Synthesis of La2Ce2O7 nanoparticles by co-precipitation method and its characterization.

Lanthanum cerium oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized by co-precipitation method. In this method, nanoparticles in hydroxide form are obtained and then these nanoparticles are calcined at high temperature. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) were utilized to characterize the thermal decomposition, phase structure and morphology of the products. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) of the as prepared material shows almost 37% wt losses, which may be due to the presence of water and nitrate. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of sample calcined at 600 °C shows the formation of standard cubic fluorite phase of lanthanum cerium oxide (La2Ce2O7). Electron dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) confirms the presence of both La and Ce. From Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) morphology, it is observed that particles are in the nano dimension having diameter in the range of 55 to 80 nm with cubic shape. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis shows the presence of residual nitrate, and absorption of water in the sample.

Experimental study of transition metal ion doping on TiO2 with photocatalytic behavior.

In this research, we have studied the doping behaviors of three transition metal ion dopants on the crystal phase, particle sizes, XRD patterns, EDAX spectra, and photoreactivity of TiO2 nanoparticles. Test metal ion concentrations ranged from 1% to 4 at.%, we report the growth of [Fe, Co and Mn]xTiO2 nanocrystals prepared by Sol-Gel technique, followed by freeze-drying treatment at -30 °C temperature for 12 hrs. The obtained Gel was thermally treated at different temperature like 200 °C, 400 °C, 600 °C, 800 °C. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that dopant concentration affects thermal decomposition. The photoreactivities of transition metal ion-doped TiO2 nanoparticles under UV irradiation were quantified by the degradation of formaldehyde.

Isolation and Evaluation of Mucilage of Adansonia digitata Linn as a Suspending Agent.

Natural excipients can serve as alternative to synthetic products because of local accessibility, biodegradability, eco-friendly nature and cost effectiveness as compared to synthetic products. Therefore, it is a current need to explore natural excipients that can be used as an effective alternative excipient for the formulation of pharmaceutical dosage forms. Adansonia digitata (Malvaceae) has been traditionally used as febrifuge, antiasthmatic and also in the treatment of dysentery, smallpox, and measles. Reports have indicated that mucilage of the leaves of the plant is edible and nontoxic; hence, the present study is an attempt of isolation and evaluation of mucilage obtained from leaves of Adansonia digitata as suspending agent. Various physicochemical as well as suspending agent properties of mucilage were studied. Mucilage obtained from leaves has shown comparable results with sodium carboxy methyl cellulose.

Clinical profile of diseases causing chronic airflow limitation in a tertiary care centre in India.

SETTING: Pulmonary department of a tertiary health care centre in India. OBJECTIVES: To study the clinical profile of diseases causing chronic airflow limitation (CAL). DESIGN: Standard criteria were used for the diagnosis for various diseases causing CAL. Severity of CAL was graded using forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)% predicted. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) was confirmed by 2-dimensional echocardiography with colour Doppler. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty eight consecutive patients of CAL, age range 12-75 years, 172 men and 96 women were included in the study. Sixty three percent had asthma, 17% had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 6% had bronchiectasis, 13% had obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) and 1% had occupational airway disease. 98% of COPD was caused by tobacco smoking, of which 84% were bidi smokers. Ninety-two percent cases of OB were post infectious, 78% being post tuberculosis. 37% of COPD, 33% of bronchiectasis, 53% of OB and 22% of asthma had severe airflow limitation. PH was observed in 15%, 19% and 13% cases of COPD, OB and bronchiectasis, while none with asthma had PH. CONCLUSION: Although, asthma was the leading cause of CAL, it caused least functional impairment. CAL due to OB was as common as COPD. Bidi smoke was an important cause of COPD, while respiratory infection was common cause for OB.

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension--diagnosed on spiral CT angiography.

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a part of the spectrum of venous thromboembolism in which pulmonary thrombus fails to resolve, resulting in occlusion of the major pulmonary artery. Diagnosis of this disease is important as it is potentially curable by pulmonary thromboendarterectomy. A case of CTEPH diagnosed non-invasively on spiral computerized (CT) pulmonary angiography is reported.

Echinaforce and other Echinacea fresh plant preparations in the treatment of the common cold. A randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind clinical trial.

The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of different doses and preparations of Echinacea purpurea in the treatment of common cold. 246 of 559 recruited healthy, adult volunteers caught a common cold and took 3 times daily 2 tablets of either Echinaforce (Echinacea purpurea-preparation from 95% herba and 5% radix), Echinacea purpurea concentrate (same preparation at 7 times higher concentration), special Echinacea purpurea radix preparation (totally different from that of Echinaforce) or placebo until they felt healthy again but not longer than 7 days. The primary endpoint was the relative reduction of the complaint index defined by 12 symptoms during common cold according to the doctor's record. Echinaforce and its concentrated preparation were significantly more effective than the special Echinacea extract or placebo. All treatments were well tolerated. Among the Echinacea groups the frequency of adverse events was not significantly higher than in the placebo group. Therefore, Echinacea concentrate as well as Echinaforce represent a low-risk and effective alternative to the standard symptomatic medicines in the acute treatment of common cold.

Vitamin K-dependent carboxylase activity, prothrombin mRNA, and prothrombin production in two cultured rat hepatoma cell lines.

The presence of under-gamma-carboxylated forms of plasma prothrombin is a marker for human primary hepatocellular carcinoma. A rat hepatoma cell line (7777) which was previously shown to secrete undercarboxylated prothrombin when grown as a solid tumor has now been grown in monolayer culture. This cell line has a decreased activity of the microsomal vitamin K-dependent carboxylase when compared to a control (H4IIEC3) hepatoma line, does not increase intracellular prothrombin concentrations in response to vitamin K depletion, and secretes undercarboxylated prothrombin even when grown in vitamin K supplemented media. Prothrombin gene expression in the 7777 cell line, as measured by prothrombin mRNA levels, was not altered in the 7777 cell line. This cell line appears to be a model for assessing the cellular alterations responsible for undercarboxylated prothrombin excretion by human hepatocellular tumors.

Prothrombin synthesis in rat hepatoma H4IIEC3 cells: response to the proposed "coagulopoietin factor".

Based on studies in intact animals, the presence of humoral factors, "coagulopoietins", which regulate the synthesis of vitamin K-dependent plasma proteins has been proposed. These proposed factors are produced in response to vitamin K deficiency, coumarin treatment, or specific antibody depletion of vitamin K-dependent clotting factors. The production of prothrombin by rat hepatoma H4IIEC3 cells has now been shown to be dependent on the source of bovine serum in the media. Cells grown in serum from cows treated with dicoumarol produce about 20% more prothrombin in 24 h than those cells grown in control serum. The humoral factor causing this response is present early in the course of dicoumarol treatment, and the increase in prothrombin production is dependent on the amount of serum from a dicoumarol-treated cow in the media. Based on membrane filtration studies, the factor appears to be associated with the protein fraction of serum.

Vitamin K deficiency from dietary vitamin K restriction in humans.

Vitamin K is required for the maintenance of normal hemostatic function. Ten college-aged male subjects chose diets restricted in vitamin K content for 40 d. Median phylloquinone intakes based on analysis of food composites dropped from 82 micrograms/d during the prestudy period to 40 and 32 micrograms/d at d 9 and 27 of dietary restriction, respectively. Serum phylloquinone concentrations fell from a mean of 0.87 to 0.46 ng/mL during a 21-d period of vitamin K restriction. Supplementation with 50 micrograms phylloquinone/d for 12 d increased serum phylloquinone to 0.56 ng/mL, and supplementation with 500 micrograms phylloquinone/d increased serum phylloquinone to 1.66 ng/mL. Vitamin K restriction resulted in alterations in a functional clotting assay that detects undercarboxylated prothrombin species in plasma and in a decrease in urinary gamma-carboxyglutamic acid. Supplementation with either 50 or 500 micrograms of phylloquinone restored both these indices to near normal values. These data are consistent with a human dietary vitamin K requirement of approximately 1 microgram/kg body wt/d.

Abnormal prothrombin in the plasma of rats carrying hepatic tumors.

Vitamin K is required for the posttranslational formation of gamma-carboxyglutamyl residues in a number of plasma clotting factors. Interference with vitamin K action results in the appearance of abnormal (des-gamma-carboxy) forms of prothrombin in human plasma. Vitamin K-sufficient patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma also secrete significant quantities of abnormal prothrombin; this response has now been studied in a rat model. Normal Buffalo strain rats had 9 micrograms/mL of circulating plasma abnormal prothrombin, whereas Buffalo strain rats carrying the transplantable Morris hepatoma tumor no. 7777 had 33 micrograms/mL at 3 weeks after transplant. Vitamin K-dependent carboxylase activity was normal in the liver of these rats, but very low in the tumor tissue. Rats carrying Morris hepatoma tumors no. 9618A and 5123D did not secrete significant amounts of abnormal prothrombin. Carboxylase activity in these tumors was 15 times that of the 7777 tumor. The data suggest that the secretion of abnormal prothrombin by hepatocellular tumors is the result of normal expression of the prothrombin gene by those tumors and a failure of the tumor to express the carboxylase gene.

Coagulopoietin activity in rat plasma: influence of degree of hypoprothrombinemia and reproducibility of the response.

Injection of plasma from a vitamin K-deficient hypoprothrombinemic rat into a normal rat causes an increase in plasma prothrombin activity in the recipient rat. Maximum concentrations of the factor responsible for this response (coagulopoietin) are present in the plasma of rats fed a vitamin K-deficient diet for 7 days and do not increase as the period of deficiency is increased. The coagulopoietin activity of plasma from individual rats is variable, but similar activity was observed when multiple recipient rats received the same donor plasma.

Abnormal prothrombin in the vitamin K-deficient rat.

Vitamin K is required for the post-translational formation of gamma-carboxyglutamyl residues in the vitamin K-dependent plasma clotting factors. Interference with vitamin K action results in the appearance of undercarboxylated, "abnormal," forms of prothrombin in bovine and human plasma, but the extent of this response in the rat has been controversial. Development of amidolytic and immunochemical assays for rat prothrombin have now shown that plasma from vitamin K-deficient or Warfarin-treated rats contains a non-BaSO4 adsorbable (undercarboxylated) pool of prothrombin that is equivalent to between 5 and 10% of the normal plasma prothrombin concentration.

Vitamin K-dependent carboxylase: effect of endogenous microsomal protein precursors on the rate of exogenous substrate carboxylation.

Rat liver microsomes contain a Triton X-100 solubilizable vitamin K-dependent carboxylase activity that converts specific glutamyl residues of a microsomal prothrombin precursor to gamma-carboxyglutamyl residues. This activity has been studied in partially (0.25% Triton X-100) and completely (1.0% Triton X-100) solubilized rat liver microsomal preparations. The rate of vitamin K-dependent carboxylation of endogenous microsomal protein precursors was very rapid in the completely solubilized liver microsomal preparation, and carboxylation of an exogenous peptide substrate (Phe-Leu-Glu-Glu-Leu) proceeded at the same time. In the partially solubilized liver microsomal preparation, the rate of protein carboxylation was greatly reduced, and a lag in carboxylation of the exogenous substrate was observed. When microsomal preparations which were depleted of endogenous precursors were used, this lag was eliminated. These data suggest that both substrates utilize the same microsomal pool of carboxylase and that the fraction of the carboxylase bound to the endogenous precursors is not immediately available to exogenous substrates.

Vitamin K-dependent carboxylase: effect of detergent concentrations, vitamin K status, and added protein precursors on activity.

Activity of the rat liver microsomal vitamin K-dependent carboxylase has been studied at various concentrations of detergent. The activity which could be solubilized by 0.25% Triton X-100 was low but could be greatly increased if vitamin K-deficient rats were given vitamin K a few minutes before they were killed. At higher concentrations of Triton, more activity was solubilized and this effect was not seen. In vitro carboxylation of endogenous microsomal proteins was decreased by 80-90% if vitamin K was administered 1 min before rats were killed, but the amount of assayable prothrombin precursor was decreased by only 20%. Decarboxylated vitamin K-dependent rat plasma proteins were not substrates for the carboxylase and did not influence peptide carboxylase activity significantly. Purified microsomal prothrombin precursors did, however, stimulate carboxylation of peptide substrate and were used as a substrate for the carboxylase in a preparation from precursor depleted vitamin K-deficient rats.