In the pharmaceutical industry, dextrose is used as an active ingredient in parenteral solutions and as an inactive ingredient (excipient) in tablets and capsules. In order to address the need for more sophisticated analytical techniques, we report our efforts to develop enhanced identification methods to screen pharmaceutical ingredients at risk for adulteration or substitution using field-deployable spectroscopic screening. In this paper, we report our results for a study designed to evaluate the performance of field-deployable Raman and near infrared (NIR) methods to identify dextrose samples. We report a comparison of the sensitivity of the spectroscopic screening methods against current compendial identification tests that rely largely on a colorimetric assay. Our findings indicate that NIR and Raman spectroscopy are both able to distinguish dextrose by hydration state and from other sugar substitutes with 100% accuracy for all methods tested including spectral correlation based library methods, principal component analysis and classification methods.
We report a rare case of disseminated herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection in an extremely preterm neonate. Herpes Simplex Virus-2 (HSV-2) is the leading cause of genital ulcer disease in adults and is the most common cause of neonatal herpes, a rare infection associated with long-term neurologic impairment and high mortality. HSV-2 can be transmitted perinatally via direct mucosal or skin contact. Most neonates are infected intrapartum. However, intrauterine transmission does occur, though rarely. The pattern of dissemination described in our patient differs from previous case reports. Most reports indicate that intrauterine HSV infections have a typical triad of cutaneous manifestations, ophthalmologic findings, and neurologic involvement. However, we report the first case of intrauterine disseminated HSV infection in the heart.
Guar gum is a well-known inactive ingredient (excipient) used in a variety of oral pharmaceutical dosage forms as a thickener and stabilizer of suspensions and as a binder of powders. It is also widely used as a food ingredient in which case alternatives with similar properties, including chemically similar gums, are readily available. Recent supply shortages and price fluctuations have caused guar gum to come under increasing scrutiny for possible adulteration by substitution of cheaper alternatives. One way that the U.S. FDA is attempting to screen pharmaceutical ingredients at risk for adulteration or substitution is through field-deployable spectroscopic screening. Here we report a comprehensive approach to evaluate two field-deployable Raman methods--spectral correlation and principal component analysis--to differentiate guar gum from other gums. We report a comparison of the sensitivity of the spectroscopic screening methods with current compendial identification tests. The ability of the spectroscopic methods to perform unambiguous identification of guar gum compared to other gums makes them an enhanced surveillance alternative to the current compendial identification tests, which are largely subjective in nature. Our findings indicate that Raman spectral identification methods perform better than compendial identification methods and are able to distinguish guar gum from other gums with 100% accuracy for samples tested by spectral correlation and principal component analysis.
Objective The main aim was to analyze the prevalence and patterns of comorbidity in 11 identified broad categories of psychiatric conditions and 48 specific psychiatric conditions among 613 youth from the Missouri Division of Youth Services (DYS) residential sites using advanced data mining techniques on clinical assessment data.
Methods This study was based on youth detainee population at DYS residential placements receiving psychiatric care through the telemedicine network established between DYS and University of Missouri Department of Psychiatry. Association Rule Mining (ARM) algorithm was used to determine the associations and the co-occurrence pattern among the comorbid psychiatric conditions.
Results About 88% of the DYS youth are diagnosed with two or more psychiatric disorders. From the ARM analysis, the most commonly co-occurred disorders are obtained as substance-related or -addicted disorders (SUD) and disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders (CD) (n [%] = 258 [42.1%], followed by SUD, CD, and depressive disorder (DD) (145 [23.7%]), SUD, CD, and neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) (133 [21.7%]), and DD, CD and NDD (120 [19.6%]).
Discussion The study found high prevalence of comorbidity among the youth patients of the Missouri DYS facilities receiving care through the University of Missouri telemedicine network. The ideal scenario for assessment of any of these disorders in a patient should include substantial consideration in delineating the symptoms and history before eliminating any of them.
Conclusion The comorbid patterns obtained can help in determining treatment regimens for DYS youth that can be effective in reducing recidivism and delinquency.
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