Amphiphilic Polymer Nanoparticles: Characterization and Assessment as New Drug Carriers

An amino‐acid‐based hydrophobically modified biocompatible copolymer, poly[(sodium N‐acryloyl‐L ‐valinate)‐co‐(N‐octylacrylamide)] was synthesized and characterized. Techniques such as fluorescence probes, DLS, and TEM were used to investigate its aggregation behavior in aqueous solution. The copolymer was observed to form micellar aggregates having diameters in the nanometer range in aqueous solution (pH = 8) through inter‐chain hydrophobic association. This behavior was found to be similar to that of poly[(sodium N‐acryloyl‐L ‐valinate)‐co‐(N‐dodecylacrylamide)]. The compact micellar nanostructures were observed to be stable with respect to changes of pH and temperature. The encapsulation and release of griseofulvin, a hydrophobic model drug, was studied.

     

HPLC quantification of the HIV-1 protease inhibitor saquinavir in brain and testis of mice

A rapid, reliable HPLC method with UV detection (240 nm) was developed and validated for quantitation of saquinavir in mice brain and testis. Saquinavir and the internal standard were isolated from homogenized tissue matrices using liquid-liquid extraction procedure and were then analyzed using an isocratic mobile phase by reversed-phase liquid chromatography. The lower limit of quantification was 50 ng/g for both brain and testis. A linear dynamic range of 50-5000 ng/g for both brain and testis was established. This HPLC method was validated with between-batch precision of 0.5-4.4 and 1.5-5.5% for brain and testis, respectively. The between-batch accuracy was 94.7-105.9% and 97.5-105.0% for brain and testis, respectively. The present method was applied for tissue distribution studies of the novel drug delivery systems of saquinavir in mice.     

Liquid chromatography/negative ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantification of fluvastatin in human plasma: validation and its application to pharmacokinetic studies

A simple, sensitive and rapid high-performance liquid chromatography/negative ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method was developed and validated for the assay of fluvastatin in human plasma. Following solid-phase extraction, the analytes were separated using an isocratic mobile phase on a reversed-phase column and analyzed by mass spectrometry in the multiple reaction monitoring mode using the respective [M-H]- ions, m/z 410/348 for fluvastatin and m/z 480/418 for the internal standard. The assay exhibited a linear dynamic range of 2-500 ng/mL for fluvastatin in human plasma. The lower limit of quantification was 2 ng/mL with a relative standard deviation of less than 5%. Acceptable precision and accuracy were obtained for concentrations over the standard curve range. A run time of 1.5 min for each sample made it possible to analyze more than 400 human plasma samples per day. The validated method has been successfully used to analyze human plasma samples for application in pharmacokinetic, bioavailability or bioequivalence studies.     

Bulk modulus and microhardness of tetrahedral semiconductors

Using the plasma oscillations theory of solids, simple relations have been proposed for the calculation of bulk modulus (B) and microhardness (H) of group IV, II-VI, III-V, I-III-VI₂ and II-IV-V₂ semiconductors with tetrahedral structure. We find that B=K₁ (?ω_p)^2.3333 and H=K₂ (?ω_p)^2.3333−K₃, where K₁, K₂ and K₃ are the constants. The numerical values of K₁, K₂ and K₃ are respectively, 0.141, 0.036 and 12.895 for group IV, 0.109, 0.0037 and 0.782 for II-VI, 0.125, 0.0202 and 5.743 for III-V, 0.109, 0.0065 and 1.160 for I-III-VI₂, and 0.125, 0.0359 and 15.310 for II-IV-V₂ semiconductors. The calculated values of B and H are compared with the experimental values and the values reported by different workers. Reasonably good agreement has been obtained between them.     

A Review of the System-Intrinsic Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics in Extended Space (MNEQT) with Applications

The review deals with a novel approach (MNEQT) to nonequilibrium thermodynamics (NEQT) that is based on the concept of internal equilibrium (IEQ) in an enlarged state space SZ involving internal variables as additional state variables. The IEQ macrostates are unique in SZ and have no memory just as EQ macrostates are in the EQ state space SX⊂SZ. The approach provides a clear strategy to identify the internal variables for any model through several examples. The MNEQT deals directly with system-intrinsic quantities, which are very useful as they fully describe irreversibility. Because of this, MNEQT solves a long-standing problem in NEQT of identifying a unique global temperature T of a system, thus fulfilling Planck’s dream of a global temperature for any system, even if it is not uniform such as when it is driven between two heat baths; T has the conventional interpretation of satisfying the Clausius statement that the exchange macroheatdeQflows from hot to cold, and other sensible criteria expected of a temperature. The concept of the generalized macroheat dQ=deQ+diQ converts the Clausius inequality dS≥deQ/T0 for a system in a medium at temperature T0 into the Clausius equalitydS≡dQ/T, which also covers macrostates with memory, and follows from the extensivity property. The equality also holds for a NEQ isolated system. The novel approach is extremely useful as it also works when no internal state variables are used to study nonunique macrostates in the EQ state space SX at the expense of explicit time dependence in the entropy that gives rise to memory effects. To show the usefulness of the novel approach, we give several examples such as irreversible Carnot cycle, friction and Brownian motion, the free expansion, etc.     

Fission fragment anisotropies for 19F +209Bi system

The fission fragment angular distributions have been measured for the system ¹⁹F +²⁰⁹Bi over a range of bombarding energies from 88.0 MeV to 125.6 MeV. The measured fission fragment anisotropies are in agreement with the saddle point statistical model calculations in the above energy range. Combining these data with those available for ¹¹B, ¹²C, ¹⁴N, ¹⁶O and ¹⁸O +²⁰⁹Bi, ²⁰⁸Pb systems, it is concluded that the spherical target plus projectile systems behave “normal” from near- to above – barrier energies. This observation is in contrast to the “anomalous” anisotropies exhibited by the deformed actinide target – projectile systems at near – barrier energies. Received: 5 May 1999 / Revised version: 25 July 1999     

HPTLC-Aided Phytochemical Fingerprinting Analysis as a Tool for Evaluation of Herbal Drugs. A Case Study of Ushaq (Ammoniacum Gum)

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - The phytochemical fingerprint profile of ammoniacum gum (from Dorema ammoniacum) was defined by subjecting different extracts of...     

Study of light proton-rich nuclei by complete kinematics measurements

Light proton-rich bound and unbound nuclei were produced by means of stripping reactions of secondary beams of ²⁰Mg and ¹⁸Ne. The decays of the unbound nuclei ^18,19Na have been measured by detecting their decay products ^17,18Ne and one proton and by performing an invariant-mass reconstruction. For ¹⁸Na, the present work is the first measurement of its decay. As the decay scheme of this nucleus could not be determined, two possible scenarios are proposed and discussed. In addition, the decay of excited states in ¹⁷Ne via two-proton emission was observed. The proton-proton angular distribution is isotropic for the first two-proton-emitting states, whereas higher-lying states seem to decay by a correlated two-proton emission, consistent with a ²He emission pattern for part of the decay strength.Received: 30 September 2003, Revised: 27 November 2003, Published online: 2 June 2004PACS: 21.10.-k Properties of nuclei; nuclear energy levels - 23.40.-s decay; double decay; electron and muon capture - 23.50. + z Decay by proton emissionM. Chartier: Present address: Physics Department, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.M. Fallot: Present address: SUBATECH, Ecole des Mines, BP 20722, F-44307 Nantes Cedex, France.A. Shrivastava: Permanent address: Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Mumbai, India.Experiment performed at the GANIL facility, Caen, France.