Electron transfer reactions in RB90745, a bioreductive drug having both aromatic N-oxide and nitroarene moieties

This study defines the current modes of treatment of patients with uterine fibromas with a review of the literature. Progesterone treatments appear to be principally used in cases of minor functional symptomatology and we discuss recent studies of mifepristone. GnRH agonists are particularly effective in preoperative treatment for conservative surgery. The indications and results of hysteroscopic resection and laparoscopic myomectomy are compared to those of classic myomectomy and hysterectomy. The indications for myolysis are discussed.     

FSE–Ag complex NS: preparation and evaluation of antibacterial activity

Silver (Ag) complexes of drugs and their nanosystems have great potential as antibacterials. Recently, an Ag complex of furosemide (Ag–FSE) has shown to be a promising antimicrobial. However, poor solubility of Ag–FSE could hamper its introduction into clinics. Therefore, the authors developed a nanosuspension of Ag–FSE (Ag–FSE_NS) for its solubility and antibacterial activity enhancement. The aim of this study was to introduce a novel nanoantibiotic with enhanced antibacterial efficacy. Ag–FSE_NS was prepared by precipitation–ultrasonication technique. Size, polydispersity index (PI) and zeta potential (ZP) of prepared Ag–FSE_NS were measured by dynamic light scattering, whereas surface morphology was determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In vitro antibacterial activity was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa using broth microdilution method. Size, PI and ZP of optimised Ag–FSE_NS1 were 191.2 ± 19.34 nm, 0.465 ± 0.059 and −55.7 ± 8.18 mV, respectively. SEM revealed that Ag–FSE_NS1 particles were rod or needle‐like with smooth surfaces. Saturation solubility of Ag–FSE in NS increased eight‐fold than pure Ag–FSE. Ag–FSE_NS1 exhibited two‐fold and eight‐fold enhancements in activity against E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. The results obtained showed that developed Ag–FSE_NS1 holds a promise as a topical antibacterial.Inspec keywords: nanomedicine, nanofabrication, light scattering, surface morphology, silver, particle size, solubility, suspensions, scanning electron microscopy, electrokinetic effects, drugs, biomedical materials, antibacterial activity, microorganisms, nanoparticles, drug delivery systems, transmission electron microscopyOther keywords: saturation solubility, topical antibacterial, size 171.86 nm to 210.54 nm, voltage ‐47.52 mV to ‐63.88 mV, Ag, broth microdilution method, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, SEM, scanning electron microscopy, surface morphology, dynamic light scattering, particle size, polydispersity index, precipitation–ultrasonication technique, nanoantibiotic, nanosuspension, furosemide, nanosystems, drugs, Ag–FSE_NS preparation, in vitro antibacterial activity, pure Ag–FSE, Ag–FSE_NS1 particles, optimised Ag–FSE_NS1, zeta potential, enhanced antibacterial efficacy, antibacterials     

A waveform concatenation technique for text-to-speech synthesis

Designing text-to-speech systems capable of producing natural sounding speech segments in different Indian languages is a challenging and ongoing problem. Due to the large number of possible pronunciations in different Indian languages, a number of speech segments are needed to be stored in the speech database while a concatenative speech synthesis technique is used to achieve highly natural speech segments. However, the large speech database size makes it unusable for small hand held devices or human computer interactive systems with limited storage resources. In this paper, we proposed a fraction-based waveform concatenation technique to produce intelligible speech segments from a small footprint speech database. The results of all the experiments performed shows the effectiveness of the proposed technique in producing intelligible speech segments in different Indian languages even with very less storage and computation overhead compared to the existing syllable-based technique.     

Characterization and Properties of γ-Cyclodextrin-C60 Complex In Aqueous Solution

Water soluble fullerene was prepared by complexing C₆₀ with γ-cyclodextrin. The stoichiometry of the complex [2:1, γ-CD: C₆₀] was determined by thermo gravimetric analysis. The complex was characterized by ¹H NMR, FTIR, SEM, circular dichroism and fluorescenc techniques.     

A study on energy performance of hotel buildings in Singapore

This paper presents a study on energy performance of Singapore's hotel buildings. Energy consumption data and other pertinent information were collected from 29 quality hotels through a national survey. Building features and operational characteristics contributing to the variations in hotel energy performance were discussed. The annual average total energy use intensity (EUI) in these hotels is 427 kWh/m². Electricity and gas are used in all sampled hotels, and some hotels also use diesel to power standby generator or hot water boiler. We also investigated relationships between electricity consumption and number of occupied rooms in individual hotels; the weak correlations found indicate it is necessary to improve energy management when occupancy rate is low. Besides, Pearson correlations between hotel energy use intensity and possible explanatory indicators revealed that three-star hotels differ from high class establishments in energy use. Worker density and years after the last major energy retrofit were also found to be highly correlated to hotel building energy use intensity. Also discussed in this paper is the effect of weather conditions on electricity consumption of the hotels.     

Microclimatic modeling of the urban thermal environment of Singapore to mitigate urban heat island

This study investigates the urban heat island effect in Singapore and examines the key factors causing this effect. The possibilities of improving heat extraction rate by optimizing air flow in selected hot spots were explored. The effect of building geometry, façade materials and the location of air-conditioning condensers on the outdoor air temperature was explored using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. It was found that at very low wind speeds, the effect of façade materials and their colours was very significant and the temperature at the middle of a narrow canyon increased up to 2.5 °C with the façade material having lower albedo. It was also found that strategically placing a few high-rise towers will enhance the air flow inside the canyon thereby reducing the air temperature. Adopting an optimum H/W ratio for the canyons increased the velocity by up to 35% and reduced the corresponding temperature by up to 0.7 °C.     

Microwave Dielectric Properties of Rutile Filled PEEK Composites

Ceramic-filled PEEK composites were prepared by sigma mixing followed by thermolamination. Rutile-grade titanium dioxide, particle size less than 5 μm, was used as the particulate filler in the PEEK matrix to tailor the dielectric properties of the composite matrix. The dispersion of the particular filler in the PEEK matrix was studied using scanning electron microscopy. The dielectric properties of the PEEK/TiO₂ composite materials were measured in the low frequency region up to 13 MHz using an impedance analyzer. Dielectric properties in the microwave region were measured using cavity perturbation technique to evaluate the use of the composites as packaging material. Experimental results were compared with theoretically predicted values using the Lichtenecker equation. The present study shows that temperature-stable packaging materials can be realized in the PEEK/TiO₂ systems by judiciously controlling the ceramic filler concentration.     

Benchmarking energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in Singapore’s hotel industry

Hotel buildings are reported in many countries as one of the most energy intensive building sectors. Besides the pressure posed on energy supply, they also have adverse impact on the environment through greenhouse gas emissions, wastewater discharge and so on. This study was intended to shed some light on the energy and environment related issues in hotel industry. Energy consumption data and relevant information collected from hotels were subjected to rigorous statistical analysis. A regression-based benchmarking model was established, which takes into account, the difference in functional and operational features when hotels are compared with regard to their energy performance. In addition, CO₂ emissions from the surveyed hotels were estimated based on a standard procedure for corporate GHG emission accounting. It was found that a hotel’s carbon intensity ranking is rather sensitive to the normalizing denominator chosen. Therefore, carbon intensity estimated for the hotels must not be interpreted arbitrarily, and industry specific normalizing denominator should be sought in future studies.     

Identification and spatial distribution of glycine receptor subunits in human sperm

The human sperm surface glycine receptor (GLR) plays a role in an important fertilization event, the sperm acrosome reaction. Here, by western blot analysis, we report the presence of GLRA1, GLRA2, GLRA3, and GLRB subunits in human sperm. Immunolocalization studies showed that the GLRA1 and GLRA2 subunits are present in the equatorial region, the GLRA3 subunit in the flagellar principal piece, and the GLRB subunit in the acrosomal region of sperm. This first demonstration of isoforms of the sperm GLRA subunit and of a differential spatial distribution of the alpha and beta subunits on the surface of mammalian sperm suggests the possibility that human sperm GLRs have more than one function.