Evaluation of the efficacy of Niosomal Curcumin Nanoformulation in Cancer therapy

During the past decade vesicles as a tool to improve drug delivery, has created a lot of interest amongst the scientist working in the area of drug delivery systems. Based on their biodegradable, biocompatible and nonimmunogenic structure, niosomes are promising drug carriers that are formed by self-assembly of nonionic surfactants and cholesterol in an aqueous phase. Curcumin (Cur),  a natural polyphenol found in Curcuma longa, has been utilized in multiple medicinal areas from antibiotic to antitumor treatment. However, the chemical structure of curcumin results in poor stability, low solubility and rapid degradation in vivo, limiting its clinical utilization. To address these problems, we have prepared a niosome system composed of nonionic surfactants polyoxyethylene sorbitan monostearate and cholesterol by thin film hydration method. The niosomal curcumin was evaluated for anti-cancer efficacy in prostate cancer cell line (PC-3) by MTT assay. Cur was encapsulated in the niosomes with a high entrapment efficiency of 98.4 ± 0.4%. Average particle size was found to be 127.5 ± 1.2 nm. Niosomal curcumin (Nio -Cur)  exhibited enhanced cytotoxic activity against PC-3 cells compared with free Cur. These results demonstrated that the Nio -Cur system is a promising strategy for the delivery of Cur and prostate cancer therapy.

A novel Paclitaxel loaded Noisome: Preparation, Characterization and Cytotoxicity Assessment against human prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common cancers and the second leading cause of cancer death in men.  Regarding that prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men and is the second leading cause of cancer mortality, paclitaxel, as a chemotherapeutic agent with a wide spectrum of antitumor activity, could be utilized in treatment of this malignancy. Paclitaxel side effects are severe hypersensitivity reactions, neurotoxicity, and nephrotoxicity. Today’s decline of side effects and increase in efficacy of chemotherapeutic agents by applying nanotechnology in medicine is the target of scientists. Niosomes or nonionic surfactant vesicles are nano vehicles utilized in drug delivery systems. Niosomes are prepared by various methods. Our present work investigated the efficiency of encapsulation of paclitaxel in noisome (Nio-PTX) as a novel vesicular drug delivery system and cytotoxic effects on PC-3 prostate cancer cell line. In this study, paclitaxel loaded niosome was prepared by thin film hydration method. The characterization tests that included dynamic light scattering (DLS) and UV-Vis spectrophotometry were employed to evaluate the quality of the nanocarriers. Percent of encapsulation paclitaxel prepared with sorbitane monostearate and cholesterol was 99.4%. In addition, the polydispersity index, mean size diameter and zeta potentials of niosomal paclitaxel nanoparticles were found to be 0.203 ± 0.012, 119.7 ± 2.5 nm and -4 ± 0.34, respectively. Cytotoxicity of niosomal paclitaxel nanoparticles and free paclitaxel on human prostate cancer cell line PC-3 after 24 hours were studied by MTT assay to determine cell viability. The results demonstrated that a 1.5∼fold reduction in paclitaxel concentration was measured when the paclitaxel administered in nanoniosome compared to free paclitaxel solution in PC3 human prostate cancer cell line. As a result, the nanoparticle-based formulation of paclitaxel has high potential as an adjuvant therapy for clinical usage in human prostate cancer therapy

Performance analysis of organic solar cells: Opto-electrical modeling and simulation

In this paper, the effect of mobility and active layer thickness on the properties of bulk heterojunction solar cells have been investigated using the drift-diffusion model. It was observed that open circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency are affected by two loss mechanisms. The recombination of charge carriers in wrong contacts destroys photogenerated electron-hole pairs, and the bulk recombination increases the act of coupling between electron-hole pairs with different binding energies and consequently lowers the open circuit voltage. The first loss mechanism rises as the mobility of each of the two carriers increases. The bulk recombination not only depends on the slow carrier mobility but also affected by the mobility balance of two carriers. Thus, it generates two optimal points for power conversion efficiency at none unity electron to hole mobility ratio. In the active layer, light does not get absorbed uniformly, and the profile of the photogenerated excitons depends on the device thickness. Therefore, similar changes in the electron and hole mobility do not bring about the same changes in power conversion efficiency. Also, this study indicates that with the simultaneous increase of mobility and thickness, considerable enhancement in the efficiency of the bulk heterojunction solar cells would be achieved

Optimal energy management and sizing of renewable energy and battery systems in residential sectors via a stochastic MILP model

Energy supply through integrated renewable energy sources (RESs) and battery systems will be of higher importance for future residential sectors. Optimal energy management and sizing for the components of residential systems can enhance efficiency, self-suffiency, and meanwhile can be cost-effective by reducing investment as well as operating costs. Accordingly, this paper proposes an exhaustive optimization model for determining the capacity of RESs, namely: wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) systems. In this study, batteries and electric vehicles (EVs) are utilized in line with other sources to capture fluctuations of RESs. To model the uncertainties of RESs, energy prices, and load demands a linearized stochastic programming framework is applied. The proposed framework involves long-term and efficient resource development alongside with short-term management and utilization of these resources for supplying the demand load. In our study, we utilize the roulette wheel mechanism (RWM) method as well as proper probability distribution functions (PDFs) to generate scenarios for all sources of uncertainties, including wind turbines, PV systems, demand, and electricity market price. The approach is verified in two different cases, including an individual home and a larger micro-grid (MG). The results of multiple numerical simulations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed stochastic model

Effects of dietary vitamin E on mucosal maltase and alkaline phosphatase enzyme activities and on the amount of mucosal malonyldialdehyde in broiler chickens

The effects of dietary vitamin E levels on mucosal maltase and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) enzyme activities and on the amount of mucosal malonyldialdehyde (MDA) in broiler chickens were studied in the present study. One hundred and eighty of day old male broiler chicks (Ross 308 strain) were randomly assigned into five groups, each with three replicates and 12 chicks in each replicate. Chickens in group A were fed corn-soy- based diet, while those in groups B, C, D and E were fed the same diet with 20, 60, 180, and 540 mg kg-1 vitamin E supplement (d-alpha tocopherol), respectively. Six birds were randomly chosen from each group, and were euthanized on days 10, 21, 32, and 42 of age. One segment of small intestine outset was homo-genized and mucosal ALP and maltase activity were measured. Moreover, mucosal lipid peroxidate amount was measured to reveal the impact of vitamin E on oxidative stress. Maltase activity was increased with the increase of vitamin E up to 60 mg kg-1 of diet while with further levels, it was decreased. Addition of 60 mg kg-1 of vitamin E to the diet significantly increased ALP enzyme activity (p ≤ 0.001). Addition of 540 mg kg-1 of vitamin E supplement to the diet led to the minimum amount of MDA at 32 days of age. It may be concluded that supplementation of broiler's diet with 60 mg kg-1of vitamin E can increase mucosal maltase and ALP enzyme activity