Microemulsions for intravesical delivery of gemcitabine

The objective of this work was to develop a safe and effective delivery vehicle for topical treatment of gemcitabine. The physicochemical properties, drug release rate, drug level in plasma and bladder, and histological changes of tissue after drug administration were investigated. The electrical conductivity, mean size, and viscosity of drug-loaded microemulsions were 0.8-102.0 μS/cm, 116.8-322.5 nm, and 42.9-105.0 cps×103, respectively. Gemcitabine loaded microemulsions showed a slower and sustained release. After intravesical administration of aqueous control and microemulsions treated, the drug concentrations in plasma were 15.11 μg/ml and 2.81-12.82 μg/ml, respectively, and the accumulation in bladder were 18.27 μg and 9.12-64.16 μg, respectively. Microemulsions slightly decreased the systemic absorption and significantly enhanced the accumulation in bladder tissue. Moreover, the preliminary toxicity studies revealed no overt adverse histological changes or tissue irritation by the microemulsion application. Therefore, the microemulsions were suggested to be a promising drug carrier for intravesical chemotherapy.     

镱掺杂的Ca_(1-x)Yb_xMnO_3(x=0～0.2)化合物的Rietveld结构精修和热电性能

采用溶胶-凝胶和无压烧结的方法制备了Yb掺杂的钙钛矿型Ca1-xYbxMnO3(x=0~0.2)系列固溶体,并结合X射线R ietveld精修、扫描电子显微镜及热电性能测试,系统研究了Yb掺杂量对产物相组成、晶体结构、显微结构和热电性能的影响。结果表明,Yb的掺杂引起了CaMnO3的晶格畸变,导致Mn-O2-Mn键角(氧八面体在水平方向的扭转)随着Yb的增加而减小;Yb的掺杂大幅度降低了样品的电阻率,并改变了电传输特性:Seebeck系数绝对值显著降低,同时随着掺杂量的增加,进一步减小。Yb的掺杂明显抑制了晶粒长大,此外,其重原子特性和少量第二相的生成显著降低了材料的热导率。其中x=0.1的样品Ca0.9Yb0.1MnO3在T=700℃时,ZT值达到0.093,较单相的CaMnO3提高了120%。     

Development of a laser-based measurement system for evaluation of the scraping workpiece quality

A laser-based measurement system for evaluation of the scraping workpiece quality that can eliminate contact-induced measurement errors and increase measurement accuracy is proposed. The laser-based measurement system comprises a light-scattering-type triangulation laser, a computer numerical control (CNC) machine tool, and an analog-to-digital (A/D) card. The triangulation laser measures the depth of the scraping spots and the CNC machine tool locates their position. The 3D data of the scraping workpiece is then drawn using the least squares method. Cast iron and Turcite workpieces can be measured. Five parameters of the scraping workpiece, namely peak points per square inch, percentage of points, distribution of heights of points or depth of surroundings, edge shape of the grooves, and flatness, can be evaluated. The scanning rate and sampling rate of the laser-based measurement system are 100 mm/s and 10 KHz, respectively. In the future, an appliance machine based on the proposed system will be designed for the on-line detection of scraping workpieces.     

A novel fringe adaptation method for digital projector

Aimed to obtain high-quality sinusoidal fringe projection, a new method to correct the output fringe of digital projector is presented. The method is based on the proposed fringe transform model, which describes the relationship of the input and output fringe pattern. Firstly, a series of fringe patterns are projected and from the fringe images, the transform function is calculated by the pattern shifting method. At last, by modifying the input fringe pattern, a standard sinusoidal output fringe can be achieved. Different from the previous methods, the waveform nonlinearity is estimated by varying the intensity of the projected fringe pixel by pixel; thus the waveform nonlinearity can be estimated precisely and the time cost is considerably reduced. Experimental results show that by modification of the input projection patterns the projector can project fringe with high-quality sinusoidal waveform leading to high performance of the projection system.     

Efficient broadband silicon-on-insulator grating coupler with low backreflection

We design and fabricate an efficient broadband grating coupler on a 400 nm thick silicon-on-insulator wafer. The measured coupling loss is 3 dB when coupling to a single-mode fiber at 1310 nm wavelength with TE polarization. The spectral FWHM and backreflection are determined to be 58 nm and -27 dB, respectively.     

Application of macroautoradiography and instantimage in radiopharmaceutical research

The evaluation of the pharmacokinetics of pure, beta radiopharmaceuticals is not possible with scintigraphy. Both whole-body autoradiography (WBAR) and Packard Instantimager, a device for rapid imaging, were used to study the whole body distribution of γ- and β-emitting radionuclides (^99mTc-MDP,^99mTc-sulfur colloid, or¹⁸⁸Re-HEDP), and results obtained from both methods were compared. The biodistribution of^99mTc-MDP and¹⁸⁸Re-HEDP were seen mainly in bones including skull, spine, and vertebrae of spine and cardiac and skeletal muscles. The^99mTc-sulfur colloid localized in liver, bone marrow, and spleen. The resolution of WBAR is superior than that of Packard Instantimager. However, the advantage of Packard Instantimager is that rapid imaging within few minutes is possible with it, while WBAR imaging requires several hours to days.     

Quantitative screening and matrix effect studies of drug discovery compounds in monkey plasma using fast-gradient liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

A higher-throughput bioanalytical method based on fast-gradient (1 min run time) high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was developed for screen-type analyses of plasma samples from early drug discovery studies in support of exploratory pharmacodynamic studies. The HPLC system equipped with minibore column was interfaced with either atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) or electrospray (ESI) ionization techniques. The matrix ion suppression effect of both quantitative HPLC/MS/MS analyses was compared using the post-column infusion system. The use of the described methods provided advantages such as a shorter chromatographic region of ion suppression, less solvent consumption and shorter run times in comparison with standard analytical column HPLC/MS/MS methods. The analytical results obtained by both HPLC/MS/MS methods were in good agreement (within 15% of error) and displayed a good correlation with the pharmacodynamic outcome.     

Crystal structure and electrical conductivity of cubic fluorite-based (YO1.5) x (WO3)0.15(BiO1.5)0.85- x (0?≤ ?x ≤?0.4) solid solutions

(WO₃)_0.15(BiO_1.5)_0.85 exhibits a tetragonal structure derived from the fluorite subcell. The electrical conductivity of (WO₃)_0.15(BiO_1.5)_0.85 is lower than that of Y₂O₃-doped Bi₂O₃. The structure and electrical conductivity of samples formulated as (YO_1.5) _x (WO₃)_0.15(BiO_1.5)_{0.85- x} (x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4) were investigated. The as-sintered (YO_1.5)_0.1(WO₃)_0.15(BiO_1.5)_0.75 exhibited a single cubic structure that is isostructural with δ-Bi₂O₃. For x = 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4, the as-sintered samples consisted of a cubic fluorite structure and rhombohedral Y₆WO₁₂. After heat treatment at 600 °C for 200 h, the cubic structures are stable for x = 0.1, 0.3, and 0.4. A transformation from cubic to rhombohedral phase after heat treatment at 600 °C for 200 h was observed in the sample originally formulated as (YO_1.5)_0.2(WO₃)_0.15(BiO_1.5)_0.65.