Efficient loading and entrapment of tamoxifen in human serum albumin based nanoparticulate delivery system by a modified desolvation technique

Herein, the poorly water-soluble drug, Tamoxifen (Tmx), was loaded in the amphipathic matrix of human serum albumin (HSA) nanoparticles by a modified desolvation method. In order to enhance the drug loading (DL) and drug entrapment efficiency (DEE) (<2% and 10%, respectively), ultrasonication of Tmx-HSA mixture was performed prior to desolvation process. Tmx loading and entrapment efficiency were optimized by employment of the response surface methodology (RSM)-central composite design (CCD) of experiments. Under the optimum conditions of 1.59 mg Tmx/ml concentration, 7.76 pH and 5 h incubation of HSA-Tmx, the DL of 6.7% and DEE of 74% are achievable. Particles with the average size of 195 nm, zeta potential of −21 mV and polydispersity index of 0.09 were produced under these conditions. A more sustained Tmx release behavior was observed from polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugated nanoparticles in comparison to the non-PEGylated ones. The short-term stability investigation showed no alteration in physicochemical properties of nanoparticles at 4 and 37 °C, but small increase in nanoparticles size was observed after three months of storage at room temperature. This is the first report for efficient production of a Tmx delivery system based on HSA nanoparticles.     

Design standardization of unit operations for reducing the capital intensity and cost of small-scale chemical processes

A methodology is proposed to reduce the cost and capital intensity of small-scale chemical processes by creating new opportunities for economies of numbers through standardizing the equipment designs across multiple processes. We depart from asynchronous design of single-processes and adopt a common-functionality based simultaneous design of multiple processes that use similar unit operations. A generalized cost function is used to appropriately balance the trade-offs between economies of scale and economies of numbers. An optimization-based framework for design standardization is developed and illustrated using two case studies. The first involves the simultaneous synthesis of methanol and ammonia processes, and the second addresses the optimal synthesis of multi-column natural gas liquid (NGL) fractionation processes for different natural gas sources. We observe that considerable reduction in capital intensity of small-scale processes is possible through equipment standardization.     

Formulation and Characterization of Novel Nanostructured Lipid Carriers with Photoprotective Properties Made from Carnauba Wax,Beeswax, Pumpkin Seed Oil,and UV Filters

Pumpkin seed oil (PSO) with carnauba wax and beeswax was used to develop nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) loaded with a UV filter, Uvinul® A Plus B. The aims of the study were to optimize the concentration of PSO to develop a stable NLC formulation, determine storage stability of the NLC with and without PSO, and the synergistic effect of PSO-NLC with UV filter for photoprotective properties. The physical properties of NLC were optimized based on the mean particle size, polydispersity index, and storage stability. The optimized NLC consisted 10% lipid phase (3.5% carnauba wax, 3.5% beeswax, and 3.0% PSO) and 90% aqueous phase. After optimization, Uvinul® A Plus B was added in the optimized PSO-NLC to produce a photoprotective formulation. Uvinul® A Plus B consisted of both UVA (Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzoate) and UVB (Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate) filters. The NLC produced with PSO and Uvinul® A Plus B had mean particle size of 135 ± 2 nm and showed good physical stability under storage time. Besides that, the NLC produced also proven to have positive effect in enhancing the entrapment efficiency and drug loading, which were 82.86 ± 0.15% and 55.41 ± 0.04%, respectively, and showed sun protection factor value of 16.61 ± 3.45. The results indicated the presence of synergistic effect among the PSO-NLC with Uvinul® A Plus B.     

Synthesis and optimization of barium manganate nanofibers by electrospinning

Barium manganate nanofibers were successfully synthesized for the first time after heat treatment of composite nanofibers of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), barium acetate and manganese acetate using electrospinning technique. Different PVP concentrations were used and the results show that PVP concentration had played important role in the formation, uniformity, homogeneity and particularly in the reduction of nanofibers diameter. Crystal structure, microstructure, elemental analysis and surface morphology were studied using X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction results show that at low temperature there is no crystallinity in the fibers sample and at ∼400 °C formations of barium manganate crystalline phase starts and finally at 700 °C all the nanofibers became single phase. The first two high intensity peaks (1 0 1) and (1 1 0) give an average crystallite size of about 20 nm. The scanning electron micrographs show that the morphology of the fibers is smooth and uniform at low temperature and become slightly porous at intermediate temperature and finally at high temperature of 700 °C the fibers become highly porous, shrank and their average diameter reduced from ∼400 nm to about 100 nm. These fibers are made of grains with sizes ranging from 15 to 30 nm. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and Fourier transform infra-red results are also in good agreement with XRD and SEM results.     

云环境下基于本体的用户行为分析引擎研究

针对当前大型互联网站提升用户体验的需求,本研究创造性地提出基于本体的用户行为分析引擎的思想,它通过上下文感知技术,实时获取用户访问页面时的上下文信息(以下也称为动态行为),基于本体对用户行为建模,建立基于规则的上下文推理算法,对监测到的动态用户行为进行实时推理,及时反馈结果信息给用户。实验表明:本研究理论上独辟蹊径,设计实现上结合了云存储技术,能够一定程度改善用户体验效果。     

Manufacture of Mesoporous Silicon from Living Plants and Agricultural Waste: An Environmentally Friendly and Scalable Process

We demonstrate a process for realising mesoporous silicon from a range of land-based plants such as common grasses, bamboos, sugarcane and rice. Such plants act as ??natural factories??, converting and concentrating vast quantities of soluble silicon in soil into nanostructured forms of silica in their roots, stems, branches or leaves. This porous biogenic silica is chemically extracted and then thermally reduced to porous silicon using magnesium vapor. Importantly, for larger batch size, an inexpensive thermal moderator such as salt, is added for control of the reaction exotherm and minimization of sintering. Mesoporous silicon of >350?m²/g with 8?nm wide pores has been obtained from a bamboo extract, for example. The same process is applicable to a wide range of ??silicon accumulator plants??. The purity of this ??naturally derived?? porous silicon is likely to be raised to a level acceptable for a wide range of high volume applications outside of electronics and solar cell technology.     

Thermal stability of some flavonoids and phenolic acids in sheep tallow olein

In this study, the thermal stability of some phenolic antioxidants including flavonoids (quercetin and catechin) and phenolic acids (gallic acid, tannic acid, ellagic acid and caffeic acid) in tallow olein was investigated. Tallow olein fractionated from sheep tallow fat was used as a medium to study the antioxidant activity at 120, 140, 160 and 180°C. In order to extract tallow olein, a three‐stage fractionation method was performed on sheep tallow fat at the constant temperatures of 25, 15 and 5°C using acetone as a solvent. The results suggested that quercetin and ellagic acid had the highest thermal stability amongst others, while gallic acid and caffeic acid exhibited the least thermal stability. Practical applications: The sheep tallow fat has been primarily used in soap manufacturing and its application as an edible fat has been limited due to its high content of saturated fatty acids. Extraction of the liquid phase of tallow fat (tallow olein) by fractionation reduces its long‐chain saturated fatty acid content to an acceptable level for edible consumption. The fractionation process, as negatively affects the stability to autoxidation, should be followed by stabilisation with antioxidants. The recent interest in natural antioxidants encouraged the authors to investigate the thermal stability of phenolic antioxidants in tallow olein. It is necessary to determine the thermal stability of antioxidants to predict their appropriateness to be used in high‐temperature applications such as deep frying. Fractionation and stabilisation with appropriate antioxidants are the important steps to utilise tallow olein as an edible oil for different applications in salad formulations, cooking and frying.     

Lead recovery from aqueous environment by using porous carbon of citrus fruits waste: equilibrium,kinetics and thermodynamic studies

ABSTRACT

The mixture of citrus fruits (orange, grapefruit, mandarin, and lemon) wastes was utilized to obtain high surface area activated carbon (AC) by H₃PO₄ activation. The production conditions were optimized and the optimum conditions were determined. The optimal-activated carbon (CFWAC) was characterized by various physicochemical techniques. CFWAC was also used as a sorbent for Pb (II) ions from water. Batch experiments were performed to explore the adsorption capacity and mechanism. The Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model showed good fitness to the experimental data. The maximum Pb (II) adsorption capacity of CFWAC was found to be 163.93 mg/g.     

A green separation process for recovery of healthy oil from pumpkin seed

In this study, pumpkin seeds, called as “Ürgüp Sivrisi” and grown in Cappadocia region, were used as plant materials because of high aroma contents. In the supercritical fluid extraction of pumpkin seed oil, the effect of main process parameters as the particle size (250-2360 μm), the volumetric flow rate of supercritical solvent (0.06-0.30 L/h), the operating pressure (20-50 MPa), the operating temperature (40-70 °C), the type of entrainer (ethanol and n-hexane) and those concentrations (0-10 vol.%) on the extraction yield, the oil solubility and the initial extraction rate were investigated. A cross-over effect for the extraction of pumpkin seed oil using supercritical CO₂ was determined at the operating pressure of 20-30 MPa. The maximum extraction yield obtained with entrainer free was reached 0.50 g oil/g dry seed at 600-1180 μm, 0.12 L/h, 50 MPa and 70 °C for the operation time of 5 h. The maximum extraction yield obtained with ethanol as an entrainer in the experiments was reached 0.54 g oil/g dry seed at the conditions of 600-1180 μm, 0.12 L/h, 30 MPa, 40 °C and 8 vol.% for the operating time of 2 h. The oil compositions were determined by gas chromatography analysis and the results showed that the compositions of pumpkin seed oil which were obtained by means of organic solvent extraction and supercritical fluid extraction were similar. The average oil compositions determined as 9.3 (±0.43)% palmitic acid, 7.5 (±0.6)% stearic acid, 32.3 (±0.6)% oleic acid, 48.1 (±0.6)% linoleic acid and 0.7 (±0.3)% linolenic acid. The morphological changes in the seeds were determined by the scanning electron microscopy analysis.     

Effects of nanoclay and coupling agent on the physico‐mechanical,morphological, and thermal properties of wood flour/polypropylene composites

This article presents the effects of coupling agent and nanoclay (NC) on some properties of wood flour/polypropylene composites. The composites with different NC and maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene (MAPP) contents were fabricated by melt compounding in a twin‐screw extruder and then by injection molding. The mass ratio of the wood flour to polymer was 40/60 (w/w). Results showed that applying MAPP on the surface of the wood flour can promote filler polymer interaction, which, in turn, would improve mechanical properties of the composite as well as its water uptake and thermal stability. Composite voids and the lumens of the fibers were filled with NC, which prevented the penetration of water by the capillary action into the deeper parts of composite. Therefore, the water absorption in composites fabricated using NC was significantly reduced. Scanning electron microscopy has shown that the treatment of composites with 5 wt% MAPP, promotes better fiber–matrix interaction, resulting in a few numbers of pull‐out traces. In all cases, the degradation temperatures shifted to higher values after using MAPP. The largest improvement on the thermal stability of composites was achieved when NC was added. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers