Evaluation of the Release Profiles of Ibuprofen Formulated from Carnuba Wax and Homolipid Capra hircus

Purpose: To investigate the sustained release characteristics of ibuprofen lipospheres made from Capra hircus (GF) and carnauba wax (CW) in comparison with conventional granules as standard. Methods: Ibuprofen (90 g) and the lipid (30 g) were prepared by melt dispersion technique. Conventional granules of ibuprofen were prepared with starch mucilage, 20% w/v. Resulting lipospheres were characterized with respect to sizes, flow property, bulk and tap densities, encapsulated in hard gelatin capsules and evaluated for drug release profiles. Results: Dissolution profile for lipospheres were a maximum drug release of 97% in 1 hr (conventional granules), 23% in 4 hr (GF), 60% in 2 hr (CW) and 40% in admixtures of fats (GC). Admixing the fats enhanced flow properties of the lipospheres. Inclusion of a surfactant enhanced the release profiles from the lipospheres. Conclusion: Formulation of ibuprofen into lipospheres modified the release profile, which has implications in the formulation of sustained release multiunit dosage forms.Keywords: Carnuba wax, Capra hircus, Ibuprofen lipospheres, Dissolution profiles

A sticky situation: CCN1 promotes both proliferation and apoptosis of cancer cells

Members of the CCN family of matricellular signaling regulators promote cell adhesion through integrins and heparan sulfate-containing proteoglycans. A paradox of the CCN field is that, depending on the set of circumstances examined, individual CCN molecules can have quite different, and often opposing, effects. In a recent report, Franzen and colleagues (Mol Cancer Res. 7:1045–1055, 2009) show using siRNA knockdown that CCN1 (cyr61) is essential for the proliferation of prostate cancer cells. Intriguingly, on the other hand, CCN1 also enhances TRAIL-induced apoptosis. Thus the utility of anti-CCN1 therapy in cancer needs to be carefully considered in light of these divergent results. The significance of this paper is discussed

Serum iron markers in HIV and HIV-malaria infected participants residing in malaria endemic area of South-Eastern Nigeria

HIV and malaria co-infections affect iron status. The present study was designed to determine the collective predictive power of some iron markers in HIV infected and malaria co-infected participants. For thisstudy, 101 participants were randomly recruited from indivividuals requesting for HIV screening. The participants were grouped as ‘asymptomatic HIV participants (n=36); asymptomatic HIV-malaria co-infected participants (n=19); symptomatic HIV participants (n=16) and HIV uninfected control participants (n=30). Blood analysis were performed for HIV infection, malaria infection, haemoglobin (g/dl), CD4 + T cell count(/mm3), albumin (g/l), iron (ug/dl), UIBC (ug/dl), TIBC (ug/dl) and percent transferrin saturation (TS%). The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the blood concentrations of haemoglobin (f=4.805,

A Career in Catalysis: Alexis T. Bell

On the occasion of Alexis T. Bell's fiftieth year at Berkeley, we are honored to discuss a few aspects of his extensive contributions to catalysis, reaction engineering, and understanding of molecular-scale structure in catalytic processes. The illustrations provided here help reveal some of his traits most valued by our community: a drive to employ the best methods of instrumentational and computational analysis available; the instinct to search for the essence of the most important problems at hand, and the skill to write about them with exceptional clarity; and the formation and nurturing of collaborative teams to focus on the most essential questions

A Career in Catalysis: Alexis T. Bell

On the occasion of Alexis T. Bell's fiftieth year at Berkeley, we are honored to discuss a few aspects of his extensive contributions to catalysis, reaction engineering, and understanding of molecular-scale structure in catalytic processes. The illustrations provided here help reveal some of his traits most valued by our community: a drive to employ the best methods of instrumentational and computational analysis available; the instinct to search for the essence of the most important problems at hand, and the skill to write about them with exceptional clarity; and the formation and nurturing of collaborative teams to focus on the most essential questions

Anyonic interferometry and protected memories in atomic spin lattices

Strongly correlated quantum systems can exhibit exotic behavior called topological order which is characterized by non-local correlations that depend on the system topology. Such systems can exhibit remarkable phenomena such as quasi-particles with anyonic statistics and have been proposed as candidates for naturally fault-tolerant quantum computation. Despite these remarkable properties, anyons have never been observed in nature directly. Here we describe how to unambiguously detect and characterize such states in recently proposed spin lattice realizations using ultra-cold atoms or molecules trapped in an optical lattice. We propose an experimentally feasible technique to access non-local degrees of freedom by performing global operations on trapped spins mediated by an optical cavity mode. We show how to reliably read and write topologically protected quantum memory using an atomic or photonic qubit. Furthermore, our technique can be used to probe statistics and dynamics of anyonic excitations.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

De facto exchange rate regime classifications: an evaluation

There exist several statistically-based exchange rate regime classifications that disagree with one another to a disappointing degree. To what extent is this a matter of the quality of the design of these schemes, and to what extent does it reflect the need to supplement statistics with other information (as is done in the IMF’s de facto classification)? It is shown that statistical methods are good at the basics (distinguishing some type of peg from some type of float), but less helpful in other respects, such as determining whether a float is managed, particularly for countries that are not very remote from their main trading partners. Different measures of exchange rate volatility have been used but are not primarily responsible for differences between classifications. The theoretical underpinning of particular classification schemes needs to be more explicit