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Objective: This study investigated the efficacy of using Korean medical treatments on a patient with functional dyspepsia.Methods: A 61-year-old female patient with functional dyspepsia and C/L-spine HIVD was treated with herbal medicine (Gamihyangsayukgunja-tang), acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, chuna manual therapy, and cupping therapy for 18 days. The treatment effects on the functional dyspepsia were evaluated using the Numerical Rating Scale score, Gastrointestinal Symptom Score, and Bristol Stool Scale results.Results: Following treatment, the patient showed decreases on the Numerical Rating Scale and Gastrointestinal Symptom Score and improvement on the Bristol Stool Scale.Conclusions: Korean medical treatment improved the condition of a patient with functional dyspepsia.

Objectives: This study reports the effects of Korean medical treatment, including the administration of Yanghyeolgeopung-tang, on tension headache.Case presentation: A 48-year-old man with headache and neck pain caused by tension-type headache was managed with Yanghyeolgeopung-tang, acupuncture, and pharmacopuncture for 15 days. To evaluate the improvements, a numeric rating scale (NRS), the Korean Headache Impact Test-6 (KHIT-6), and Neck Disability Index (NDI) were used. After treatment, the symptoms were relieved, and there were no particular side effects. The NRS scores reduced from 6 to 3, KHIT-6 from 64 to 48, and NDI from 46 to 22.Conclusion: These results suggest that Korean medicine may be effective for treating tension-type headache.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD), widely used as a solubility enhancer, on liposomal formulations. To this end, HPβCD was added to fabricate liposomes during the hydration process, and their physicochemical properties were evaluated. The Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra revealed that HPβCD could interact with the model drug, ceftazidime (CAZ), and with phosphatidylcholine, a main component of liposomes. This leads to a rapid release of CAZ depending on the concentration of HPβCD. Nanosized HPβCD-incorporated liposomes complied with Korsmeyer–Peppas kinetics, and the release of drug increased without significant changes in the release pattern. Our approach, which relied on supramolecule-related interactions, could provide new insights into other lipid-based formulations for accelerating drug-release properties.

This research proposes a methodology for the selection of input variables based on eXplainable AI (XAI) for energy consumption prediction. For this purpose, the energy consumption prediction model (R2 = 0.871; MAE = 2.176; MSE = 9.870) was selected by collecting the energy data used in the building of a university in Seoul, Republic of Korea. Applying XAI to the results from the prediction model, input variables were divided into three groups by the expectation of the ranking-score (Fqvar) (10 ≤ Strong, 5 ≤ Ambiguous < 10, and Weak < 5), according to their influence. As a result, the models considering the input variables of the Strong + Ambiguous group (R2 = 0.917; MAE = 1.859; MSE = 6.639) or the Strong group (R2 = 0.916; MAE = 1.816; MSE = 6.663) showed higher prediction results than other cases (p < 0.05 or 0.01). There were no statistically significant results between the Strong group and the Strong + Ambiguous group (R2: p = 0.408; MAE: p = 0.488; MSE: p = 0.478). This means that when considering the input variables of the Strong group (Fqvar: Year = 14.8; E-Diff = 12.8; Hour = 11.0; Temp = 11.0; Surface-Temp = 10.4) determined by the XAI-based methodology, the energy consumption prediction model showed excellent performance. Therefore, the methodology proposed in this study is expected to determine a model that can accurately and efficiently predict energy consumption.

The purpose of this study is to produce nanostructured lipid carrier (NLC) that can solubilize poorly water-soluble velutin and verify an improved tyrosinase synthesis inhibition. A solubility test for velutin was conducted. Cetyl palmitate and caprylic/capric triglyceride were selected as solubilizer. The lipid matrix was produced using the ultrasound dispersion method. The morphology and size distribution of the produced NLC was analyzed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), and the release and tyrosinase inhibition of velutin was evaluated through the Franz diffusion cell method and tyrosinase inhibition assay. Lipid matrix nanoparticles showed an average size of approximately 250 nm and polydispersity of 0.2, and it was confirmed that the velutin incorporated within nanoparticles sustained release at a constant rate over 36 hours. Due to extremely low aqueous solubility, the tyrosinase synthesis inhibition of velutin suspension was 0%, and the value of velutin incorporated within the NLC formulation was greatly improved 56.5% (40 μg/mL). As a result, it was verified that lipid-based NLC nanoparticles are an efficient formulation for the topical delivery of poorly water-soluble flavonoids such as velutin.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the surface activity of starch nanocrystals (SNC), material derived from starch, and confirm their usefulness as a surfactant. In order to evaluate the surface activity, the surface tension change of suspended SNC solution via the Wilhelmy plate method was measured and the values were compared with various synthetic surfactants. The effect of SNC as emulsifier was evaluated on emulsion formation and physical stability. The surface tension of the SNC-dispersed solution was decreased while its concentration was increased. When the 5.0% (w/v) of SNC was added, the surface tension was decreased from 70.3 to 49.5 mN/m. It was confirmed that the physical stability of the emulsion prepared by adding the SNC was improved compared to that of surface inactivity material (PEG 400). The phase separation was observed within 1 hour after preparation of the emulsion containing PEG 400, but the emulsion containing SNC was stable for 5 hours or more. To summarize this study, SNC, a natural-derived and non-toxic material, exhibits sufficient surface activity, thereby confirming the possibility of being applied to the food and pharmaceutical industry.

Formation of an electrolyte complex using the electrostatic interactions between a polyanionic polymer and a cationic drug is a simple and efficient method of preparing a colloidal drug carrier system. Dextran sulfate, with a negatively charged sulfate group, was reacted in an acetate buffer solution of pH 3 with positively charged 1° amine, 2° amine, 3° amine, piperazine, and piperidine structures from 24 small-molecule drugs. The electrolyte complex was formed from 15 drugs, 63% of those tested. The tendency to form the electrolyte complex was in the order of piperazine and piperidine >3° amine >>2° amine. The drugs with the 1° amine structure failed to form an electrolyte complex. The mean particle sizes were in the range of 50-740 nm, and most of them showed a submicron colloidal dispersion of

Graphene has immense potential as a material for electronic devices owing to its unique electrical properties. However, large-area graphene produced by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) must be transferred from the as-grown copper substrate to an arbitrary substrate for device fabrication. The conventional wet transfer technique, which uses FeCl3 as a Cu etchant, leaves microscale impurities from the substrate, and the etchant adheres to graphene, thereby degrading its electrical performance. To address this limitation, this study introduces a modified transfer process that utilizes a temporary UV-treated SiO2 substrate to adsorb impurities from graphene before transferring it onto the final substrate. Optical microscopy and Raman mapping confirmed the adhesion of impurities to the temporary substrate, leading to a clean graphene/substrate interface. The retransferred graphene shows a reduction in electron–hole asymmetry and sheet resistance compared to conventionally transferred graphene, as confirmed by the transmission line model (TLM) and Hall effect measurements (HEMs). These results indicate that only the substrate effects remain in action in the retransferred graphene, and most of the effects of the impurities are eliminated. Overall, the modified transfer process is a promising method for obtaining high-quality graphene suitable for industrial-scale utilization in electronic devices.

Self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems represent a stable formulation for enhancing the solubility and absorption efficacy of poorly soluble drugs. In this study, a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) was designed and applied for oral administration of poorly water-soluble pazopanib, a Biopharmaceutical Classification Class II anticancer drug. The solubility of pazopanib was first evaluated using various oils, surfactants, and co-surfactants. Pseudoternary phase diagrams were plotted to identify the selfemulsifying region and the phase behavior of optimized vehicle selected after screening of oils, surfactants, and co-surfactants. The SMEDDS comprising Capmul MCM NF, Tween 80, and PEG 400 was fabricated for incorporating pazopanib. It exhibited spherical droplets with size of 86.9 ± 0.8 nm and zeta potential value of –14.7 ± 0.1 mV. In vitro dissolution profiles of the SMEDDS were 2.40-fold (pH 4.0) and 6.45-fold (pH 6.8) higher than that of pazopanib powder. In particular, pazopanib-SMEDDS showed pH-independent dissolution profiles. In vivo pharmacokinetic parameters of the SMEDDS revealed enhanced bioavailability of pazopanib, which was 3.32-fold higher than that of pazopanib powder when administered orally. Taken together, the SMEDDS is effective as an oral delivery vehicle for pazopanib. In addition, our findings demonstrate that self-microemulsifying drug delivery systems could be a potential tool for improving bioavailability of other poorly water-soluble drugs.

In this study, we report the experimental demonstration of electrically driven on-chip transferrable microdisk light-emitting diodes (LEDs). A vertical p– i– n doped AlGaInP microdisk, including multi-quantum-well structures, is top-down-fabricated, on-chip micro-transferred, and converted into single micro-LEDs. Optically transparent and mechanically flexible multilayered graphene sheets are judiciously designed and introduced to the top and bottom surfaces of a single microdisk, thereby forming the top and bottom contacts. Using electroluminescence measurements, the fabricated micro-LEDs are characterized; they exhibit diode-like transport behaviors, spectroscopic light-out vs current ( L– I) characteristics, and polarization-resolved emission properties. We believe that the proposed all-graphene-contact approach offers a direct and easy current injection scheme and further helps electrify various on-chip transferrable microarchitectures.

Over the last several decades, long-acting injections have been studied in order to overcome such problems as low bioavailability in the oral route, the short durations of action in conventional injection, and the poor medication adherence in patients. The authors classified long-acting injections into three categories, namely, molecular modification, nanovehicle carriers, and stimuli-responsive hydrogels. The mechanisms and practical cases of these long acting injectable formulations, including conventional and recent technologies, were described and discussed in this review. Long-acting injection formulations has been proven to be useful from a number of preclinical and clinical studies. Therefore, the long-acting injection technologies can be promising strategy for precision and personalized medicine if the characteristics of formulation such as extended release and the drug-targeting are used appropriately.

Ecabet has a mucosal protection and anti-Helicobacter pylori effect only by local action in the gastric mucous layer, due to an extremely poor absorption into the systemic blood circulation. The aim of the present work was to develop chitosan-ecabet electrolyte complex (ChE) for the enhanced mucosal drug delivery. ChEs were prepared with various ecabet-chitosan concentration ratios. Entrapment efficiency (%), sedimentation volume (%), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), FT-IR spectrum, and drug release were investigated. ChEs were prepared by the simple mixing method in a pH-adjusted solution based on the electrostatic interaction between the sulfonate (negatively charged) group from ecabet and the amine (positively charged) group from chitosan. Sedimentation volume and entrapment efficiency at the same concentration of ecabet sodium with that of chitosan resulted in 53.6% and 86.75%, respectively, suggesting a high degree of forming complex. In TEM images, the complex was approximately 200 nm in particle size and had loosely entangled particles. Forming complex of ChEs was supported by new bands appearance in the FT-IR spectrum. In the drug release study using dialysis membrane sac, ChEs showed a sustainable release up to 80% during 12 h as compared to ecabet sodium suspension at pH 1.2 medium. Based on the results of this work, ChE would be a promising drug delivery system for gastric mucosa.

The aim of this study is to develop nanosuspension for improved dissolution of poorly water-soluble celecoxib. We first prepared coarse suspension of celecoxib with Tween 80 and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose as stabilizers, and then fabricated nanosuspension using the bead milling technique. Depending on milling time, the physical properties of nanosuspension were evaluated by photon correlation spectroscopy (e.g., particle size and distribution) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) (e.g., morphology). As results, the mean size of crystalline celecoxib particles was highly reduced (368.1±14.5 nm) as milling process proceeded comparing to celecoxib powder (6.5±1.0 μm). Morphology of milled celecoxib particles has changed considerably from bar-shape or plate-shape to needle-shape due to a high energy caused by milling. In the dissolution test, the celecoxib nanosuspension showed an improved dissolution profile at pH 1.2 compared to celecoxib powder (less than 1%). In contrast, 53.4% of celecoxib in nanosuspension was dissolved up to 30 minutes, demonstrating improved dissolution of celecoxib. Taken together, bead-milled nanosuspension could be an effective strategy that can improve the dissolution and bioavailability.

The aim of this work was to prepare and assess a self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) containing water-insoluble orlistat that was used for the inhibition of lipase activity in gastrointestinal lumen. The pseudo-ternary phase diagram, composed of orlistat and medium chain triglycerides (MCT) as oil phase and Cremophor EL as surfactant, was made for the confirmation of giving SNEDDS preconcentrate. The physical state, particle size dispersed in water, dissolution and lipase inhibition of SNEDDS preconcentrates were investigated. The appointed SNEDDS preconcentrates in the pseudo-ternary phase diagram showed no endothermic peak of orlistat and a liquid state. The particle sizes of SNEDDS dispersed with water were uniform and in the range of

Dae Hun Kim,1,* Jae Yeol Kim,1,* Rae Man Kim,1 Pooja Maharjan,1 Yu-Geun Ji,2 Dong-Jin Jang,3 Kyoung Ah Min,1 Tae-Sung Koo,2 Kwan Hyung Cho1 1Department of Pharmacy, Inje Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Inje University, Gimhae, Republic of Korea; 2Graduate School of New Drug Discovery and Development, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea; 3Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Inje University, Gimhae, Republic of Korea *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: The present study aimed to develop orlistat-loaded solid self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system preconcentrate (SSP) with the minimum use of lipid excipients for the enhanced solubility, in vitro dissolution, lipase inhibition, and in vivo performance. Materials and methods: In the screening of solubilizing vehicles, Solutol HS15 and Lauroglycol 90 were selected as the surfactant and oil phase, respectively. A pseudo-ternary phase diagram composed of Solutol HS15, Lauroglycol 90, and orlistat as an anti-obesity agent and lipid component was constructed, and the SSP regions were confirmed in terms of the particle size distribution in water, melting point by differential scanning calorimetry, and crystallinity by X-ray diffraction. Results: Physicochemical interaction between Solutol HS15 and orlistat resulted in SSP with various melting points in the range of 26°C~33°C. The representative maximum orlistat-loaded SSP (orlistat/Solutol HS15/Lauroglycol 90=55/40/5, weight ratio) showed the melting point of 32.23°C and constructed uniform nanoemulsion with the particle size of 141.7±1.1 nm dispersed in water. In the dissolution test at pH 1.2 without any detergent, the SSP reached 98.12%±0.83% until 45 minutes, whereas raw orlistat showed no significant dissolution rate. The dissolution samples containing SSP showed a lipase inhibition of 90.42%±1.58% within 45 minutes. In terms of the reduction level of fat absorption in rats, the intake group of SSP gave a significantly higher fat excretion into stool than the one observed in the raw orlistat group (P

The aim of this study was to improve the skin accumulation of hydroxycitric acid by using ethosomes with nanosize. We fabricated nanosized ethosome for the topical delivery of hydrophilic hydroxycitric acid and evaluated their physical properties and furthermore cytotoxicity. As results, in cell-based experiments, the use of ethosomes encapsulating hydroxycitric acid extract reduced the lipid droplet deposition in differentiated adipocytes, which was visualized by Oil Red O staining assay and also quantitatively measured by a triglyceride assay. The observed reduction in lipid droplet deposition occurred in a hydroxycitric acid extract concentration-dependent manner. In addition, the high accumulation of hydroxycitric acid in murine skin (66.28%) was observed following treatment with hydroxycitric acid extract-loaded ethosomes compared with treatment with hydroxycitric acid alone (1.19%) without ethosome as a nanocarrier. Based on these results, our findings showed that nanosized ethosomes improved the topical delivery of hydroxycitric acid and thus reduced lipid droplet deposition in adipocytes.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized membrane particles secreted by cells to convey intercellular information. In recent years, EVs have enticed scientists owing to their prevalent distribution, enormous possibility as therapeutic aspirants, and probable roles as disease biomarkers. As natural transporters in the endogenous communication system, they play a role in protein, lipid, miRNA, mRNA, and DNA transport. In this chapter, we recapitulate the roles of EVs in the vast field of regenerative medicine. This summary mainly describes the potential roles of EVs in the regeneration of extensively studied organs or tissues, such as the heart, kidney, lung, liver, skin, and hair. Furthermore, EV can also transport drugs and corroborate their uptake by target cells through endocytosis; therefore, this chapter also highlights the use of EVs in the field of drug delivery.

The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of a stabilizer and matrix former in the development of a celecoxib dried nanosuspension (DNS) for high dissolution rate and drug loading. Tween 80 and Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (HPMC) were used as stabilizers in the bead-milling process and dextrin was used as the matrix former in the spray-drying. Various nanosuspensions (NS) were prepared by varying the ratio of HPMC and dextrin, and the physicochemical properties of each formulation were evaluated for particle size, morphology, drug loading, crystallinity, redispersibility, physical stability and dissolution rate. HPMC efficiently stabilized the NS system and reduced the particle size of NS. The mean particle size of the NS with 0.5% HPMC (w/v) was the smallest (248 nm) of all formulations. Dextrin has been shown to inhibit the increase of particle size efficiently, which is known to occur frequently when NS is being solidified. As the dextrin increased in DNS, the dissolution rates of reconstituted NS were significantly improved. However, it was confirmed that more than the necessary amount of dextrin in DNS reduced the dissolution and drug loading. The dissolution of celecoxib in DNS prepared at the ratio (drug:dextrin, 1:2.5) was almost the highest. The dissolution of optimal formulation was 95.8% at 120 min, which was 2.0-fold higher than that of NS dried without dextrin. In conclusion, these results suggest that the formulation based on Tween 80, HPMC and dextrin may be an effective option for DNS to enhance its in vitro dissolution and in vivo oral absorption.

Tenofovir disoproxil (TD) has narrow absorption site mostly in upper intestinal tract where tenofovir rapidly decomposes. The aim of this work was to prepare and evaluate tenofovir disoproxil-loaded enteric microparticles (TDEMs) for the enhanced duodenal delivery. TDEMs were composed of TD, eudragit L-100 (EL) and ethyl cellulose (EC) as release-controlling polymers. For the physicochemical characterization, TDEMs were evaluated in terms of encapsulation efficiency (EE%), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The dissolution test was also performed while continuously changing the medium pH. The EE% of TD in TDEMs was good and more than 90%. The EC and EL formed a physically mixed structure and maintained their respective properties in TDEMs as confirmed by SEM image and FT-IR analysis. Combination of EL and EC gave higher enteric properties to TDEMs than the single use of EL or EC. The optimized TDEM (TD/EL/EC = 0.2/1/1, w/w/w ratio) yielded mean dissolution rate less than 10% in 1 h at pH 1.2, but completed dissolution with a dissolution more than 85% within 1 h at pH 6.5. Thus, the suggested TDEM would be promising enteric microparticles for the intensive delivery of TD to the duodenum.

In this study, we aimed to develop a 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PPD)-loaded self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) preconcentrate (PSP) using comprehensive ternary phase diagrams for enhanced solubility, physical stability, dissolution, and bioavailability. Capmul MCM C8 and Capryol 90 were selected as the oil phase owing to the high solubility of PPD in these vehicles (&gt, 15%, w/w). Novel comprehensive ternary phase diagrams composed of selected oil, surfactant, and PPD were constructed, and the solubility of PPD and particle size of vehicle was indicated on them for the effective determination of PSP. PSPs were confirmed via particle size distribution, physical stability, and scanning electron microscope (SEM) with the dispersion of water. The optimized PSP (CAPRYOL90/Kolliphor EL/PPD = 54/36/10, weight%) obtained from the six possible comprehensive ternary phase diagrams showed a uniform nanoemulsion with the particle size of 125.07 &plusmn, 12.56 nm without any PPD precipitation. The PSP showed a dissolution rate of 94.69 &plusmn, 2.51% in 60 min at pH 1.2, whereas raw PPD showed negligible dissolution. In oral pharmacokinetic studies, the PSP group showed significantly higher Cmax and AUCinf values (by 1.94- and 1.81-fold, respectively) than the raw PPD group (p &lt, 0.05). In conclusion, the PSP formulation with outstanding solubilization, dissolution, and in-vivo oral bioavailability could be suggested using effective and comprehensive ternary phase diagrams.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanosized membrane particles secreted by cells to convey intercellular information. In recent years, EVs have enticed scientists owing to their prevalent distribution, enormous possibility as therapeutic aspirants, and probable roles as disease biomarkers. As natural transporters in the endogenous communication system, they play a role in protein, lipid, miRNA, mRNA, and DNA transport. In this chapter, we recapitulate the roles of EVs in the vast field of regenerative medicine. This summary mainly describes the potential roles of EVs in the regeneration of extensively studied organs or tissues, such as the heart, kidney, lung, liver, skin, and hair. Furthermore, EV can also transport drugs and corroborate their uptake by target cells through endocytosis; therefore, this chapter also highlights the use of EVs in the field of drug delivery.

Cancer immunotherapy orchestrates the immune system of the human body to fight against cancer cells. By doing this, it has revolutionized cancer treatment. Toxicities arising from dose-limit and low rates of patient response continue to be the major bottlenecks in clinical outcomes. The immune system has a close relationship with tumor. This leads to the combination of nanotechnology and immunotherapy. Nanotechnology can potentiate the efficacy of immunotherapy by enhancing the delivery and retention, and narrowing the toxicity of immunomodulation. In this regard, immunotherapy can combine with nanomedicine to give strategies that could lessen the side effects and improve clinical outcomes in patient populations. In this review, we explore and recapitulate recent advances in nanoparticle-based cancer immunotherapy.

The safety and welfare of companion animals such as dogs has become a large challenge in the last few years. To assess the well-being of a dog, it is very important for human beings to understand the activity pattern of the dog, and its emotional behavior. A wearable, sensor-based system is suitable for such ends, as it will be able to monitor the dogs in real-time. However, the question remains unanswered as to what kind of data should be used to detect the activity patterns and emotional patterns, as does another: what should be the location of the sensors for the collection of data and how should we automate the system? Yet these questions remain unanswered, because to date, there is no such system that can address the above-mentioned concerns. The main purpose of this study was (1) to develop a system that can detect the activities and emotions based on the accelerometer and gyroscope signals and (2) to automate the system with robust machine learning techniques for implementing it for real-time situations. Therefore, we propose a system which is based on the data collected from 10 dogs, including nine breeds of various sizes and ages, and both genders. We used machine learning classification techniques for automating the detection and evaluation process. The ground truth fetched for the evaluation process was carried out by taking video recording data in frame per second and the wearable sensors data were collected in parallel with the video recordings. Evaluation of the system was performed using an ANN (artificial neural network), random forest, SVM (support vector machine), KNN (k nearest neighbors), and a na&iuml, ve Bayes classifier. The robustness of our system was evaluated by taking independent training and validation sets. We achieved an accuracy of 96.58% while detecting the activity and 92.87% while detecting emotional behavior, respectively. This system will help the owners of dogs to track their behavior and emotions in real-life situations for various breeds in different scenarios.

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a dry elixir (DE) system for enhancing the dissolution rate and oral bioavailability of celecoxib. DE system has been used for improving solubility, oral bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drugs. The encapsulated drugs or solubilized drugs in the matrix are rapidly dissolved due to the co-solvent effect, resting in both an enhanced dissolution and bioavailability. DEs containing celecoxib were prepared by spray-drying method and characterized by morphology, drug/ethanol content, drug crystallinity, dissolution rate and oral bioavailability. The ethanol content and drug content in DE system could be easily altered by controlling the spraydrying conditions. The dissolution profile of celecoxib from DE proved to be much higher than that of celecoxib powder due to the nano-structured matrix, amorphous state and encapsulated ethanol. The bioavailability of celecoxib from DEs was compared with celecoxib powder alone and commercial product (Celebrex®) in rats. In particular, blood concentrations of celecoxib form DE formulation were much greater than those of native celecoxib and market product. The data demonstrate that the DE system could provide an useful solid dosage form to enhance the solubility, dissolution rate and oral bioavailability of celecoxib.

An experimental study of the rare-earth intermetallic system LuPt2In reveals a strong enhancement of superconductivity near the charge density wave quantum critical point. This represents an unusual counter-example to cuprates, in which superconductivity and charge density waves tend to compete. Quantum critical points (QCPs), at which a second-order phase transition is continuously suppressed to zero temperature, are currently one of the central topics in solid-state physics1,2. The strong interest emerges from observations of very unusual properties at QCPs such as the onset of unconventional superconductivity (SC)3. While QCPs found at the disappearance of magnetic order are quite common and intensively studied, a QCP that results from a structural transition is scarce and poorly investigated. Here, we report on the observation of a charge density wave (CDW) type of structural ordering in LuPt2In with a second-order transition at TCDW = 490 K. Substituting Pd for Pt suppresses TCDW continuously towards T = 0, leading to a QCP at 58% Pd substitution. We find a strong enhancement of bulk SC just at the QCP, pointing to a new type of interaction between CDW and SC.

Xenon anesthesia has several advantages over conventional anesthetics, however, it has not been widely used in clinical sites, since the cost and minimum alveolar concentration were higher than conventional inhalational anesthetics. The purpose of this study was to develop an optimum vehicle for stable intravenous delivery of xenon with sufficient concentration. Thermosensitive lipid based nano-emulsions (TS-LE) were prepared by blending medium chain triglyceride, polyethylene glycol-15-hydroxystearate, D-α tocopherol polyethylene glycol succinate and Poloxamer 188. Three folds higher xenon was loaded in TS-LE when it was prepared under 5.5 atm of xenon pressure compared to that under 1 atm of xenon pressure at 22 °C (11.4±0.7 vs. 3.82±0.34 mg/ml). Poloxamer 188 conferred thermosensitive viscosity and outer rigid structure on TS-LE, and the properties led to the enhanced stability of xenon compared to usual lipid emulsion. Induction of anesthesia was investigated by monitoring loss of forepaw righting reflex (LORR) in rats. The ED50 for LORR was 131.9 mg/kg and the anesthesia was maintained for 65.3±7.1 sec at a dose of 179 mg/kg in rats. When it is considered that TS-LE stably loads enough concentration of xenon for the induction of therapeutically sufficient anesthesia, TS-LE may be regarded as a promising candidate for intravenous xenon delivery.

Mistletoes, hemiparasites, contain many components with various biological activities and have been used in cosmetics industry. Loranthacease (1,000 species) and Viscaceae (550 species) have the most dominant species in mistletoes (nearly 1,600 species). It can be expected that the biological activities vary from species to species; therefore, we have tested

The purpose of this study is to develop a solid dispersion system with improved dissolution, absorption, and patient compliance of poorly water-soluble celecoxib (CXB). Instead of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), an anionic surfactant used in the marketed product (Celebrex&reg, ), solubilization was performed using non-ionic surfactants with low toxicity. Cremophor RH40 (Cre-RH) was selected as the optimal solubilizer. Granules and tablets containing CXB and Cre-RH were prepared via fluid-bed and tableting processes, respectively. The morphology, crystallinity, flowability, dissolution, and pharmacokinetics for CXB-solid dispersion granules (SDGs) and the hardness and friability for CXB-solid dispersion tablets (SDTs) were evaluated. The solubility of CXB was found to be increased by about 717-fold when using Cre-RH. The dissolution of granules containing Cre-RH was found to be increased greatly compared with CXB API and Celebrex&reg, (66.9% versus 2.3% and 37.2% at 120 min). The improvement of the dissolution was confirmed to be the same as that of granules in tablets. The CXB formulation resulted in 4.6- and 4.9-fold higher AUCinf and Cmax of CXB compared with those of an oral dose of CXB powder in rats. In short, these data suggest that the solid dispersion based on Cre-RH&mdash, a non-toxic solubilizer, non-ionic surfactant&mdash, may be an effective formulation for CXB to enhance its oral bioavailability and safety.

Yb(Rh_{1-x}Co_{x})_{2}Si_{2} is a model system to address two challenging problems in the field of strongly correlated electron systems. The first is the intriguing competition between ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) order when approaching a magnetic quantum critical point (QCP). The second is the occurrence of magnetic order along a very hard crystalline electric field (CEF) direction, i.e., along the one with the smallest available magnetic moment. Here, we present a detailed study of the evolution of the magnetic order in this system from a FM state with moments along the very hard c direction at x=0.27 towards the yet unknown magnetic state at x=0. We first observe a transition towards an AFM canted state with decreasing x and then to a pure AFM state. This confirms that the QCP in YbRh_{2}Si_{2} is AFM, but the phase diagram is very similar to those observed in some inherently FM systems like NbFe_{2} and CeRuPO, which suggests that the basic underlying instability might be FM. Despite the huge CEF anisotropy the ordered moment retains a component along the c axis also in the AFM state. The huge CEF anisotropy in Yb(Rh_{1-x}Co_{x})_{2}Si_{2} excludes that this hard-axis ordering originates from a competing exchange anisotropy as often proposed for other heavy-fermion systems. Instead, it points to an order-by-disorder based mechanism.