Ultrasound enhances lipase-catalyzed synthesis of poly (ethylene glutarate)

The present work explores the best conditions for the enzymatic synthesis of poly (ethylene glutarate) for the first time. The start-up materials are the liquids; diethyl glutarate and ethylene glycol diacetate, without the need of addition of extra solvent. The reactions are catalyzed by lipase B from Candida antarctica immobilized on glycidyl methacrylate-ter-divinylbenzene-ter-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate at 40 °C during 18 h in water bath with mechanical stirring or 1 h in ultrasonic bath followed by 6 h in vacuum in both the cases for evaporation of ethyl acetate. The application of ultrasound significantly intensified the polyesterification reaction with reduction of the processing time from 24 to 7 h. The same degree of polymerization was obtained for the same enzyme loading in less time of reaction when using the ultrasound treatment. The degree of polymerization for long-term polyesterification was improved approximately 8-fold due to the presence of sonication during the reaction. The highest degree of polymerization achieved was 31, with a monomer conversion of 96.77%. The ultrasound treatment demonstrated to be an effective green approach to intensify the polyesterification reaction with enhanced initial kinetics and high degree of polymerization.This study was supported by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684). The work was also supported by Bioprocess and Bionanotechnology Research Group (BBRG) of Minho University and the Post Graduate Funding Program of Jiangnan University for Overseas Study. All authors also acknowledge the funding of Department of Science and Technology and Portuguese Science Foundation under the Indo-Portuguese collaborative program

The cross-sectional analytical study of COVID and post COVID mucormycosis in diabetic and non-diabetic patients and their outcomes

Background: Mucormycosis, a rare but serious fungal infection, has shown a concerning rise in incidence among COVID and post-COVID patients, with males constituting majority of cases. This study aimed to investigate the impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) on outcomes in patients with COVID and post-COVID mucormycosis. Given the known association between DM and increased susceptibility to infections, particularly fungal ones, understanding the role of DM in exacerbating mucormycosis outcomes is crucial for clinical management. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted, involving a cohort of 50 patients with mucormycosis, equally divided into diabetic and non-diabetic groups. Data on morbidity, complications, hospitalization rates, and mortality were collected and compared between the two groups. Additionally, glycemic control status was assessed among diabetic patients to evaluate its impact on outcomes. Results: Among the 50 patients analyzed, diabetic individuals displayed significantly poorer outcomes compared to their non-diabetic counterparts. This included increased morbidity, complications, hospitalization rates, and mortality. Moreover, patients with uncontrolled DM exhibited the worst outcomes, highlighting the critical importance of managing glycemic control during mucormycosis treatment. Conclusions: The study underscores the necessity of vigilant monitoring and targeted interventions, particularly in diabetic individuals, to mitigate the adverse effects of mucormycosis in the context of COVID-19. Effective management of diabetes, especially glycemic control, is crucial for improving overall patient outcomes and reducing the burden of mucormycosis-related complications and mortality in both COVID and post-COVID scenarios. Further research is warranted to refine treatment protocols and optimize outcomes for this vulnerable population

A comparative study of clinical profile of diabetic tuberculosis patients with non diabetic tuberculosis patients of outpatient department of tertiary healthcare centre

Background: The global increase in type 2 DM is recognized re-emerging risk and challenge to TB control in India. TB-T2D association is again at the frontline of risk factors for TB, with an estimated worldwide population attributable fraction of 34.5%. T2D not only increases TB risk 3-fold, but also TB treatment failure including death. And prognosis of diabetic tuberculosis patients as compared to non diabetic ones is poorer. Methods: An comparative analytical study was done in  microbiologically confirmed 50 diabetic and 50 non diabetic TB patients  registered in RNTCP OPD of tertiary healthcare hospital who were followed up for 3 months. Results: In our study we found that elderly (above 65 age group) male diabetic patients were affected more with tuberculosis as compared to young patients and data was statistically significant. Extrapulmonary involvement was seen more in diabetic patients as compared to non diabetic patients. Radiologically diabetic tuberculosis patient showed predominantly lower lobe of lung involvement as oppose to non diabetic tuberculosis patients who showed upper lobe of lung involvement and data was statistically significant. Outcomes like Multidrug Resistance and prolonged sputum positivity after intensive phase treatment was seen more with diabetic tuberculosis patients but this was not statistically significant. Conclusions: Early screening of TB patients for DM and vice versa and early initiation of treatment will prevent unfavourable outcomes of these patients

STABILITY INDICATING RP-HPLC-PDA METHOD FOR DETERMINATION OF ABIRATERONE ACETATE AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ITS BASE CATALYZED DEGRADATION PRODUCT BY LC-MS

Objective: The present work describes stability indicating (SI) RP-HPLC-PDA method for determination of abiraterone acetate (ABA) and characterization of its base catalyzed degradation product by LC-MS.Methods: The separation was achieved by using column Kromasil C18 (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 4.0 µ) using acetonitrile (ACN): ammonium acetate buffer 10 mM, pH adjusted to 3.5 with acetic acid (AA) in the ratio of 10:90 % v/v as eluent. The Mobile phase flow rate was 0.6 ml/min and data integration was achieved at 235 nm.Results: The retention time of ABA was 5.4±0.01 min. Linearity was found to be in the range of 5–30 μg/ml. The limit of detection and quantitation were 0.25 μg/ml and 0.75 μg/ml respectively, and percentage recovery of ABA was found to be 99.52 to 100.13 %. Mass spectral data of base degraded product of ABA shows a prominent molecular ion peak at m/z-391.5. Major fragmentation leads to formation of 10–Methyl 2,3,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15-dodecanhydro-1H cyclopenta (α)phenanthren-3-ol as a degradant (D2) at m/z-257.81, due to corresponding loss of C8H12ON. All the analytical validation parameters were determined and found in the limit as per ICH guidelines.Conclusion: The results of the various validation studies showed that the LC method is fast, specific, accurate, reproducible, possessed significant linearity and precision. The drug was found to be stable under all the stress conditions except basic stress. Thus developed method reported first time is novel with a very short run time of 6 min.Â

MICROENCAPSULATION OF â-CAROTENE AND ITS UTILIZATION IN POMOGRANATE READY TO SERVE BEVERAGE

Microencapsulation of β-carotene with maltodextrin of 25 and 36.5 DE was carried out and utilized in the pomogranate RTS beverage to enrich in β-carotene. The freeze dried microencapsulated β-carotene with maltodextrin of 36.5 DE resulted 25% surface β-carotene and 80% microencapsulation efficiency and 75% retention in βcarotene content of RTS beverage during storage. The total antioxidant activity (TAA) of β-carotene enriched pomogranate RTS beverage at 5gm/lit of RTS resulted highest level of TAA with 14.82 mMol/L

STUDIES ON EFFECT OF SOAKING TIME, TEMPERATURE AND pH ON THE YIELD OF SORGHUM STARCH (SORGHUM BICOLOR) VARIETY PVK-801

The suitability of sorghum as a source of starch was investigated. The effects of soaking time, temperature and pH on the yield of starch were optimized and its functional and rheological properties were studied. The sorghum grain flour contained 74.50% starch. Soaking time of 20 h, temperature of 50ºC and pH of 4.5 resulted in maximum yield (75.5%) of starch.The solubility and swelling of sorghum starch were maximum at 90ºC viz. 19.25% and 18.10% respectively. The starch at 10% level yielded an apparent viscosity of 1998.50 Cps at 90ºC using shear rate of 4.51 S-1

Analytical method development and validation of assay test of pravastatin sodium tablets

A simple, accurate, precise and stability indicating Ultra performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of pravastatin sodium in tablet dosage form. The separation was carried on Acquity UPLC ® HSS C18, 2.1 × 100mm, 1.8µm ID column, with mobile phase comprising of mixture of pH 5.5 buffer: methanol in the ratio of 30 : 70 v/v, as the mobile phase at a flow rate  0.2 ml/min and the detection was carried out using UV-visible detector at 238nm. The method was validated by evaluation of different parameters such as accuracy, precision, linearity, ruggedness, robustness, filter equivalency, solution stability. The retention time were found to be 1.5 min. Calibration curves were linear with correlation coefficient (r2) 0.999. The Percent assay of Pravastatin sodium tablet was found to be 98.4%. The developed methods were validated as per the ICH guidelines. Keywords: Pravastatin sodium (PVS), UPLC, Method Validation

Cross-sectional descriptive observational study of RT PCR proven category C H1N1 patients at tertiary care centre from January 2015- December 2015

Background: The onset of winter of 2014-2015 saw an alarming spurt in influenza A (H1N1) pdm 09 leading to a significant mortality. H1N1 primarily affects the very young, elderly, pregnancy and those patients with comorbidities. But the epidemiologic hallmark of pandemic influenza is its "pandemic signature " meaning most early mortalities are among young healthy adults.Methods: To study clinical profile, premorbid conditions and radiological features of Category C H1N1 proven by RTPCR retrospectively from hospital records from Jan 2015 to Dec 2015 at Tertiary Care Centre.Results: Total 108 cases RT PCR proven category C H1N1 studied from hospital records. 43 were males and 65 females. The mean age group was 50 years for males and 40 for females. Common symptoms were fever, cough, dyspnoea with pre-morbid illness like hypertension, diabetes mellitus, pregnancy, cancer and immune compromised with pulmonary tuberculosis. Radiologically there was lower zone involvement common in live patients and reticulonodular was common in death cases.Conclusions: In current study young to middle age group was commonly affected. Pre-morbid conditions, more than two risk factors and late referral were the most common findings in death cases