Topic Review
Polymers for Pharmaceutical Coating
Coating the solid dosage form, such as tablets, is considered common, but it is a critical process that provides different characteristics to tablets. It increases the value of solid dosage form, administered orally, and thus meets diverse clinical requirements. As tablet coating is a process driven by technology, it relies on advancements in coating techniques, equipment used for the coating process, evaluation of coated tablets, and coated material used. Although different techniques were employed for coating purposes, which may be based on the use of solvents or solvent-free, each of the methods used has its advantages and disadvantages, and the techniques need continued modification too. During the process of film coating, several inter-and intra-batch uniformity of coated material on the tablets is considered a critical point that ensures the worth of the final product, particularly for those drugs that contain an active medicament in the coating layer. Meanwhile, computational modeling and experimental evaluation were actively used to predict the impact of the operational parameters on the final product quality and optimize the variables in tablet coating. The efforts produced by computational modeling or experimental evaluation not only save cost in optimizing the coating process but also saves time.
  • 3.3K
  • 13 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Soft Gelatin Capsules
The development of soft gelatin capsules (SGCs) dosage forms has attracted a great deal of interest in the oral delivery of poorly water-soluble drugs. This is attributed to the increased number of poorly soluble drugs in the pipeline, and hence the challenges of finding innovative ways of developing bioavailable and stable dosage forms. Encapsulation of these drugs into SGCs is one of the approaches that is utilized to deliver the active ingredients to the systemic circulation to overcome certain formulation hurdles. Once formulated, encapsulated drugs in the form of SGCs require suitable in vitro dissolution test methods to ensure drug product quality and performance.
  • 3.3K
  • 04 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Applications of Nanocellulose/Nanocarbon Composites: Focus on Biotechnology and Medicine
Nanocellulose/nanocarbon composites are newly-emerging smart hybrid materials containing cellulose nanoparticles, such as nanofibrils and nanocrystals, and carbon nanoparticles, such as “classical” carbon allotropes (fullerenes, graphene, nanotubes and nanodiamonds), or other carbon nanostructures (carbon nanofibers, carbon quantum dots, activated carbon and carbon black). The nanocellulose component acts as a dispersing agent and homogeneously distribute the carbon nanoparticles in aqueous environment. Nanocellulose/nanocarbon composites can be prepared with many advantageous properties, such as high mechanical strength, flexibility, stretchability, tunable thermal and electrical conductivity, tunable optical transparency, photodynamic and photothermal activity, nanoporous character and high adsorption capacity. They are therefore promising for a wide range of industrial applications, such as energy generation, storage and conversion, water purification, food packaging, construction of fire retardants and shape memory devices. They also hold great promise for biomedical applications, such as radical scavenging, photodynamic and photothermal therapy of tumors and microbial infections, drug delivery, biosensorics, isolation of various biomolecules, electrical stimulation of damaged tissues (e.g. cardiac, neural), neural and bone tissue engineering, engineering of blood vessels and advanced wound dressing, e.g. with antimicrobial and antitumor activity. However, the potential cytotoxicity and immunogenicity of the composites and their components must also be taken into account.
  • 3.3K
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Medical Model of Autism
The medical model of autism encourages continual research into the causes of autism, with the primary goal of finding a way to prevent or cure autism. This is a subset of the medical model of disability in general. The model advocates a variety of goals including increased awareness of autism prevalence, earlier and more accessible diagnosis, elimination of autistic behaviors through therapies such as applied behavior analysis, identification of environmental factors that may cause autism in infancy, and identification of a genetic marker to allow testing for autism in utero. Advocates for the medical model believe that autism is a disorder caused by genetic defects or environmental harm, that the value of talents attributed to autism does not outweigh the deficits, and that most autistic people would be better off if they were not autistic. For instance, then-president Liz Feld of Autism Speaks stated that one-third of people with autism also have a seizure disorder, half suffer serious digestive complications, 49 percent wander, and more than 30 percent are nonverbal. Many organizations subscribe to the medical model, most of which have non-profit status. The autism rights and neurodiversity movements are critics of the medical view.
  • 3.3K
  • 16 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Folic Acid, Vitamin B12 and Chronic Kidney Disease
Patients affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) experience a huge cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular events represent the leading causes of death. Folic acid and vitamin B12 could not only be mere cofactors in the homocysteine metabolism; they may have a direct action in determining tissue damage and cardiovascular risk. 
  • 3.3K
  • 15 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Paraprobiotics
Paraprobiotics are defined as “inactivated microbial cells (non-viable) that confer a health benefit to the consumer” and hold the ability to regulate the adaptive and innate immune systems, to exhibit anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and antioxidant properties, and to exert antagonistic effect against pathogens, thus confirming that viability of probiotics is not an absolute pre-requisite for promoting health effects. 
  • 3.2K
  • 05 May 2021
Topic Review
Natural Phenols
Phenols are widespread in nature, being the major components of several plants and essential oils. Natural phenols’ anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, pharmacological and nutritional properties are, nowadays, well established. Hence, given their peculiar biological role, numerous studies are currently ongoing to overcome their limitations, as well as to enhance their activity.
  • 3.2K
  • 29 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Xanthine Oxidoreductase Activities
Xanthine oxidoreductase (XOR) is the enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of hypoxanthine to xanthine and xanthine to uric acid. XOR is widely distributed throughout living organisms and is highly conserved in prokaryotic, plant, and animal species. XOR activity is very versatile, generating both pro-oxidant (primarily within the cell) and anti-oxidant (primarily in plasma) products.
  • 3.2K
  • 21 Sep 2020
Topic Review
Chromatographic Techniques in Pharmaceutical Analysis
High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is an incredibly universal tool, especially when combined with different detectors, such as UV-Visible spectroscopy, mass spectrometry (MS), and fluorescence detection for numerous active ingredients in different pharmaceutical formulations without interferences from other excipients. TLC, in combination with densitometry, is a very efficient tool for the determination of biologically active substances present in pharmaceutical preparations. In addition, TLC coupled to densitometry and mass spectrometry could be suitable for preliminary screening and determination of the biological activity (e.g., antioxidant properties, thin layer chromatography (TLC) by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method) of plant materials. Gas chromatography, coupled with a mass spectrometer (GC-MS, GC-MS/MS), is of particular importance in the testing of any volatile substances, such as essential oils. LC, coupled to NMR and MS, is the best solution for identifying and studying the structure of unknown components from plant extracts, as well as degradation products (DPs). Thanks to size-exclusion chromatography, coupled to multi-angle light scattering, the quality control of biological pharmaceuticals is possible.
  • 3.1K
  • 26 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Dynamic-Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation
The dynamic-maturational model of attachment and adaptation (DMM) is a transdisciplinary model describing the effect attachment relationships can have on human development and functioning. It is especially focused on the effects of relationships between children and parents and between romantic/reproductive couples. It developed initially from attachment theory as developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, and incorporated many other theories into a comprehensive model of adaptation to life's many dangers. The DMM was initially created by developmental psychologist Patricia McKinsey Crittenden and her colleagues including David DiLalla, Angelika Claussen, Andrea Landini, Steve Farnfield, and Susan Spieker. A main tenant of the DMM is that exposure to danger drives neural development and adaptation to promote survival. Danger includes relationship danger. In DMM-attachment theory, when a person needs protection or comfort from danger from a person with whom they have a protective relationship, the nature of the relationship generates relation-specific self-protective strategies. These are patterns of behavior which include the underlying neural processing. The DMM protective strategies describe aspects of the parent-child relationship, romantic relationships, and to a degree, relationships between patients/clients and long-term helping professionals.
  • 3.1K
  • 22 Nov 2022
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