Design and development of dry powder Sulfobutylether-β-Cyclodextrin complex for pulmonary delivery of Fisetin

This study has investigated complexation of fisetin, a natural flavonoid, with three types of cyclodextrins to improve its solubility. Sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin (SBE-β-CD) showed the highest complexation efficiency while maintaining the in vitro antioxidant activity of fisetin. Addition of 20%v/v ethanol in water improved the amount of solubilized fisetin in the complex 5.9-fold compared to the system containing water alone. Spray drying of fisetin-SBE-β-CD complex solution in the presence of ethanol produced a dry powder with improved aerosolization properties when delivered from a dry powder inhaler, indicated by a 2-fold increase in the fine particle fraction (FPF) compared to the powder produced from the complex solution containing water alone. The pitted morphological surface of these particles suggested a more hollow internal structure, indicating a lighter and less dense powder. Incorporation of 20%w/w leucine improved the particle size distribution of the powder and further increased the FPF by 2.3-fold. This formulation also showed an EC50 value equivalent to fisetin alone in the A549 cell line. In conclusion, an inhalable dry powder containing fisetin-SBE-β-CD complex was successfully engineered with an improved aqueous solubility of fisetin. The dry powder may be useful to deliver high amounts of fisetin to the deep lung region for therapeutic purposes

Preliminary results of electrical characterization of GO towards MCF7 and MCF10a at different concentrations

GO is the 2D carbon sheet with additional functional groups, is more stable in various solvents, easy to be produced and manipulated especially in biological system. At the moment, GO is only utilized as the drug delivery agent during treatment. In this study, the resistivity of GO towards breast cancer cell (MCF7) and normal breast cell (MCF10a) using interdigitated electrodes (IDE) were investigated. The interaction of different concentrations of GO as the sensing material on the tested cells which act as analyte can change electrical response. The tested cell were treated with six different concentrations of GO and was dropped to the IDE with different period of time in order to examine electrical behavior. For MCF10a, at high concentration the resistances of MCF10 remain in the same order of magnitude with increasing time of detection while for MCF7 at high concentration, the resistances were greatly influenced by the time of detection where the value significantly changed after 5 minutes and 10 minutes. The number of viable cell does not give effect to the resistance

Seasonal variations of harpacticoid copepod and size-fractionated abundances in relation to environmental changes in Setiu Wetland

Aim: Harpaticoid copepods, an important component of fauna in marine environment, play a vital role in aquatic food webs as a source of food for other member of benthic community and the juveniles of predator fish species. Recent data on benthic plankton and nekton composition in coastal wetland of Setiu are useful and important in understanding the interaction between these organisms at different seasons. This maintains the diversity of fish in Setiu Wetland which is a major factor in developing the Wetland as a place for ecotourism and recreational fishing activity. The effort will directly or indirectly benefit the fisheries community living within the wetland which depends on the fisheries sector. Methodology: Meiobenthos samples were collected by Ponar grab. The samples were fixed in 10% formalin and 1% Rose Bengal. Content of each specimen bottle was filtered through 102 µm and 62 µm sieve shaker, respectively. Harpacticoid were individually hand sorted and counted under dissecting microscope. Data obtained for harpacticoid composition were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Seasonal variation of harpacticoid composition for 100 µm sizes recorded the highest number during pre-monsoon with 3591.84 ind 10 cm-2 followed by monsoon, 2569.68 ind 10 cm-2 and post-monsoon 1545.84 ind 10 cm-2, respectively. Salinity is the main physical parameters that can be attributed to the plankton diversity and acts as limiting factor that influences the distribution of plankton community. Significantly, harpacticiod copepod steadily increased during post-monsoon with rising trend of salinity verified the environmental influences on zooplankton abundances. Interpretation: The results of this study indicated that different season demonstrated major impact on harpacticoid composition which may effect the avaibility of food source towards the small fishes as a live feed

Antimicrobial and Efflux Pump Inhibitory Activity of Caffeoylquinic Acids from Artemisia absinthium against Gram-Positive Pathogenic Bacteria

Background: Traditional antibiotics are increasingly suffering from the emergence of multidrug resistance amongst pathogenic bacteria leading to a range of novel approaches to control microbial infections being investigated as potential alternative treatments. One plausible antimicrobial alternative could be the combination of conventional antimicrobial agents/antibiotics with small molecules which block multidrug efflux systems known as efflux pump inhibitors. Bioassay-driven purification and structural determination of compounds from plant sources have yielded a number of pump inhibitors which acted against gram positive bacteria. Methodology/Principal Findings: In this study we report the identification and characterization of 4′,5′-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid (4′,5′-ODCQA) from Artemisia absinthium as a pump inhibitor with a potential of targeting efflux systems in a wide panel of Gram-positive human pathogenic bacteria. Separation and identification of phenolic compounds (chlorogenic acid, 3′,5′-ODCQA, 4′,5′-ODCQA) was based on hyphenated chromatographic techniques such as liquid chromatography with post column solid-phase extraction coupled with nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy. Microbial susceptibility testing and potentiation of well know pump substrates revealed at least two active compounds; chlorogenic acid with weak antimicrobial activity and 4′,5′-ODCQA with pump inhibitory activity whereas 3′,5′-ODCQA was ineffective. These intitial findings were further validated with checkerboard, berberine accumulation efflux assays using efflux-related phenotypes and clinical isolates as well as molecular modeling methodology. Conclusions/Significance: These techniques facilitated the direct analysis of the active components from plant extracts, as well as dramatically reduced the time needed to analyze the compounds, without the need for prior isolation. The calculated energetics of the docking poses supported the biological information for the inhibitory capabilities of 4′,5′-ODCQA and furthermore contributed evidence that CQAs show a preferential binding to Major Facilitator Super family efflux systems, a key multidrug resistance determinant in gram-positive bacteria.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01GM59903)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant R01AI050875)Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (VICI grant 700.56.442)Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (grant 5U54MH084690-02

Electronic Patient Record for Dental Charting

The use of electronic patient records has a great positive potential to improve clinical practice and patient safety. These improvements can be realized through improved legibility and communication, standardized documentation, streamlined storage and consistent reporting. This paper addresses the development of an electronic patient record for dental charting as an alternative means towards a user-friendly and patient-centered dental environment. It considers prevalent dental charting practices, proposes a patient dental database and presents a dental charting application prototype, capable of capturing and displaying patient dental records. Data from this database is mapped and can be further manipulated through the patient's interactive dental chart. This interactivity not only offer quick-to-comprehend interfaces, but also reduces miscommunicationss. It will affect positively the legibility of dental records, enable a standardized documentation and a more consistent reporting

Energy Portfolio Assessment Tool (EPAT): Sustainable energy planning using the WEF nexus approach – Texas case

The paper introduces a holistic framework that identifies the links between energy and other systems (water, land, environment, finance, etc.), and measures the impact of energy portfolios, to offer a solid foundation for the best sustainable decision making in energy planning. The paper presents a scenario-based holistic nexus tool, Energy Portfolio Assessment Tool (EPAT) that provides a platform for energy stakeholders and policymakers to create and evaluate the sustainability of various scenarios based on the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus approach. The tool is applied to a case study in Texas, USA. Scenarios considered are set by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA): EIA Reference Case – 2015, EIA Clean Power Plan (CPP) & Reference Case - 2030, and EIA No-CPP & Reference Case - 2030. In the presence of the CPP, total water withdrawal is expected to decrease significantly, while total water consumption is projected to experience a slight decrease due to the increase in water consumption in electricity generation caused by the new electricity mix. The CPP is successful in decreasing emissions, but is accompanied by tradeoffs, such as increased water consumption and land use by electricity generation. The absence of the CPP will lead to an extreme surge in total water withdrawn and consumed, and in emissions. Therefore, conservation policies should move from the silo to the nexus mentality to avoid unintended consequences that result in improving one part of the nexus while worsening the other parts. © 2018 Elsevier B.V

Sensor fabrications using inkjet distributions and analysis systems

Alternative for electrode fabrications were demonstrated. Interdigitated electrodes (IDE) on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate using silver conductive ink were successfully fabricated. Nano-particle based conductive inks (Jet-600 C) which have wide range viscosity control were used in this study. Inkjet Distributions and Analysis Systems (IJDAS) is inkjet printing technology that allows for deposition of versatile thin films, the design of which can be changed from time to time. Printing method was using dropped-on-demand inkjet depends on the nozzles arranged in a single line. It has been shown that the silver ink with viscosity between 7 to 10cps is suitable for IDE fabrications on PET

Synthetic graphite production of oil palm trunk chip at various heating rate via pyrolisis process

Synthetic graphite was synthesized from oil palm trunk chip in controlled heating condition or pyrolysis process. The heating rate (5 °/min, 10 °/min and 20 °/min) were varied whilst the heating temperature at 800 °C was fixed. After heat treatment process, the samples were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and analyzed using X’Pert Highscore Plus software. Graphite phase was analysed by XRD and it was further supported by RAMAN spectroscopy analysis to confirm the graphitic nature of the synthetic graphite obtained. The morphological study was carried out by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Based on the analysis, it was confirm that synthetic graphite was successfully synthesized by heat treatment at 800 °C (20 °/min heating rate). Synthetic graphite were observed in the form of amorphous carbon based on the XRD diffraction pattern that match with the reference code of 00-041-1487. RAMAN spectroscopy also showed the formation on D, G and 2D peaks at the respective wavenumber of 1250 cm-1, 1625 cm-1 and 2700 cm-1

Investigation on the AC breakdown voltage of RBDPO Olein

Vegetable oil is one of the alternatives for mineral oil as dielectric insulating fluid in transformers. Vegetable oil is environmentally friendly, it is biodegradable, it is renewable and has high flash point which ensure more safety for in-service operation. There are many types of vegetable oils and one of them is palm based oil. Currently, there are different types of palm based oils were considered for transformers application such as Crude Palm Oil (CPO), Palm Kernel Oil (PKO), Refined, Bleached and Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO), Palm Fatty Acid Ester (PFAE) and PKO Alkyl Ester. In this paper, a study is carried out to investigate the AC breakdown voltage of RBDPO Olein before and after dried procedure. The study shown that the AC breakdown voltage have increased significantly after various samples of RBDPO Olein being dried. However, fats and vitamin E contents in each samples demonstrated indefinite effects to the AC breakdown voltage for both conditions