RESUMO
The quality control of medicines guarantees the effectiveness of treatments for diseases. We explore the use of texture analysis of patterns in dried droplets as a tool to readily detect both impurities and changes in drug concentration. Four types of medicines associated with different routes of administration were analyzed: Methotrexate, Ciprofloxacin, Clonazepam, and Budesonide. We use NaCl and a hot substrate at 63 ∘C to promote aggregate formation and to reduce droplet drying time. Depending on the medicine, optical microscopy reveals different complex aggregates such as circular to oval splatters, fern-like islands, crown shapes, crown needle-like and bump-like patterns as well as dendritic branched and star-like crystals. We use some physical features of the stains (as the stain diameter and superficial area) and gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) to characterize patterns of dried droplets. Finally, we show that structural analysis of stains can achieve 95% accuracy in identifying medicines with 30% water dilution, while it achieves 99% accuracy in detecting drugs with 10% other substances.
Assuntos
Preparações Farmacêuticas , Cloreto de Sódio , Dessecação , Controle de Qualidade , ÁguaRESUMO
Fluid-suspended microorganisms have evolved different swimming and feeding strategies in order to cope with an environment dominated by viscous effects. For instance, ciliated organisms rely on the collective motion of flexible appendages to move and feed. By performing a non-reciprocal motion, flexible filaments can produce a net propulsive force, or pump fluid, in the absence of inertia. Inspired by such a fundamental concept, we propose a strategy to produce macroscopic pumping and mixing in creeping flow. We measured experimentally the net motion of a Newtonian viscous fluid induced by the reciprocal motion of a flapper. When the flapper is rigid no net motion is induced. In contrast, when the flapper is made of a flexible material, a net fluid pumping is measured. We quantify the effectiveness of this pumping strategy and show that optimal pumping is achieved when the length of the flapper is on the same order as the elasto-hydrodynamic penetration length. We finally discuss the possible applications of flexible impellers in mixing operations at low Reynolds numbers.