In Vitro Evaluation of Albumin Microspheres Containing Actinomycin D

Albumin microspheres containing actinomycin D were prepared by the heat stabilization method. The compata-bility of the drug with magnetite and the optimum stability of the drug in different pH were studied. Drug loaded albumin microspheres containing magnetite showed good magnetic response. Release of the drug was slow and continued for 7 days exhibiting sustained release property. The difference as regards to the size, shape, drug content and release rate from freshly prepared and freeze dried drug loaded albumin microspheres was negligible.     

Pesticides removal performance by low‐pressure reverse osmosis membranes

Pressure driven techniques (viz. reverse osmosis and nanofiltration) have the potentiality to remove the pesticides from water. The observations revealed that pesticides removal mostly depends upon the molecular weight (size exclusion) and hydrophobicity (log P) of the pesticides. Interfacial polymerization of m‐phenylene diamine (MPD) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC) on the polysulfone membranes impart the salt rejection property in it. It is shown that with the greater salt rejection property, the performance removal of pesticides also is in increasing trend. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 3575–3579, 2006     

An optimal fuzzy system for color image enhancement.

A Gaussian membership function is proposed to fuzzify the image information in spatial domain. We introduce a global contrast intensification operator (GINT), which contains three parameters, viz., intensification parameter t, fuzzifier fh, and the crossover point mu(c), for enhancement of color images. We define fuzzy contrast-based quality factor Qf and entropy-based quality factor Qe and the corresponding visual factors for the desired appearance of images. By minimizing the fuzzy entropy of the image information with respect to these quality factors, the parameters t, fh, and mu(c) are calculated globally. By using the proposed technique, a visible improvement in the image quality is observed for under exposed images, as the entropy of the output image is decreased. The terminating criterion is decided by both the visual and quality factors. For over exposed and under plus over exposed images, the proposed fuzzification function needs to be modified by taking maximum intensity as the fourth parameter. The type of the images is indicated by the visual factor which is less than 1 for under exposed images and more than 1 for over exposed images.     

Water and Energy for Development in Gujarat with Special Focus on the Sardar Sarovar Project

More than 150 000 villages in India have been facing drinking water problems. In Gujarat State, one of the worst affected, not only is all its surface water fully tapped, but the groundwater is also overexploited (by consuming nearly 43% of state electricity) resulting in deterioration of water quality, causing health hazards. This paper highlights the importance of the Sardar Sarovar Project for the socioeconomic development of western India in general and Gujarat in particular. It also presents the path-breaking approach that has been adopted in relation to the environment, rehabilitation etc. It is concluded that in the present circumstances, the state has no choice but to harness Narmada waters.     

Signal recency effects can be distinguished from signal repetition effects in serial CRT tasks.

Reaction time (RT) is reduced in serial choice tasks when a particular signal, as distinct from the response made to it, is repeated on successive trials, N–1 and N. This experiment with 30 undergraduates showed a separate signal recency effect. RT is also reduced when a signal presented on trial N–2 recurs on trial N. In 3 many-to-one signal-to-response mapping tasks (2 responses 4 signals, 2 responses 8 signals, and 2 responses 16 signals), the effects of recent occurrence of signals were shown to be distinct from the effects of recent occurrence of responses made to them. The magnitude of signal recency effects varies directly with set size, but decreases, and may eventually disappear, with practice. The effect decreases with practice faster when signal sets are small than when they are large. A simple model accounts for these results and for earlier data from many-to-one mapping tasks that show that variations in signal entropy cease to affect choice reaction time if practice is sufficiently prolonged. Predictions from this model for changes in component RT distributions with signal set size, signal repetition, signal recency, and practice suggest further experiments. (French summary) (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of various lipid-bile salt mixed micelles on the intestinal absorption of amphotericin-B in rat

We investigated the effect of the somatosensory functions to the outcomes of motor functions in 28 patients with thalamic hemorrhage. The disturbance of the pyramidal tracts was assessed by the destruction of the internal capsule found in computed tomography (CT). The disturbance of the somatosensory function was analyzed by the N20 component of short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP). The outcomes of motor function was evaluated after 3 months of ictus. Correlations between the outcomes of motor function, disturbance of the pyramidal tract, and disturbance of the somatosensory function were discussed. The result indicated that functional outcomes statistically correlated with neither disturbance of the internal capsule alone nor disturbance of N20 alone. But, there was statistically significant between functional outcomes and the combination of disturbance of the internal capsule with disturbance of N20 (p < 0.05, Wilcoxon signed-rank). There was not statistical difference in hematoma volume or consciousness. The implications of these results suggest that somatosensory function may affect the recovery of motor functions.