Development of a Solid Dispersion of Nystatin with Maltodextrin as a Carrier Agent: Improvements in Antifungal Efficacy against Candida spp. Biofilm Infections

The aim of this study was to improve the treatment of Candida albicans biofilms through the use of nystatin solid dispersions developed using maltodextrins as a hyperosmotic carrier. Characterization studies by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, dissolution studies, and particle size analysis were performed to evaluate changes in nystatin crystallinity. Antifungal activity and anti-biofilm efficacy were assessed by microbiological techniques. The results for nystatin solid dispersions showed that the enhancement of antifungal activity may be related to the high proportions of maltodextrins. Anti-biofilm assays showed a significant reduction (more than 80%) on biofilm formation with SD-N:MD [1:6] compared to the nystatin reference suspension. The elaboration process and physicochemical properties of SD-N:MD [1:6] could be a promising strategy for treatment of Candida biofilms.Depto. de Farmacia Galénica y Tecnología AlimentariaFac. de FarmaciaTRUEMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación [MICINU]Faculty of Pharmacy, University Complutense of Madrid [Research Group 910939]pu

Self-Micellizing Technology Improves the Properties of Ezetimibe and Increases Its Effect on Hyperlipidemic Rats

The aim of this work was to develop ezetimibe self-micellizing solid dispersions using Kolliphor® RH40 (MS-K) as a surfactant incorporating ezetimibe (EZ) into the croscarmellose hydrophilic carrier. Different ezetimibe:Kolliphor® ratios were studied to select micellar systems that improve the dissolution properties of ezetimibe. The different formulations were characterized by means of solid state analysis by SEM, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dissolution studies. These physicochemical studies showed a decrease from the crystalline structure of ezetimibe (EZ) to its amorphous state in the micellar systems (MS-K). A rapid dissolution profile was observed in these micellar systems compared to the drug raw material and physical mixture. Efficacy studies were conducted using a high-fat diet that induced hyperlipidemic rats. The micellar system selected (MS-K 1:0.75) revealed a significant improvement in serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and triglycerides (TG) compared to ezetimibe raw material. The histopathological examination of liver tissue also showed that this micellar system exhibited more beneficial effects on liver steatosis compared to ezetimibe raw material (EZ-RM) and the high-fat diet group (HFD). This study suggests that EZ micellar systems using Kolliphor® RH40 could enhance the antihyperlipidemic effect of ezetimibe and reduce liver steatosis

Posterior chamber phakic intraocular lenses for the correction of myopia: factors influencing the postoperative refraction

Posterior chamber phakic intraocular lens implantation is a refractive technique for the correction of myopia. This study aimed to identify those factors contributing to variability in postoperative refraction. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 73 eyes (one eye per patient) implanted with myopic implantable collamer lenses (ICL). Eyes were divided into two groups, the low myopic group (LMG) (ICL > −9.5 DS) and the high myopic group (HMG) (ICL ≤ −9.5 DS), to compare the predictability, efficacy index, and postoperative refraction between groups. The association of postoperative refraction with anatomical, demographic, and optical features was assessed through correlation analysis and investigated using ray-tracing. Results: Postoperative refraction at 3 months for the whole group was close to emmetropia at −0.02 ± 0.37 DS, the LMG tended toward myopia and the HMG, toward hyperopia. The results showed that 65% and 54% of the eyes had postoperative refraction of within ±0.25 DS, respectively, in the LMG and HMG, and in both groups, 100% were within ±1.00 DS. ICL implantation had a higher efficacy index in the HMG (1.13 ± 0.15) than in the LMG (1.04 ± 0.15). Postoperative refraction was positively associated with the vault (R = 0.408) and negatively correlated with ICL power (R = −0.382). Conclusion: The predictability and effectiveness of ICL implantation is high in a wide range of myopias. Considering the expected vault and including accurate vertex measurements would contribute to improving the predictability of the results

Biometric and ICL-related risk factors associated to sub-optimal vaults in eyes implanted with implantable collamer lenses

The data used in this study can be requested by contacting the corresponding author.Background: To identify biometric and implantable collamer lens (ICL)-related risk factors associated with sub-optimal postoperative vault in eyes implanted with phakic ICL. Methods: This study reports a retrospective case series of the first operated eye in 360 patients implanted with myopic spherical or toric ICL. Preoperatively, white-to-white (WTW), central keratometry (Kc) and central corneal thickness (CCT) were measured using the Pentacam. Anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT, Visante) was applied preoperatively for measuring the horizontal anterior-chamber angle-to-angle distance (ATA), internal anterior chamber depth (ACD), crystalline lens rise (CLR), anterior-chamber angle (ACA) and postoperatively the vault. Eyes were divided into three vault groups: low (LVG: ≤ 250 μm), optimal (OVG: > 250 and < 1000 μm) and high (HVG: ≥ 1000 μm). Multinomial logistic regression (MLR) was used to find the sub-optimal vault predictors. Results: MLR showed that CLR, ICL size minus the ATA (ICL size-ATA), age, ICL spherical equivalent (ICLSE) and ICL size as contributing factors for sub-optimal vaults (pseudo-R2 = 0.40). Increased CLR (OR: 1.01, CI: 1.00–1.01) and less myopic ICLSE (OR: 1.22, CI: 1.07–1.40) were risk factors for low vaults. Larger ICL size-ATA (OR: 41.29, CI: 10.57–161.22) and the 13.7 mm ICL (OR: 7.08, CI: 3.16–15.89) were risk factors for high vaults, whereas less myopic ICLSE (OR: 0.85, CI: 0.76–0.95) and older age (OR: 0.92, CI: 0.88–0.98) were protective factors. Conclusion: High CLR and low ICLSE were the major risk factors in eyes presenting low vaults. In the opposite direction, ICL size-ATA was the major contributor for high vaults. This relationship was more critical in higher myopic ICLSE, younger eyes and when 13.7 mm ICL were used. The findings show that factors influencing the vault have differentiated weight of influence depending on the type of vault (low, optimal or high)

Vault differences in eyes implanted with spherical and toric implantable collamer lenses: an inter-eye analysis

Purpose To determine the influence of implantable collamer lenses (ICL) geometry, i.e. spherical and toric on the vault, and report the refractive and visual outcomes of patients bilaterally implanted with the two ICL geometries. Methods: This retrospective case series analysed 41 patients implanted with a spherical ICL (sICL) in one eye and an equal sized toric ICL (tICL) in the fellow eye. The anatomical and ICL-related parameters were assessed using anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT Visante, Zeiss Meditec AG) and optical tomography (Pentacam, OCULUS). The influence of the anatomical and ICL-related parameters on the vault was determined using generalised estimating equations (GEE) to incorporate inter-eye correlations. Results: Postoperative spherical equivalent was within ± 0.50D in 66% and 83% of the eyes, respectively implanted with sICL and tICL. The efficacy index in the sICL group was 1.06 and 1.14 in the tICL group. The mean inter-eye vault difference was -1.46 µm, anatomical and ICL-related parameters showed similar associations with the vault for sICL and tICL. The GEE identified the ICL size minus the anterior chamber width, the ICL spherical power and ICL central thickness as significant factors influencing the vault. Conclusions: Spherical and toric ICL showed good efficacy for the correction of myopia and astigmatism. Patients implanted bilaterally with sICL and tICL tend to present similar vaults. The vault produced by both types of ICL was mainly regulated by the oversizing of the ICL. This suggests that the ICL geometry (spherical vs toric) is a factor with limited influence on the vault, thus the sizing method of a sICL and tICL should be similar

Efectos del Descope en el Control de Heliothis spp. y en la Producción del Algodonero (Gossipium hirsutum L.) en la Región de Algarrobo (Magdalena).

esta investigación se llevó a cabo en la Hacienda Santa Helena, situada en el corregimiento de Algarrobo, municipio de Fundación, Departamento del Magdalena, en el segundo semestre de 1.978. El estudio se realizó con el objeto de buscar información primaria en el campo sobre la influencia del descope con el Corta maleza y el machete en el control de Heliothis SZD. y en la producción en el algodonero (Gossypium hirsutum D.). Se empleó el diseño Bloques al azar; se hizo tres épocas de descope cada una con cuatro alturas diferentes más sus respectivas testigos, se realizó cuatro replicaciones, para un total de 15 tratamientos. Se sembró la variedad Deltapine 16 Nacional. Se hizo evaluaciones sobre rendimiento de algodón semilla tanto para el primer y segundo pase y rendimiento total, conteos antes y después del descope tanto de posturas y larvas de Heliothis spp. para determinar los porcentajes de control, peso promedio de las motas de Algodón, rendimiento de fibras desmotadas y semilla, desarrollo morfológico de las plantas, período vegetativo y número de aplicaciones químicas costo e ingresos por hectárea. Los tratamientos que se descoparon con machete presentaron mejores rendimientos y los que se descoparon con corta maleza los rendimientos más bajos. A medida que se descopaba más alto a las plantas, los rendimientos aumentaban. La tercera época de descope arrojó los mayores rendimientos en comparación con la primera y segunda. En conclusión, los tratamientos 10 (descopados con machete a los 75 días y a 90 centímetros de altura) y 15 (descopado con machete a los 100 días y a 110 centímetros de altura), dieron los mejores rendimientos con 1.405,0 y 1.412,5 kilogramos/Ha, respectivamente, logrando aumentar la producción en un 28.16 % y 28.25 % con relación a su respectiva testigo. En general, todos los tratamientos realizaron un buen control tanto en posturas como en larvas de Heliothis spp. especialmente los de la primera época descopada con Corta maleza. Hubo con troles comprendidos entre 89,9 % y 100 % para posturas (tratamientos 2 y 15); y entre 87,3 y 100 % para larvas (tratamientos 15, 2 y 5). A medida que la altura de descope aumentaba, los controles disminuían lentamente. Los tratamientos 10 y 15 presentaron los mayores pesos promedio en las motas de Algodón, de ahí que estos tratamientos fuesen los más altos en rendimiento por Ha. No hubo diferencias entre los tratamientos para el rendimiento de fibra y semilla. El desarrollo morfológico para los tratamientos de las épocas 1, 2 y 3 fue de deficiente, regular y normal respectivamente. Los tratamientos descopados con Corta maleza se les retrasó el periodo vegetativo y los descopados con machete se les adelantó. Se rebajaron en cuatro el número de aplicaciones químicas

Creación de un nuevo recurso educativo virtual para estudiantes de grado en Farmacia

Depto. de Farmacia Galénica y Tecnología AlimentariaFac. de FarmaciaFALSEsubmitte

Nueva estrategia didáctica para fomentar la participación del alumnado en el proceso de aprendizaje en el ámbito de la tecnología farmacéutica (continuación)

Depto. de Farmacia Galénica y Tecnología AlimentariaFac. de FarmaciaFALSEsubmitte

Sorterius - An augmented reality app for encouraging outdoor physical activity for people with intellectual disabilities

Many with intellectual disabilities (ID) have difficulties adhering to current physical activity guidelines. The goal of this study was to develop a mobile app for assisting people with ID to be more physically active. We implemented a solution that combines the digital and real world using augmented reality (AR). Eight people working with people with ID (special education teachers, social workers, psychologists, and researchers) tested the app and completed a usability test. Results indicate that a mobile app focusing on everyday life scenarios can have a potential value for the targeted user group, but AR solutions can be challenging.publishedVersionPaid open acces

Identification of an Elusive Spliceogenic MYBPC3 Variant in an Otherwise Genotype-Negative Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Pedigree

Case report[Abstract] The finding of a genotype-negative hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) pedigree with several affected members indicating a familial origin of the disease has driven this study to discover causative gene variants. Genetic testing of the proband and subsequent family screening revealed the presence of a rare variant in the MYBPC3 gene, c.3331-26T>G in intron 30, with evidence supporting cosegregation with the disease in the family. An analysis of potential splice-altering activity using several splicing algorithms consistently yielded low scores. Minigene expression analysis at the mRNA and protein levels revealed that c.3331-26T>G is a spliceogenic variant with major splice-altering activity leading to undetectable levels of properly spliced transcripts or the corresponding protein. Minigene and patient mRNA analyses indicated that this variant induces complete and partial retention of intron 30, which was expected to lead to haploinsufficiency in carrier patients. As most spliceogenic MYBPC3 variants, c.3331-26T>G appears to be non-recurrent, since it was identified in only two additional unrelated probands in our large HCM cohort. In fact, the frequency analysis of 46 known splice-altering MYBPC3 intronic nucleotide substitutions in our HCM cohort revealed 9 recurrent and 16 non-recurrent variants present in a few probands (≤ 4), while 21 were not detected. The identification of non-recurrent elusive MYBPC3 spliceogenic variants that escape detection by in silico algorithms represents a challenge for genetic diagnosis of HCM and contributes to solving a fraction of genotype-negative HCM cases.This article was funded by Secretaria Xeral de Investigación e Desenvolvemento, Xunta de Galicia, GRC ED431C 2018/38. Open access funding provided by Health in CodeXunta de Galicia; ED431C 2018/3