The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Silver sulfadiazine is a topical medicine that belongs to sulfa antibiotics class of drugs and used in treating wound infections in burn patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment (the Trivedi Effect®) on the various properties of silver sulfadiazine with the help of modern analytical techniques. The sample was divided into two parts; the first part was not given any treatment and considered as a control sample, while the second part was provided the Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment by the Biofield Energy Healer, Gopal Nayak remotely, named as the treated sample. The powder XRD data showed significant alterations in the peak intensities of the treated sample ranging from-30.71% to 47.54% compared to the control sample. The crystallite size was altered ranging from -78.12% to 1.47%; and the average crystallite size was significantly reduced by 31.62% in the treated sample compared to the control sample. The particle sizes were decreased in the treated sample by 12.75%(d10), 4.98%(d50), 0.89%(d90), and 2.92%{D(4,3)}; thus, the specific surface area was significantly increased by 17.31% compared with the control sample. The latent heat of fusion and latent heat of decomposition were profoundly increased by 24.62% and 156.28%, respectively in the treated sample compared to the control sample. The total weight loss was increased by 3.08% and the residue amount was reduced by 4.44% in the treated sample compared to the control sample. Thus, the Trivedi Effect®-Consciousness Energy Healing Treated sample might form a new polymorph of silver sulfadiazine that possesses reduced particle size and improved thermal properties compared to the untreated sample. Therefore, the Biofield Energy treated sample can be used in nutraceutical/pharmaceutical formulation, which would show a better bioavailability and therapeutic response against various infections in comparison to the control sample.
Silver sulfadiazine is a topical medicine that belongs to sulfa- antibiotics class of drugs. It is used as an adjuvant in treating and preventing wound infections in burn patients. Silver sulfadiazine works on the bacteria by stopping their growth on the open wound; thereby decrease the risk of their spreading to the surrounding skin or to the blood where they may cause sepsis
The Biofield Energy Healing Treatment (the Trivedi Effect®) has been considered these days as a novel approach due to its considerable impact on the physicochemical and thermal behaviour of various compounds
Silver sulfadiazine was purchased from Tokyo Chemical Industry Co., Ltd., Japan. All other chemicals used during the experiments were of analytical grade available in India.
The study involved dividing the silver sulfadiazine test sample into two parts. The first part was considered as a control sample and no Biofield Energy Treatment was given to it. Besides, the second part of the sample was treated with the Trivedi Effect®-Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment by the renowned Biofield Energy Healer, Gopal Nayak, India, remotely under standard laboratory conditions for 3 minutes and known as the Biofield Energy Treated sample. Later, the control sample was treated with a “sham” healer (did not have any knowledge about the Biofield Energy Treatment) for comparison purpose. Consequently, the control and Biofield Energy Treated samples were kept in sealed conditions and characterized using modern analytical techniques.
The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), particle size analysis (PSA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)/differential thermogravimetric analysis (DTG), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis of silver sulfadiazine were performed. The powder XRD analysis of silver sulfadiazine powder sample was performed with the help of Rigaku MiniFlex-II Desktop X-ray diffractometer (Japan)
G = kλ/βcosθ(1)
Where G is the crystallite size in nm, k is the equipment constant (0.94), λ is the radiation wavelength (0.154056 nm for Kα1 emission), β is the full-width at half maximum, and θ is the Bragg angle
The PSA was performed using Malvern Mastersizer 2000, from the UK with a detection range between 0.01 µm to 3000 µm using the wet method. Similarly, the DSC analysis of silver sulfadiazine was performed with the help of DSC Q200, TA Instruments. The TGA/DTG thermograms of silver sulfadiazine were obtained with the help of TGA Q50 TA instruments
The % change in particle size, specific surface area (SSA), peak intensity, crystallite size, melting point, latent heat, weight loss and the maximum thermal degradation temperature (Tmax) of the Biofield Energy Treated sample was calculated compared with the control sample using the following equation 2:
The Biofield Energy Treated sample showed sharp and intense peaks in its diffractogram that are similar to the diffractogram of the control sample, representing the crystalline nature of both the samples. However, the Bragg’s angles (2q) of these peaks of the treated sample were observed to differ from the Bragg’s angles of the peaks of the control sample (
Entry No. | Bragg angle (°2θ) | Peak Intensity (%) | Crystallite size (G, nm) | |||||
Control | Treated | Control | Treated | % change |
Control | Treated | % change |
|
1 | 8.67 | 8.91 | 241 | 167 | -30.71 | 564 | 272 | -51.77 |
2 | 10.08 | 10.37 | 1059 | 968 | -8.59 | 536 | 304 | -43.28 |
3 | 12.83 | 13.16 | 57 | 51 | -10.53 | 522 | 350 | -32.95 |
4 | 15.97 | 16.23 | 63 | 61 | -3.17 | 474 | 345 | -27.22 |
5 | 18.34 | 18.61 | 150 | 171 | 14.00 | 621 | 399 | -35.75 |
6 | 19.73 | 19.94 | 76 | 75 | -1.32 | 348 | 310 | -10.92 |
7 | 20.53 | 20.69 | 64 | 65 | 1.56 | 272 | 276 | 1.47 |
8 | 21.38 | 21.68 | 55 | 49 | -10.91 | 478 | 353 | -26.15 |
9 | 22.95 | 23.20 | 83 | 89 | 7.23 | 463 | 362 | -21.81 |
10 | 24.16 | 24.39 | 113 | 118 | 4.42 | 368 | 327 | -11.14 |
11 | 27.77 | 27.99 | 138 | 132 | -4.35 | 175 | 167 | -4.57 |
12 | 33.05 | 33.27 | 97 | 87 | -10.31 | 385 | 376 | -2.34 |
13 | 37.25 | 37.52 | 61 | 90 | 47.54 | 681 | 149 | -78.12 |
14 | 38.29 | 38.58 | 86 | 75 | -12.79 | 406 | 313 | -22.91 |
denotes the percentage change in the intensity of Biofield Energy Treated sample with respect to the control sample;
denotes the percentage change in the crystallite size of Biofield Energy Treated sample with respect to the control sample.
The control and Biofield Energy Treated sample were analysed for their particle size distribution and the results were presented in
Parameter | d10 (µm) | d50 (µm) | d90 (µm) | D(4,3)(µm) | SSA(m2/g) |
Control | 7.92 | 32.09 | 93.61 | 43.51 | 0.52 |
Biofield Treated | 6.91 | 30.49 | 92.78 | 42.24 | 0.61 |
Percent change |
-12.75 | -4.98 | -0.89 | -2.92 | 17.31 |
d10, d50, and d90: particle diameter corresponding to 10%, 50%, and 90% of the cumulative distribution, D(4,3): the average mass-volume diameter, and SSA: the specific surface area. denotes the percentage change in the Particle size distribution of the Biofield Energy Treated sample with respect to the control sample.
The DSC analysis of the control and Biofield Energy Treated sample has been done (
Sample | Melting point (°C) | ∆H(J/g) | Decomposition temperature | ∆H(J/g) |
Control Sample | 262.90 | 45.29 | 282.29 | 3.50 |
Biofield Energy Treated | 262.55 | 56.44 | 277.64 | 8.97 |
% Change |
-0.13 | 24.62 | -1.65 | 156.28 |
ΔH: Latent heat of fusion/ decomposition,denotes the percentage change of the Biofield Energy Treated sample with respect to the control sample.
However, the latent heat of fusion (∆Hfusion) of the treated silver sulfadiazine was found to be significantly increased by 24.62% compared with the control sample (
Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA)/ Differential Thermogravimetric Analysis (DTG)
The TGA thermograms of the control and Biofield Energy Treated samples are shown in
Sample | TGA | DTG | |
Total weight loss (%) | Residue % | Tmax (°C) | |
Control | 58.99 | 41.01 | 281.80 |
Biofield Energy Treated | 60.81 | 39.19 | 277.10 |
% Change |
3.08 | -4.44 | -1.67 |
denotes the percentage change of the Biofield Energy Treated sample with respect to the control sample,
Tmax = the temperature at which maximum weight loss takes place in TG or peak temperature in DTG.
The DTG thermograms of both, the control and the treated silver sulfadiazine sample showed only one peak (
The Trivedi Effect®-Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment has a profound impact on various physicochemical and thermal properties of silver sulfadiazine. The powder XRD data showed significant alterations in the peak intensities of the Biofield Energy Treated sample ranging from -30.71% to 47.54% compared to the control sample. The crystallite size was altered ranging from -78.12% to 1.47%; and the average crystallite size was significantly reduced by 31.62% in the Biofield Energy Treated sample compared to the control sample. The particle sizes were decreased in the Biofield Energy Treated sample by 12.75%(d10), 4.98%(d50), 0.89%(d90), and 2.92%{D(4,3)}; thus, the specific surface area was significantly increased by 17.31% compared with the control sample. The ∆Hfusion and ∆Hdecomposition were profoundly increased by 24.62% and 156.28%, respectively in the Biofield Energy Treated sample compared to the control sample. The total weight loss was increased by 3.08% and the residue amount was reduced by 4.44% in the Biofield Energy Treated sample compared to the control sample. Overall, it is concluded that the Trivedi Effect®-Consciousness Energy Healing Treatment might have generated a novel polymorph of silver sulfadiazine that may show better bioavailability in comparison to the control sample. Hence, the Consciousness Energy Healing Treated silver sulfadiazine would be more useful in designing the formulations with improved efficacy against burning infections.
The authors are grateful to Central Leather Research Institute, SIPRA Lab. Ltd., Trivedi Science, Trivedi Global, Inc., Trivedi Testimonials, and Trivedi Master Wellness for their assistance and support during this work.