separation of uranium and thorium in the presence of lanthanides in monazite sand has been studied successfully. In the analysis of monazite sand, the oxalate precipitation has been avoided. The method is simple and of very low cost. The modified fly ash bed can also be used to remove uranium from contaminated water.     

Invariants for normal completely positive maps on the hyperfinite II1 factor

We investigate certain classes of normal completely positive (CP) maps on the hyperfinite II₁ factorA. Using the representation theory of a suitable irrational rotation algebra, we propose some computable invariants for such CP maps. Dedicated to Professor K B Sinha