Development of a simple and objective evaluation method for thickened liquids using funnels.

Some patients with dysphagia are prone to aspiration of low-viscosity liquids. Thickened liquids are often used in attempts to prevent aspiration. The patients should be given thickened liquids with suitable thickness, and the thickness should be constant at all time. While rotational and cone-and-plate viscometers are used for the evaluation of thickened liquids, they are high-precision and expensive equipment. To control the thickness of liquids, a simple and objective evaluation method is thus necessary. We developed a method to evaluate thickened liquids using funnels, and verified the appropriateness of this method. We measured the outflow times of five thickened liquids through funnels. One of the thickened liquids was a commercially available nutritional supplement, another was made with a thickening agent that contained guar gum, and all others were made with a thickening agent that contained xanthan gum. Four funnels with different stem sizes were tested. We found that the outflow time of thickened liquids through a funnel depended on their viscosities at a shear rate between 10 and 50 s-1 , when the average inner diameter of the stem was in the range of 5.3-9.0 mm, and the volume of the liquid poured into the funnel was 30 mL. The correlation coefficient between the value of the sensory evaluation and the outflow time of the funnel with an average stem ID of 5.3 mm was 0.946. Therefore, this method may be useful in hospital and nursing home kitchens for evaluating thickened liquids. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: The findings of this study will help develop a new method for the evaluation of thickened liquids. Funnels made from polypropylene, which are inexpensive and light, were used in this method. The process for measuring the outflow time of thickened liquids through a funnel is simple, and we can obtain quantitative data that are objective. Even though line spread test (LST) is well known as a simple measurement method, nutritional supplements and liquids thickened using a thickening agent containing guar gum have not been evaluated accurately. The funnel method was found to have a stronger correlation with sensory evaluation compared to LST. This method is useful in hospital and nursing home kitchens for evaluating thickened liquids.

[RATIONAL USE APRICOT GUM (GUMMI ARMENIACAE) IN REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA].

Till nowadays the sources of gums of Armenian flora are remaining unutilized because of absence of resoursological and phytochemical research as well as standards corresponding. Amongst the camed-bearing trees of the flora of Armenia (apricot, peach, plum, almond) and the other families representatives (eleagnus, tragakant) the apricot trees (Armeniaca vulgaris Lam.) became an object of our great interests, considering its being as the most important cultivating fruit-bearing trees in Armenia and the fact, that they cover significant areas in the Ararat valley, Kotayk, Aragatsotn and the footings of the Vayk region. The goal of our investigation was the pharmacognostic (resoursological, commodity and analytical, phythochemical) complex evaluation encountering and the apricot tree camed's (gummi armeniacae) biological activity evaluation, as well as the natural resourses rational concepts elaboration. On the base of the investigation results got a concept of rational use of the apricot gums was developed, which assumes the local sources enlargement, as well as its wide application in medicine and in different aspects of industry.

Effect of compression pressure, preservative, and storage with potassium chloride on the microbiological quality of tablets formulated with Terminalia randii Gum (Combretaceae).

Gums are used as binders in tablets and also as emulsion stabilisers, suspending agents and thickeners in syrups. The need for other natural gums apart from the conventional gums to be employed as binding agents in tablets formulation led to this study. A gum obtained from the incised trunk of Terminalia randii (Combretaceae) was evaluated for the effect of compression pressure, methyl paraben preservative and storage with potassium chloride, on the microbial load of tablets formulated with the gum. The microbial load was determined by surface spread method on the processed gum at suitable dilutions, and tablets formulated from the gum at different compression pressures. The formulated tablets were evaluated for microbial load, also when stored in potassium chloride for 8 and 12 weeks with and without preservation with 1% Methyl Paraben. In each case the compressed tablets were incubated in 0.1% peptone water as control. The microbial load recorded reflected generally, reduction in microbial counts in tablets formulated with the gum as a binder both in terms of compression at different pressures and when the different compression pressures were associated with or without 1% methyl paraben in the presence of potassium chloride. Comparatively, the processed gum showed higher microbial load than the pressure compressed tablets. Besides the different compression pressures, duration of storage was also found to cause reduction of microbial load, particularly in the formulated tablets compressed with methyl paraben stored in potassium chloride such that after 8 weeks, the microbial load was zero. The studies showed that compression pressures and duration of storage caused marked reduction in microbial load of the tablets formulated with the processed gum of Terminalia randii as a binder.

Effect of grewia gum as a suspending agent on ibuprofen pediatric formulation.

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the potential of grewia gum (GG) as a suspending agent in pharmaceutical oral formulation using ibuprofen as model drug. Ibuprofen pediatric suspension (25 mg/5 mL) was formulated with grewia gum (0.5% w/v) as the suspending agent. Similar suspensions of Ibuprofen containing either sodium carboxymethylcellulose (Na-CMC) or hydroxymethylpropylcellulose (HPMC) were also produced. The suspensions were evaluated for ease of redispersion, sedimentation, rheological properties, and the effect of aging on the rheological properties at 25°C. The particle size and particle size distributions of the dispersed solute were determined. The redispersion time was 19, 11, and 0.5 min, respectively, for formulation containing Na-CMC, HPMC, and GG .The sedimentation volumes were 0.05, 0.05, and 0.125 mL, respectively, for Na-CMC, HPMC, and GG . Viscosities of suspensions at spindle speed of 25 rpm were of the order: GG > HPMC > Na-CMC when freshly prepared and of the order: HPMC > GG > Na-CMC within 6 months of storage. The particles size was 72.72, 73.82, 81.93, and 83.41 µm, respectively, for suspensions containing Na-CMC, ibuprofen alone, HPMC, and GG. Greatest hysteresis was observed in formulation containing HPMC. All the formulations were stable. It was our conclusion that the difference in the physicochemical properties of ibuprofen pediatric formulations was influenced more by the suspending agent used in the formulations than the drug. GG combined better redispersion with minimal changes in viscosity on storage compared to Na-CMC and HPMC as suspending agent. Thus GG may serve as a good suspending agent requiring no further aid in suspension redispersibility.

Chemical characterization of a commercial Commiphora wightii resin sample and chemical profiling to assess for authenticity.

The gum resin of Commiphora wightii [(Hook. ex Stocks) Engl.] is an ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of arthritis, inflammation, obesity, lipid disorders, and cardiovascular diseases and is known as guggul. Morphologically, it is not easy to distinguish guggul from closely related gum resins of other plants. Reliability of the commercially available guggul is critical due to the high risk of adulteration. To check authenticity, a commercial guggul sample was investigated for its chemical markers and 17 metabolites were identified, including three new, 20(S),21-epoxy-3-oxocholest-4-ene (1), 8 ß-hydroxy-3,20-dioxopregn-4,6-diene (2), and 5-(13' Z-nonadecenyl)resorcinol (17) from the ethyl acetate soluble part. During the current study, compounds 14- 17 were identified as constituents of Mangifera indica gum, as an adulterant in the commercial guggul sample. This discovery highlighted the common malpractices in the trade of medicinal raw material in the developing world. The structures of the compounds were deduced by the spectroscopic technique and chemical methods, as well as by comparison with the reported data. The structure of 20(S),21-epoxy-3-oxocholest-4-ene (1) was also unambiguously deduced by single-crystal X-ray diffraction technique.