Investigation of the stability of tablets prepared from sucrose and citric acid anhydride utilizing response surface methodology

Inversion of sucrose is a stability problem particularly of candies with acidic taste that contain sucrose and small amounts of organic acids such as citric acid, since the free d-fructose produced by hydrolysis is hygroscopic. The following possibilities were investigated for preventing the hydrolysis of sucrose in tablets containing sucrose and citric acid: Adding various amounts of tri-sodium citrate to the formulation to neutralize the citric acid, (Hot) melt coating of citric acid and tri-sodium citrate with a vegetable fat at different coating ratios, variation of the ratio of coated citric acid and tri-sodium citrate in formulations, and compressing the formulations with different compression forces. After tablet processing and storage of tablets, the concentration of d-fructose was determined on the basis of enzymatic reactions. A response surface central composite design was used. The above-mentioned variations were chosen as independent variables and the amount of d-fructose was chosen as response variable. The lowest rates of inversion could be achieved by increasing the content of tri-sodium citrate and the ratio of coating material and decreasing the ratio of coated citric acid and tri-sodium citrate in the tablet formulations. The compression force had no significant effect on the inversion of sucrose.     

The residential therapeutic caring community.

The residential therapeutic caring community (RTCC) for adolescents combines psychotherapeutic principles of the professional model and self-help concept of the therapeutic community by using the collective resources of members to mobilize peer pressure. The RTCC is a safe, structured, supportive treatment environment that employs a confrontation, teaching, interpretative, and reasoning approach and uses the psychotherapeutic principles of reality therapy and existential thought. In the RTCC, the staff serve as mentors and role models, and they demonstrate their concern by maintaining high expectations for immediate improved behavior. The personal qualities necessary for a psychotherapist working in an RTCC are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cathodic reduction of acids in dimethylformamide on platinum

A linear correlation was shown to exist between the acidity and the cyclic voltammetric half-potential of the reduction of acids in DMF for carboxylic and N-acids in the pK_a range of 6-16. Chlorophenols are reduced at slightly lower potentials giving a separate parallel line. Applying the obtained equation and employing the same method to literature data in DMSO, the pK_a values for conjugate aids of DMF and DMSO can be calculated, showing DMSO·H⁺ to be more acidic (pK_a = 2.9) than DMF·H⁺ (pK_a = 5.7). The analysis of cyclovoltammetric data demonstrated that a CE mechanism operates in the reduction of strong acids, including the conjugate acid of DMF. Weaker acids are reduced by direct discharge or a mixed mechanism.     

Cortical cholinergic impairment and behavioral deficits produced by kainic acid lesions of rat magnocellular basal forebrain.

The rat magnocellular basal forebrain (MNBF) is homologous to the human nucleus basalis of Meynert, a structure implicated in the cholinergic hypothesis of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In the present study, 18 male Sprague-Dawley rats with kainic acid lesions in the MNBF were compared with 6 unoperated controls, 10 sham-operated controls, and 6 controls injected with kainic acid in the cortical area directly above the MNBF. MNBF lesions depleted choline acetyltransferase in cortex but not in striatum or hippocampus. Cortical dopamine levels were unchanged; serotonin levels were unchanged in hippocampus and parietal cortex but decreased in frontal cortex. Compared with controls, MNBF-lesioned Ss were impaired in 24-hr retention, but not acquisition, of a passive avoidance task with escapable footshock. The groups did not differ in mean number of daily avoidances on a barpress active avoidance task, although learning was slower in MNBF-lesioned Ss. In a serial spatial discrimination reversal test, MNBF-lesioned Ss performed significantly worse than controls. This model may be useful for studying the role of the cholinergic system in memory and possibly for developing treatment strategies to alleviate the cognitive dysfunction of AD. (63 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing for the equivalence of factor covariance and mean structures: The issue of partial measurement invariance.

Addresses issues related to partial measurement invariance using a tutorial approach based on the {lisrel} confirmatory factor analytic model. Specifically, we demonstrate procedures for (a) using "sensitivity analyses" to establish stable and substantively well-fitting baseline models, (b) determining partially invariant measurement parameters, and (c) testing for the invariance of factor covariance and mean structures, given partial measurement invariance. We also show, explicitly, the transformation of parameters from an all-X to an all-Y model specification, for purposes of testing mean structures. These procedures are illustrated with multidimensional self-concept data from low (n?=?248) and high (n?=?582) academically tracked high school adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor worsens the outcome of experimental Klebsiella pneumoniae pneumonia through direct interaction with the bacteria

Besides its well-established effects on granulocytopoiesis, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) has been shown to have direct effects on the recruitment and bactericidal ability of neutrophils, resulting in improved survival of experimentally infected animals. We studied the effect of G-CSF on the course of experimental pneumonia induced by Klebsiella pneumoniae, an important gram-negative bacillary pulmonary pathogen. Using a highly reproducible murine model, we here show the paradoxical finding that mortality from infection was significantly increased when animals received G-CSF before induction of pneumonia. Administration of G-CSF promoted replication of bacteria in the liver and spleen, thus indicating an impairment rather than an enhancement of antibacterial mechanisms. By contrast, a monoclonal antibody against Klebsiella K2 capsule significantly reduced bacterial multiplication in the lung, liver, and spleen, and abrogated the increased mortality caused by G-CSF. In vitro studies showed a direct effect of G-CSF on K pneumoniae resulting in increased capsular polysaccharide (CPS) production. When bacteria were coincubated with therapeutically achievable concentrations of G-CSF, phagocytic uptake and killing by neutrophils was impaired. Western blot analysis showed three binding sites of G-CSF to K pneumoniae. Binding of 125I-G-CSF to K pneumoniae was displaced by an excess of unlabeled G-CSF, whereas an unrelated cytokine, interleukin-1alpha, did not compete with G-CSF binding to the bacteria. Thus, in this model, the direct effect of G-CSF on a bacterial virulence factor, CPS production, outweighed any beneficial effect of G-CSF on recruitment and stimulation of leukocytes.     

Differential time course of angiotensin-induced AP-1 and Krox proteins in the rat lamina terminalis and hypothalamus

Binding to olfactory receptors is the first step in odorant and pheromonal recognition and discrimination. These receptors constitute one of the most important, although poorly known, families of neuronal receptors. In this study we used degenerated oligonucleotides and a RT-PCR approach to selectively amplify olfactory receptors in the nasal epithelium of the domestic pig Sus scrofa. Several combinations of oligonucleotide were tested and allowed the isolation of eleven different partial sequences belonging to the seven transmembrane olfactory receptor family. These receptors formed a separate family within the seven transmembrane receptor superfamily in pigs. Using the criteria of Ben Arie et al. [Ben-Arie N., Lancet D., Taylor C., Khen M., Walker N., Ledbetter DH., Carrozzo R., Patel K., Sheer D., Lehrah H. and North M., Hum. Mol. Genet., 3 (1994) 229-235], the 11 receptors described here can be classified into three known families and seven subfamilies (one known and six new).     

Loveparade 2010: Automatic video analysis of a crowd disaster

On July 24, 2010, 21 people died and more than 500 were injured in a stampede at the Loveparade, a music festival, in Duisburg, Germany. Although this tragic incident is but one among many terrible crowd disasters that occur during pilgrimage, sports events, or other mass gatherings, it stands out for it has been well documented: there were a total of seven security cameras monitoring the Loveparade and the chain of events that led to disaster was meticulously reconstructed.In this paper, we present an automatic, video-based analysis of the events in Duisburg. While physical models and simulations of human crowd behavior have been reported before, to the best of our knowledge, automatic vision systems that detect congestions and dangerous crowd turbulences in real world settings were not reported yet. Derived from lessons learned from the video footage of the Loveparade, our system is able to detect motion patterns that characterize crowd behavior in stampedes. Based on our analysis, we propose methods for the detection and early warning of dangerous situations during mass events. Since our approach mainly relies on optical flow computations, it runs in real-time and preserves privacy of the people being monitored.