Formulation and Development of Dendrimer-Based Transdermal Patches of Meloxicam for the Management of Arthritis

Purpose: To develop transdermal patches of meloxicam (MLX) using chitosan and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as hydrophilic polymers, polyamido amine (PAMAM) dendrimer as a permeation enhancer, and dibutyl pthalate as a plasticizerMethods: The patches were prepared by solvent casting evaporation technique using 3-factor, 3-level Box-Behnken design. The patches were evaluated for physical appearance, thickness, weight variation, folding endurance, drug content uniformity, tensile strength, moisture absorption and moisture loss, in vitro drug release, as well as by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). A specially designed glass diffusion cell was used for the in vitro drug release study. The effect of concentrations of dependent variables (PAMAM G3, chitosan and dibutyl pthalate) on drug release was investigated.Results: The patches demonstrated satisfactory characteristics. PAMAM dendrimer significantly enhanced (p < 0.5) the permeation of MLX. A maximum of 85.7 % drug release was achieved in 24 h.Conclusion: Dendrimer increased the release of MLX by increasing its solubility and permeation through the membrane. Thus, dendrimer patches are a potentially suitable transdermal drug delivery system for the management of some diseased conditions.Keywords: Dendrimers, Transdermal patches, Skin permeation, Permeation enhancer, Chitosan, Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, Meloxicam, Plasticize

A novel MONOS memory with high-κ HfLaON as charge-storage layer

MIS capacitors with a high-κ HfLaON or HfLaO gate dielectric are fabricated by using a reactive sputtering method to investigate the applicability of the films as a novel charge-storage layer in a metaloxidenitrideoxidesilicon nonvolatile memory device. Experimental results indicate that the MIS capacitor with a HfLaON gate dielectric exhibits a large memory window, high program/erase speed, excellent endurance property, and reasonable retention. The involved mechanisms for these promising characteristics with HfLaON are thought to be in part from nitrogen incorporation leading to higher density of traps with deeper levels and, thus, higher trapping efficiency, stronger HfN and LaN bonds, and more stable atomic structure and HfLaONSiO 2 interface, as compared to the HfLaO dielectric. © 2011 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Single Spin Asymmetry in Lepton Angular Distribution of Drell-Yan Processes

We study the single spin asymmetry in the lepton angular distribution of Drell-Yan processes in the frame work of collinear factorization. The asymmetry has been studied in the past and different results have been obtained. In our study we take an approach different than that used in the existing study. We explicitly calculate the transverse-spin dependent part of the differential cross-section with suitable parton states. Because the spin is transverse, one has to take multi-parton states for the purpose. Our result agrees with one of the existing results. A possible reason for the disagreement with others is discussed.Comment: Typos corrected. Conclusions unchange

Exploring the proton spin structure

Understanding the spin structure of the proton is one of the main challenges in hadronic physics. While the concepts of spin and orbital angular momentum are pretty clear in the context of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, the generalization of these concepts to quantum field theory encounters serious difficulties. It is however possible to define meaningful decompositions of the proton spin that are (in principle) measurable. We propose a summary of the present situation including recent developments and prospects of future developments.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, contribution to the proceedings of the DAE-BRNS High Energy Physics Symposium 2014, Dec 8-12, Guwahati, Indi

Evaluation of tumor response to cytokine-induced killer cells therapy in malignant solid tumors

CIK cells therapy has been evaluated as an adoptive cell immunotherapy for cancer patients, but there still have not been any standardized systems for evaluating the antitumor efficacy yet. The WHO and RECIST criteria have already been established for a few years but not sufficient to fully characterize the activity of immunotherapy. Based on these two criteria, the irRC was proposed for evaluating the efficacy of immunotherapy. A variety of bioassays for immune monitoring including the specific and non-specific methods, have been established. We recommend detect levels of various immunocytes, immune molecules and soluble molecules to find the correlations among them and clinicopathological characteristics to establish criteria for immunological classification. We also recommend a paradigm shift for the oncologists in the evaluation of immune therapies to ensure assessment of activity based on clinically relevant criteria and time points

Imaging the Partonic Structure of the Nucleon

We discuss the main properties of different types of parton distribution functions, which provide complementary multidimensional images of the partonic structure of the nucleon. These distributions are the generalized parton distributions, the transverse-momentum dependent parton distributions and the Wigner distributions. They have attracted increasing attention in the last years as they represent new tools to study how the composite structure of the proton results from the underlying quark-gluon dynamics

Characterization of human and rodent native and recombinant adenosine A2B receptors by radioligand binding studies

Adenosine A2B receptors of native human and rodent cell lines were investigated using [3H]PSB-298 [(8-{4-[2-(2-hydroxyethylamino)-2-oxoethoxy]phenyl}-1-propylxanthine] in radioligand binding studies. [3H]PSB-298 showed saturable and reversible binding. It exhibited a KD value of 60 ± 1 nM and limited capacity (Bmax = 3.511 fmol per milligram protein) at recombinant human adenosine A2B receptors expressed in human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293). The addition of sodium chloride (100 mM) led to a threefold increase in the number of binding sites recognized by the radioligand. The curve of the agonist 5′-N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine (NECA) was shifted to the right in the presence of NaCl, while the curve of the antagonist PSB-298 was shifted to the left, indicating that PSB-298 may be an inverse agonist at A2B receptors. Adenosine A2B receptors were shown to be the major adenosine A2 receptor subtype on the mouse neuroblastoma x rat glioma hybrid cell line NG108-15 cells. Binding studies at rat INS-1 cells (insulin secreting cell line) demonstrated that [3H]PSB-298 is a selective radioligand for adenosine A2B binding sites in this cell line

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Neutrophils in cancer: neutral no more

Neutrophils are indispensable antagonists of microbial infection and facilitators of wound healing. In the cancer setting, a newfound appreciation for neutrophils has come into view. The traditionally held belief that neutrophils are inert bystanders is being challenged by the recent literature. Emerging evidence indicates that tumours manipulate neutrophils, sometimes early in their differentiation process, to create diverse phenotypic and functional polarization states able to alter tumour behaviour. In this Review, we discuss the involvement of neutrophils in cancer initiation and progression, and their potential as clinical biomarkers and therapeutic targets