Role of cellulose ether polymers on ibuprofen release from matrix tablets

Cellulose derivatives are the most frequently used polymers in formulations of pharmaceutical products for controlled drug delivery. The main aim of the present work was to evaluate the effect of different cellulose substitutions on the release rate of ibuprofen (IBP) from hydrophilic matrix tablets. Thus, the release mechanism of IBP with methylcellulose (MC25), hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC), and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC K15M or K100M) was studied. In addition, the influence of the diluents lactose monohydrate (LAC) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) was evaluated. Distinct test formulations were prepared containing: 57.14% of IBP, 20.00% of polymer, 20.29% of diluent, 1.71% of talc lubricants, and 0.86% of magnesium stearate as lubricants. Although non-negligible drug-excipient interactions were detected from DSC studies, these were found not to constitute an incompatibility effect. Tablets were examined for their drug content, weight uniformity, hardness, thickness, tensile strength, friability, porosity, swelling, and dissolution performance. Polymers MC25 and HPC were found to be unsuitable for the preparation of this kind of solid dosage form, while HPMC K15M and K100M showed to be advantageous. Dissolution parameters such as the area under the dissolution curve (AUC), the dissolution efficiency (DE_{20 h}), dissolution time (t 50%), and mean dissolution time (MDT) were calculated for all the formulations, and the highest MDT values were obtained with HPMC indicating that a higher value of MDT signifies a higher drug retarding ability of the polymer and vice-versa. The analysis of the drug release data was performed in the light of distinct kinetic mathematical models—Kosmeyer-Peppas, Higuchi, zero-, and first-order. The release process was also found to be slightly influenced by the kind of diluent used.     

Emission of Gas and $$\hbox {Al}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}$$ Smoke in Gas–Al Particle Deflagration: Experiments and Emission Modeling for Explosive Fireballs

Emission of gas and \(\hbox {Al}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\) smoke within the deflagration of \(\hbox {H}_{2}{-}\hbox {O}_{2}\)–{\(\hbox {N}_{2}{-}\hbox {CO}_{2}\)}–Al particles has been studied in a closed combustion chamber at pressures of up to 18 bar and at gas temperatures of up to 3700 K. Measurements of radiance intensity were taken using a five wavelength pyrometer (0.660 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\), 0.850 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\), 1.083 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\), 1.260 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\), 1.481 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\)) and a grating spectrometer in the range (4.10 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\) to 4.30 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\)). In order to characterize the aluminum oxide smoke size and temperature, an inversion method has been developed based on the radiation transfer equation and using pyrometer measurements and thermochemical calculations of \(\hbox {Al}_{2}\hbox {O}_{3}\) smoke volume fractions. Temperatures in combustion gas have been determined using a method based on the assumed blackbody head of the 4.26 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\) \(\hbox {CO}_{2}\) emission line and on its spectral shift with pressure and temperature. For validation purpose, this method has been applied to measurements obtained when calibrated alumina particles are injected in a combustion chamber prior to gaseous deflagrations. This mathematical inversion method was developed to investigate explosive fireballs.     

<Emphasis FontCategory="NonProportional">umd-verification</Emphasis>: Automation of Software Validation for the EGI Federated e-Infrastructure

Supporting e-Science in the EGI e-Infrastructure requires extensive and reliable software, for advanced computing use, deployed across over approximately 300 European and worldwide data centers. The Unified Middleware Distribution (UMD) and Cloud Middleware Distribution (CMD) are the channels to deliver the software for the EGI e-Infrastructure consumption. The software is compiled, validated and distributed following the Software Provisioning Process (SWPP), where the Quality Criteria (QC) definition sets the minimum quality requirements for EGI acceptance. The growing number of software components currently existing within UMD and CMD distributions hinders the application of the traditional, manual-based validation mechanisms, thus driving the adoption of automated solutions. This paper presents umd-verification, an open-source tool that enforces the fulfillment of the QC requirements in an automated way for the continuous validation of the software products for scientific disposal. The umd-verification tool has been successfully integrated within the SWPP pipeline and is progressively supporting the full validation of the products in the UMD and CMD repositories. While the cost of supporting new products is dependant on the availability of Infrastructure as Code solutions to take over the deployment and high test coverage, the results obtained for the already integrated products are promising, as the time invested in the validation of products has been drastically reduced. Furthermore, automation adoption has brought along benefits for the reliability of the process, such as the removal of human-associated errors or the risk of regression of previously tested functionalities.     

Catalytic performance of gold catalysts in the total oxidation of VOCs

Catalysts for the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were prepared by supporting 1% gold on cerium and zirconium oxides (CeO2, Ce_0.5Zr_0.5O₂, ZrO₂) using a simple impregnation method followed by reduction of gold in the presence or absence of ammonia (N). The catalysts were tested in model reactions, namely the total oxidation of benzene, hexane and chlorobenzene, using a micro flow reactor at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range 100–500°C and their activity was compared to that of Au/TiO₂ and Au/Fe₂O₃ reference catalysts supplied by the World Gold Council (WGC). Benefits on the light-off temperatures were observed by adding gold to cerium-containing oxides: 100% conversion of hexane was obtained with Au/Ce_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ at the lowest temperature (300°C). Full conversion of benzene was reached at only 250°C with Au/CeO₂ (N), at 290°C with Au/Fe₂O₃ (WGC) and at 300°C with Au/Ce_0.5Zr_0.5O₂. In the case of chlorobenzene oxidation, the addition of gold was of even greater relevance because of a drop in the light-off temperature of over 100°C for Au/Ce_0.5Zr_0.5O₂ and Au/CeO₂, with respect to the gold-free oxide supports; but in this case rapid deactivation took place.     

Leishmaniosis--a report about the microvascular and cellular architecture of the infected spleen in Canis familiaris

Leishmaniosis is an anthropozoonosis caused by an intracellular protozoan parasite that causes a wide spectrum of diseases in humans and dogs worldwide. In the Mediterranean basin, Portugal, Central and South America, and in the Middle East, visceral leishmaniosis is caused by Leishmania infantum. In these areas, dogs are believed to be the natural reservoirs of this parasite. In the case of visceral leishmaniosis, the spleen is one of the several hematopoietic and immunocompetent organs involved. Since this viscera is a blood filter, the authors investigated the expression of the morphological and microvascular environment and modifications of the spleen cell population related to immunological responses to this parasitic condition. The tools used to perform this study were scanning electronic microscopy of intact tissue and corrosion casts, transmission electronic microscopy, histology and immunohistochemistry. The results reveal three important modifications concerning the spleen's microvascular architecture when compared with its normal pattern, independently of the serological titer obtained with indirect immunofluorescence. (1) A marked scarcity of the sinusoidal system sheet that surrounds the central artery/arteriole of the white pulp; (2) A huge development of pulp venules and veins; (3) The presence of a surprising development of reticular fibers. The authors postulate that independent of the virulence of the parasite involved and the type of immunity prevalent in a particular host, the spleen develops blood dynamic conditions that permit reduction in the speed of blood flow so that cells involved in immunological processes can proliferate and differentiate, and also contributes to trapping lymphocytes within the area through the differentiation of characteristics that resemble those of HEV endothelial cells.     

Semantic visualization of 3D urban environments

The purpose of this work is the semantic visualization of complex 3D city models containing numerous dynamic entities, as well as performing interactive semantic walkthroughs and flights without predefined paths. This is achieved by using a 3D multilayer scene graph that integrates geometric and semantic information as well as by the performance of efficient geometric and what we call semantic view culling. The proposed semantic-geometric scene graph is a 3D structure composed of several layers which is suitable for visualizing geometric data with semantic meaning while the user is navigating inside the 3D city model. BqR-Tree is the data structure specially developed for the geometric layer for the purpose of speeding up rendering time in urban scenes. It is an improved R-Tree data structure based on a quadtree spatial partitioning which improves the rendering speed of the usual R-trees when view culling is implemented in urban scenes. The BqR-Tree is defined by considering the city block as the basic and logical unit. The advantage of the block as opposed to the traditional unit, the building, is that it is easily identified regardless of the data source format, and allows inclusion of mobile and semantic elements in a natural way. The usefulness of the 3D scene graph has been tested with low structured data, which makes its application appropriate to almost all city data containing not only static but dynamic elements as well.     

Novel hybrid membranes based on polybenzimidazole and ETS-10 titanosilicate type material for high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells: A comprehensive study on dense and porous systems

Novel hybrid membranes based on polybenzimidazole (PBI) and ETS-10 titanosilicate type materials functionalized with sulfonic groups have been developed for high temperature PEMFC applications. In particular, 45% porous ETS-10/PBI electrolyte membranes in porosity have been reported for the first time in this work. A clear conduction outperforming is shown by porous PBI + 3 wt.% SO₃H-ETS-10 doped at 50 °C, attaining “in-plane” conductivity values up to 74 mS cm⁻¹ at 180 °C under dry N₂ flow. The transport selectivity of the as prepared dense and porous PBI based membranes has been evaluated by comparison of “in-plane” conductivity/methanol permeability values at 50 °C, 100 °C and 150 °C. Accounting from that, dense pure PBI membranes are preferred at 50 °C (4.7 × 10⁶ S·s·bar mol⁻¹); whereas at 150 °C, dense PBI + 3% SO₃H-ETS-10 counterparts exhibit the higher conductivity/methanol permeability ratio (2.5 × 10⁸ S·s·bar mol⁻¹).     

拮抗假单胞菌SU8对几种植物病原真菌的抑制作用

[目的]评价拮抗假单胞菌SU8的生防潜力,开发绿色农药。[方法]采用平板对峙法和打孔法研究拮抗假单胞菌SU8、发酵滤液及其乙酸乙酯提取物的抑菌活性。[结果]假单胞菌SU8对稻瘟病菌的抑制效果最好,抑菌带宽度达4.53 cm,辣椒炭疽病菌次之,其余从强到弱依次为烟草赤星病菌、水稻纹枯病菌和小麦赤霉病菌;发酵滤液对水稻纹枯病菌、稻瘟病菌、小麦赤霉病菌、辣椒炭疽病菌、烟草赤星病菌抑菌活性较弱;乙酸乙酯提取物对烟草赤星病菌的抑制效果最好,抑菌带宽度为3.92 cm,对水稻纹枯病的抑菌带宽度为2.34 cm,对其他植物病原菌的抑菌效果从大到小依次为稻瘟病菌、辣椒炭疽病菌和小麦赤霉病菌。[结论]拮抗假单胞菌SU8具有可开发仿生农药的前景。     

甘油深加工技术

全球生物柴油产业的兴起使甘油成为丰富而廉价的天然资源,因而出现许多新的甘油深加工技术.从产业化的角度,简要地介绍了已经产业化和有产业化趋势的新的甘油深加工技术.