Entrapments Research Articles

Taken into the Mountain: Cavernous and Categorical Entrapments

Taken into the Mountain: Cavernous and Categorical Entrapments

Comparative evaluation of properties of paracetamol tablets formulated with three local starches as binders

This study was carried out to comparatively evaluate the tableting and release characteristics of paracetamol tablets prepared with three indigenous starches as binder. These parameters were compared with those tablets prepared with Maize starch BP as standard. Starches currently being used in pharmaceutical industry are largely imported into the country, hence there is the need to source for some indigenous starches whose binding properties would sufficiently ameliorate the brittle fracture tendency that has been a major problem in tableting. Starches from African bitter yam (Dioscorea dumetorium), cocoyam (Colocasia esculenta) and cassava (Mannihot utilissama) tubers were extracted and characterized with Maize starch BP as standard. Their true particle densities were determined with the specific gravity bottle method. Viscosities of the starch mucilage were also determined. The mucilage of each of these starches was used as binder at concentrations (1, 1.5, 2 and 2.5% w/w) per tablet in the formulation of paracetamol granules. The granules were compressed to tablets with and without a centre hole at varying compression loads (3, 4 and 5 arbitrary units). The tablets were flat faced with mean diameter of 12.1 ± 0.02 mm and mean thickness 4.1 ± 0.02 mm. The tablets’ tensile strength (T), brittle fracture index (BFI), packing fraction (Pf), disintegration time (DT) and dissolution profiles were determined. The centre hole in the tablet served as a model defect to represent void that are formed in the tablet during compression due to air entrapments. The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the physicochemical characteristics of the tablets whose granules were prepared with the 3 test starches and those prepared with the standard maize starch BP (p > 0.05). There was a general increase in the tablet viscosities as the mucilage concentration increased. Cassava starch mucilage was more viscous hence expected to impact more plasticity to the granules. Tablet tensile strength (T) increased with increase in the binder concentration but was more marked with tablets produced with cassava starch mucilage. At all m binder concentrations, cassava starch produced tablets with lowest BFI and highest Pf compared to the other starches including maize starch BP. Increase in compression load resulted in tablets with increase in T, BFI, Pf and DT. The increase in BFI is attributed to increase in die wall stress on the tablet at the point of ejection during compression. All the tablets released between 79.2 - 89.6% of the drug in 45 min. Although drug release was influenced by increase in binder concentration, the release rate was nevertheless significantly affected by the types of starch binders under investigation. The results permit the conclusion that the three (3) sourced indigenous starches (African bitter yam, cocoyam and cassava) could be substituted for maize starch BP as binder in the preparation of paracetamol tablets.Keywords: Cassava starch, African bitter yam starch, cocoyam starch, binder, tablet properties, paracetamol

Diaphragmatic entrapments: what they are and how they affect breath and voice

Diaphragmatic entrapments: what they are and how they affect breath and voice

We Were War Surplus, Too: Nick Joaquin and the Impossibilities of Filipino Historical Becoming

This article reads Nick Joaquin’s 1983 novel Cave and Shadows alongside his persistent engagement with Filipino identity and history to argue that an investigation of Philippine historiography reveals the colonial entrapments of Filipino subjectivity. A mystery novel set in the period immediately preceding Ferdinand Marcos’s 1972 declaration of martial law, it contextualizes Marcos authoritarianism within the scope of post-World War II concerns about national politics in the wake of independence. It also simultaneously grapples with overarching ideas about the legacies of colonial conquest and their effects on the Filipino common sense. Jack Henson’s traversals through Manila find him grappling with the quandary of “true Filipinoness,” a literary dilemma that reveals Joaquin’s investment in wrestling with claims to any inherent Filipino identity as a discursive exploration of the arc of Philippine history. Rather than adhere to Filipino subjectivity as a coherent, unproblematic social formation; the novel explores it as an episteme for locating and interrogating broader systems of governance and power. Such a paradigm offers modalities for contesting Marcos’s revisionist history projects. Such projects sought to recuperate Filipino identity from the dregs of a colonial past in order to celebrate its universal humanity in ways that aligned with the modernizing tactics of global development.

The effect of cervical sympathetic nerve on chronically compressed brachial plexus

Objective To investigate the role of cervical sympathetic nerve in the development of chronic compression of the brachial plexus.Methods Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into 3 groups with 8 mrs per group.Lower trunk chronic compression was created in rats of group A and group B.In addition,the middle cervical sympathetic ganglions were resected in rats of group B.Group C served as normal control.Three months after the compression surgery,compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) of the first interosseus were obtained to record CMAP latency and amplitude.A 3 mm long nerve segment of the distal part of the compressed lower tnmk was harvested and semi-thin sections were collected for toluidine blue staining.The number of myehnated nerve fibers was counted.The C8 and T1 dorsal mot ganglia (DRG) were harvested to detect the mRNA expression level of substance P (SP) using RT-PCR.Results CMAP amplitude was (2.2 ± 1.1) mV,(3.9 ± 1.1) mV and (8.6 ± 2.0) mV in group A,B and C,respectively.The differences of the amplitudes among group A,B and C (group A ＜ group B ＜ group C) were significant (P ＜ 0.01).CMAP latency was(4.8 ± 0.9)ms,(3.9 ± 0.5)ms and (2.8 ± 0.2)ms in group A,B and C,respectively,the differences (group A ＞ group B ＞ group C) also being statistically significant (P ＜ 0.01).The total number of myelinated nerve fibers (group A ＜ group B ＜ group C) was (3583 ± 540),(5098 ± 742),(7934 ± 868),respectively.The difference was significant (P＜0.01).The level of SP mRNA (group A＞ group B＞ group C) was (3.6±0.8) × 10-2,(2.2 ± 0.7) × 10-2,(1.2±0.3) × 10-2,respectively,being significantly different among the groups (P ＜ 0.01).Condusion The existence of cervical sympathetic nerve can worsen the degree of brachial plexus lesion due to chronic compression.It causes increase in the expression of substance P in dorsal root gangha.Sympathetic gangha resection helps to lower the lesion degree and relieve the pain induced by chronic compression.Sympathetic irritation may be a co-factor in the development of peripheral nerve chronical compressive diseases. Key words: Ganglia, sympathetic; Brachial plexus; Models, animal; Nerve entrapments

Genetics of Claustrophobia

Claustrophobia has traditionally been thought to result from conditioned responses to traumatic entrapments in small enclosed spaces. Because other anxiety disorders have genetic contributors, these researchers explored in humans and animals whether a genetic vulnerability contributes to this specific phobia. Investigators were examining mutant mice with the gene encoding Gpm6a, a proteolipid, knocked out. …

STUDY ON THE BEHAVIOUR OF BUBBLES IN A CONTINUOUS CASTING MOLD WITH Ar INJECTION AND TRAVELING MAGNETIC FIELD

Steel flow control in a continuous slab caster mold is effective for preventing entrapments of both mold power and argon gas bubbles and maintaining high slab quality.The steel flow control technology that utilizes a traveling magnetic field to optimize the flow of steel in the mold has been developed and applied.The moving magnetic fields can induce accelerating flow(electromagnetic level accelerator,EMLA),decelerating flow(electromagnetic level stabilizer,EMLS) and rotating flow (electromagnetic rotary stirring,EMRS) according the travel direction of the fields.EMLS mode applies a low frequency alternating magnetic field that moves from the narrow face of the mold to the mold center below the nozzle exits.In this study,the model experiments were carried out using liquid alloy of Pb-Sn-Bi and argon gas to study the two-phase fluid flow in the mold with a low frequency traveling magnetic field.The resistance probe was applied to measure the distribution of gas bubbles below the liquid surface and in the deeper liquid phase in the mold.The effect of various parameters such as magnetic flux density,casting speed and argon gas flow rate on the movement and distribution of argon gas bubbles in the mold was studied.The results indicate that the quantity of gas bubbles near the narrow face increases with increasing argon gas flow rate and casting speed.With imposed traveling magnetic field,the quantity of gas bubbles near narrow face at deep position in the pool was decreased,so the possibility that gas bubbles were entrapped into the solidification shell of the steel can be decreased,and the asymmetrical floating of bubbles along the width of mold for a higher casting speed was depressed,so higher disturbances at the free surface in the mold caused by excessive floating of gas bubbles locally can be avoided.The investigations on the floating of big bubbles revealed that the coalescence and flotation of bubbles can be enhanced with imposed traveling magnetic field,and the floating of big bubbles along the width of mold get more uniformity at 0.12 T.

The influence of brachial plexus compression on the ultrastractures of cervical sympathetic ganglion

Objective To investigate the changes of the ultrastructures of cervical sympathetic ganglia (CSG) in brachial plexus compression and the influence of nerve decompression on these ultrastructural changes. Methods Twenty-four SD rats were divided into 4 groups with 6 each: upper trunk compression group, lower trunk compression group, upper trunk decompression group and lower trunk decompression group. The CSG were harvested 3 months after brachial plexus compression in the upper trunk compression group and lower trunk compression group. For the two decompression groups, the CSG were harvested 1 month later following the 3 months compression period. infrastructures of the CSG were observed using electron microscope. Results Ultrastructural changes in the upper and lower trunk compression groups were represented by swelling mitochondria, missing mitochondria cristae and mitochondria vacuolation in the CSG. The major ultrastructural changes of CSG in the upper and lower trunk decompression groups were endoplasmic reticulum enlargement and the decrease in volume and increase in number of mitochondria. Conclusion Following brachial plexus compression, the ultrastructural changes in CSG are related to metabolism of the neurons. After nerve decompression the changes in CSG are related to neuron secretion and functional recovery of mitochondria. Key words: Brachial plexus; Ganglia, sympathetic; Nerve entrapments; Ultrastructrue

"Gubbio in Gabbia": Pirandello's Cameraman and the Entrapments of Film Vision

"Gubbio in Gabbia": Pirandello's Cameraman and the Entrapments of Film Vision

Entrapments, Absurdities and Absolutes A Reinterpretation of Kafka (50 Years after his Death)

Entrapments, Absurdities and Absolutes A Reinterpretation of Kafka (50 Years after his Death)

Elkton Reservoir of Edson Gas Field, Alberta

ABSTRACT The Edson gas field of west-central Alberta comprises two separate reservoirs, a Cretaceous Bluesky pool, and a much larger Elkton pool in the Mississippian Turner Valley formation. This paper deals with the latter. The Elkton pool has an area of about 120,000 acres and reserves of gas in excess of 2 trillion cu. ft. Average net pay is 22.5 ft., average porosity 11.5 per cent, and depths to the pay zone vary from 8,600 to 10,400 ft. Condensates and sulphur are extracted from the gas stream at the Edson gas plant. The Elkton reservoir at Edson is one of several genetically similar entrapments in Alberta, including Brazeau River, Sundre, Harmattan-Elkton, Westward Ho, Carstairs, Crossfield, and East Calgary. These gas and/or oil pools are trapped in the extreme up-dip portions of tilted, erosionally truncated beds of the Elkton Member. Jurassic shale which directly overlies a mature eroded surface forms the cap-rock at Edson. The reservoir rock consists mainly of light grey, vuggy, very fine-crystalline dolostone. This commonly grades vertically into less porous, microcrystalline dolostone, which in turn grades into impermeable, argillaceous dolostone. Pelletoidal grains and fossil fragments comprise the carbonate grains still evident in the dolostones. Porosity consists of vugs formed by leaching of skeletal grains, notably crinoid fragments, intercrystalline void-space, and open fissures. The processes of leaching and dolomitization are believed to have affected the calcareous sediments soon after they were deposited. The excess magnesium ions required for dolomitization may have been derived from dense brines which formed on supratidal mud-flats (sebkhas), and migrated laterally and downwards via seepage refluxion.