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Poor water-solubility remains a typical property of drug candidates in pharmaceutical development pipelines today. Various processes have been developed to increase the solubility, ...dissolution rate, and bioavailability of these active ingredients belonging to biopharmaceutical classification system (BCS) II and IV classifications. Since the early 2000s, nanocrystal delivery and amorphous solid dispersions are more established techniques to overcome the limitations of poorly-water soluble drugs in FDA available products. This article provides an updated review of nanocrystal and amorphous solid dispersion techniques primarily for orally delivered medicaments. The thermodynamic and kinetic theories relative to these technologies are presented along with marketed product evaluations and a survey of commercially relevant scientific literature.
Nanocrystalline diamond Williams, O.A.
Diamond and related materials,
2011, Letnik:
20, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Diamond properties are significantly affected by crystallite size. High surface to volume fractions result in enhanced disorder, sp
2 bonding, hydrogen content and scattering of electrons and ...phonons. Most of these properties are common to all low dimensional materials, but the addition of carbon allotropes introduces sp
2 bonding, a significant disadvantage over systems such as amorphous silicon. Increased sp
2 bonding results in enhanced disorder, a significantly more complex density of states within the bandgap, reduction of Young's modulus, increased optical absorption etc. At sizes below 10
nm, many diamond particle and film properties deviate substantially from that of bulk diamond, mostly due not only to the contribution of sp
2 bonding, but also at the extreme low dimensions due to size effects. Despite these drawbacks, nano-diamond films and particles are powerful systems for a variety of applications and the study of fundamental science. Knowledge of the fundamental properties of these materials allows a far greater exploitation of their attributes for specific applications. This review attempts to guide the reader between the various nanocrystalline diamond forms and applications, with a particular focus on thin films grown by chemical vapour deposition.
In the race for a safe and effective vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID)-19, pharmaceutical formulation science plays a critical role throughout the development, manufacturing, distribution, ...and vaccination phases. The proper choice of the type of vaccine, carrier or vector, adjuvant, excipients, dosage form, and route of administration can directly impact not only the immune responses induced and the resultant efficacy against COVID-19, but also the logistics of manufacturing, storing and distributing the vaccine, and mass vaccination. In this review, we described the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently tested in clinical trials and provided in-depth insight into the various types of vaccines, their compositions, advantages, and potential limitations. We also addressed how challenges in vaccine distribution and administration may be alleviated by applying vaccine-stabilization strategies and the use of specific mucosal immune response-inducing, non-invasive routes of administration, which must be considered early in the development process.
The understanding of deposition of particles in the respiratory tract is of great value to risk assessment of inhalation toxicology and to improve efficiency in drug delivery of inhalation therapies. ...There are three main basic mechanisms of particle deposition based primarily on particle size: inertial impaction, sedimentation and diffusion. The regional deposition in the lungs can be evaluated in regards to the aerodynamic particle size, in which particle density plays a significant role. In this review paper, we first introduce the available imaging techniques to confirm regional deposition of particles in the human respiratory tract, such as planar scintigraphy, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). These technologies have widely advanced and consequently benefited the understanding of deposition pattern, although there is a lack of lung dosimetry techniques to evaluate the deposition of nanoparticles. Subsequently, we present a comprehensive review summarizing the evidence available in the literature that confirms the deposition of smaller particles in the smaller airways as opposed to the larger airways.
Ongoing surveillance after pneumococcal conjugate vaccination (PCV) deployment is essential to inform policy decisions and monitor serotype replacement. We report serotype and disease severity trends ...in 3,719 adults hospitalized for pneumococcal disease in Bristol and Bath, United Kingdom, during 2006–2022. Of those cases, 1,686 were invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD); 1,501 (89.0%) had a known serotype. IPD decreased during the early COVID-19 pandemic but during 2022 gradually returned to prepandemic levels. Disease severity changed throughout this period: CURB65 severity scores and inpatient deaths decreased and ICU admissions increased. PCV7 and PCV13 serotype IPD decreased from 2006–2009 to 2021–2022. However, residual PCV13 serotype IPD remained, representing 21.7% of 2021–2022 cases, indicating that major adult PCV serotype disease still occurs despite 17 years of pediatric PCV use. Percentages of serotype 3 and 8 IPD increased, and 19F and 19A reemerged. In 2020–2022, a total of 68.2% IPD cases were potentially covered by PCV20.
Guidance for supporting individuals with climate distress often lacks a theoretical foundation to account for its social dimension. This paper argues for the value of the social identity approach ...(SIA) for understanding and supporting individuals with climate distress in clinic. Three aspects of climate distress are considered: social isolation, collective emotions, and climate action. It is posited that the SIA can guide interventions in a way that is tailored to the specific social dynamics entailed in each client’s climate distress. The paper also considers how clinicians can weigh up the potential advantages and disadvantages of interventions that are commonly advised for these individuals, such as contact with nature and engaging in collective action. The author is a clinical psychologist and lecturer researching climate distress.
Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a promising approach for the stabilization and delivery of non-living biologics. This versatile tool builds complex structures and customized resolutions, and has ...significant potential in various industries, especially pharmaceutics and biopharmaceutics. Biologics have become increasingly prevalent in the field of medicine due to their diverse applications and benefits. Stability is the main attribute that must be achieved during the development of biologic formulations. 3D printing could help to stabilize biologics by entrapment, support binding, or crosslinking. Furthermore, gene fragments could be transited into cells during co-printing, when the pores on the membrane are enlarged. This review provides: (i) an introduction to 3D printing technologies and biologics, covering genetic elements, therapeutic proteins, antibodies, and bacteriophages; (ii) an overview of the applications of 3D printing of biologics, including regenerative medicine, gene therapy, and personalized treatments; (iii) information on how 3D printing could help to stabilize and deliver biologics; and (iv) discussion on regulations, challenges, and future directions, including microneedle vaccines, novel 3D printing technologies and artificial-intelligence-facilitated research and product development. Overall, the 3D printing of biologics holds great promise for enhancing human health by providing extended longevity and enhanced quality of life, making it an exciting area in the rapidly evolving field of biomedicine.
We describe a case of necrotizing fasciitis in the United Kingdom in which Pseudomonas guariconensis was isolated from multiple blood culture and tissue samples. The organism carried a Verona ...integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase gene and evidence of decreased susceptibility to β-lactam antimicrobial agents. Clinicians should use caution when treating infection caused by this rare pathogen.
The use of optical techniques to interrogate wide ranging samples from semiconductors to biological tissue for rapid analysis and diagnostics has gained wide adoption over the past decades. The ...desire to collect ever more spatially, spectrally and temporally detailed optical signatures for sample characterization has specifically driven a sharp rise in new optical microscopy technologies. Here we present a high-speed optical scanning microscope capable of capturing time resolved images across 512 spectral and 32 time channels in a single acquisition with the potential for ~0.2 frames per second (256 × 256 image pixels). Each pixel in the resulting images contains a detailed data cube for the study of diverse time resolved light driven phenomena. This is enabled by integration of system control electronics and on-chip processing which overcomes the challenges presented by high data volume and low imaging speed, often bottlenecks in previous systems.