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Yousefpour P, Atyabi F, Vasheghani-Farahani E, Movahedi M, Dinarvand R. Int J Nanomedicine. 2011;6:1977—1990. The authors have advised Figure 9D on page 1986 is incorrect. Due to an error at the time of figure assembly Figure 9B and D were duplicated. The correct Figure 9 is shown below. Figure 9 Fluorescence microscopy of cellular uptake of (A) trastuzumab-decorated chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by SKOV-3 cell line, (B) trastuzumab-decorated chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by MCF-7 cell line, (C) chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by SKOV-3 cell line, and (D) chitosan-doxorubicin conjugated nanoparticles by MCF-7 cell line. (E) SKOV-3 cells and (F) MCF-7 cells in cell culture medium served as negative controls. The authors previously requested a corrigendum to correct this error soon after publication but it was not actioned due to communication issues between the journal and authors. The authors have now contacted the journal again several years later to request the same corrigendum in relation to the same error. The authors apologize for the error and advise it does not affect the results of the paper.

Vahid Jahed,1 Ebrahim Vasheghani-Farahani,1 Fatemeh Bagheri,2 Ali Zarrabi,3 Trine Fink,4 Kim Lambertsen Larsen5 1Biomedical Engineering Division, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran; 2Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran; 3Sabanci University Nanotechnology Research and Application Center (SUNUM), Tuzla 34956, Istanbul, Turkey; 4Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Health, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark; 5Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Faculty of Chemistry, Aalborg University, Aalborg, DenmarkCorrespondence: Ebrahim Vasheghani-FarahaniBiomedical Engineering Division, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Jalal ale Ahmad Highway, P.O. Box 14115-114, Tehran, IranTel +98 21 8288 3338Email evf@modares.ac.irKim Lambertsen LarsenDepartment of Chemistry and Bioscience, Faculty of Chemistry, Aalborg University, 7H Fredrik Bajers Vej — 1340, Aalborg 9220, DenmarkTel +45 9 940 8521Email kll@bio.aau.dkBackground: Phenamil (PH) is a small molecule that induces bone formation through upregulation of the TRB3 gene in the bone-regeneration process. β-Cyclodextrins (βCDs) with hydrophilic surfaces and a relatively hydrophobic cavity can form inclusion complexes with primarily hydrophobic small molecules such as PH, and increase their apparent solubility and dissolution rate. The hydrophilic surface of βCDs prevents their interaction with the hydrophobic lipids of the cell membrane for penetration. Therefore, binding of penetrative groups, such as lysine, arginine, and histidine (His), to βCDs for cell penetration is required.Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of His-conjugated βCD on cellular uptake of PH for bone differentiation.Methods: In this study, His-βCDs were synthesized and used to prepare an inclusion complex of His-βCD-PH. A hydroxypropyl–βCD-PH (HP-βCD-PH) inclusion complex for increasing PH solubility without a penetrative group was prepared for comparison. 3-D geometry of βCD derivatives and PH-inclusion complexes was investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and molecular docking. Alizarin red staining and real-time PCR were performed to compare bone differentiation of His-βCD-PH and HP-βCD-PH.Results: The results suggested that the benzene ring of PH was inserted into the wide side of both His-βCD and HP-βCD. Alizarin red staining at 14 days postculture in the presence of His-βCD-PH at total concentration of 50 μM for PH showed that bone-matrix mineralization increased significantly compared with free PH and HP-βCD-PH. Real-time PCR confirmed this result, and showed gene expression increased significantly (OPN 1.84-fold, OCN 1.69-fold) when stem cells were cultured with His-βCD-PH.Conclusion: The overall results indicated that His-βCD-PH is a promising carrier for osteoinductive PH with possible penetration ability and sustained release that reduces BMP2 consumption for differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells to bone tissue.Keywords: phenamil, β-cyclodextrin, inclusion complex, histidine, cell penetration, bone regeneration

Background & Objectives Considering the extent of rangeland areas as well as the limited capabilities of the government in managing these areas, the issue of using potentials outside of the government management system to protect national areas has been raised by some experts. One of these abilities is the presence of people who are continuously present in the rangelands. The key question is this, whether rangeland utilizers optimally managed these fields as in the past? The answer to the question required an investigation of the phenomenon under the prevailing conditions. For this purpose, the issue of the "feasibility of reassigning range management to nomads and investigating its effects" in the pilot areas was recognized as reasonable. Methodology After holding several meetings, the summer rangelands of Dasht Lar, Tehran's Hadavand tribe were chosen as a pilot, and a memorandum of understanding was concluded between the representatives of the nomads and some related government bodies regarding the transfer of the management of the selected rangelands to the representatives of the nomads and the government's support for them. The implementation of the 4-year project started in 2014 with "action research" studies. Evaluations were done using two standard research methods, quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative evaluation of the performance of nomadic representatives in the management of nomads and rangelands. This evaluation quantitatively also included the impact of this management method on vegetation cover indicators. To carry out the last phase after rangeland typing, considering the rangeland area, vegetation changes, accuracy, and study time, 20 plots of 1 square meter were established along two transects of 500 meters. By the random-systematic sampling method, rangeland capacity indicators were calculated by cutting and weighing method, condition trend with trend scale, and exploitation percentage using production difference before the nomads entered and after they left the rangeland. Results The qualitative part of the study revealed that this management method had an average success rate of 40% in the region. The lack of serious volition of the custodian organization in transferring management to the nomads, the lack of allocation of government funds for the implementation of the programs and projects predicted by the nomad representatives, and the protection of the region were analyzed as influential reasons for the complete failure of the management decisions of the nomad representatives. The results of quantitative evaluations also showed that the status of the systems during the research period, the average, and the trend of the situation remained the same. Except for the customary central Kammerdasht (which was negative), all other systems were positive. In each year, the exploitation percentage was higher than the allowed limit (50%), ranging from 0.72 to 1.26. The variance analysis also demonstrated the effect of year on most of the investigated indicators at two levels of 5% and 1% significance. Comparing the averages also showed that, except for utilization percentage, other indicators had an increasing trend. Conclusion In general, the management of nomadic representatives was evaluated as successful in improving the conditions of summer rangelands in the Ghoshkhaneh basin of the Lar Plain, so it seems that establishing the official presence of natural and legal representatives of nomads in the management of rangelands can be effective in improving the coverage of the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parisa Yousefpour1, Fatemeh Atyabi2, Ebrahim Vasheghani-Farahani3, Ali-Akbar Mousavi Movahedi1, Rassoul Dinarvand21Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, University of Tehran, 2Nanotechnology Research Centre, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 3Biotechnology Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IranBackground: Targeting drugs to their sites of action to overcome the systemic side effects associated with most antineoplastic agents is still a major challenge in pharmaceutical research. In this study, the monoclonal antibody, trastuzumab, was used as a targeting agent in nanoparticles carrying the antitumor drug, doxorubicin, specifically to its site of action.Methods: Chitosan-doxorubicin conjugation was carried out using succinic anhydride as a crosslinker. Trastuzumab was conjugated to self-assembled chitosan-doxorubin conjugate (CS-DOX) nanoparticles (particle size, 200 nm) via thiolation of lysine residues and subsequent linking of the resulted thiols to chitosan. Conjugation was confirmed by gel permeation chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies. Dynamic light scattering, transmission electron microscopy, and zeta potential determination were used to characterize the nanoparticles.Results: CS-DOX conjugated nanoparticles had a spherical shape and smooth surface with a narrow size distribution and core-shell structure. Increasing the ratio of doxorubicin to chitosan in the conjugation reaction gave rise to a higher doxorubicin content but lower conjugation efficiency. Trastuzumab-decorated nanoparticles (CS-DOX-mAb) contained 47 µg/mg doxorubicin and 33.5 µg/mg trastuzumab. Binding of trastuzumab to the nanoparticles was further probed thermodynamically by isothermal titration calorimetry. Fluorescence microscopy demonstrated enhanced and selective uptake of CS-DOX-mAb by Her2+ cancer cells compared with nontargeted CS-DOX nanoparticles and free drug.Conclusion: Antibody-conjugated nanoparticles were shown to discriminate between Her2+ and Her2- cells, and thus have the potential to be used in active targeted drug delivery, with reduction of drug side effects in Her2+ breast and ovarian cancers.Keywords: chitosan, doxorubicin, self-assembled nanoparticles, active targeting, trastuzumab

Parisa Yousefpour1,2, Fatemeh Atyabi1, Ebrahim Vashegani Farahani3, Ramin Sakhtianchi1, Rassoul Dinarvand11Nanotechnology Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; 2Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 3Department of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, IranAbstract: This study deals with the preparation and investigation of a nanoscale delivery system for the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) using its complexation with polyanionic carbohydrate dextran sulfate (DS). Dynamic light scattering, SEM, and zeta potential determination were used to characterize nanocomplexes. DOX-DS complexation was studied in the presence of ethanol as a hydrogen-bond disrupting agent, NaCl as an electrostatic shielding agent, and chitosan as a positively charged polymer. Thermodynamics of DOX-DS interaction was studied using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC). A dialysis method was applied to investigate the release profile of DOX from DOX-DS nanocomplexes. Spherical and smooth-surfaced DOX-DS nanocomplexes (250–500 nm) with negative zeta potential were formed at a DS/DOX (w/w) ratio of 0.4–0.6, with over 90% drug encapsulation efficiency. DOX when complexed with DS showed lower fluorescence emission and 480 nm absorbance plus a 15 nm bathometric shift in its visible absorbance spectrum. Electrostatic hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking interactions are the main contributing interactions in DOX-DS complexation. Thermal analysis of DOX-DS complexation by ITC revealed that each DOX molecule binds with 3 DS glycosyl monomers. Drug release profile of nanocomplexes showed a fast DOX release followed by a slow sustained release, leading to release of 32% of entrapped DOX within 15 days. DOX-DS nanocomplexes may serve as a drug delivery system with efficient drug encapsulation and also may be taken into consideration in designing DOX controlled-release systems.Keywords: chitosan, dextran, doxorubicin, nanocomplex, anticancer, drug delivery

The aim of this research was to study soil structural stability indices of clay loam soil treated with organic amendments, using High Energy Moisture Characteristic (HEMC). For this purpose, three sizes of soil aggregates (0.5-1, 1-2, and 2-4 mm) were treated with three rates (0, 1.5, and 3 %) of vermicompost and urban waste compost. After three months of incubation, water retention of the slow (2 mm hˉˡ) and fast (100 mm hˉ ˡ) wetted soil aggregates were measured at six pressure heads from 0 to 50 hPa, and HEMC stability indices such as Volume of Drainable Pores (VDP), Stability Index (SI), and Stability Ratio (SR) were determined. The results showed that only the stability of 0.5-1 mm aggregates was significantly (P< 0.01) affected by organic treatments. The stability indices were significantly influenced by the rates of amendments, and increased with increasing their rates. However, the type of organic amendments had no significant effect on stability of aggregates. The mean of VDP, SI, and SR decreased by increasing diameter of the aggregates and decreasing the rate of the organic amendments, due to breakdown of macro-aggregates and decrease of macropore fraction. In general, to increase structure stability of clay loam soil in arid regions of Iran, application of at least 3% organic amendments is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The role of potassium (K) in clay dispersion in agricultural soils containing large concentrations of K could be similar to Na. This research was carried out to assess the effect of potassium to sodium ratios (K:Na) on net dispersive charge, Gapon selectivity coefficient (KG), zeta potential (ζ) and percentage of dispersible clay. Different K:Na ratios at two electrical conductivity levels (EC = 3 and 6 dS m−1) were added to an agricultural loamy soil. The results demonstrated that the net dispersive charge and percentage of dispersible clay showed positive relations with K concentration and K:Na ratio; also, the percentage of dispersible clay and net dispersive charge had a positive correlation, at both EC levels. Therefore, net dispersive charge as well as percentage of dispersible clay can show the degrading effect of K on soil structure. The KG values for K (KG(K)) were larger than those of Na (KG(Na)) because of large cation selectivity for K in soil. Neither KG(K) nor KG(Na) had a significant effect on the percentage of dispersible clay, but they did influence net dispersive charge, indicating that the status of cation exchange might affect dispersive charge of the soil. At both EC levels, absolute amounts of ζ, as an index of diffuse double layer (DDL) thickness, increased with increasing concentrations of monovalent cations (especially K). In addition, a strong positive correlation was observed between the dispersive charge and ζ. Our results demonstrated that K could affect soil structure because of a change in cation selectivity, with K increasing repulsive forces among clay particles and creating dispersion. Highlights: K created repulsive forces between clay particles that led to clay dispersion.Net dispersive charge and dispersible clay increased with increasing K concentration and K:Na ratio.Cation exchange status (KG values) affected soil net dispersive charge significantly.A positive correlation between dispersive charge and zeta potential was observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an approach to generate imputed values for count variables to incorporate missing data mechanism uncertainty is proposed. For multiple imputation, a distribution is considered in such a manner that it can reflect missing data mechanism uncertainty. For combining the parameter estimation of these imputed data sets the rules of nested multiple imputation are used. The performance of the multiple imputations is investigated using some simulation studies. Also, a real data set is analyzed using the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ forming drug delivery systems that are formed by solvent-induced phase inversion have attracted extensive attention in sustained delivery of peptides and proteins. Based on the findings of our previous studies, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and acetone are two solvents that could improve the release profile of vancomycin from in situ forming systems based on poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolic acid). In this study, the effect of different compositions of these solvents on the release profile of hydrochloride and free base forms of vancomycin was investigated. To this end, several formulations with vancomycin (either hydrochloride or free base form) and different proportions of NMP and acetone were prepared. The cumulative drug release at specified time was determined and tested against conventional kinetic models. The surface and cross-sectional morphology of implants were investigated by SEM. The experimental results showed that as solvent composition changed, the amount of vancomycin release during the first 12 h changed, too. The use of free base vancomycin resulted in an extended vancomycin release profile with less initial burst release. The formulation containing free base vancomycin and mixed solvents of acetone and NMP in 2:1 ratio released 70% of loaded drug in 6 weeks with near zero-order kinetic. The best kinetic model to fit the in vitro release profiles was found to be Peppas-Sahlin model. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]