Comparison of the flow properties of aqueous suspension corticosteroid nasal sprays under differing sampling conditions

Many aqueous suspension corticosteroid nasal sprays become less viscous when shaken and sprayed, then return to a more viscous state after application. This time-dependent, reversible loss of viscosity under shear (e.g., shaking or spraying) can be quantified in the rheological property of thixotropy. The flow properties of 5 corticosteroid nasal sprays were measured over a range of shear rates. The formulations tested included Nasonex, Vancenase AQ, Nasacort AQ, Rhinocort Aqua, and Flonase. The yield stress values, as well as an estimate of thixotropy, were compared by using three different sampling techniques, including one that simulated patient use (shaking for 30 sec, spraying, and immediately transferring the sample to the rheometer). The rheological properties of all products indicated that when initially shaken and dispensed, they flowed more freely, followed by recovery of viscosity that would likely inhibit the suspensions from flowing out of the nasal cavity. Under all three tested conditions, Nasonex exhibited the highest yield stress, the largest apparent initial and final viscosities, and the highest apparent thixotropy. The study protocol that simulated patient-use conditions produced the following rank order of measured thixotropy: Nasonex > Flonase > Vancenase AQ > Rhinocort Aqua > Nasacort AQ. The thixotropy of Nasonex was 3.4 to 21.4 times greater and the final viscosity was 3.2 to 17.4 times greater than the values of the other tested products.     

Tin fluorophosphate nonwovens by melt state centrifugal Forcespinning

This report describes the direct melt processing of inorganic tin fluorophosphate (TFP) glass fibers with average diameters ranging from 2 to 4 µm via centrifugal Forcespinning. This was accomplished by using a TFP glass with low glass transition temperature (T _g) and the melt processing capability of Forcespinning. The thermal behavior of TFP glass fibers was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis, while the compositional evolution of the fibers was studied using energy-dispersive spectrometry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. These fibers exhibited excellent thermal stability after thermal post-treatment at 300 °C. The T _g of the thermally treated fibers increased by 100 °C compared to the bulk material. The fibers were found to undergo dehydration and loss of fluorine during thermal treatment, resulting in a rigid and crosslinked glass network with enhanced thermal stability and increased T _g. The enhanced thermal stability demonstrated the potential of TFP fibers for high temperature catalysis and chemical filtration applications.     

Nanomechanical detection of antibiotic-mucopeptide binding in a model for superbug drug resistance

The alarming growth of the antibiotic-resistant superbugs methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) is driving the development of new technologies to investigate antibiotics and their modes of action. We report the label-free detection of vancomycin binding to bacterial cell wall precursor analogues (mucopeptides) on cantilever arrays, with 10 nM sensitivity and at clinically relevant concentrations in blood serum. Differential measurements have quantified binding constants for vancomycin-sensitive and vancomycin-resistant mucopeptide analogues. Moreover, by systematically modifying the mucopeptide density we gain new insights into the origin of surface stress. We propose that stress is a product of a local chemical binding factor and a geometrical factor describing the mechanical connectivity of regions activated by local binding in terms of a percolation process. Our findings place BioMEMS devices in a new class of percolative systems. The percolation concept will underpin the design of devices and coatings to significantly lower the drug detection limit and may also have an impact on our understanding of antibiotic drug action in bacteria.     

The influence of crystal habit on the prediction of dry powder inhalation formulation performance using the cohesive-adhesive force balance approach

The aim of this investigation was to study the influence of crystalline habit of active pharmaceutical ingredients on the cohesive-adhesive force balance within model dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulations and the corresponding affect on DPI formulation performance. The cohesive-adhesive balance (CAB) approach to colloid probe atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to determine the cohesive and adhesive interactions of micronized budesonide particles against the {102} and {002} faces of budesonide single crystals and crystalline substrates of different sugars (cyclodextrin, lactose, trehalose, raffinose, and xylitol), respectively. These data were used to measure the relative level of cohesion and adhesion via CAB and the possible influence on in vitro performance of a carrier-based DPI formulation. Varying the crystal habit of the drug had a significant effect on the cohesive measurement of micronized budesonide probes, with the cohesive values on the {102} faces being approximately twice that on the {002} crystal faces. However, although different CAB values were measured with the sugars with respect to the crystal faces chosen for the cohesive-based measurement, the overall influence on the rank order of the CAB values was not directly influenced. For these data sets, the CAB gradient indicated that a decrease in the dominance of the adhesive forces led to a concomitant increase in fine particle delivery, reaching a plateau as the cohesive forces became dominant. The study suggested that crystal habit of the primary drug crystals influences the cohesive interactions and the resulting force balance measurements of colloid probe CAB analysis.     

Improving Learning in First‐Year Engineering Courses through Interdisciplinary Collaborative Assessment

This paper describes a feedback process that assessed first‐year engineering student learning using a mastery exam. The results were used to improve learning and teaching in first‐year courses. To design the initial exam, basic knowledge and concepts were identified by instructors from each of the host departments (Chemistry, Math, Physics and Computer Science). In 2004, the 45‐item exam was administered to 191 second‐year engineering students, and in September 2005, the revised exam was administered to the next class of second‐year engineering students. The exam was analyzed using Item Response Theory (IRT) to determine student abilities in each subject area tested. Between exam administrations, workshops were conducted with the four department instructor groups to present exam results and discuss teaching issues. The exam provided a learning assessment mechanism that can be used to engage faculty in science, mathematics, and engineering in productive linkages for continual improvement to curriculum.     

Experimental demonstration of a defect-tolerant nanocrossbar demultiplexer

Ultradense memory and logic circuits fabricated at local densities exceeding 100 × 10(9) cross-points per cm(2) have recently been demonstrated with nanowire crossbar arrays. Practical implementation of such nanocrossbar circuitry, however, requires effective demultiplexing to solve the problem of electrically addressing individual nanowires within an array. Importantly, such a demultiplexer (demux) must also be tolerant of the potentially high defect rates inherent to nanoscale circuit fabrication. We have built a 50?nm half-pitch nanocrossbar circuit using imprint lithography and configured it for a demux application. Utilizing a class of Hamming codes in the hardware design, we experimentally demonstrate defect-tolerant demux operations on a 12 × 8 nanocrossbar array with up to two stuck-open defects per addressed line.     

Printable Fabrication of a Fully Integrated and Self‐Powered Sensor System on Plastic Substrates

Wearable and portable devices with desirable flexibility, operational safety, and long cruising time, are in urgent demand for applications in wireless communications, multifunctional entertainments, personal healthcare monitoring, etc. Herein, a monolithically integrated self‐powered smart sensor system with printed interconnects, printed gas sensor for ethanol and acetone detection, and printable supercapacitors and embedded solar cells as energy sources, is successfully demonstrated in a wearable wristband fashion by utilizing inkjet printing as a proof‐of‐concept. In such a “wearable wristband”, the harvested solar energy can either directly drive the sensor and power up a light‐emitting diode as a warning signal, or can be stored in the supercapacitors in a standby mode, and the energy released from supercapacitors can compensate the intermittency of light illumination. To the best of our knowledge, the demonstration of such a self‐powered sensor system integrated onto a single piece of flexible substrate in a printable and additive manner has not previously been reported. Particularly, the printable supercapacitors deliver an areal capacitance of 12.9 mF cm^?2 and the printed SnO₂ gas sensor shows remarkable detection sensitivity under room temperature. The printable strategies for device fabrication and system integration developed here show great potency for scalable and facile fabrication of a variety of wearable devices.     

Simple and accurate methods for quantifying deformation,disruption, and development in biological tissues

When mechanical factors underlie growth, development, disease or healing, they often function through local regions of tissue where deformation is highly concentrated. Current optical techniques to estimate deformation can lack precision and accuracy in such regions due to challenges in distinguishing a region of concentrated deformation from an error in displacement tracking. Here, we present a simple and general technique for improving the accuracy and precision of strain estimation and an associated technique for distinguishing a concentrated deformation from a tracking error. The strain estimation technique improves accuracy relative to other state-of-the-art algorithms by directly estimating strain fields without first estimating displacements, resulting in a very simple method and low computational cost. The technique for identifying local elevation of strain enables for the first time the successful identification of the onset and consequences of local strain concentrating features such as cracks and tears in a highly strained tissue. We apply these new techniques to demonstrate a novel hypothesis in prenatal wound healing. More generally, the analytical methods we have developed provide a simple tool for quantifying the appearance and magnitude of localized deformation from a series of digital images across a broad range of disciplines.     

Reusable platforms for high-throughput on-chip temperature gradient assays

This paper describes a reusable platform that can apply a linear temperature gradient to a lab-on-a-chip device. When a planar microfluidic device with a series of microchannels is placed on top of the platform with the channels perpendicular to the gradient, each channel is held at a discrete temperature. This allows temperature-dependent data for chemical or biochemical species flowed into the device to be obtained in a concurrent fashion. As a demonstration, a melting curve for dsDNA is performed by collecting all the data simultaneously. The gradient is stable enough to easily distinguish between 30-mers where the complement strand contains a single C-A mismatch or a single T-G mismatch or is a perfect match. On the other hand, a temperature gradient can be formed parallel to the direction of flow of the microchannels. This allows the temperature in each channel to vary continuously as the liquid flows downstream. If each microchannel in the array contains a distinct pH value, ionic strength, species concentration, or chemical composition, then a high-throughput two-variable experiment can be performed. We demonstrate this mode of data collection by measuring the fluorescence yield of fluorescein dye molecules in aqueous solution simultaneously as a function of concentration and temperature.