Liposome-based delivery of biological drugs

Biological drugs are attracting tremendous attention in disease treatment. However, their application is significantly limited by their inherent properties, such as high hydrophilicity, poor membranepermeability, low stability, and larger size. Liposome-based drug delivery systems are emerging as promising tools to improve their delivery, owing to their ability to reduce toxicity, improve bioavailability,and enhance the therapeutic efficacy of the drug by optimizing delivery to the specific targ...     

Dopant position of Co atom in Zn1−xCoxO nanoparticles studied by extended X-ray absorption fine structure

Zn_1?xCo_xO nanoparticles were prepared by sol–gel method. The microstructure and dopant position were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS). The XRD patterns did not show any signal of impurity in the Zn_1?xCo_xO nanoparticles with Co concentration from x = 0.01 to 0.08. Neither did the HRTEM image for the highest concentration sample with x = 0.08. The nanoparticles have also been investigated by the EXAFS measurements at Co k-edge. The radical distribution functions, the fitting result of bond length and coordination numbers, indicated there was an impurity in the highest Co concentration sample with x = 0.08. Although most of the Co atoms were substituted for Zn sites in ZnO with x = 0.08, a few of Co atoms formed a microstructure similar to Co₃O₄, which was not found in the XRD and HRTEM. The room temperature ferromagnetic behaviour was found for x = 0.01 sample by superconducting quantum interference device .