bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Preparation, Characterization and Prevention of Auto-oxidation of Amorphous Sirolimus by Encapsulation in Polymeric Films Using Hot Melt Extrusion
Authors: Kanaujia Parijat , Poovizhi Ponnammal , Ng Wai Kiong , Tan Reginald B. H. 
Published: April 2019

Background:
Sirolimus (SIR) is a macrocyclic lactone antibiotic and used therapeutically as
a potent immunosuppressant for prophylaxis of kidney transplant rejection. The development of an oral
dosage form is challenging because of very poor aqueous solubility (2.6µg/ml). The oral bioavailability
of SIR is only 15-20 % and is affected by food and other drugs. The main reasons for low bioavailability
are intestinal degradation by enzymes especially by cytochrome P4503A4, efflux by P-glycoprotein and
hepatic first-pass metabolism.

Objective:
The main objective was to prepare a mouth dissolving film dosage form of amorphous SIR to
improve dissolution.

Methods:
Crystalline SIR was transformed to its form amorphous by milling for 2 h at room temperature.
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and powder x-ray diffraction
(PXRD) were used for characterisation. The stability of amorphous SIR was studied at 4°C and
40°C/75% RH. Amorphous SIR was formulated as oral films by melt extrusion with polyvinylpyrrolidone-
vinyl acetate (PVP-VA), Soluplus® and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) as carriers. The films were
characterized for drug content, physical state, dissolution profile and stability at 4°C and 40°C/75% RH.

Results:
The PRXD and DSC confirmed the conversion of crystalline SIR to amorphous form by milling.
The solubility of amorphous SIR was several folds higher than its crystalline form, but amorphous
SIR was highly unstable at all tested temperatures (4° and 40°C). The extruded films exhibited higher
dissolution and stability compared to milled SIR powder alone, but the process of extrusion had some
detrimental effect on the chemical stability of amorphous SIR.

Conclusion:
The film formulations showed a significant improvement in the storage stability of the
amorphous form of SIR and the solubility advantage of the amorphous form was evident in the dissolution
testing. The oral films can potentially improve the bioavailability of SIR by absorption through the
buccal mucosa.
No Correlation between Blood Benzene Levels and Luteinizing Hormone Plasma Values in Outdoor Workers
Authors: Tomei Francesco , Rosati Maria V. , Russo Giovanna L. , Ricci Lidia , Damato Felice M. , Caciari Tiziana , Giubilati Roberto , Casale Teodorico , Pimpinella Bendetta , Marchione Stefania , Nardone Nadia , di Luca Natale Mario , Massoni Francesco , Anzelmo Vincenza , Massimi Roberto , Tomei Gianfranco , Ricci Pasquale , Sacco Carmina , Ricci Serafino 
Published: April 2019

Objective:
The purpose of the study is to evaluate whether low-dose exposure to benzene,
an environmental pollutant to which male and female traffic policemen are daily exposed to could
cause alterations in plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) levels.

Methods:
From an initial sample of 1594 workers, we only selected 95 workers of whom study we
knew the values of late-shift benzene and LH hormone. All subjects underwent biological monitoring
(final blood benzene evaluation) and luteinizing hormone dosing. Excluding subjects with the main
confounding factors, the final sample included 76 workers. The normal distribution of the variables
was evaluated using the Kolmogorov - Smirnov test, followed by the logarithmic transformation of the
LH and benzene values. The comparison among means was performed by using the t-test for the independent
samples. The ANOVA test was performed for variables with more than 2 modes (ages and
seniority) and Pearson correlation index between variables in the total sample and after subdivision as
to sex, job, sports activity and smoking. The results were considered significant when p values were
less than 0.05.

Results / Conclusion:
The study did not show a correlation between benzene levels and LH plasma
levels in outdoor workers.
Age-Related Diazinon Toxicity Impact on Blood Glucose, Lipid Profile and Selected Biochemical Indices in Male Rats
Authors: Yousefizadeh Shahnaz , Farkhondeh Tahereh , Samarghandian Saeed 
Published: April 2019

Background:Diabetes and its complications are age-related diseases. Low-grade inflammation plays the main role in the aging processes. Diazinon (DZN), an organophosphate pesticide, has been found to induce metabolic disturbances.Objective:The present study was designed to investigate the impact of DZN on age-related changes on inflammatory cells, blood glucose concentration, lipid profile, and liver and kidney function indices in adult and aged rats.Methods:Male rats (2 and 16 month old) were orally administrated with DZN (15 mg/kg) for 4 weeks. Then the blood was obtained for measuring inflammatory cells, lipid profile, glucose and serum biochemical indices such as liver enzymes, albumin, total protein, creatinine (Cr), urea, and uric acid in the serum of adult and aged male rats.Results:DZN increased the blood levels of glucose and the percentage of lymphocytes and also serum levels of TChol, TG, LDL-c, AST, ALT, ALP, LDH, Cr, urea, and uric acid in the adult and aged rats versus the aged matched control rats (p< 0.001). A marked reduction in HDL-c levels, total protein, albumin, and in the percentage of neutrophils were seen in the adult and aged animals exposed to DZN versus the aged matched control rats. DZN also increased the levels of LDL-c and ALT in the aged rats versus adult animals.Conclusion:The present study indicated that DZN can cause metabolic disturbance. However, the age-dependent effects of DZN on metabolic indices were not be confirmed by the present data.
Machine Learning Based Predictive Action on Categorical Non-Sequential Data
Authors: S. Pradeep , Kallimani Jagadish S. 
Published: April 2019

Background:
With the advent of data analysis and machine learning, there is a growing
impetus of analyzing and generating models on historic data. The data comes in numerous forms
and shapes with an abundance of challenges. The most sorted form of data for analysis is the numerical
data. With the plethora of algorithms and tools it is quite manageable to deal with such data.
Another form of data is of categorical nature, which is subdivided into, ordinal (order wise) and
nominal (number wise). This data can be broadly classified as Sequential and Non-Sequential. Sequential
data analysis is easier to preprocess using algorithms.

Objective:
The challenge of applying machine learning algorithms on categorical data of nonsequential
nature is dealt in this paper.

Methods:
Upon implementing several data analysis algorithms on such data, we end up getting a
biased result, which makes it impossible to generate a reliable predictive model. In this paper, we
will address this problem by walking through a handful of techniques which during our research
helped us in dealing with a large categorical data of non-sequential nature. In subsequent sections,
we will discuss the possible implementable solutions and shortfalls of these techniques.

Results:
The methods are applied to sample datasets available in public domain and the results
with respect to accuracy of classification are satisfactory.

Conclusion:
The best pre-processing technique we observed in our research is one hot encoding,
which facilitates breaking down the categorical features into binary and feeding it into an Algorithm
to predict the outcome. The example that we took is not abstract but it is a real – time production services
dataset, which had many complex variations of categorical features. Our Future work includes
creating a robust model on such data and deploying it into industry standard applications.
An Empirical Comparison of t-GSC and ACO_TCSP Applied to Time Bound Test Selection
Authors: Jatana Nishtha , Suri Bharti 
Published: April 2019

Background:
Test case selection is a highly researched and inevitable software testing activity.
Various kinds of optimization approaches are being used for solving the test selection and prioritization
problem. Greedy approach and search based techniques have already been applied to address test case selection.
A greedy approach to solve set cover problem is proposed to find a minimal test suite that is able to detect maximum
faults. Search based approximation technique - Ant Colony Optimization reduces and prioritizes the test
suite to form an optimized test suite. Time bound test case prioritization is an NP-complete problem. Mutation
testing is used to inculcate known faults into the programs under test to generate effective test cases.

Objective:
To empirically evaluate the performance of a greedy approach and a search based approach for
test case selection.

Methods:
This paper attempts to compare a search based approximation approach against a time sensitive
greedy approach for test suite optimization using mutation testing. The proposed greedy approach for
yielding optimized test suite within a time bound environment is implemented in Python. The two techniques
used, search based and greedy approach have also been empirically compared on 24 programs in
different languages (C, C#, and Java and Python).

Result:
The greedy approach has shown better complexity over the ACO approach and the same is validated
by experimentation using the actual run time of the algorithms. The time bound greedy approach
yielded best result for 16 out of the 24 programs. The ACO approach could find the best result 100% times
for 11 programs and at least 30-95% times for rest 13 programs by running ACO 10 times on each program.
Yet the percentage reductions achieved in the size and execution time of the resultant test suite were
almost similar in both the techniques.

Conclusion:
The results inspire the further use of both the techniques in software testing.
Calidad de vida de los pacientes con asma seguidos en la consulta de neumología del Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral durante el período abril-mayo 2018, Santo Domingo, República Dominicana
Authors: Elias Melgen Ricardo , Montilla Brito Noa 
Published: April 2019

Antecedentes: la calidad de vida en pacientes asmáticos es de interés particular, y es uno de los aspectos que se ve afectado por la enfermedad. Los niños con asma no sólo padecen las consecuencias físicas de la enfermedad, sino también el impacto en la esfera social, emocional y educativa.
Objetivo: determinar la calidad de vida en pacientes con asma seguidos en la Consulta de neumología del Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral, período abril –mayo 2018.
Método: estudio descriptivo para determinar la calidad de vida en pacientes con asma entre 6-17 años de edad seguidos en la consulta de neumología del Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral, período abril –mayo 2018. Se utilizó el cuestionario PAQLQ por sus siglas en inglés (Pediatric Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire)
Resultados: se evaluaron 43 pacientes, 59% masculinos; 93% entre edad de 7-12 años. 65% no practican deporte por molestias como tos (58%), aparición de episodio agudo (49%), falta de aire o silbido (39.5%) y sensación del “pecho apretado” en 37%. 77% sintió cansancio en algún momento de las actividades diarias, 60.4% sintió dificultad para respirar, 39.6% presentó falta de aire, 32.6% desesperación nocturna y 32.5% problemas para dormir. 56% se sintió incómodo en algún momento, 49% refirió algún grado de preocupación, 37% presentó mal humor, 30% enojo, 28% asustado y 11% refirió haber sentido algún grado de decepción.
Conclusión: se destaca un porcentaje significativo de pacientes con alguna alteración de la calidad de vida.
Conocimientos, aptitudes y prácticas acerca de la infección por el virus del Zika en los residentes de la Bahía de las Calderas, Provincia Peravia, República Dominicana, en el período febrero-abril 2016
Authors: López Emilton , Torres Dania , Corominas Díaz Anny V. , Guzmán Pérez Laura M. , López Martínez Luisa J. 
Published: April 2019

Introducción: la infección del virus del Zika, si bien no es una enfermedad mortal, según la OMS se encuentra en la actualidad declarada como una emergencia sanitaria global. Su incidencia es variable según el país sin embargo, esta incrementa exponencialmente de acuerdo al clima. Este comportamiento se debe a que el principal vector transmisor de la enfermedad se reproduce en climas tropicales.
Objetivos: (1) establecer el nivel de conocimiento que poseen los residentes de La Bahía de Las Calderas acerca de la enfermedad por el virus del Zika. (2) Comparar los datos de acuerdo a si padeció o no la enfermedad y edad. (3) Identificar los medios de comunicación más utilizados para obtener este conocimiento.
Material y métodos: se aplicaron 214 cuestionarios donde diferentes variables fueron evaluadas con el fin de determinar el entendimiento general acerca de la enfermedad por el virus del Zika
Resultados: un 70.9% refirieron haber escuchado acerca de la infección por el virus del Zika, no obstante, al cuestionarse acerca de los síntomas y vía de transmisión los conocimientos resultaron ser pobres o confusos. Un 61.2% mencionó como síntoma rash máculo-papular. Haber padecido o no la enfermedad no influye en el grado de conocimientos. La fuente de información más común fue la televisión.
Conclusiones: aunque existe cierto grado de conocimiento acerca de la infección por el virus del Zika, se denota cierto grado de desinformación, debido quizás a la falta de campañas y/o que la fuente de información más utilizada no es la ideal. La mayoría de población pareció tener un buen conocimiento acerca de cuáles son las mejores medidas preventivas.
SCREENING PHYTOCHEMICAL AND ANTI-METHICILLIN RESISTANT (MRSA) ACTIVITY OF 70 % ETHANOLIC EXTRACT FROM THE STEM BARK OF ALBIZIA LEBBECK(L.) BENTH.(FABACEAE)
Authors: KANGA Yao , Djeneb CAMARA , Aubin KOUASSI Kouadio , Noël ZIRIHI Guédé 
Published: April 2019

The emergence of multi-drug resistant strains and limitations of present antimicrobial drugs have led to continuous search for natural products as curative agents for Anti-methicillin resistantinfections. The aim of this study was to evaluate antibacterial activity of an ethanolic extract from Albizia lebbeckstem bark against Anti-methicillin resistant. Methods and Results : The methods of dissemination swab on muller-hinton agar and double dilution were used to evaluate the antibacterial activity of 70 % ethanolic extract of stem bark of Albizia lebbeck.All multi-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus and the reference strain (ATCC 25923) were sensitive to 70 % ethanolic extract of the stem bark of Albizia lebbeck. The MBCvary from 0,49 mg/mL to 2mg/mL. Also, the phytochemical screening of this extract revealed the presence of Polyphenols, Gallic tannins, Catechin tanninsand Flavonoids. These findings confirm that an 70 % ethanolic extract from Albizia lebbeck stem bark inhibited growth of Anti-methicillin resistant at low concentration and could be utilised as an alternative Anti-methicillin resistantagent.
Utilization of 4-Chloro-7-Nittobenzo-2-Oxa-1, 3-Diazol (NBD-CL) as Chromogenic Reagent for Determination of Metformin hydrochloride (MET) in Pharmaceutical Formulation
Authors: Elbashir Abdalla Ahmed , Abdallah alfaki Omnia Mohamed 
Published: April 2019

A new, simple, selective, precise and accurate spectrophotometric method for the determination of metformin in pharmaceutical formulation was developed and validated. The method was based on the reaction between metformin and 4-chloro-7-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl) at alkaline medium (pH 12.0) to form brown adduct. Beer’s law was obeyed in the concentration range of 20-100 μg mL-1 of metformin at maximum wave length 465 nm . Under the optimized reaction conditions, the linear regression equation of the calibration curve was found to be y=0.003x +0.156 with a linear correlation coefficient (r=0.999). The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 5.8, 17.5 μg mL-1 respectively. The method is useful for routine analysis of metformin in quality control laboratories.
FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF NILAVEMBU KUDINEERCAPSULES
Authors: M Ramanathan , L Subramanian , T Poongodi , S Manish , E Muneeswari , P Pavithra , S Pugalendran 
Published: April 2019

The herbal medicine Nilavembu Kudineer is very effective in viral fevers. The study was effort to prepare a Nilavembu Kudineerherbal capsule from Nilavembu Kudineer churnam. The task of this work is, to detainment of active biomolecules and ensure their biological activity. The Nilavembu Kudineerchurnamwas extracted by ethanol and water solvents, then the extract was dried. The resultant dried extract powder was screened by various chemical and microbiological tests for to ensure the potency. The results confirms that both the extract haveactive biomolecules and possess their activity. Based on the microbiological activity NVK water extract was comparatively better than the ethanol using extract powder. The dried NVK water extract powder capsules complies with standards of capsule pre and post filling parameters such as angle of repose, bulk density, tapped density, carr’s index and hausner’s ratio. The filled NVK capsule complies the post filling evaluations of weight variation, disintegration. In future stability, dosage titrations and more number of microbial test need to conduct for their effectiveness of the formulation.
Effective Width Rule in the Analysis of Footing on Reinforced Sand Slope
Authors: Abdi Abdelmadjid , Abbeche Khelifa , Athmania Djamel , Bouassida Mounir 
Published: April 2019

Abstract
This paper presents the results obtained from an experimental programme and numerical investigations conducted on model tests of strip footing resting on reinforced and unreinforced sand slopes. The study focused on the determination of ultimate bearing capacity of strip footing subjected to eccentric load located either towards or opposite to the slope facing. Strip footing models were tested under different eccentricities of vertical load. The obtained results from tests conducted on unreinforced sand slope showed that the increase in eccentricity of applied load towards the slope facing decreases the ultimate bearing capacity of footing. Predictions of the ultimate bearing capacity obtained by the effective width rule are in good agreement with those proposed from the consideration of total width of footing subjected to eccentric load. The ultimate bearing capacity of an eccentrically loaded footing on a reinforced sand slope can be derived from that of axially loaded footing resting on horizontal sand ground when adopting the effective width rule and the coefficient of reduction due to the slope. When increasing the distance between the footing border to the slope crest, for unreinforced and reinforced ground slope by geogrids, the ultimate bearing capacity of footing is no more affected by the slope ground.
The Relative Efficiency of Commercial Banks in Pakistan with Respect to Size and Ownership Structure During and After Global Financial Crisis
Authors: Khan Allah Bakhsh , Ali Shah Syed Zulfiqar , Abbas Muhammad , Khan Qaiser Maqbool 
Published: April 2019

Purpose: This study has been carried out to find out the relative efficiency of the commercial banks in Pakistan over a five- year period from 2006 to year 2010 using Frontier Approach of efficiency. The commercial banks included in this research paper are public sector banks, privatized banks, domestic private banks, and foreign banks. In addition to overall efficiency comparison of the commercial banks, this study has also tested the effect of size and ownership structure of the commercial banks in Pakistan on their efficiency.
Data/Design/Methodology/Approach: Out of 44 banks, 21 commercial banks have been chosen, which, in terms of deposits, account for about 94 percent of total deposits of the banking sector (Rs.5,124,308 million) as on December, 2010. Secondary data of the banking firms have been gathered from their audited financial statements. Intermediation approach has been used by employing Data Envelopment Analysis. The relative efficiency of the commercial banks has been investigated in context of intermediation approach which transforms labor and capital into advances/loans and investments.
Findings: Over all a very few commercial banks have achieved 100% efficiency. It is, however found that privatized and domestic private banks have shown better efficiency in terms of financial intermediation as compared to public sector and foreign banks. The size of the banks has a very slight effect on the relative efficiency of the banks. The global financial crisis has affected the efficiency of some of the commercial banks but for a small period of time.
Originality: This paper is an attempt to find out the relative efficiency of the commercial banks during the mentioned period which lies during the Global Financial Crisis. Its findings would be of great value for every stratum of society including bankers, business community, academicians, and government and of course, the investors.
Realisation and Characterisation the BEC for 87Rb Atoms
Authors: AbdulWahhab Nihal A. , Renzoni Ferruccio 
Published: April 2019

The Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is created in a magnetic trap in the Quadrupole-Ioffe configuration (QUIC). This kind of trap combines an anti-Helmholtz quadrupole field with an offset field produced by a single coil perpendicular to the quadrupole field axis to suppress Majorana transitions. In the quadrupole trap evaporative cooling is performed by using radio frequency, reaching the phase transition to a BEC in the QUIC trap. By using Time of Flight (TOF) technique, the expansion velocity is measured with and which lead to temperature of and It is roughly around the recoil temperature.
The Influence of Calcination Temperatures in TiO2 Impregnated Ouw’s Natural Clay on Its Degradation Activity of Methylene Blue Dye
Authors: Nature Science 
Published: April 2019

The influence of calcination temperatures in TiO2 impregnated Ouw’s natural clay on its degradation activity of methylene blue dye has been done. Calcination process was conducted at various temperatures of 200, 300, and 400 oC. The characterization of TiO2 impregnated clay’s structure was examined by IR analysis. The result showed that Ouw’s natural clay has characterized vibrations of montmorillonite and thermal effect didn’t affect the structure of TiO2 impregnated clay. The highest result of methylene blue’s degradation occurred in the addition of TiO2 impregnated clay calcinated at 200 oC (98.69%). This result was found that calcination temperatures of impregnation process were significantly affect the degradation activity of TiO2­ impregnated clays.
PENGARUH ANALISIS FIXED SAMPLE SIZED SAMPLING, STOP OR GO SAMPLING, DAN DISCOVERY SAMPLING TERHADAP TINGKAT EFEKTIVITAS SISTEM PENGENDALIAN INTERN ATAS AKTIVITAS PEMBUATAN AKTA FIDUSIA DAN WAARMERKING PADA KANTOR NOTARIS DEWI MEUTIA KOTA PROBOLINGGO
Authors: Rustianawati Mutimmah , Dwita Febri Yanti 
Published: April 2019

This research aims to determine the level of effectiveness the company's internal control system if measured by using the analysis of Fixed Sample Sized Sampling, Stop Or Go Sampling, and Discovery Sampling. The subject of this research is Kantor Notaris of DewiMeutiaCiptaNingrum, S.H., M.H., M.Kn which used as research sample. This research data is obtained from direct observation of the transaction evidence that has been selected by using purposive sampling with certain criteria. The analysis technique used is quantitative descriptive technique. The steps of data analysis techniques used in this study is to calculate the effectiveness level of internal control system using Fixed Sample Sized Sampling, calculate the effectiveness of internal control system using Stop Or Go Sampling, and calculate the effectiveness level of internal control system using the Discovery Sampling testing procedure. The result of data processing shows that Internal Control System of DewiMeutiaProbolinggo Notary Office is considered effective.