Overview on virosomes as a novel carrier for drug delivery

As from the last eras number of the revolution in the drug delivery technologies have been seen to attain the targeted drug delivery or site specific action of the drug. The prospects of the drug delivery by using biomimetic nanoparticles such as virosomes is an motivating research & development field as showing targeted action by fusion with the targeted action by fusion through target cell. It can be engaged as vehicle & vaccines furthermore victory of virosomal drug delivery depends on the method used to make the encapsulated bioactive materials, characterization & formulation of finished products. They are reconstituted viral envelopes that can be conveyance of different macromolecules as these are biocompatible, biodegradable, nonautoimmunogenic. Virosomes denotes such a unique system for presentation of antigen to immune system. Peptides, nucliecacid & medications such as antitoxins, anticancer agents &steroids can be encapsulated. This review focus on various aspects of Virosomes, such as Structure of Virosomes Component, Advantages, disadvantages, Method of preparation, Characterization, recent Patents and applications of Virosomes etc. Key words: Neurodegenerative, Nonimmunogenic, Endolysosomal, Cryoprotectants, Applications

Bioindicator: A Comparative Study on Uptake and Accumulation of Heavy Metals in Some Plant`s Leaves of M

Abstract: The aim of the present study is to investigate the concentrations of some heavy metals (cobalt, cadmium, lead, nickel and chromium) in the leaves of plants viz: neem (Azadirachta indica), kaner (Nerium oleander L.), Ashok (Saraca indica L.) and imli (Tamarindus indica) around the polluted and non polluted sites near Agra region, India. Heavy metal concentrations in leaves were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). According to our findings the order of heavy metals in plants leaves were found in as follows: Co>Pb>Ni>Cr>Cd. Correlation between heavy metals in different plants at different sites were calculated for each metal separately and a positive correlation is observed. The presence of these metal ions in plant leaves explain the fact that these plant leaves are good bioindicators and can be used in air pollution monitoring studies in industrial areas

Development of antibacterial, degradable and pH-responsive chitosan/guar gum/polyvinyl alcohol blended hydrogels for wound dressing

The present research is based on the fabrication preparation of CS/PVA/GG blended hydrogel with nontoxic tetra orthosilicate (TEOS) for sustained paracetamol release. Different TEOS percentages were used because of their nontoxic behavior to study newly designed hydrogels’ crosslinking and physicochemical properties. These hydrogels were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spec-troscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and wetting to determine the functional, surface morphology, hydrophilic, or hydrophobic properties. The swelling analysis in different media, degradation in PBS, and drug release kinetics were conducted to observe their response against corresponding media. The FTIR analysis confirmed the components added and crosslinking between them, and surface morphology confirmed different surface and wetting behavior due to different crosslinking. In various solvents, including water, buffer, and electrolyte solutions, the swelling behaviour of hydrogel was investigated and observed that TEOS amount caused less hydrogel swelling. In acidic pH, hydrogels swell the most, while they swell the least at pH 7 or higher. These hydrogels are pH-sensitive and appropriate for controlled drug release. These hydrogels demonstrated that, as the ionic concentration was increased, swelling decreased due to decreased osmotic pressure in various electrolyte solutions. The antimicrobial analysis revealed that these hydrogels are highly antibacterial against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus) and Gram negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) bacterial strains. The drug release mechanism was 98% in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) media at pH 7.4 in 140 min. To analyze drug release behaviour, the drug release kinetics was assessed against different mathematical models (such as zero and first order, Higuchi, Baker–Lonsdale, Hixson, and Peppas). It was found that hydrogel (CPG2) follows the Peppas model with the highest value of regression (R2 = 0.98509). Hence, from the results, these hydrogels could be a potential biomaterial for wound dressing in biomedical applications

Non-partitioning merge-sort: Performance enhancement by elimination of division in divide-and-conquer algorithm

The importance of a high performance sorting algorithm with low time complexity cannot be over stated. Several benchmark algorithms viz. Bubble Sort, Insertion Sort, Quick Sort, and Merge Sort, etc. have tried to achieve these goals, but with limited success in some scenarios. Newer algorithms like Shell Sort, Bucket Sort, Counting Sort, etc. have their own limitations in terms of category/nature of elements which they can process. The present paper is an attempt to enhance performance of the standard Merge-Sort algorithm by eliminating the partitioning complexity component, thereby resulting in smaller computation times. Both subjective and numerical comparisons are drawn with existing algorithms in terms of time complexity and data sizes, which show the superiority of the proposed algorithm

Inset Feed Toppled H-Shaped Microstrip Patch Antenna for PCS/WiMAX Application

In this paper, an inset feed toppled H-shaped microstrip patch antenna with grounded plane is investigated for triple band operation. The simulation of proposed antenna geometry has been performed using IE3D simulation software based on method of moment. The prototype of the proposed antenna has been fabricated and tested to validate the simulation work. The measured results indicate that the reflection coefficient is better than -10dB for 1.8 GHz (PCS), 3.5 GHz (WiMAX), and 5.5 GHz (WiMAX) frequencies

Correction: Oves M, et al. Graphene Decorated Zinc Oxide and Curcumin to Disinfect the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Nanomaterials 2020, 10(5), 1004

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...

Graphene Decorated Zinc Oxide and Curcumin to Disinfect the Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Sometimes, life-threatening infections are initiated by the biofilm formation facilitated at the infection site by the drug-resistant bacteria Staphylococcus aureus. The aggregation of the same type of bacteria leads to biofilm formation on the delicate tissue, dental plaque, and skin. In the present investigation, a Graphene (Gr)-based nano-formulation containing Curcumin (C.C.M.) and Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) showed a wide range of anti-microbial activity against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) biofilm and demonstrated the anti-microbial mechanism of action. The anti-microbial effect of GrZnO nanocomposites, i.e., GrZnO-NCs, suggests that the integrated graphene-based nanocomposites effectively suppressed both sensitive as well as MRSA ATCC 43300 and BAA-1708 isolates. The S. aureus inhibitory effect of GrZnO-NCs improved >5-fold when combined with C.C.M., and demonstrated a M.I.C. of 31.25 µg/mL contrasting with the GrZnO-NCs or C.C.M. alone having M.I.C. value of 125 µg/mL each. The combination treatment of GrZnO-NCs or C.C.M. inhibited the M.R.S.A. topical dermatitis infection in a mice model with a significant decrease in the CFU count to ~64%. Interestingly, the combination of C.C.M. and GrZnO-NCs damaged the bacterial cell wall structure, resulting in cytoplasm spillage, thereby diminishing their metabolism. Thus, owing to the ease of synthesis and highly efficient anti-microbial properties, the present graphene-based curcumin nano-formulations can cater to a new treatment methodology against M.R.S.A