Nov. 19, 2003
Fight Over Medicare Bill Heats Up
"In a swirl of activity yesterday, negotiators met with lawmakers hoping to persuade them to support a Republican-backed Medicare drug bill while Senate and House Democrats launched a public relations battle to halt the measure...more"
A Good Explanation of Tablet Manufacturing
"The direct compression method: A compressible vehicle is blended with the medicinal agent, and if necessary, with a lubricant and a disintegrant, and then the blend is compressed. Substances that are commonly used as directly compressible vehicles are...more"
MCAT? PCAT? Audiolearn?
I was recently sent this. I know a lot of students visit here. So here's something that may help for Graduate school exams...Audio books are not a novelty or gimmick, but can provide a genuinely better way to learn the immense range of facts, formulas and theories demanded in preparation for so many exams. "
Stealth Disco Anyone?
What's with the fad of workers disco dancing behind the backs of their coworkers without being caught? (How about stealth working! Don't get caught!)
What's New?
I just had surgery this past week. OF course the anesthesia did not work well on me. I fought the doctors tooth and nail under conscious sedation. I told my wife I dreamt I was a wolf hunting caribou. What do you know...
From: "Pavel G"
I've had my fair share of lab disasters, most of them fairly unimpressive. The one I am about to describe though was quality. I swear to God, this is a true story.
We had a monday afternoon double hour and a half practical. On this particular occasion we were oxidizing ethanol to ethanoic acid. If I remember rightly you reflux it for twenty minutes with dilute HCl to get it to go to an aldehyde and then bash it with conc. sulphuric and sodium dichromate for another twenty minutes to make it go the rest of the way.
Anyhow, there I was carefully following the instructions in the textbook. I got as far as the aldehyde. At this point the book said "Add 5g [or something like that] of Na2Cr2O7." I did that. Then it said "Now using a dropper pipette add 10ml of conc. sulphuric acid..." I did that. Then I read the rest of the line, and it said: "CAREFULLY, drop by drop over 10 minutes." I lifted my head to see evil looking bubbles spewing forth from my pear-shaped flask beneath a growing tower of thick orange fumes. It looked like something off the set for Jeckyll and Hyde. I have to confess,
I was quite pleased with myself.
until next week...Carbon: A Frenchman's opinion of his nice new automobile.
Peter Scott
Nov 12, 2003
Why don't I start with a book recommendation this week. How about a little Sidney Harris? You say you haven't heard of him? What did he develop? A sense of humor for scientists. Everyone has seen one of his cartoons over the years in various scientific magazines.
U.S. federal judge orders U.S.-based import pharmacy chain shutdown by Candace Hoffmann
"A federal judge Thursday ordered Rx Depot, a pharmacy chain that helps Americans import prescription drugs from Canada, to close the doors on its 85 storefronts effective immediately, news sources report.The Justice Department, at the FDA's request, ordered the injunction alleging that RX Depot was in violation of the law and selling drugs that could potentially be unsafe...more"
Is your company investigating PAT and how to apply it or currently applying it, or are you taking the "wait and see approach" and let the other make the mistakes . Come join the survey.
I was wondering what the current consensus is when one breaks a vessel. Do you recalib the whole system? Take our poll.
Pfizer Offering Free Eye Antibiotic
"In a major boost to a U.N. campaign to eradicate an eye infection that causes blindness, Pfizer announced that it will provide an antibiotic free to treat about 90 percent of the 150 million people afflicted...more"
Off-label drug use growing
Doctors routinely prescribe therapies outside of FDA-approved uses, despite risks of injury, death
"NEW BALTIMORE, Mich. — For the last three and a half months she was pregnant, Tammie Snyder had a small medical device strapped to her thigh. It pumped a drug called terbutaline through her body to prevent her from going into labor too soon.
On Sept. 17, 2002, Snyder gave birth to two healthy girls. Within days, however, her lungs filled with fluid, her heart began to fail and she was told she might need a heart transplant. She recovered, but she's been told she can never have a baby again. Her heart wouldn't stand the strain....more"
Poetry corner
I had a brand new beaker once
its gone beyond recall
for all the glass and pieces are
embedded in the wall.
-- Frey Scientific Catalogue, ca. 1978.
Nov 5, 2003
Ofni Systems presents at numerous conferences and workshops on Part 11 and regularly conducts training sessions for organizations to educate employees about the specific requirements of the rule and how to incorporate it into daily practices. They were the first company to come out with a Part 11 ToolkitTM for MS Access. This ToolkitTM adds audit trails, auto-timeouts, electronic signatures and security to any MS Access program, versions 97 through XP and the new Office System. "Your programs, made better, made compliant."
Those Were Sort of The Days
Derek Lowe, one of my favorite online writers, of Corante has written a great little story about how things change over time, both in personal life and in chemistry practices.
"Not long ago, I was digging around in a drawer upstairs when I came across a shirt that I thought my kids would be interested in. It's a dark blue cotton T-shirt, nothing special, except it has a slash of oval holes running across the front, flanked by smaller dark spots where the fabric was partly eaten away. "This," I told them, "is a shirt that I used to wear when I did chemistry in school."
"There are several things about it that are different ...more"
Book of the Week
How about a new book recommendation? Ok, let's suggest Careers with the Pharmaceutical Industry, by Peter D. Stonier. "Research and development of medicines is one of our most challenging, stimulating and successful industrial activities and this book sets out to interest those seeking information about different careers in and associated with the pharmaceutical industry."
What's really wrong with the United Stated Medical system?
"The United States health care system is sick. The prices of health insurance are skyrocketing, 40 million Americans are uninsured, and more join them every day. The uninsured are often charged extortionate amounts of money for emergency care and forced to do without any other kind, doctors are often squeezed to the point of barely making a living, and the result is unnecessary deaths and bankruptcy for many. What can be done about this? ...more"
Politics?
Wonder where you fall in the political sphere of influence? This is arguably one of the most challenging new interactive websites to pop up in cyberspace...The Political Compass I though I was a slight rightward leaning slight libertarian tendancies, I was wrong. Here's my results.
Media Change pH Monitoring Dissolution System
Icalis Data Systems Limited has just released a unique automated Media Addition / Removal option for its IDIS EE Tablet Dissolution data Management software which allows pH monitoring in each Vessel for USP Apparatus I and II
Visit: ICALIS-US at EAS Booths 551 & 649
Please visit EAS Booth 551 & 649, Somerset, NJ, 11/17-11/21, for a full demonstration of Media addition / Change (Gradient Addition) and pH Monitoring in USP I and II by ICALIS-US Inc.
The 21 CFR part 11 compliant IDIS EE software controls all instruments comprising the system below (Bath, Spectrophotometer, Sampling Pump, Media Addition Pump, Media Selector and pH meter) and collects data and calculates sample content corrected for volume changes in real time.
Calculations also allow for wavelength shift when pH change is performed with UV / Visible detection. At specific times set by the user, readings are taken and the pH, Absorbance and % Dissolved profile are plotted in real time. This automation can be extended to collect and inject samples for HPLC analysis. A system option allows for automation of Gradient Addition where the Media is added over a period of time.
MISC...
It's flu season for the US. Where are the outbreaks on the US map. (special thanks to KAFPAP)
A neutron walks into a bar and asks for a beer. The bartender pulls one for him and the neutron asks "How much?". The bartender says "For you no charge."
Until next week
Pete, DSN