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Methods and Protocols Nov 2023This research evaluates extracts from the bark of and as coagulating agents for removing turbidity in domestic wastewater, considering the coagulant dosage and pH of...
This research evaluates extracts from the bark of and as coagulating agents for removing turbidity in domestic wastewater, considering the coagulant dosage and pH of the wastewater. ANOVA was conducted to assess differences between the coagulants, dosages, and pH, with three pH levels (5, 8, and 9) and six dosages (7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 17 mL per 1000 mL of wastewater) at a significance level of α = 0.05, and both the -value and effect size were evaluated. This study found that the mucilaginous compound from the bark of performed better in reducing turbidity levels, with an average reduction of 30.2 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Unit) ( [25.9 NTU; 34.5 NTU], α = 0.05) at a pH of 5, and an average initial NTU of 102.2. This represents an average reduction of 70.45%. The dosage factor did not show significant effects on turbidity reduction, which opens the possibility for further study to determine the optimal dosage of the best coagulant.
PubMed: 37987352
DOI: 10.3390/mps6060105 -
International Journal of General... 2021Droxidopa is approved for the treatment of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (nOH) symptoms and requires patients to be titrated to individualized effective doses...
Droxidopa is approved for the treatment of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension (nOH) symptoms and requires patients to be titrated to individualized effective doses (100-600 mg, three times daily) based on symptomatic response. As per the product label, droxidopa should be titrated every 24-48 hours to an optimum maintenance dose (maximum daily dosage 1,800 mg). In an examination of patients with nOH treated in clinical practice settings (n=4,506) using data from the central Northera specialty-pharmacy hub, titration schedules, daily titration dosage (ie, dosage during first dispensation, the assumed titration period), and daily maintenance dosage (dosage during subsequent dispensations) were characterized. It was found that customized titration schedules (ie, different from the product-label recommendation) had been used in 53% of patients, and these patients had had an average daily titration dosage of 567 mg. In contrast, patients who were titrated as per the label schedule (48 hours, 37%; 24 hours, 10%) had daily titration dosages of 1,500-1,650 mg. A relationship between treatment persistence (measured by number of refills) and maintenance dosage was identified. Average daily maintenance doses in patients who received 2, 3-6, 7-24, and >25 dispensations were 938, 969, 1,069, and 1,167 mg, respectively (<0.0001). In summary, our data suggest that more than half the patients treated with droxidopa in clinical practice settings are not titrated using the schedule recommended on the product label (ie, not 24-48 hours), and as a result receive lower daily dosages of droxidopa than those treated using the recommended titration schedules. Lower daily maintenance dosages of droxidopa were associated with shorter treatment persistence (ie, fewer dispensations). Reasons for discontinuation could not be examined in this study, but further investigation of these persistence data is warranted.
PubMed: 34421309
DOI: 10.2147/IJGM.S304012 -
The Veterinary Clinics of North... Sep 2020A great deal of attention has been directed toward developing better options for palliative care and hospice, and improving euthanasia techniques in all species.... (Review)
Review
A great deal of attention has been directed toward developing better options for palliative care and hospice, and improving euthanasia techniques in all species. Euthanasia of exotic pets is technically more difficult because of anatomic differences and small patient size. Traditional intravenous euthanasia techniques in conscious patients are stressful and should generally be avoided in exotic pets; simple intramuscular administration of high dosages of anesthetics followed by delivery of euthanasia solutions is preferred. Options for mammals, birds, and reptiles are presented.
Topics: Aging; Anesthetics; Animals; Animals, Exotic; Bird Diseases; Birds; Decision Making; Euthanasia, Animal; Hospice Care; Hospices; Mammals; Palliative Care; Reptiles; Terminal Care
PubMed: 32690449
DOI: 10.1016/j.cvex.2020.06.003 -
Research in Veterinary Science Oct 2021This study aimed to evaluate the preliminary safety of self-developed meloxicam (MEL) oil suspension and determine the comparative pharmacokinetics of it at 0.8 and...
This study aimed to evaluate the preliminary safety of self-developed meloxicam (MEL) oil suspension and determine the comparative pharmacokinetics of it at 0.8 and 2mg/kg body weight (b.w.) dosages in pigs following a single intramuscular administration. Six rabbits were used for the study of preliminary safety and six healthy pigs were used for pharmacokinetics study by a crossover design in two periods. The muscle irritation results showed that both of the MEL oil suspension and the conventional injection had no significant changes at the dosage of 0.4 mg/kg b.w.. However, at the dosage of 2 mg/kg b.w., both of the self-developed MEL oil suspension and the MEL conventional injection showed mild irritation to muscle. Plasma concentrations of MEL were measured by ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The MEL plasma concentrations were quantified up to 30 h and 72 h after intramuscular administration at the low- and high-dosage, respectively. The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05) between different dosages in pharmacokinetic parameters of t, C, AUC, AUC, MRT, and V. The C values of MEL were 1.92 ± 0.34 μg/ml and 3.03 ± 1.25 μg/ml at dosages of 0.8 and 2 mg/kg b.w. while the t values were 3.25 ± 1.04 h and 4.00 ± 1.26 h, respectively. The pharmacokinetics results of self-developed MEL oil suspension demonstrated that the retention time of it in pigs was prolonged, showing the sustained-release effect. Therefore, Oil suspension was an ideal new drug loading form of MEL.
Topics: Animals; Area Under Curve; Chromatography, Liquid; Cross-Over Studies; Injections, Intramuscular; Meloxicam; Rabbits; Swine; Tandem Mass Spectrometry
PubMed: 34333251
DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2021.07.017 -
Internal and Emergency Medicine Aug 2021We conducted an observational cohort study in adult patients consecutively admitted for the respiratory illness Covid-19 to our hub hospital from March 9 to April 7,... (Observational Study)
Observational Study
We conducted an observational cohort study in adult patients consecutively admitted for the respiratory illness Covid-19 to our hub hospital from March 9 to April 7, 2020. The high observed rate of venous thromboembolism prompted us to increase the prophylactic doses of enoxaparin from 40 mg daily up to 1 mg/kg twice daily in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU), 0.7 mg/kg twice daily in high-intensity of care wards and 1 mg/kg daily in low-intensity of care wards. Patients on high enoxaparin doses were compared to those who received prophylaxis with the standard dosage. Efficacy endpoints were mortality, clinical deterioration, and the occurrence of venous thromboembolism, safety endpoint was the occurrence of major bleeding. Of 278 patients with Covid-19, 127 received prophylaxis with high enoxaparin doses and 151 with standard dosage. At 21 days, the incidence rate of death and clinical deterioration were lower in patients on higher doses than in those on the standard dosage (hazard ratio 0.39, 95% confidence interval 0.23-0.62), and the incidence of venous thromboembolism was also lower (hazard ratio 0.52, 95% confidence interval 0.26-1.05). Major bleeding occurred in four of 127 patients (3.1%) on the high enoxaparin dosage. In conclusion, in the cohort of patients with Covid-19 treated with high enoxaparin dosages we observed a 60% reduction of mortality and clinical deterioration and a 50% reduction of venous thromboembolism compared to standard dosage prophylaxis. However, 3% of patients on high enoxaparin dosages had non-fatal major bleeding.
Topics: Aged; Body Mass Index; COVID-19; Cohort Studies; Enoxaparin; Female; Heparin, Low-Molecular-Weight; Hospitalization; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis; Venous Thromboembolism; COVID-19 Drug Treatment
PubMed: 33389568
DOI: 10.1007/s11739-020-02585-9 -
Computational Intelligence and... 2022In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), drug dosage is an important part of the prescription. Different doses of the same drug can have varying curative effects. Doctors... (Review)
Review
In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), drug dosage is an important part of the prescription. Different doses of the same drug can have varying curative effects. Doctors must determine the drug combination and dosage in clinical practice based on the patient's symptoms and treatment efficacy. Existing studies on the prescription pattern of TCM on the treatment of osteoporosis only analyze the frequency that a certain drug combination is used, without considering the treatment efficacy or drug dosage. As a result, we searched for and recorded existing literature on randomized controlled trials of TCM treatment of osteoporosis, calculated weights based on the treatment efficacy of the prescriptions used in the randomized controlled trials, and created the TCM weighted transaction database. Then, a new multilevel Top- weighted association rule algorithm is proposed to obtain effective prescription patterns that include drug dosages, which can assist doctors in clinical practice in choosing a combination of drugs to form a prescription with good curative effects.
Topics: Databases, Factual; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Osteoporosis; Prescriptions
PubMed: 35665295
DOI: 10.1155/2022/5466011 -
Advanced Science (Weinheim,... Jan 2022A high-throughput non-viral intracellular delivery platform is introduced for the transfection of large cargos with dosage-control. This platform, termed...
A high-throughput non-viral intracellular delivery platform is introduced for the transfection of large cargos with dosage-control. This platform, termed Acoustic-Electric Shear Orbiting Poration (AESOP), optimizes the delivery of intended cargo sizes with poration of the cell membranes via mechanical shear followed by the modulated expansion of these nanopores via electric field. Furthermore, AESOP utilizes acoustic microstreaming vortices wherein up to millions of cells are trapped and mixed uniformly with exogenous cargos, enabling the delivery of cargos into cells with targeted dosages. Intracellular delivery of a wide range of molecule sizes (<1 kDa to 2 MDa) with high efficiency (>90%), cell viability (>80%), and uniform dosages (<60% coefficient of variation (CV)) simultaneously into 1 million cells min per single chip is demonstrated. AESOP is successfully applied to two gene editing applications that require the delivery of large plasmids: i) enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) plasmid (6.1 kbp) transfection, and ii) clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9-mediated gene knockout using a 9.3 kbp plasmid DNA encoding Cas9 protein and single guide RNA (sgRNA). Compared to alternative platforms, this platform offers dosage-controlled intracellular delivery of large plasmids simultaneously to large populations of cells while maintaining cell viability at comparable delivery efficiencies.
Topics: Acoustics; Cell Line, Tumor; Gene Editing; Gene Transfer Techniques; Humans
PubMed: 34716688
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202102021 -
Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic... Apr 2021A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was 'Does routine topical antimicrobial administration... (Review)
Review
A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was 'Does routine topical antimicrobial administration prevent sternal wound infection (SWI) after cardiac surgery? Altogether >238 papers were found using the reported search, of which 11 represented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The authors, journal, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes and results of these papers are tabulated. Several different antimicrobial agents, dosages and application protocols were found in the literature. Regarding topical vancomycin use, a meta-analysis by Kowalewski et al. demonstrated a 76% risk reduction in any SWI. Collagen-gentamicin sponge application was associated with a 38% risk reduction in SWI in another meta-analysis by Kowalewski et al., which included 4 randomized control trials and >23 000 patients. Lower evidence observational studies found benefit in the use of different regimes, including: combination of vancomycin paste and subcutaneous gentamycin; combined cefazoline and gentamicin spray; isolated cefazolin; bacitracin ointment; and rifampicin irrigation. We conclude that, in light of the body of evidence available, topical antibiotic application prevents SWI, including both superficial and deep SWI. The strongest evidence, derived from 2 meta-analyses, is related to the use of gentamicin-collagen sponges and topical vancomycin. Heterogeneity throughout studies regarding antibiotic agents, dosages, application protocols and SWI definition makes providing general recommendations challenging.
Topics: Administration, Topical; Anti-Infective Agents; Cardiac Surgical Procedures; Gentamicins; Humans; Meta-Analysis as Topic; Sternotomy; Sternum; Surgical Wound Infection; Treatment Outcome; Vancomycin
PubMed: 33346346
DOI: 10.1093/icvts/ivaa292 -
Influence of Fiber Type and Dosage on Tensile Property of Asphalt Mixture Using Direct Tensile Test.Materials (Basel, Switzerland) Jan 2023In engineering practice, fiber addition is a frequently used method to improve the tensile property of asphalt mixture. However, the optimum fiber type and dosage have...
In engineering practice, fiber addition is a frequently used method to improve the tensile property of asphalt mixture. However, the optimum fiber type and dosage have not been determined by direct tensile tests. In this paper, monotonic tensile tests were conducted on three kinds of stone mastic asphalt (SMA13) mixtures, that is, granular-lignin-fiber-reinforced SMA (GFSMA), flocculent-lignin-fiber-reinforced SMA (FFSMA), and basalt-fiber-reinforced SMA (BFSMA) at different fiber dosages to probe the influence of fiber dosage on their tensile mechanical indexes (tensile strength, ultimate strain, elastic modulus, and strain energy density) and to determine the optimum dosage of each kind of fiber. The results showed that with the elevation of fiber dosage, the tensile strength, elastic modulus, and strain energy density of all three kinds of asphalt mixtures increased first and then decreased, while the ultimate strain increased constantly. The optimum dosage was 0.50 wt%, 0.45 wt%, and 0.50 wt% for granular lignin fiber, flocculent lignin fiber, and basalt fiber, respectively. On this basis, strain-controlled direct tensile fatigue tests were conducted on the three kinds of asphalt mixtures at the corresponding optimum fiber dosage. The results indicated that asphalt mixture reinforced with 0.50 wt% granular lignin fiber exhibited ideal direct tensile fatigue performance with respect to fatigue life and accumulative dissipated energy. Therefore, granular lignin fiber is recommended as the favorable fiber type, and its optimum dosage is 0.50 wt%. Moreover, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the essence of the impact of fiber dosage and type on the tensile property of SMA is whether the reinforcement effect on the mixture matrix outweighs the negative effect of the defects between fiber and mixture matrix, or whether the reverse applies.
PubMed: 36676561
DOI: 10.3390/ma16020822 -
Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2023Nanoparticles are increasingly being used by industry to enhance the outcomes of various chemical processes. In many cases, these processes involve over-dosages that...
Nanoparticles are increasingly being used by industry to enhance the outcomes of various chemical processes. In many cases, these processes involve over-dosages that compensate for particle losses. At best, these unique waste streams end up in landfills. This circumstance is inefficient and coupled with uncertain impacts on the environment. Pozzolanic nanoparticle treatments have been found to provide remarkable benefits for strength restoration and the mitigation of durability problems in ordinary Portland cement and concrete. These treatments have been accompanied by significant particle losses stemming from over-dosages and instability of the colloidal suspensions that are used to deliver these materials into the pore structure. In this study, new methods involving simple tools have been developed to monitor and sustain suspension stability. Turbidity measurement was introduced to monitor the progress of electrokinetic nanoparticle treatment. This tool made it possible to amend a given dosing strategy in real time while it remains possible to make effective treatment adjustments. By monitoring the particle stability and using pH and electric field controls to avoid suspension collapse, successful electrokinetic treatment dosage strategies were demonstrated using 20 nm NALCO 1056 alumina-coated silica particles. These trials indicated that turbidity measurements could track the visually imperceptible phenomena of particle flocking early on at the inception of its development. Suspensions of these nanoparticles were successfully delivered into 5 cm diameter by 10 cm tall hardended cement paste (HCP) specimens by monitoring fluid turbidity along with the specific gravity and using these values to guide the active management of the treatment dosage and pH. Under this new strategy, these losses were reduced to 5% as compared to the 80% losses associated with other treatment approaches. The relationship between the turbidity and the specific gravity was found to be linear. These plots indicated regions of turbidity and specific gravity that were associated with particle flocking. The tools, guidelines, and strategies developed in this work made it possible to manage efficient (low-particle-loss) electrokinetic nanoparticle treatments by signaling in real time when adjustments to electric field, pH, and particle dosage increments were needed.
PubMed: 38063741
DOI: 10.3390/nano13233045