4000 m away as check area. The results showed that the microbial population i.e., bacteria and fungi was influenced by the cement dust deposition. The minimum population of bacteria 27.1 and 26.9 x 10 5 CFU g -1 was recorded before sowing and after harvest of crop at 250 m and population increased to 87.1 and 89.1 x 10 5 CFU g -1 with increase in distance up to 2000 m distance from cement industry. Similar trend was observed in case of fungal population also. Minimum population of 10.4 and 9.3 x 10 3 CFU g -1 was recorded before sowing and after harvest of crop at 250 m from cement industry and population increased to 26.1 and 25.5 x 10 3 CFU g -1 with increase in distance up to 2000 m from cement industry.

Introduction:Epilepsy is a serious neurological disorder. Lamotrigine is an alternative to lithium for the treatment of epilepsy, and its oral bioavailability is 98%; however, its poor aqueous solubility hinders its oral absorption. Among the techniques available to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate and bio availability of poorly soluble drugs, liqui-solid technique is a novel and promising approach. The objectives of the investigation are to formulate, optimize lamotrigine liqui-solid compacts using 23 factorial experiments, validate experimental designs statistically and to compare with the marketed tablets using similarity and difference factors.Materials and Methods:Based on solubility studies tween 20 as nonvolatile liquid, avicel pH 101 as a carrier and aerosil 200 as a coating material were used. Liquid load factor other flow and compression characteristics were determined for different ratios of carrier and coat materials. Suitable quantities of carrier and coat materials were taken, according to the experimental designs other excipients were added, liqui-solid tablets were prepared by direct compression and evaluated. Drug excipient compatibility was determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The hardness, disintegration time and T75% were considered for validation of experimental designs.Results:The physicochemical properties of tablets such as hardness (1.5 ± 0.8–4.95 ± 0.96 kg), in vitro disintegration time (40 ± 20–320 ± 25 s) and Friability (0.39 ± 0.5–1.45 ± 0.2% also <1%) possess all the Indian pharmacopoeal requirements. The T75% was calculated and found to be 6.62–22.8 min. The rate of drug release followed first order kinetics. f1 and f2 values indicated the similarity in dissolution profiles between marketed and the optimized formulation and 63.64% similar with that of the marketed fast disintegrating tablets. FTIR studies revealed the absence of drug excipient incompatibility.

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is regarded as the gold standard for hypertensive therapy in non-dipping hypertension patients. A novel compression coated formulation of captopril and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) was developed in order to improve the efficacy of antihypertensive therapy considering the half-life of both drugs. The synergistic action using combination therapy can be effectively achieved by sustained release captopril (t1/2= 2.5 h) and fast releasing HCTZ (average t1/2= 9.5 h). The sustained release floating tablets of captopril were prepared by using 23 factorial design by employing three polymers i.e., ethyl cellulose (EC), carbopol and xanthan gum at two levels. The formulations (CF1-CF8) were optimized using analysis of variance for two response variables, buoyancy and T50%. Among the three polymers employed, the coefficients and P values for the response variable buoyancy and T50% using EC were found to be 3.824, 0.028 and 0.0196, 0.046 respectively. From the coefficients and P values for the two response variables, formulation CF2 was optimized, which contains EC polymer alone at a high level. The CF2 formulation was further compression coated with optimized gastric dispersible HCTZ layer (HF9). The compression coated tablet was further evaluated using drug release kinetics. The Q value of HCTZ layer is achieved within 20 min following first order release whereas the Q value of captopril was obtained at 6.5 h following Higuchi model, from which it is proved that rapid release HCTZ and slow release of captopril is achieved. The mechanism of drug release was analyzed using Peppas equation, which showed an n >0.90 confirming case II transportation mechanism for drug release.

Introduction:Valsartan is a type II Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) classified drug. The poor aqueous solubility restricts its use in developing sustained or controlled release systems for the treatment of chronic hypertensive conditions. The present investigation was conducted with an objective to formulate porous matrices (PMs) of valsartan in order to enhance aqueous solubility.Materials and Methods:Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) K30 and poloxamer 407 were used as hydrophilic carriers; hexane was used as a pore-forming agent, ethanol was used as a solvent, and tween 20 was used as an emulgent. The prepared porous matrices were characterized and based on the maximum slope obtained from the Washburn method and other characterization results; the drug PVP K30 (1:1.5) was selected and further evaluated in vivo by the rat gut method.Results:The prepared porous matrices are white, free-flowing powders. Among prepared formulations drug PVP K30 (1:1.5) showed maximum Washburn slope of 0.0103. The mean particle size was found to be 0.82 μ and D50 (median) value was found to be 0.55 μ. The scanning of particles at various magnifications by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis revealed that the method had effectively induced porosity. The Q value of valsartan from porous matrices was observed at 20 min with a first order regression value of 0.917. The calculated difference factor (F1) when compared with pure valsartan was observed to be 63.32%. From the values obtained, it was evident that the method amplifies the percentage of drug dissolution between sixfold and eightfold when compared to pure drug. From the absorption studies by the rat gut method, the absorption of porous matrices increased threefold.Conclusion:Porous matrices of valsartan: PVP K30 (1:1.5 ratio) hold promise for the enhancement of solubility and consecutive formulation of controlled release systems even with poorly soluble drugs.

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