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Muhammad Hanif,1 Shahid Shah,2 Akhtar Rasul,3 Ghulam Abbas,3 Muhammad Zaman,4 Muhammad Wahab Amjad,5 Maria Abdul Ghafoor Raja,5 Hafeez Ullah Khan,6 Mehran Ashfaq,3 Omeira Iqbal3 1Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan; 2Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 3Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan; 4Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan; 5Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Northern Border University, Rafha, Saudi Arabia; 6College of Pharmacy, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, PakistanCorrespondence: Ghulam AbbasDepartment of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad, PakistanEmail ghulamabbas@gcuf.edu.pkBackground: Bisphosphonates have very low bioavailability and cause irritation of the esophagus and stomach. This study was planned to improve the oral bioavailability of ibandronate through the formation of a raft in the stomach. Bisphosphonate-induced irritation of the esophagus and stomach is prevented by the formation of a raft.Materials and Methods: The nanostructured raft was developed through the use of nanosized citrus pectin (NCP). The particle size of NCP was measured by zeta sizer and SEM. The percentage of NCP and the neutralization profile of raft was studied. The ibandronate, polymers, and the developed formulation were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TGA, and DSC. The release of ibandronate was studied in 0.1 N HCl, 0.5 N HCl, 1 N HCl, and simulated gastric fluid (SGF) and a cell viability study was performed using Caco-2 cells. The PPR5 formulation and Bonish 150 mg tablets were selected as test and reference formulations, respectively, for pharmacokinetic study. Twelve healthy albino rats were taken and divided into two groups using a Latin square crossover design, and the blood samples were collected for 24 hours.Results: The SEM image showed that the particle size of NCP was 159 nm. The raft of PPR5 showed 94% NCP and 45 minutes duration of neutralization. The FTIR and XRD showed chemical stability and a uniform distribution of ibandronate in the raft. The TGA and DSC indicated the thermal stability of formulation. The release of 99.87% ibandronate at 20 minutes was observed in the SGF. The values of Cmax for the reference and test formulations were 493± 0.237 ng/mL and 653± 0.097 ng/mL, respectively. The AUC(0-t) of the reference and test formulations was 3708.25± 3.418 ng/mL.h and 6899.25± 3.467 ng/mL.h, respectively.Conclusion: The NCP has been successfully prepared from citrus pectin and has shown effective porous raft formation. The bioavailability of the ibandronate from newly developed PPR5 was higher than the already marketed formulation.Keywords: nanosized citrus pectin, raft, in vitro release, cell viability, pharmacokinetics

Silicon (Si)-based materials are intensively pursued as the most promising anode materials for next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their high theoretical mass-specific capacity, moderate working potential, and high abundance in the earth's crust. Therefore, it has attracted widespread attention both from academia and industries. Despite the above advantages, the electrochemical performance is hampered by severe volume variation, resulting in poor cyclability and subsequently electrode failure. In this regard, nanostructured Si anodes and their composite electrodes might overcome these problems holding back the utilization of Si-based anodes in LIBs by providing facetious strain relaxation, short lithium diffusion distance, improved mass transport, and efficacious electrical contact. This review offers a holistic summary of chemistry, uniqueness, synthetic strategies, and practical applications of Si-based materials with a focus on presenting the development in the Si nanotubes, nanoparticles, nanowires, porous Si, SiOx, their composite materials with carbon, graphene cages, metals, and metal oxides as anode materials in LIBs. In the end, we present the research outlook for the development of Si/SiOx/C-based materials in the future, including fundamental design and various applications in addressing the challenges mentioned earlier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) has emerged as a significant intervention in which farmers are given more control over irrigation management. The primary goal of this study was to identify the factors that influence farmers' participation in PIM activities and compare the economic viability of participation levels. A multi-stage random sampling technique was used to collect the data from 240 farmers of Nasrana and Maduana distributaries located at the tail end of the Lower Chenab Canal (LCC) west circle in district Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan, using a structured questionnaire. The factors influencing farmers' participation in PIM activities were identified using an ordered Probit Regression model. The findings revealed that education level (β= 0.12; P=0.00), village leadership (β= 0.97; P= 0.00), and being a beneficiary of a water user association (β=1.20; P= 0.00) all had a significant positive influence on farmers' participation in PIM activities. On the other hand, family size (β= -0.05 P= 0.04), land ownership (β= -0.44; P= 0.05), and off-farm income (β= -0.52; P= 0.01) were found to have a significant negative impact on farmers' participation. Farmers with a high level of participation had higher farm technical efficiency and crop productivity. For these reasons, farming communities must be encouraged to participate in PIM activities in order to achieve a sustainable irrigation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]