Development of alternative activities to animal use in pharmacology education

The aim of this work was to implement three alternative methodologies to replace the animal’s use in teaching as an aid tool to the learning/teaching process in pharmacology classes. We proposed to students in Pharmacology classes of Pharmacy course, three technical didactic alternatives to animal use: discussion group on a social network, mental maps and public space for exposure of contents called "Pharmaco window". At the end of the course, we applied a simple questionnaire to students enrolled in the course seeking to evaluate the perception of the understanding, use and acceptance of these three methods. The 26 students (100%) participated in all activities and said that the strategies adopted were positive regarding learning and discussions. They have considered the concept maps as a technique which facilitated the learning process (54%) and the closed group on the social network as the activity that led to a better discussion and understanding of the contents (77%). All the techniques adopted contributed positively. Thus, the didactic alternatives to use of animals in classes made possible the transmitting of knowledge, saving the even a small number of animals to suffer and following ethical values

Development of alternative activities to animal use in pharmacology education

The aim of this work was to implement three alternative methodologies to replace the animal's use in teaching as an aid tool to the learning/teaching process in pharmacology classes. We proposed to students in Pharmacology classes of Pharmacy course, three technical didactic alternatives to animal use: discussion group on a social network, mental maps and public space for exposure of contents called "Pharmaco window". At the end of the course, we applied a simple questionnaire to students enrolled in the course seeking to evaluate the perception of the understanding, use and acceptance of these three methods. The 26 students (100%) participated in all activities and said that the strategies adopted were positive regarding learning and discussions. They have considered the concept maps as a technique which facilitated the learning process (54%) and the closed group on the social network as the activity that led to a better discussion and understanding of the contents (77%). All the techniques adopted contributed positively. Thus, the didactic alternatives to use of animals in classes made possible the transmitting of knowledge, saving the even a small number of animals to suffer and following ethical values

The use of Brazilian vegetable oils in nanoemulsions: an update on preparation and biological applications

Vegetable oils present important pharmacological properties, which gained ground in the pharmaceutical field. Its encapsulation in nanoemulsions is considered a promising strategy to facilitate the applicability of these natural compounds and to potentiate the actions. These formulations offer several advantages for topical and systemic delivery of cosmetic and pharmaceutical agents including controlled droplet size, protection of the vegetable oil to photo, thermal and volatilization instability and ability to dissolve and stabilize lipophilic drugs. For these reasons, the aim of this review is to report on some characteristics, preparation methods, applications and especially analyze recent research available in the literature concerning the use of vegetable oils with therapeutic characteristics as lipid core in nanoemulsions, specially from Brazilian flora, such as babassu (Orbignya oleifera), aroeira (Schinus molle L.), andiroba (Carapa guaianiensis), casca-de-anta (Drimys brasiliensis Miers), sucupira (Pterodon emarginatus Vogel) and carqueja doce (Stenachaenium megapotamicum) oils

Desenvolvimento tecnológico e avaliação biológica de micropartículas poliméricas contendo pantoprazol sódico

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Formulação enzimática de loção contendo queratinase microbiana como único agente de ação depilatória e promotora de absorção de fármacos

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do SulCiências Básicas da SaúdeFarmáciaDepositad

Effects of surface characteristics of polymeric nanocapsules on the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of antimalarial quinine

Introduction: The surface charge of nanoparticles, such as nanospheres (NS) and nanocapsules (NC), has been studied with the purpose of improving the in vivo performance of drugs. The aim of this study was to develop, characterize, and evaluate the in vitro antimalarial efficacy of NCP80 and NSP80 (polysorbate coated) or NCEUD and NSEUD (prepared with Eudragit RS 100) loading quinine (QN). Methods: Formulations were prepared by the nanoprecipitation method, followed by wide physicochemical characterization. Antimalarial activity in Plasmodium berghei-infected mice and populational pharmacokinetics (PopPK) in rats were evaluated. Results: The formulations showed a nanometric range (between 138 ± 3.8 to 201 ± 23.0 nm), zeta potential (mV) of −33.1 ± 0.7 (NCP80), −30.5 ± 1 (UNCP80), −25.5 ± 1 (NSP80), −20 ± 0.3 (UNSP80), 4.61 ± 1 (NCEUD), 14.1 ± 0.9 (UNCEUD), 2.86 ± 0.3 (NSEUD) and 2.84 ± 0.6 (UNSEUD), content close to 100%, and good QN protection against UVA light. There was a twofold increase in the penetration of QN into infected erythrocytes with NC compared to that with NS. There was a significant increase in t1/2 for all NC evaluated compared to that of Free-QN, due to changes in Vdss. PopPK analysis showed that NCP80 acted as a covariate to Q (intercompartmental clearance) and V2 (volume of distribution in the peripheral compartment). For NCEUD, V1 and Q were modified after QN nanoencapsulation. Regarding in vivo efficacy, NCEUD increased the survival of mice unlike Free-QN. Conclusion: Cationic nanocapsules modified the pharmacology of QN, presenting a potential alternative for malaria treatment

Degradação e estabilização do diclofenaco em nanocápsulas poliméricas

I den tidigare gjorda kunskapsöversikten fann vi “hål” i forskningen gällande elevers upplevelser om kooperativt lärande. Denna studie undersöker därför elevers upplevelser och erfarenheter om kamratrespons i matematikämnet. Lundgren, Säljö och Liberg (2014, s.308) menar på att kunskap är någonting som växer fram i interaktion mellan elever. Lärandet ses alltså som en del av den mänskliga gemenskapen där skolans uppgift är att involvera människor i samhällets kollektiva kunskaper. Fohlin et al. (2017 s.13) menar i sin tur på att det samhället vi lever i idag är demokratiskt och förväntas därför ha sammanlänkande roller. Varför speglas då inte undervisningen av ett hjälpande beteende. Läroplanen för grundskolan, förskoleklassen och fritidshemmet 2011 (Lgr11, s. 9) slår fast att skolan ska sträva efter att vara en levande och social gemenskap som ska bidra till vilja, trygghet samt lust att lära. Den ska även sträva efter att skapa de ultimata förutsättningarna för elevernas kunskapsutveckling, bildning och tänkande. Varje enskild elev i skolan har rätt att få utvecklas, få en ökad glädje, få möjlighet till att uppleva tillfredsställelse som ges vid framsteg och klara av de svårigheter som kan uppstå. Syftet med studien är därför att undersöka yngre elevers upplevelser och erfarenheter av arbetssättet kamratrespons inom matematikämnet. Vilka är elevernas upplevelser om kamratrespons och hur arbetar eleverna med kamratrespons och varför gör de det? För att finna svar på studiens syfte och frågeställningar har en kvalitativ metod använts, genom fokusgruppsdiskussioner. Resultatet i studien indikerar i huvudsak på att eleverna har en positiv inställning och upplevelse till arbetssättet kamratrespons. Det framgår även att eleverna inte endast tränar ämnesinnehåll utan även sociala förmågor då lärandet sker i en social kontext. Resultatet visar att kamratrespons har positiv inverkan på elevers kunskapsutveckling, uthållighet och motivation. Men förmågan att ge varandra gynnsam respons kräver övning där elevernas ansvarskänsla behöver utvecklas, både för sitt eget men också för gruppens lärande. För att kunna genomföra kamratrespons på korrekt sätt krävs det prioritering från läraren under en längre period. Läraren behöver också ha en förståelse för att arbetssättet inte passar alla elever. Men då forskningen belyser goda effekter när det gäller kooperativt lärande får läraren stöd i sitt didaktiska beslut att arbeta med kamratrespons

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery