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Background:Feed is an important input for poultry and swine production, representing 50–70% of the total production costs. Feed processing provides an opportunity to improve poultry and swine performance. Herbal gut function modulators are used in poultry and swine feeds to improve nutrient utilization and efficiencies of biomass production. Nbiotic™ Premix is a phytoformulation of AYURVET LIMITED, INDIA used in poultry and swine as a natural growth promoter (NGP) to effectively replace antibiotic growth promoters (AGP). Pelletization used to prevent wastage of feed, reduce bulk and improve digestibility and palatability. In present work we have assessed the stability of the Nbiotic™ Premix herbal formulation under different pelletization thermal stress conditions. Methods:Formulation was kept under controlled temperature (90oC) and moisture (2.0 % w/w) for different time intervals (0, 5, 10 minutes). Chromatographic techniques (HPLC and HPTLC) and physicochemical properties were used to monitor the formulations stability. Nbiotic™ Premix was stable at all the experimental investigation of pelletization thermal stress. Results:No significant change in the 6-gingerol content (250.0 ppm (± 2.0 % at RT 10.05 minutes) and difference between peak areas and the retention factor (RF) values for the control samples and various thermal stress conditioned samples were observed.A comprehensive study of HPLC and HPTLC measurements have been applied for assessing the stability of Nbiotic™ Premix. Developed methods (HPLC & HPTLC) were found to be rapid, sensitive and reliable in determining its stability. As evident, Nbiotic™ Premix can undergo pelletization process without any degradation. In conclusion, present study will help towards developing appropriate stability monitoring parameters for herbal products which is a major challenge in the nutraceutical industry in current scenario. &nbsp

Multifunctional nanoparticles are next generation materials that can be simultaneously used for imaging, diagnosis, and delivery of drugs. However, materials intended for cancer diagnosis need to be investigated for its cell uptake, toxicity, and effectiveness. In the current work, we have synthesized fluorescent iron oxide nanoparticles and evaluated its efficacy against retinoblastoma cell imaging. The iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized and stabilized using oleic acid. Sulforhodamine B was adsorbed onto albumin over the oleic acid-capped iron oxide nanoparticles. Our results demonstrated good cell uptake in a time-dependent manner and nanoparticles were found to localize in the cytosol. Further, the nanoparticles exhibited excellent negative contrast in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiments and with no cytoxicity (5–100 μg/mL iron oxide nanoparticles) to both normal as well as cancer cells demonstrating its biocompatibility. Thus, this novel material integrates the ability to image tissues with high sensitivity by MRI and specifically visualize Y79 retinoblastoma cells by fluorescence imaging with no toxicity.