Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery Systems: Easy to Prepare Multifunctional Vectors for Efficient Oral Delivery

Self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDS) have been mainly investigated to enhance the oral bioavailability of drugs belonging to class II of the Biopharmaceutics Classification System. However, in the past few years, they have shown promising outcomes in the oral delivery of various types of therapeutic agents. In this chapter, we discuss the recent progress in the application of SEDDS for oral delivery of protein therapeutics and genetic materials. The role of SEDDS in enhancing the oral bioavailability of P-glycoprotein and cytochrome P450 3A4 substrate drugs is also highlighted. Also, we discuss the most critical evaluation criteria of SEDDS. Additionally, we summarize various solidification techniques employed to transform liquid SEDDS to the more stable solid self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (s-SEDDS) that are associated with high patient compliance. This chapter provides a comprehensive approach to develop high utility SEDDS and their further transformation into s-SEDDS

AGN All the Way Down? AGN-like Line Ratios are Common In the Lowest-Mass Isolated Quiescent Galaxies

We investigate the lowest-mass quiescent galaxies known to exist in isolated environments ($\mathrm{M^* = 10^{9.0-9.5} \ M_\odot}$; 1.5 Mpc from a more massive galaxy). This population may represent the lowest stellar mass galaxies in which internal feedback quenches galaxy-wide star formation. We present Keck/ESI long-slit spectroscopy for 27 isolated galaxies in this regime: 20 quiescent galaxies and 7 star-forming galaxies. We measure emission line strengths as a function of radius and place galaxies on the Baldwin Phillips Terlevich (BPT) diagram. Remarkably, 16 of 20 quiescent galaxies in our sample host central AGN-like line ratios. Only 5 of these quiescent galaxies were identified as AGN-like in SDSS due to lower spatial resolution and signal-to-noise. We find that many of the quiescent galaxies in our sample have spatially-extended emission across the non-SF regions of BPT-space. When considering only the central 1$^{\prime\prime}$, we identify a tight relationship between distance from the BPT star-forming sequence and host galaxy stellar age as traced by $\mathrm{D_n4000}$, such that older stellar ages are associated with larger distances from the star-forming locus. Our results suggest that the presence of hard ionizing radiation (AGN-like line ratios) is intrinsically tied to the quenching of what may be the lowest-mass self-quenched galaxies.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Ap

Seedling Parameters as affected by Soaking in Humic Acid, Salinity Stress and Grain Sorghum Genotypes

To study the effect soaking in humic acid and salinity stress on sorghum seedling parameters, a laboratory experiment accompanied in Seed Science Laboratory Faculty of Agriculture Mansoura University from June 2017 to July 2017. This exploration intended to study performance of seedling parameters of five grain sorghum cultivars viz. Dorado, hybrid 306, Giza 15, Mecca hybrid and H-305 to soaking in humic acid under salinity concentrations of 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 dS/m-1beside the control, and humic acid soaking. The results showed that seed soaking in humic acid recorded the tallest shoot and root, weight of fresh shoot and root, weight of dry shoot and the lowest percentages of relative dry weight and highest salinity tolerance index. Seed soaking in humic acid exceeded shoot and root length (cm), weight of fresh shoot and root, weight of dry shoot and tolerance index by 14.3, 92.6, 8.7, 4.5, 4.7 and 40.8%, respectively compared without soakingin humic acid.The tallest shoot and the fresh shoot weight were produced from germinating Giza 15 cultivar. In addition, the tallest roots and highest values of stress tolerance index were recorded from sown Mecca hybrid and Giza 15 cultivars without significant differences. It could be stated that sown Mecca hybrid surpassed H-305 cultivar in root length by 36.3 %. Moreover, Giza 15 cultivar surpassed H-305 in shoot length, shoot fresh weight and stress tolerance index by 30.6, 10.1 and 29.1 %, respectively. The results clearly revealed that accumulative salinity concentrations from 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 dSm-1 significantly produced the shortest shoot, root, weight of fresh shoot, root, weight of dry shoot, and root, highest percentages of seedling height reduction, and stress tolerance index, except the percentage of relative dry weight increased with salinity levels increased. The shortest shoot and root (cm), were recorded from the highest salinity concentrations of 15 dSm-1. The gradually increases in salinity till of 15 dSm-1 significantly diminished the length of shoot and root, the fresh weight of shoot and root, the dry weight of shoot and root, seedling height reduction percentages, and stress tolerance index by 51.7, 17.7,4.7, 59.5, 38.7 and 57.4, respectively compared the control treatment. Accordingly, sown Mecca hybrid or Giza 15 cultivar with soaking in humic acid under salinity of 6 dSm-1maximized seedling parameters and could recommended to cultivated in saline new reclaimed soils

Synthesis of Dynamic 2-Ethoxycarbonyl-4H-3, 1-Benzoxazin-4-one and its Behavior Towards Nitrogen Nucleophiles

The behavior of  2-ethoxycarbonyl-4H-3,1-benzoxazin-4-one and its behavior towards nitrogen nucleophiles namely, hydrazine hydrate, formamide, benzylamine, ethylamine, piperidine, ethanol amine, o-phenylenediamine, and glucosamine hydrochloride has been investigated. Also the reaction of 3-[aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-one-2-yl]formic acid hydrazide with aromatic aldehydes and phenylisothiocyanate has been discussed. The structure of the prepared compounds are elucidated using physical and spectral data like, FT-IR, 1HNMR, and mass spectroscopy

The origin of ultra diffuse galaxies: stellar feedback and quenching

We test if the cosmological zoom-in simulations of isolated galaxies from the FIRE project reproduce the properties of ultra diffuse galaxies. We show that stellar feedback-generated outflows that dynamically heat galactic stars, together with a passively aging stellar population after imposed quenching (from e.g. infall into a galaxy cluster), naturally reproduce the observed population of red UDGs, without the need for high spin halos or dynamical influence from their host cluster. We reproduce the range of surface brightness, radius and absolute magnitude of the observed z=0 red UDGs by quenching simulated galaxies at a range of different times. They represent a mostly uniform population of dark matter-dominated galaxies with M_star ~1e8 Msun, low metallicity and a broad range of ages. The most massive simulated UDGs require earliest quenching and are therefore the oldest. Our simulations provide a good match to the central enclosed masses and the velocity dispersions of the observed UDGs (20-50 km/s). The enclosed masses of the simulated UDGs remain largely fixed across a broad range of quenching times because the central regions of their dark matter halos complete their growth early. A typical UDG forms in a dwarf halo mass range of Mh~4e10-1e11 Msun. The most massive red UDG in our sample requires quenching at z~3 when its halo reached Mh ~ 1e11 Msun. If it, instead, continues growing in the field, by z=0 its halo mass reaches > 5e11 Msun, comparable to the halo of an L* galaxy. If our simulated dwarfs are not quenched, they evolve into bluer low-surface brightness galaxies with mass-to-light ratios similar to observed field dwarfs. While our simulation sample covers a limited range of formation histories and halo masses, we predict that UDG is a common, and perhaps even dominant, galaxy type around Ms~1e8 Msun, both in the field and in clusters.Comment: 20 pages, 13 figures; match the MNRAS accepted versio

Synthesis of bioactive quinazolin-4(3H)-one derivatives via microwave activation tailored by phase-transfer catalysis

A series of nine new 2,3-disubstituted 4(3H)-quinazolin-4-one derivatives was furnished starting from the 2-propyl-4(3H)-quinazoline-4-one (2). The reinvestigation of the key starting quinazolinone 2 was performed under microwave irradiation (MW) and solvent-free conditions. Combination of MW and phase-transfer catalysis using tetrabutylammonium benzoate (TBAB) as a novel neutral ionic catalyst was used for carrying out N-alkylation and condensation reactions of compound 2 as a simple, efficient and eco-friendly technique. The structure of the synthesized compounds was elucidated using different spectral and chemical analyses. In vitro antimicrobial activity of the compounds was investigated against four bacterial and two fungal strains; very modest activity was achieved. Some of the synthesized compounds were screened for their antitumor activity against different human tumor cell lines. The screened compounds exhibited a significant antitumor activity on some of the cancer cell lines, melanoma (SK-MEL-2), ovarian cancer (IGROV1), renal cancer (TK-10), prostate cancer (PC-3), breast cancer (MCF7) and colon cancer (HT29). The most active, even more active than the reference 5-fluorouracil, were found to be ethyl 4-[(4-oxo-2-propylquinazolin-3(4H)-yl)methyl]benzoate (3c), 3-{2-[6-(pyrrolidin-1-yl-sulfonyl)-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline]-2-oxoethyl}-2-propylquinazolin-4(3H)-one (3e), N’-[(E)-(2H-1,3-benzodioxo-5-yl)methylidene]-2-(4-oxo-2-propylquinazolin-3(4H)-yl)acetohydrazide (10a), N’-[(E)-(4-hydroxyphenyl)methylidene]-2-(4-oxo-2-propylquinazo-lin-3(4H)-yl)acetohydrazide (10b) and N’-[(E)-(4-nitrophenyl)methylidene]-2-(4-oxo-2-propylquinazolin-3(4H)-yl)acetohydrazide (10c)

Evaluation of Wheat Triticum aestivum L. Genotypes with High Productivity in Al-Muthanna and Thi-Qar Provinces

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate  the performance of different genotypes of soft wheat crop at two locations, the first location in the agricultural research station and trials of the College of Agriculture / Muthanna province and the second location in Al-Garraf district / province of Thi- Qar. Ten genotypes (IR885, IR899, IR1123 , IR981, IR1131, IR969, IR1069) are used and Abu Ghraib, Furat and IBA 99 as comparison cultivars) , Three replicates of each treatment were randomized using a randomized complete block design factorial experiments. The effect of genotypes, locations and the interactions between them has been studied in some growth and yield traits and its components. IR98 genotype record higher rate of seed yield kg / donum for both Al-Muthanna and Thi- Qar locations in which reached (1847.667 and 1889.000 kg / donum), respectively while the results showed that the superiority of Furat cultivar giving the highest rate of height plant, spike length and number of spikes / m 2 which reached ( 105.333 cm and 17,000 cm and 805.333 spike / m 2 ), respectively. As well as my agriculture disagreed with each other in most of the studied traits where the second location (Thi- Qar) gave the highest averages for plant height and spike length and number of the forest and the number of spikes / m 2 and weight of 100 tablets and dry weight / m 2 and holds the grain reached (96.400 cm and 14,800 cm and 8.600 and 615.000 spike / m 2 and 3.725 g and 245.700 g / m 2 1889.000 kg / sq.m), respectively. With regard to the interactions between the genotypes and locations, Furat cultivar had superiority in Thi- Qar location, in which gave the highest rate of plant height and spike length which reached (113.333 cm and 20.000 cm), respectively, while the cultivar surpassed EBA 99 in Thi- Qar location, giving the highest rate of Leaf area reached (76.633 cm 2) while the interactions between genotype IR1069 in Thi- Qar location, the highest average of 100 seed weight reached (5.020 g). Keywords: Performance evaluation , genotypes , fine wheat, agricultural locations

Cadmium Sulfide Nanoparticles: Preparation, Characterization, and Biomedical Applications

Background: Colorectal Cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in males and the second in females in world with continuously increased incidence and mortality. The main treatment for Colorectal Cancer is surgery, generally associated with chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Objectives: A prospective study was conducted to primarily investigate the anticancer properties of synthesized cadmium sulfide nanoparticles with three different complex agents on Caco-2 epithelial colon adenocarcinoma. The study also involved comparing the efficacy of nanoparticles versus radiation therapy. Materials and Methods: Nanoparticles were produced using a wet chemical process and characterized for their physical and chemical properties using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and optical property analysis. The research involved exposing cancerous colon Caco-2 cells to different concentrations of CdS1-NPs, CdS2-NPs, and CdS3-NPs, and combining the nanoparticles with radiation therapy. The cells were treated with three doses over a span of three days, each dose consisting of 80 CGy delivered using an Elekta Precise Linear Accelerator with photons energy at 6 mega volts. Results: The cadmium sulfide (three different complex agents) are crystallite size (9 -12.59) nm, and energy gap (3.31- 3.86) eV. When used nanoparticles alone CdS1-NPs, CdS2-NPs, and CdS3-NPs killed about 75%, 71%, 79% of cells respectively. But when used nanoparticles and radiation. {Radiotherapy alone, ((CdS1 – NPs, CdS2- NPs, and CdS3-NPs) with radiotherapy)} the death rate of cells is (27.15 %, 90.35%, 69.1%, 58.82%) respectively, as after the third dose. Conclusion: The current investigation demonstrated that combining nanoparticles with radiotherapy resulted in a more significant effect compared to radiotherapy alone