Comparative Study of Polymer Nanoparticles on the Basis of Caprolactone–Polyvinyl Alcohol Mixtures with an Encapsulated Antitumor Preparation by Atomic Force Microscopy,X-Ray Diffraction,and Dynamic Light Scattering

Technical Physics - The morphology, structure, and optical properties of composites with biodegradable polymeric particles, which are based on poly-ε-caprolactone–polyvinyl alcohol...     

Polynomial-time key recovery attack on the Faure–Loidreau scheme based on Gabidulin codes

Encryption schemes based on the rank metric lead to small public key sizes of order of few thousands bytes which represents a very attractive feature compared to Hamming metric-based encryption schemes where public key sizes are of order of hundreds of thousands bytes even with additional structures like the cyclicity. The main tool for building public key encryption schemes in rank metric is the McEliece encryption setting used with the family of Gabidulin codes. Since the original scheme proposed in 1991 by Gabidulin, Paramonov and Tretjakov, many systems have been proposed based on different masking techniques for Gabidulin codes. Nevertheless, over the years most of these systems were attacked essentially by the use of an attack proposed by Overbeck. In 2005 Faure and Loidreau designed a rank-metric encryption scheme which was not in the McEliece setting. The scheme is very efficient, with small public keys of size a few kiloBytes and with security closely related to the linearized polynomial reconstruction problem which corresponds to the decoding problem of Gabidulin codes. The structure of the scheme differs considerably from the classical McEliece setting and until our work, the scheme had never been attacked. We show in this article that for a range of parameters, this scheme is also vulnerable to a polynomial-time attack that recovers the private key by applying Overbeck’s attack on an appropriate public code. As an example we break in a few seconds parameters with 80-bit security claim. Our work also shows that some parameters are not affected by our attack but at the cost of a lost of efficiency for the underlying schemes.     

Chemical synthesis of MnFe2O4/chitosan nanocomposites for controlled release of ofloxacin drug

In this study, we synthesized ofloxacin‐loaded MnFe₂O₄ nanoparticles (NPs) surface modified with chitosan (CS‐MnFe₂O₄) for prolonged antibiotic release in a controlled manner. It was found that the synthesized CS‐MnFe₂O₄ was spherical in shape with an average size of 30–50 nm, low aggregation, and good magnetic responsibility. An in vitro drug loading and release kinetics study reveals that the drug delivery system can take 86% of drug load and can release ofloxacin over a sustained period of 3 days. The release kinetics study reveals that the drug follows zero order kinetics and the mechanism of drug release is diffusion‐controlled type. These results indicated that CS‐MnFe₂O₄ NPs with pH‐sensitive properties can be used as candidates for intestinal targeted drug delivery through oral administration by avoiding the drug release in the highly acidic gastric fluid region of the stomach.     

Fuzzy approach in psychophysical modeling of human operator-manual lifting system

A fuzzy representation of the human operator decision-making process of selecting the maximum acceptable weight of manual lift is developed. Measures of acceptability are expressed in terms of membership functions which describe the degree to which the combined effect of biomechanical and physiological stresses is acceptable to the human operator. It is assumed that the combination of these two stresses has a synergistic effect on the individual's performance, and that the perception of this effect is reflected in an operator's choice when selecting the preferable weight of lift. The combined acceptabilities of a lifting task are compared to the subjective capacity norms established by the subjects in a psychophysical experiment. The conditions under which the distance between acceptability measures of the combined and the psychophysical stresses can be minimized are established. It is concluded that at a certain level of similarity between the acceptability measures of these stresses, a decision is made, and the preferred weight of lift selected.     

MnxGe1−x thin layers studied by TEM, X-ray absorption spectroscopy and SQUID magnetometry

Mn_0.06Ge_0.94 samples have been grown by molecular-beam epitaxy on Ge(0 0 1)2 × 1. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy shows the coexistence of an ordered diluted Mn_0.06Ge_0.94 film and of nanoscopic crystallites, which were identified as Mn₅Ge₃ by electron diffraction. The magnetic properties of the Mn_0.06Ge_0.94 samples show a superposition of a paramagnetic behavior, due to the interaction of Mn atoms diluted in the Ge host, and a ferromagnetic behavior attributed to the Mn₅Ge₃ crystallites dispersed into the films. The Mn L_2,3 X-ray absorption spectra of the Mn_0.06Ge_0.94 films exhibit a lineshape typical of metallic Mn, with considerably reduced multiplet structure.     

Phytochemical Profile,Antioxidant Capacity, α-Amylase and α-Glucosidase Inhibitory Potential of Wild Moroccan Inula viscosa (L.) Aiton Leaves

Medicinal plants offer imperative sources of innovative chemical substances with important potential therapeutic effects. Among them, the members of the genus Inula have been widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of several diseases. The present study investigated the antioxidant (DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays) and the in vitro anti-hyperglycemic potential of aerial parts of Inula viscosa (L.) Aiton (I. viscosa) extracts through the inhibition of digestive enzymes (α-amylase and α-glucosidase), responsible of the digestion of poly and oligosaccharides. The polyphenolic profile of the Inula viscosa (L.) Aiton EtOAc extract was also investigated using HPLC-DAD/ESI-MS analysis, whereas the volatile composition was elucidated by GC-MS. The chemical analysis resulted in the detection of twenty-one polyphenolic compounds, whereas the volatile profile highlighted the occurrence of forty-eight different compounds. Inula viscosa (L.) Aiton presented values as high as 87.2 ± 0.50 mg GAE/g and 78.6 ± 0.55mg CE/g, for gallic acid and catechin, respectively. The EtOAc extract exhibited the higher antioxidant activity compared to methanol and chloroform extracts in different tests with (IC₅₀ = 0.6 ± 0.03 µg/mL; IC₅₀ = 8.6 ± 0.08 µg/mL; 634.8 mg ± 1.45 AAE/g extract) in DPPH, ABTS and FRAP tests. Moreover, Inula viscosa (L.) Aiton leaves did show an important inhibitory effect against α-amylase and α-glucosidase. On the basis of the results achieved, such a species represents a promising traditional medicine, thanks to its remarkable content of functional bioactive compounds, thus opening new prospects for research and innovative phytopharmaceuticals developments.