Lubricating Performance of Polymer-Coated Liposomes

Dry mouth is a troublesome condition linked to lubrication failure and leads to other diseases such as fungal infections and wounds in the oral cavity. There are many commercial salivary substitutes in the market, but none with a long-lasting lubrication effect. Polymer-coated liposomes can be an interesting formulation strategy for retrieving the symptoms of dry mouth by mimicking the micelles of saliva. In the present study, polymer coated-liposomes were prepared by the conventional thin film method and subsequently coated with three different polymers with different charge densities; alginate, chitosan and hydrophobically modified ethyl hydroxyethyl cellulose (HM-EHEC). The prepared polymer-coated liposomes were studied concerning their lubricating properties using a ball-on-disc tribometer at 2 N load at 37 °C, and their flow behaviours were also measured. Solutions of the pure polymers and dispersions of the uncoated liposomes were also studied to investigate any contributions from the individual components. A commercial dry mouth product based on HEC (hydroxyethyl cellulose) and glycerol was also included. The formulations were measured as soon as possible after preparation and some of them after >4 weeks. Results demonstrated that all the positively-charged formulations (chitosan, positive liposomes and chitosan-coated liposomes) had superior lubricating properties with friction coefficients (μ < 0.1) at orally relevant speeds (50 mm/s) as compared to the neutral or negatively-charged systems. At boundary lubrication conditions (3 mm/s), the chitosan-coated liposomes obtained an even lower friction force than the individual components, thus indicating a synergistic effect between the polymer and the liposome

Interpreting permeability as a function of free drug fraction: The case studies of cyclodextrins and liposomes

: In order to solubilize poorly soluble active pharmaceutical ingredients, various strategies have been implemented over the years, including the use of nanocarriers, such as cyclodextrins and liposomes. However, improving a drug's apparent solubility does not always translate to enhanced bioavailability. This work aimed to investigate to which extent complexation with cyclodextrins and incorporation into liposomes influence drug in vitro permeability and to find a mechanistic description of the permeation process. For this purpose, we investigated hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) and phosphatidylcholine liposomes formulations of three chemically diverse compounds (atenolol, ketoprofen and hydrocortisone). We studied drug diffusion of the formulations by UV-localized spectroscopy and advanced data fitting to extract parameters such as diffusivity and bound-/free drug fractions. We then correlated this information with in vitro drug permeability obtained with the novel PermeaPadR barrier. The results showed that increased concentration of HP-β-CD leads to increased solubilization of the poorly soluble unionized ketoprofen, as well as hydrocortisone. However, this net increment of apparent solubility was not proportional to the increased flux measured. On the other hand, normalising the flux over the empirical free drug concentration, i.e., the free fraction, gave a meaningful absolute permeability coefficient. The results achieved for the liposomal formulation were consistent with the finding on cyclodextrins. In conclusion, we proved the adequacy and usefulness of our method for calculating free drug fractions in the examined enabling formulations, supporting the validity of the established drug diffusion/permeation theory that the unbounded drug fraction is the main driver for drug permeation across a membrane

A Heavy-Light Chiral Quark Model

We present a new chiral quark model for mesons involving a heavy and a light (anti-) quark. The model relates various combinations of a quark - meson coupling constant and loop integrals to physical quantities. Then, some quantities may be predicted and some used as input. The extension from other similar models is that the present model includes the lowest order gluon condensate of the order (300 MeV)^4 determined by the mass splitting of the 0^- and the 1^- heavy meson states. Within the model, we find a reasonable description of parameters such as the decay constants f_B and f_D, the Isgur-Wise function and the axial vector coupling g_A in chiral perturbation theory for light and heavy mesons.Comment: 31 pages, 13 figures, RevTex4.

B0 - anti-B0 mixing beyond factorization

We present a calculation of the B0 - anti-B0 mixing matrix element in the framework of QCD sum rules for three-point functions. We compute alpha_s corrections to a three-point function at the three-loop level in QCD perturbation theory, which allows one to extract the matrix element with next-to-leading order (NLO) accuracy. This calculation is imperative for a consistent evaluation of experimentally-measured mixing parameters since the coefficient functions of the effective Hamiltonian for B0 - anti-B0 mixing are known at NLO. We find that radiative corrections violate factorization at NLO; this violation is under full control and amounts to 10%.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX2

Chiral Multiplets of Heavy-Light Mesons

The recent discovery of a narrow resonance in D_s+pi^0 by the BABAR collaboration is consistent with the interpretation of a heavy J^P(0+,1+) spin multiplet. This system is the parity partner of the groundstate (0-,1-) multiplet, which we argue is required in the implementation of SU(3)_L x SU(3)_R chiral symmetry in heavy-light meson systems. The (0+,1+)->(0-,1-)+pi transition couplings satisfy a Goldberger-Treiman relation, g_pi = Delta(M)/f_pi, where Delta(M) is the mass gap. The BABAR resonance fits the 0+ state, with a kinematically blocked principal decay mode to D+K. The allowed D_s+pi, D_s+2pi and electromagnetic transitions are computed from the full chiral theory and found to be suppressed, consistent with the narrowness of the state. This state establishes the chiral mass difference for all such heavy-quark chiral multiplets, and precise predictions exist for the analogous B_s and strange doubly-heavy baryon states.Comment: 10 pages; minor editorial revisions; recomputed M1 transitio

Simulation of Flow of Mixtures Through Anisotropic Porous Media using a Lattice Boltzmann Model

We propose a description for transient penetration simulations of miscible and immiscible fluid mixtures into anisotropic porous media, using the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. Our model incorporates hydrodynamic flow, diffusion, surface tension, and the possibility for global and local viscosity variations to consider various types of hardening fluids. The miscible mixture consists of two fluids, one governed by the hydrodynamic equations and one by diffusion equations. We validate our model on standard problems like Poiseuille flow, the collision of a drop with an impermeable, hydrophobic interface and the deformation of the fluid due to surface tension forces. To demonstrate the applicability to complex geometries, we simulate the invasion process of mixtures into wood spruce samples.Comment: Submitted to EPJ

D*-->Dpi and D*-->Dgamma decays: Axial coupling and Magnetic moment of D* meson

The axial coupling and the magnetic moment of D*-meson or, more specifically, the couplings g(D*Dpi) and g(D*Dgamma), encode the non-perturbative QCD effects describing the decays D*-->Dpi and D*-->Dgamma. We compute these quantities by means of lattice QCD with Nf=2 dynamical quarks, by employing the Wilson ("clover") action. On our finer lattice (a=0.065 fm) we obtain: g(D*Dpi)=20 +/- 2, and g(D0*D0gamma)=[2.0 +/- 0.6]/GeV. This is the first determination of g(D0*D0gamma) on the lattice. We also provide a short phenomenological discussion and the comparison of our result with experiment and with the results quoted in the literature.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figure

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECTIVE STRESS COEFFICIENT FOR VARIOUS HIGH POROSITY OUTCROP CHALKS

ABSTRACT The contribution of the pore fluid pressure in reducing the effective stress during loading of fully saturated high porosity chalk (&gt;40%) has often been assumed to be represented by an effective stress coefficient close to unity. This assumption entails the differential stress; the difference between the total stress and the pore fluid pressure, to equal the stress the rock matrix is exposed to. Laboratory experiments were conducted by simultaneously increasing the total stress and pore pressure. These tests resulted in substantial strains that should not occur if the assumption of an effective stress coefficient close to unity was true. Different explanations for these strains have been discussed, among these consolidation effects, partial saturation effects, micro damage and possible laboratory equipment effects. The strains that were observed during the above mentioned test phase, resulted in a focus on the effective stress coefficient for porous chalk material. The results presented in this study suggest that the effective stress coefficient for high porosity outcrop chalks depends on the applied stress and the pore fluid, and is not a constant nor close to unity as commonly presumed

Observational Constraints on the Angular and Spectral Distributions of Photons in Gamma-Ray Burst Sources

The typical spectra of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are discussed in the context of the compactness problem for GRB sources and how it is resolved in the popular fireball model. In particular, observational (model-independent) constraints on the collimation of the gamma-rays and the dependence of the collimation angle on the photon energy are considered. The fact that the threshold for the creation of $e^{-}e^{+}$ pairs depends on the angle between the momenta of the annihilating photons in the GRB source provides an alternative solution to the compactness problem. A new approach to explaining GRBs, taking into account the angular dependence for pair creation, is proposed, and the main features of a scenario describing a GRB source with a total (photon) energy smaller or of the order of $10^{49}$ erg are laid out. Thus, we are dealing with an alternative to an ultra-relativistic fireball, if it turns out (as follows from observations) that all "long" GRBs are associated with normal (not peculiar) core-collapse supernovae. The effects of radiation pressure and the formation of jets as a consequence of even a small amount of anisotropy in the total radiation field in a (compact) GRB source are examined in this alternative model. Possible energy release mechanisms acting in regions smaller or of the order of $10^{8}$ cm in size (a compact model for a GRB) are discussed. New observational evidence for such compact energy release in the burst source is considered.Comment: 15 pages, no figures, no table