The Spies Among Us

During the late 60s, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was to symbolize anti-imperialism and nationalism. His ongoing war against Israel was also waged on its supporters, particularly the United States. How then, was the American University in Cairo, also know as AUC, viewed by the government and the public in such a time? The documentary, The Spies Among Us, tackles the common belief that the Egyptian national intelligence closely monitored the activities of AUC, in fear that it was a hotbed for foreign intervention and U.S espionage

Influence of the emollient on emulsions containing lamellar liquid crystals: from molecular organization towards applicative properties

International audienceOBJECTIVE: The sensory perception of cosmetic emulsions is complex as it is governed by an important number of parameters like the choice of raw materials, their interactions, the structural organisation of the system, etc.The aim of the present work was to go further in the interpretation of the emollient-surfactant interactions, towards the emulsions applicative properties. For this purpose, two systems containing liquid crystals of the lamellar type were formulated, differing only in the selected emollient. METHODS: First, the liquid crystals types were checked using different tools like the optical microscopy under the bright and polarized light, the wide-angle X rays diffraction and, finally, thermogravimetric analysis.Next, two sensory attributes, namely compression force and difficulty of spreading, were evaluated by a sensory panel. In addition to that, complementary instrumental characterizations (flow tests, textural analysis and contact angle measurements) were performed in order to understand how the panel could discriminate the products. RESULTS:The results showed that isohexadecane emollient induces the α-gel structures, while caprylic capric triglycerides favour the formation of the lamellar liquid crystals near to α-gel. For the compression force, the results point out that there is no direct interaction between the oil phase and the skin. For this attribute, depending on its chemical structure, emollient impacts the human perception only by changing the lamellar phase type. Concerning the difficulty of spreading, both the emulsion structure and the emollient properties should be considered. Immediate perception is impacted by the emulsions destruction, making the droplet roll one on each other. Then, once the droplets monolayer is disrupted, the emollient comes into direct contact with the skin. In this case, the perception is governed by the direct affinity of the emollient with the skin, nonpolar emollients being easier to spread if compared to polar ones.CONCLUSION: The sensory perception is guided not only by the choice of the raw materials but also by their interactions. It was shown that the chemical structure of the emollients affected the molecular organization of liquid crystals present in the emulsion and, consequently, directly or indirectly its sensory perception

Development of nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems with olive vegetable oil for cutaneous application

ABSTRACT Liquid-Crystalline Systems represent active compounds delivery systems that may be able to overcome the physical barrier of the skin, especially represented by the stratum corneum. To obtain these systems, aqueous and oily components are used with surfactants. Of the different association structures in such systems, the liquid-crystalline offer numerous advantages to a topical product. This manuscript presents the development of liquid-crystalline systems consisting, in which the oil component is olive oil, its rheological characterizations, and the location of liquid crystals in its phase map. Cytotoxic effects were evaluated using J-774 mouse macrophages as the cellular model. A phase diagram to mix three components with different proportions was constructed. Two liquid crystalline areas were found with olive oil in different regions in the ternary diagram with two nonionic surfactants, called SLC1 (S1) and SLC2 (S2). These systems showed lamellar liquid crystals that remained stable during the entire analysis time. The systems were also characterized rheologically with pseudoplastic behavior without thixotropy. The texture and bioadhesion assays showed that formulations were similar statistically (p < 0.05), indicating that the increased amount of water in S2 did not interfere with the bioadhesive properties of the systems. In vitro cytotoxic assays showed that formulations did not present cytotoxicity. Olive oil-based systems may be a promising platform for skin delivery of drugs