Publications by authors named "Bozena B Michniak-Kohn"

Purpose: A rise in market demand for anti-aging skin care products has resulted in a proliferation of cosmeceuticals, including products that contain vitamin C. Many topicals containing vitamin C claim to reduce the appearance of wrinkles. However, these claims have not been systematically evaluated.

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Owing to their complicated pathophysiology, the treatment of skin diseases necessitates a complex approach. Conventional treatment using topical corticosteroids often results in low effectiveness and the incidence of local or even systemic side effects. Nanoformulation of potent anti-inflammatory drugs has been selected as an optimal strategy for enhanced topical delivery of corticosteroids.

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There are only a limited number of molecules in a cosmetic formulation, which can passively cross the stratum corneum and be absorbed into the skin layers. However, some actives should never cross the skin in large concentrations due to their potential for side effects, for example, sunscreens. Artificial intelligence is gaining an increasing role as a predictive tool, and in this regard, we selected the Formulating for Efficacy Software to forecast the changes in bioavailability of selected topical cosmetic compounds.

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Managing pediatric tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health problem requiring urgent and long-lasting solutions as TB is one of the top ten causes of ill health and death in children as well as adolescents universally. Minors are particularly susceptible to this severe illness that can be fatal post-infection or even serve as reservoirs for future disease outbreaks. However, pediatric TB is the least prioritized in most health programs and optimal infection/disease control has been quite neglected for this specialized patient category, as most scientific and clinical research efforts focus on developing novel management strategies for adults.

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Tetrahydrocurcumin (THC) has been well known for its superior antioxidant properties. Therefore, it is speculated that it might be effective to relieve oxidative stress-induced diseases, such as skin hyperpigmentation. In this work, an in vitro B16F10 melanoma cell model was used to study the impact of THC on the melanogenic process under stressed conditions.

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Excessive sweating and body odors in many cultures can cause negative perceptions of an individual and in many cases is related to poor hygiene. Personal hygiene products have been developed with the intention of preventing these undesirable issues. The aim of this paper is to review the main active ingredients used in marketed deodorant and antiperspirant formulations as well as to identify new strategies and future methods to optimize such products and prevent malodor.

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The aim of this study was to develop lipid-based nanoparticles that entrapped a high concentration of capsaicin (0.25%) from a capsicum oleoresin extract. The solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) were strategically fabricated to entrap capsaicin without a hazardous solvent.

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In this study we aimed to develop a semi-solid formulation of polymeric nanoparticles loaded with adapalene to enhance the efficacy and improve the skin tolerability in acne therapy. An amphiphilic and biocompatible copolymer that self-assembles to nanospheres (known as TyroSpheres) was used to encapsulate adapalene and increase its solubility. A water-soluble viscous agent was applied to prepare a gel formulation of adapalene-loaded TyroSpheres (aapalene-TyroSphere).

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Drug treatment remains the most effective global approach to managing and preventing tuberculosis. This work focuses on formulating and evaluating an optimized polyvinyl alcohol-polyethylene glycol based orodispersible strip containing isoniazid, a first-line anti-tubercular agent. A solvent casting method guided through a Taguchi experimental design was employed in the fabrication, optimization and characterization of the orodispersible strip.

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Dermal delivery of hydrophobic drugs by microemulsion (ME) formulations and effect from ME microstructures were studied. Anti-fungal drug, clotrimazole (CLOT), was used as the model compound. ME formulations possessing different microstructures were prepared using a ME system that contains isopropyl myristate as oil, Labrasol and Cremophor EL as surfactant and co-surfactant, and water.

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This study investigates the potential application of polymeric nanospheres (known as TyroSpheres) as a formulation carrier for topical delivery of cholecalciferol (i.e., Vitamin D3, VD3) with the goal to improve the skin delivery and stability of VD3.

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The purpose of this study is to develop a new formulation of adapalene for the topical treatment of acne. We investigated applicability of polymeric nanocarriers based on tyrosine-derived nanospheres (TyroSpheres) for adapalene delivery. TyroSpheres effectively encapsulated adapalene and substantially enhanced its aqueous solubility, while decreasing the crystallinity of the drug in the formulation.

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To date, effective treatment, prophylaxis, and control of tuberculosis (TB) infection is mainly dependent on the use of drugs. However, patient noncompliance with prescribed anti-TB treatment schemes remains a major problem confronting successful pharmacotherapeutic outcomes. Thus, the development of alternative delivery systems that can improve adherence for the existing anti-TB bioactives has been intensified in recent times.

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The irritancy of topical products has to be investigated to ensure the safety and compliance. Although several reconstructed human epidermal models have been adopted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to replace in vivo animal irritation testing, these models are based on a single cell type and lack dermal components, which may be insufficient to reflect all of the components of irritation. In our study, we investigated the use of acellular porcine peritoneum extracellular matrix as a substrate to construct full-thickness human skin equivalents (HSEs) for use as irritation screening tool.

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The purpose of this study was to determine the ability and the safety of a series of alkylammonium C12-gemini surfactants to act as permeation enhancers for three model drugs, namely lidocaine HCl, caffeine, and ketoprofen. In vitro permeation studies across dermatomed porcine skin were performed over 24 h, after pretreating the skin for 1 h with an enhancer solution 0.16 M dissolved in propylene glycol.

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Human skin not only functions as a permeation barrier (mainly because of the stratum corneum layer) but also provides a unique delivery pathway for therapeutic and other active agents. These compounds penetrate via intercellular, intracellular, and transappendageal routes, resulting in topical delivery (into skin strata) and transdermal delivery (to subcutaneous tissues and into the systemic circulation). Passive and active permeation enhancement methods have been widely applied to increase the cutaneous penetration.

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A potential topical psoriasis therapy has been developed consisting of tyrosine-derived nanospheres (TyroSpheres) with encapsulated anti-proliferative paclitaxel. TyroSpheres provide enhancement of paclitaxel solubility (almost 4000 times greater than PBS) by effective encapsulation and enable sustained, dose-controlled release over 72 h under conditions mimicking skin permeation. TyroSpheres offer potential in the treatment of psoriasis, a disease resulting from over-proliferation of keratinocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis, by (a) enabling delivery of paclitaxel into the epidermis at concentrations >100 ng/cm(2) of skin surface area and (b) enhancing the cytotoxicity of loaded paclitaxel to human keratinocytes (IC(50) of paclitaxel-TyroSpheres was approximately 45% lower than that of free paclitaxel).

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The purpose was to assess the short-term effects of quercetin supplementation on aerobically demanding soldier performance. In a double-blind crossover study, 16 male soldiers performed 3 days of aerobically demanding exercise under 3 conditions: Baseline (B), Placebo (P), and Quercetin (Q). Day 1 was a treadmill V[Combining Dot Above]O₂peak test.

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Human skin not only serves as an important barrier against the penetration of exogenous substances into the body, but also provides a potential avenue for the transport of functional active drugs/reagents/ingredients into the skin (topical delivery) and/or the body (transdermal delivery). In the past three decades, research and development in human skin equivalents have advanced in parallel with those in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The human skin equivalents are used commercially as clinical skin substitutes and as models for permeation and toxicity screening.

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The present work reports the evaluation of three nonionic ether-monohydroxyl surfactants (C(12)E(1), C(12)E(5,) and C(12)E(8)) as skin permeation enhancers in the transdermal drug delivery of two drugs: ondansetron hydrochloride and diltiazem hydrochloride, formulated as hydrogels. The enhancers are used alone, or in combination with iontophoresis (0.3 mA - 8h).

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We investigated the enhancement effect of chemical enhancers and iontophoresis on the in vitro transdermal and transbuccal delivery of lidocaine HCl (LHCl), nicotine hydrogen tartrate (NHT), and diltiazem HCl (DHCl) using porcine skin and buccal tissues. Dodecyl 2-(N,N-dimethylamino) propionate (DDAIP), dodecyl-2-(N,N-dimethylamino) propionate hydrochloride (DDAIP HCl), N-(4-bromobenzoyl)-S,S-dimethyliminosulfurane (Br-iminosulfurane), and azone (laurocapram) were used as chemical enhancers. The study results showed that the application of iontophoresis at either 0.

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The effect of chemical enhancers and iontophoresis on the in vitro transbuccal delivery of 0.5% ondansetron HCl (ODAN HCl) was investigated using porcine buccal tissue. The chemical enhancers used were dodecyl 2-(N,N-dimethyl amino) propionate (DDAIP), its HCl salt dodecyl-2-(N,N-dimethylamino) propionate hydrochloride (DDAIP HCl), N-(4-bromobenzoyl)-S,S-dimethyliminosulfurane (Br-iminosulfurane), and azone.

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Nutritional adenosine receptor antagonists can enhance endurance exercise performance in temperate environments, but their efficacy during heat stress is not well understood. This double-blinded, placebo-controlled study compared the effects of an acute dose of caffeine or quercetin on endurance exercise performance during compensable heat stress (40 degrees C, 20-30% rh). On each of three occasions, 10 healthy men each performed 30-min of cycle ergometry at 50% Vo2peak followed by a 15-min performance time trial after receiving either placebo (Group P), caffeine (Group C; 9 mg/kg), or quercetin (Group Q; 2,000 mg).

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The role of the skin's metabolism of N-(4-bromobenzoyl)-S,S-dimethyliminosulfurane (DMBIS), an effective penetration enhancer, on its enhancement activity was investigated. It has been found that DMBIS hydrolyzes very fast in physiological buffer to 4-bromobenzamide (BBA), and even faster and almost completely in the presence of skin tissue. It was further shown that in the presence of skin from different species incubated at physiological conditions, the concentration of BBA (DMBIS' immediate product) dropped sharply to 70-80% in 10 min followed by a slower decrease of 0.

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