Synthesis of carbon spheres via soft-template route should be further improved for industrial applications especially in terms of time, cost and scalability. The present work reports on relative fast production...

Background: Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, which illustrates the need for rational prescribing of drugs to the patients. Aim: The aim of the study is to analyse the prescription pattern and drug utilisation for the drugs prescribed to the patients with ACS by checking the compliance with the standard guidelines provided by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA). Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study for a period of 6 months was conducted in the cardiology and cardiothoracic departments of a tertiary care hospital. The sample size was determined by using Rao software and percentage of the data was calculated using Microsoft Excel 2007. Results: A total of 270 patients were enrolled in the study in which males (219) dominated females (51) and were found in the age group of 60-69 years (92). Diabetes (62.9%) followed by hypertension (54.8%) were found to be the dominant risk factors. The prescribing frequency of dual antiplatelet therapy, statins, beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers and nitrates was 93.3%, 97.3%, 94.1%, 76.3% / 14.1% and 41.2%. The treatment given to the patients was not completely in compliance with the ACC/ AHA guidelines (18.14%). Conclusion: The study provides an overall insight of the pattern of drugs prescribed to the patients with ACS which reveals the necessity of improving the rational prescribing of drugs in accordance with the standard guidelines.

N-doped mesoporous carbon spheres were synthesized by a microwave-assisted ammonia-catalyzed hydrothermal route (C FAHM ) by using Pluronic® F127 as a soft-template and m-Aminophenol as both carbon and nitrogen source. Their physical and electrochemical properties were compared with those of carbon samples obtained by a conventional hydrothermal method (C FAH ). The best results in terms of particle size, surface area, pore size distribution, conductivity and N-content of the as-prepared C FAHM samples were obtained in 17 M NH 4 OH at 120 °C for 5 min. After 1100 °C pyrolysis step, conductivity of C FAHM increased to 5.64 S cm À 1 compared to 8.64 S cm À 1 for C FAH sample. Remarkably, GDE experiments with xylene-swelled C FAHM -supported platinum exhibited an excellent activity for ORR (181 mA cm À 2 @ 0.7 V) and ECSA retention (80 % after 10,000 ADT) under half-cell conditions in 1 M H 2 SO 4 at room temperature compared to only 57 mA cm À 2 and 13 % for GDE with Pt/C Vulcan reference material.