Improvement of some pharmaceutical properties of drugs by cyclodextrin complexation. 4. Chlorpromazine hydrochloride

This study is a retrospective review of admissions, discharge records and blood culture results of neonates admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, from the first of January 1991 to the 31st of December 1992. During this two year period there were 443 positive blood cultures. Ninety percent of the blood cultures were from babies born in Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, thus making the incidence of neonatal bacteraemia 22.2 per 1000 live births. The overall mortality rate was 37.2%. Gram negative bacteria accounted for 70.9% and Gram positive bacteria for 29.1% of all neonatal bacteraemia. The most common isolates were Enterobacter species 29.6%; Streptococcus faecalis 14.4%; Staphylococcus aureus 10.8%; Acinetobacter species 9.5%; Klebsiella species 9% and Escherichia coli 8.8%. It is concluded that the incidence of neonatal bacterial sepsis is high in our hospital and is associated with a very high mortality rate. There is thus an urgent need to institute appropriate preventive and therapeutic measures.     

Subpallidal outputs to the nucleus accumbens and the ventral tegmental area: anatomical and electrophysiological studies

The goal of this study was to investigate the functional organization of the subpallidal-->accumbens direct and indirect feedback loops by both anatomical and electrophysiological methods. The results of the dextran-conjugated rhodamine injections into the subpallidal area has shown three distinct projections: (1) a substantial pathway from the subpallidal area to the ventral tegmental area, (2) a more diffuse rostral projection from the subpallidal area to the core area of the nucleus accumbens, and (3) a sparse pathway projecting rostrodorsally from the subpallidal area toward the thalamic regions. Electrical or chemical stimulation of the subpallidal region, which was studied by the axonal tracer, evoked inhibitory responses in the majority (60 and 80%, respectively) of the accumbens and ventral tegmental area neurons in a standard extracellular recording study. Less than 1/3 of the accumbens or ventral tegmental area cells showed an increase in the mean firing rate. The majority (77.5%) of all responded neurons had a latency of less than 10 ms. Furthermore, injection of glutamate into the subpallidal area not only altered the firing pattern of the accumbens neurons, but also attenuated their excitatory responses elicited by the electrical stimulation of the ventral subiculum. Our results indicate that the subpallidal area plays a predominantly inhibitory role in the ventral tegmental area-accumbens-subpallidal circuitry, presumably by its GABAergic projections, and may also modulate subicular input into the nucleus accumbens.     

The toxicity of IDPN on the vestibular system of the rat: new insights on its effects on behavior and neurofilament transport

3,3'-Iminodipropionitrile (IDPN) causes a permanent syndrome of abnormalities in spontaneous behavior and a deficit in the axonal transport of neurofilaments (NF). Male Long-Evans rats were given IDPN (0, 200, 400, 600, or 1000 mg/kg, ip, in saline) and assessed for behaviors indicative of vestibular function at 1 week post-dosing. The morphology of the peripheral vestibular system in animals dosed with 0, 200, 400, 600, 800, or 1000 mg/kg of IDPN was assessed at 4 days post-dosing by light microscopy on semithin sections. Animals receiving 1000, 1500, or 2000 mg/kg of IDPN were assessed for morphological alterations in the vestibular ganglion at 8 days post-dosing. Behavioral data indicated a dose-dependent loss of vestibular function after IDPN, the vestibular deficits first appearing at the 400 mg/kg dose level. IDPN exposure was also observed to result in degeneration of the vestibular sensory hair cells. Degenerative changes were already found at the 400 mg/kg dose level, and were extensive after 1000 mg/kg. In the ganglion neurons, no effects were observed after 1000 mg/kg of IDPN, but perikaryal accumulations of NF were found after 1500 or 2000 mg/kg. In conclusion, the data showed that low doses of IDPN are toxic to the vestibular hair cells, and suggest a link between this action and the effects of the chemical on spontaneous behavior. In addition, doses of IDPN larger than those required for toxicity to the vestibular sensory cells, induced accumulations of NF in the myelinated cell bodies of the vestibular ganglion neurons.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Should diastasis recti be corrected?

From theoretical considerations animals with a higher protein-fat ratio in the body should have a higher maintenance energy requirement (MEm). The literature on this problem shows a non-uniform picture with deviating results. From the results of a series of experiments it is possible to compare the heat production (HP) of male and female animals of the Vietnamese Sway-back breed pigs which vary quite widely in their body composition. The protein-fat ratio was 1.2 for the male and 0.2 for the female animals. In the experiments 4 male and 4 female animals in the live weight range of 20-33 kg and 33-42 kg, respectively, were involved. The HP measurements were carried out in climatized respiration chambers on two levels of energy intake at ambient temperatures of 6 degrees C, 12 degrees C, 18 degrees C, 24 degrees C, 30 degrees C, and 35 degrees C. The dependence of HP on the ambient temperature has been described by a cubic regression function. Thermoneutral temperatures are lower in the female animals caused by the better insulation effect of the backfat. The difference in HP which was expected by the large difference in body composition, was not found. The absolute protein mass determined the correlation to HP. Certainly the difference increased after lowering the ambient temperature. The influence of different factors on HP is discussed.     

The influence of different zeolitic supports on hydrogen production and waste degradation

The photocatalyst composition affects the chemical–physical properties and directly impacts photocatalytic activity, both in the hydrogen production and degradation of organic contaminants. In this work, the influence of zeolitic structures NaA, NaY, and ZSM-5 combined with a 10% active phase, TiO₂ catalyst doped with 1% copper, and cobalt cocatalysts was tested to mineralize the reactive blue dye (CI250) and to produce hydrogen by photocatalysis under ultraviolet radiation. The band gap energy was affected mainly by the cocatalyst, while the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method (BET) area was affected by the zeolite structure as well as the X-ray diffraction (XRD). The most active catalyst was the Cu@TiO₂/NaY, which promoted a hydrogen production rate of 240 μmolH₂gcat⁻¹ using 10% ethanol (v/v) aqueous solution as a sacrificial agent and mineralization of 53% of the organic dye, followed by the catalysts impregnated on ZSM-5 zeolites, which had discolouration up to 50% and hydrogen evolution of 92.6 and 109.7 μmolH₂gcat⁻¹ for the catalyst doped with Cu and Co, respectively.     

Selbstansaugende rotierende Sonde zur Entnahme von partikelfreien Gasproben aus Prozessgasen

A filtration system for keeping the analytics free of particles is usually required for inline characterization of particle‐laden process gasses. Additionally gas pumps may be needed for overcoming the pressure drop of filter element and filter cake. Consecutive reactions of process gas and filter cake may be disadvantageous for the quality of the gas analysis. A new probing apparatus is presented for extraction of particle‐free gas samples from particle‐laden process gasses. The probe combines the functionalities of a gas pump and a particle separator. While the gas is transported from process to analysis, particles are separated according to the principle of air classification.     

Sintering of porous alumina obtained by biotemplate fibers for low thermal conductivity applications

In this research report, a sintering process of porous ceramic materials based on Al₂O₃ was employed using a method where a cation precursor solution is embedded in an organic fibrous cotton matrix. For porous green bodies, the precursor solution and cotton were annealed at temperatures in the range of 100–1600 °C using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis to obtain a porous body formation and disposal process containing organic fibers and precursor solution. In a structure consisting of open pores and interconnected nanometric grains, despite the low porosity of around 40% (calculated geometrically), nitrogen physisorption determined a specific surface area of 14 m²/g, which shows much sintering of porous bodies. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analytical methods revealed a predominant amount of α-Al₂O₃ in the sintered samples. Thermal properties of the sintered Al₂O₃ fibers were obtained by using the Laser Flash which resulted in the lower thermal conductivity obtained by α-Al₂O₃ and therefore improved its potential use as an insulating material.     

Cover Image,Volume 141, Issue 17

The cover image by Lizandra Viana Maurat da Rocha highlights one of our innovative biodegradable films, which incorporated molybdenum trioxide and zinc oxide into the poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) matrix through casting. The photo emphasizes its partial transparency and homogeneity. Some analytical results reported as FTIR, TD-NMR, XRD and TGA validates nanomaterial's exceptional mechanical and chemical properties. Icons below underscore its potential as an eco-friendly food packaging,with bacteriostatic features and no formation of microplastics after disposal. DOI: 10.1002/app.55294