A NEW NP-UPLC METHOD FOR THE SEPARATION AND SIMULTANEOUS QUANTIFICATION OF RAMUCIRUMAB AND ERLOTINIB

Objective: This investigation demonstrates a stability-indicating and reliable “normal phase ultra-performance liquid chromatography” method to simultaneously quantify Ramucirumab and Erlotinib in the pharmaceutical dosage form. Methods: Successful separation was accomplished using Chiralcel-OD-3 column (50 mm x 4.6 mm, 3 μm) with an isocratic type of elution using a mobile phase containing n-hexane+isopropyl alcohol+methanol (89:10:1), respectively with 1.0 ml/min flow rate. The wavelength sensor was attuned at 266 nm to quantify Ramucirumab and Erlotinib. Results: Erlotinib and Ramucirumab peaks were eluted with fine resolution at retention times 1.7807 min and 3.175 min, respectively. In the 10-150 μg/ml and 1-15 μg/ml concentration ranges for Erlotinib and Ramucirumab, the calibration graphs were linear, with regression coefficients of 0.99928 and 0.99976, respectively. The suggested ultra-performance liquid chromatography approach has been shown as sensitive, precise, robust, accurate, specific and stability indicating through the resolution of Erlotinib and Ramucirumab from its degradation-based compounds. Conclusion: The established ultra-performance liquid chromatography technique was effectively extended to the evaluation of Erlotinib and Ramucirumab in the pharmaceutical dosage form and the test results appeared satisfactory.

To Compare the Efficacy of Oral Midazolam and Triclofos Sodium as Oral Premedication in Children of Sawangi, Maharashtra, India

BACKGROUND The perioperative habits contemplate showing that kids are in more danger of encountering fierce sedative enlistment and unfriendly social sequelae. In paediatric sedation, decent premedication is fundamental to lessen tension and disturbance in youngsters. Parental partition and odd operating room environment as a rule bring about blustery acceptance while giving general sedation. Narcotic premedication is vital for making kids quiet and cooperative in a weird environment. Our study was done to compare the efficacy of midazolam 0.5 mg / kg and triclofos sodium 100 mg / kg as oral premedications in children undergoing elective surgery. METHODS In this prospective randomised comparative study, sixty children posted for elective surgery were enrolled. The patients were randomly divided into midazolam group (Group M) and triclofos sodium group (Group T) of thirty each. Group M received oral midazolam 0.5 mg / kg 30 min before induction, and Group T received oral triclofos sodium 100 mg / kg 60 min before induction. All children were evaluated for level of sedation after premedication, behaviour at the time of separation from parents and at the time of mask placement for induction of anaesthesia. RESULTS Oral midazolam showed satisfactory sedation in children after premedication when compared to oral triclofos (P = 0.003). Both the drugs had a successful separation from parents, and the children were very cooperative during induction. No adverse effects attributable to the premedicants were seen. CONCLUSIONS Oral midazolam is better than triclofos sodium as a sedative anxiolytic in the paediatric population. KEY WORDS Anaesthesia, Hypnotics and Sedatives, Midazolam, Paediatrics, Premedication, Triclofos sodium

A new straightforward method for semi-automated segmentation of trabecular bone from cortical bone in diverse and challenging morphologies

Many physiological, biomechanical, evolutionary and clinical studies that explore skeletal structure and function require successful separation of trabecular from cortical compartments of a bone that has been imaged by X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) prior to analysis. Separation often involves manual subdivision of these two similarly radio-opaque compartments, which can be time-consuming and subjective. We have developed an objective, semi-automated protocol which reduces user bias and enables straightforward, user-friendly segmentation of trabecular from the cortical bone without requiring sophisticated programming expertise. This method can conveniently be used as a ‘recipe’ in commercial programmes (Avizo herein) and applied to a variety of datasets. Here, we characterize and share this recipe, and demonstrate its application to a range of murine and human bone types, including normal and osteoarthritic specimens, and bones with distinct embryonic origins and spanning a range of ages. We validate the method by testing inter-user bias during the scan preparation steps and confirm utility in the architecturally challenging analysis of growing murine epiphyses. We also report details of the recipe, so that other groups can readily re-create a similar method in open access programmes. Our aim is that this method will be adopted widely to create a reproducible and time-efficient method of segmenting trabecular and cortical bone.

Chicken Authentication and Discrimination via Live Weight, Body Size, Carcass Traits, and Breast Muscle Fat Content Clustering as Affected by Breed and Sex Varieties in Malaysia

Nowadays, the high demand for village chickens in Malaysia leads to the fraudulent substitution of indigenous chickens with other cheaper counterparts. Discriminating different chicken breeds based on their phenotypic characteristics is one strategy to avoid chicken adulteration. The main objective of this study was to authenticate and group dominant chicken breeds in Malaysia, including commercial chickens (Cobb, Hubbard, DeKalb) and cross-bred village chickens (Ayam Kampung, Akar Putra). The further discrimination of village chickens from underaged colored broilers (UCBs) (Hubbard, Sasso) was performed based on phenotype traits. The results showed that the breed had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on phenotypic characteristics, while the sex effect was not significant for some characteristics. In the first phase, the most remarkable discriminating factors were abdominal fat weight, breast muscle weight, chest circumference, shank length, and wingspan. However, in the second phase, notable variations in phenotypic characteristics between village chickens and UCBs were not detected. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed the successful separation of village chickens from high-performance breeds (broiler and colored broiler). Nevertheless, there was overlap among observations for Sasso and village chickens, which approved the possible similarities in their phenotypic characteristics. This study showed clear breed clustering, which leads to the chicken authentication based on their phenotypic characteristics.

Extraction of sugarcane bagasse arabinoxylan, integrated with enzymatic production of xylo-oligosaccharides and separation of cellulose

Sugarcane processing roughly generates 54 million tonnes sugarcane bagasse (SCB)/year, making SCB an important material for upgrading to value-added molecules. In this study, an integrated scheme was developed for separating xylan, lignin and cellulose, followed by production of xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) from SCB. Xylan extraction conditions were screened in: (1) single extractions in NaOH (0.25, 0.5, or 1 M), 121 °C (1 bar), 30 and 60 min; (2) 3 × repeated extraction cycles in NaOH (1 or 2 M), 121 °C (1 bar), 30 and 60 min or (3) pressurized liquid extractions (PLE), 100 bar, at low alkalinity (0–0.1 M NaOH) in the time and temperature range 10–30 min and 50–150 °C. Higher concentration of alkali (2 M NaOH) increased the xylan yield and resulted in higher apparent molecular weight of the xylan polymer (212 kDa using 1 and 2 M NaOH, vs 47 kDa using 0.5 M NaOH), but decreased the substituent sugar content. Repeated extraction at 2 M NaOH, 121 °C, 60 min solubilized both xylan (85.6% of the SCB xylan), and lignin (84.1% of the lignin), and left cellulose of high purity (95.8%) in the residuals. Solubilized xylan was separated from lignin by precipitation, and a polymer with β-1,4-linked xylose backbone substituted by arabinose and glucuronic acids was confirmed by FT-IR and monosaccharide analysis. XOS yield in subsequent hydrolysis by endo-xylanases (from glycoside hydrolase family 10 or 11) was dependent on extraction conditions, and was highest using xylan extracted by 0.5 M NaOH, (42.3%, using Xyn10A from Bacillus halodurans), with xylobiose and xylotriose as main products. The present study shows successful separation of SCB xylan, lignin, and cellulose. High concentration of alkali, resulted in xylan with lower degree of substitution (especially reduced arabinosylation), while high pressure (using PLE), released more lignin than xylan. Enzymatic hydrolysis was more efficient using xylan extracted at lower alkaline strength and less efficient using xylan obtained by PLE and 2 M NaOH, which may be a consequence of polymer aggregation, via remaining lignin interactions.

VALIDATED STABILITY INDICATING HPLC APPROACH FOR QUANTIFYING TRICHOLINE CITRATE AND CYPROHEPTADINE SIMULTANEOUSLY IN SYRUP FORMS

Objective: This investigation demonstrates a stability-indicating and reliable “high-performance liquid chromatography” method to simultaneously quantify tricholine citrate (TEC) and cyproheptadine (CRH) in the syrup form and bulk form. Methods: Successful separation was accomplished using C18 “Agilent column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm)” with isocratic type of elution using mobile phase containing 0.1 M NaH2PO4 buffer and acetonitrile at 55% volume and 45% volume ratio, respectively with 1.0 ml/min flow rate. The wavelength sensor was attuned at 263 nm to quantify TEC and CRH. Results: TEC and CRH peaks were eluted with fine resolution at retention times 1.837 min and 2.936 min, respectively. In the 137.5-412.5 μg/ml and 1-3 μg/ml concentration ranges for TEC and CRH, the calibration graphs were linear, with regression coefficients of 0.9999 and 0.9998, respectively. The suggested "high-performance liquid chromatography" approach has been shown as sensitive, precise, robust, accurate, specific and stability indicating through the resolution of TEC and CRH from its degradation-based compounds. Conclusion: The established high-performance liquid chromatography technique was effectively extended to the evaluation of TEC and CRH in the combined syrup form and the test results appeared satisfactory.

Development of a Rapid UHPLC-PDA Method for the Simultaneous Quantification of Flavonol Contents in Onions (Allium cepa L.)

Onion, one of the most consumed vegetables in the world, is also known to contain high levels of antioxidant compounds, with protective effects against different degenerative pathologies. Specifically, onion is rich in flavonols, mainly quercetin derivatives, which are compounds with high antioxidant and free radical scavenging power. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance to count on optimal analytical methods that allow for the determination and quantification of these compounds of interest. A rapid ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC)-photo-diode array (PDA) method for the separation of the major flavonols in onions was developed using a Box–Behnken design in conjunction with multiresponse optimization on the basis of the desirability function. The conditions that provided a successful separation were 9.9% and 53.2% of phase B at the beginning and at the end of the gradient, respectively; 55 °C column working temperature; and 0.6 mL min−1 flow rate. The complete separation was achieved in less than 2.7 min with excellent chromatographic characteristics. The method was validated, and its high precision, low detection and quantification limits, good linearity, and robustness were confirmed. The correct applicability of the method improves the analysis of the raw material, increasing the quality of onions and its subproducts in terms of bioactive compounds and functional characteristics for consumers.