International journal of pharmaceutics
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Drug counterfeiting detection is very important for the safety of patients around the world. Counterfeit pharmaceutical products can be referred to the production and distribution of mislabeled medications in which the identity, authenticity, and/or effectiveness is altered. Drugs are often counterfeited to reduce manufacture costs, while still marketing it at as an authentic product. ⋯ Certain counterfeit detection devices have been successfully used for qualitative and quantitative assessment to differentiate counterfeit medications from the reference product. Different technologies are needed to identify the chemical properties of a questioned drug product, which can then be used to determine its authenticity. This review examines the implications of counterfeit medications and the current technological approaches that are able to detect counterfeited pharmaceuticals.
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Corneal wound healing after a trauma or a chemical injury has been shown to correlate with antioxidant levels at the ocular surface. However, ocular bioavailability of efficient antioxidants (e.g. ferulic acid) after topical administration is limited by their poor solubility, low stability and short residence time. The aim of this work was to formulate ferulic acid in a nanocomposite platform composed of nanogels and micelles for efficient delivery to cornea. ⋯ The formulations were characterized in terms of rheological behavior, biocompatibility, wound healing properties, ferulic acid release pattern and penetration into excised bovine corneas. In comparison to Pluronic® micelles that released ferulic acid rapidly, micelle-nanogel composites sustained the release up to 2 days. Furthermore, the micelle-nanogel formulation favored in vitro wound closure promoting fibroblasts growth and ex vivo accumulation of ferulic acid into both healthy and damaged corneas (>100 µg/cm2).
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The use of amino acids as excipients is a promising approach to improve the physical stability and powder dispersibility of spray-dried powders for inhalation. ⋯ Both the spray-dried SV-LEU and SV-TRP exhibited better aerosol performance and storage stability compared to the spray-dried SV-LYS. Compared to TRP, LEU exhibited better protection of spray-dried amorphous SV from re-crystallization, which could be attributed to the formation of a LEU crystalline shell covering SV upon the spray drying process.
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Comparative Study
Effects of flow pattern, device and formulation on particle size distribution of nebulized aerosol.
The evaluation of particle size recommended in the pharmacopeias requires a constant flow rate, and the method for pediatric inhaled drugs is the same as for adult drugs. In this study, the aerosol concentration and particle size distribution (PSD) were measured under a realistic breathing pattern and constant flow. Two types of nebulizer (i.e., breath-enhanced nebulizer and vibrating-mesh nebulizer) and two formulations (i.e., budesonide suspension and albuterol solution) were chosen for comparison. ⋯ Furthermore, all vibrating-mesh nebulizers produced aerosol droplets having larger mean diameter and narrower size distribution than those of the air-jet nebulizers. We conclude that it will be more conducive to the evaluation of particle size to use a laser diffractometer under a realistic pattern and make up for the shortcomings of cascade impactors. The effects of flow pattern, nebulizer and formulation should be taken into account in the evaluation of the qualities of nebulizer products in pharmaceutical practice.
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The complete loss of dermal tissue due to ischemia is a serious challenge facing clinicians. Frequently, the failure of wound healing is due to ischemic conditions prevailing at the site of damaged tissue. Restoration of lost vasculature at the ischemic site can be achieved by supplementing proangiogenic stimuli through an engineered scaffold mimicking dermal extracellular matrix. ⋯ The immunostaining analysis further revealed the activation of thioredoxin-1 (Trx-1), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) mediated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling in resveratrol loaded scaffold treated group. The expression of Bcl-2 in healing wound edges post-treatment with resveratrol loaded scaffold confirmed the anti-apoptotic effect mediated by resveratrol. From this study, we explored a synergistic effect mediated by resveratrol and fibrous scaffolds to aid the ischemic wound healing process through effective vascularization.