Thermally Solvent-Free Cross-Linked pH/Thermosensitive Hydrogels as Smart Drug Delivery Systems.

An imbalance in the body's pH or temperature may modify the immune response and result in ailments such as autoimmune disorders, infectious diseases, cancer, or diabetes. Dual pH- and thermo-responsive carriers are being evaluated as advanced drug delivery microdevices designed to release pharmaceuticals in response to external or internal stimuli. A novel drug delivery system formulated as hydrogel was developed by combining a pH-sensitive polymer (the "biosensor") with a thermosensitive polymer (the delivery component).

"The Gordian knot of it he will unloose": Lessons learned from studies of half-hitch surgical knots and implications for practicing surgeons: A systematic review.

Background: Insecure surgical knots can cause surgical complications ranging from wound dehiscence to massive exsanguination and death. Most surgeons tie half-hitch knots, of which some configurations are prone to slippage. We aim to characterize the securities of different half-hitch knot configurations.

Poloxamer/Carboxymethyl Pullulan Aqueous Systems-Miscibility and Thermogelation Studies Using Viscometry, Rheology and Dynamic Light Scattering.

Thermally-induced gelling systems based on Poloxamer 407 (PL) and polysaccharides are known for their biomedical applications; however, phase separation frequently occurs in mixtures of poloxamer and neutral polysaccharides. In the present paper, the carboxymethyl pullulan (CMP) (here synthesized) was proposed for compatibilization with poloxamer (PL). The miscibility between PL and CMP in dilute aqueous solution was studied by capillary viscometry.