Soap-film coating : High-speed deposition of multilayer nanofilms

The coating of thin films is applied in numerous fields and many methods are employed for the deposition of these films. Some coating techniques may deposit films at high speed; for example, ordinary printing paper is coated with micrometre-thick layers of clay at a speed of tens of meters per second. However, to coat nanometre thin films at high speed, vacuum techniques are typically required, which increases the complexity of the process. Here, we report a simple wet chemical method for the high-speed coating of films with thicknesses at the nanometre level. This soap-film coating technique is based on forcing a substrate through a soap film that contains nanomaterials. Molecules and nanomaterials can be deposited at a thickness ranging from less than a monolayer to several layers at speeds up to meters per second. We believe that the soap-film coating method is potentially important for industrial-scale nanotechnology.We acknowledge support from the Sundsvall Community, Länstyrelsen Västernorrland, KK foundation, and EU Regional funds

Pulmonary infections in swine induce altered porcine surfactant protein D expression and localization to dendritic cells in bronchial-associated lymphoid tissue

Surfactant protein D (SP-D) is a pattern-recognition molecule of the innate immune system that recognizes various microbial surface-specific carbohydrate and lipid patterns. In vitro data has suggested that this binding may lead to increased microbial association with macrophages and dendritic cells. The aim of the present in vivo study was to study the expression of porcine SP-D (pSP-D) in the lung during different pulmonary bacterial infections, and the effect of the routes of infection on this expression was elucidated. Furthermore, the aim was to study the in vivo spatial relationship among pSP-D, pathogens, phagocytic cells and dendritic cells. Lung tissue was collected from experimental and natural bronchopneumonias caused by Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae or Staphylococcus aureus, and from embolic and diffuse interstitial pneumonia, caused by Staph. aureus or Arcanobacterium pyogenes and Streptococcus suis serotype 2, respectively. By comparing normal and diseased lung tissue from the same lungs, increased diffuse pSP-D immunoreactivity was seen in the surfactant in both acute and chronic bronchopneumonias, while such increased expression of pSP-D was generally not present in the interstitial pneumonias. Co-localization of pSP-D, alveolar macrophages and bacteria was demonstrated, and pSP-D showed a patchy distribution on the membranes of alveolar macrophages. SP-D immunoreactivity was intracellular in dendritic cells. The dendritic cells were identified by their morphology, the absence of macrophage marker immunoreactivity and the presence of dendritic cell marker immunoreactivity. Increased expression of pSP-D in the surfactant coincided with presence of pSP-D-positive dendritic cells in bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT), indicating a possible transport of pSP-D through the specialized M cells overlying (BALT). In conclusion, we have shown that pSP-D expression in the lung surfactant is induced by bacterial infection by an aerogenous route rather than by a haematogenous route, and that the protein interacts specifically with alveolar macrophages and with dendritic cells in microbial-induced BALT. The function of the interaction between pSP-D and dendritic cells in BALT remain unclear, but pSP-D could represent a link between the innate and adaptive immune system, facilitating the bacterial antigen presentation by dendritic cells in BALT

Efficacy, safety, quality control, marketing and regulatory guidelines for herbal medicines (phytotherapeutic agents)

This review highlights the current advances in knowledge about the safety, efficacy, quality control, marketing and regulatory aspects of botanical medicines. Phytotherapeutic agents are standardized herbal preparations consisting of complex mixtures of one or more plants which contain as active ingredients plant parts or plant material in the crude or processed state. A marked growth in the worldwide phytotherapeutic market has occurred over the last 15 years. For the European and USA markets alone, this will reach about $7 billion and$5 billion per annum, respectively, in 1999, and has thus attracted the interest of most large pharmaceutical companies. Insufficient data exist for most plants to guarantee their quality, efficacy and safety. The idea that herbal drugs are safe and free from side effects is false. Plants contain hundreds of constituents and some of them are very toxic, such as the most cytotoxic anti-cancer plant-derived drugs, digitalis and the pyrrolizidine alkaloids, etc. However, the adverse effects of phytotherapeutic agents are less frequent compared with synthetic drugs, but well-controlled clinical trials have now confirmed that such effects really exist. Several regulatory models for herbal medicines are currently available including prescription drugs, over-the-counter substances, traditional medicines and dietary supplements. Harmonization and improvement in the processes of regulation is needed, and the general tendency is to perpetuate the German Commission E experience, which combines scientific studies and traditional knowledge (monographs). Finally, the trend in the domestication, production and biotechnological studies and genetic improvement of medicinal plants, instead of the use of plants harvested in the wild, will offer great advantages, since it will be possible to obtain uniform and high quality raw materials which are fundamental to the efficacy and safety of herbal drugs