Biopolymeric and lipid-based nanotechnological strategies for the design and development of novel mosquito repellent systems: recent advances.

Mosquitoes are the most medically important arthropod vectors of several human diseases. These diseases are known to severely incapacitate and debilitate millions of people, resulting in countless loss of lives. Over the years, several measures have been put in place to control the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases, one of which is using repellents.

Endoplasmic reticulum stress in pancreatic β-cell dysfunction: The potential therapeutic role of dietary flavonoids.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global health burden that is characterized by the loss or dysfunction of pancreatic β-cells. In pancreatic β-cells, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is a fact of life that contributes to β-cell loss or dysfunction. Despite recent advances in research, the existing treatment approaches such as lifestyle modification and use of conventional therapeutics could not prevent the loss or dysfunction of pancreatic β-cells to abrogate the disease progression.

Ethnomedicinal Uses, Phytochemistry and Pharmacological Properties of Genus: A Review.

Plants of the Roxb. ex Rottler (formerly Roxb. ex Willd) are utilized to treat various ailments, namely, hepatic, gum diseases, pyrexia, eczema, and venereal diseases.

Knowledge, perceptions, practices, promotive factors, and health risks awareness of African Basotho women towards skin lightening products: a cross-sectional survey.

Introduction: the use of skin lightening products (SLPs) by women is poorly documented in Africa, with statistics from some countries entirely missing. This study assessed knowledge, perceptions, practices and factors associated with health risk awareness of African Basotho women towards SLPs.

Methods: this was a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study based on convenience sampling of females in secondary/high schools, universities, factories and business offices in Maseru City, Lesotho.

Formulation and characterization of liposomes containing drug absorption enhancers for optimized anti-HIV and antimalarial drug delivery.

Most of the current clinically used anti-HIV and antimalarial drugs have low bioavailability, either due to poor solubility and permeability, rapid clearance from anatomical reservoirs and poor retention at their site of action (e.g. due to the p-glycoprotein efflux system), and extreme first-pass metabolism (e.

Determination of effective concentrations of drug absorption enhancers using in vitro and ex vivo models.

Background: Achievement of an effective concentration of the pharmaceutically active ingredient in the blood and/or at the target site is an important aspect in the formulation of drugs and therefore needs to be quantified. Any concentration above therapeutic levels can cause toxic effects whereas low concentrations can be sub-therapeutic. This paper investigated different concentrations of selected commercially sourced analytical-grade pure chemicals as potential drug absorption enhancers in vitro and ex vivo to determine the lowest effective concentrations for optimizing drug absorption in oral dosage forms.

A 30-year bibliometric analysis of research coverage on HIV and AIDS in Lesotho.

Background: Given the well documented undesired impacts of HIV/AIDS globally, there is a need to create a statistical inventory of research output on HIV/AIDS. This need is particularly important for a country such as Lesotho, whose HIV/AIDS prevalence is one of the highest globally. Research on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa continues to trail behind that of other regions, especially those of the developed countries.

Effects of dietary fruits, vegetables and a herbal tea on the in vitro transport of cimetidine: comparing the Caco-2 model with porcine jejunum tissue.

Context: Dietary botanicals are often consumed together with allopathic medicines, which may give rise to pharmacokinetic interactions. In vitro intestinal models are useful to identify botanical-drug interactions, but they may exhibit different expressions of transporters or enzymes.

Objective: To compare the effects of selected dietary botanical extracts on cimetidine transport across two in vitro intestinal models.

Herb-drug pharmacokinetic interactions reviewed.

Importance Of The Field: the global increase in the popularity of alternative medicines has raised renewed concerns regarding herb-drug interactions. These interactions are especially important for drugs with narrow therapeutic indices and may either be pharmacodynamic or pharmacokinetic in nature.

Areas Covered In This Review: pharmacokinetic interactions which may exist between herbs and drugs, and the mechanisms of these interactions with appropriate examples based on primary and secondary data in publications are discussed.

Moulded cross-linked chitosan matrix systems for controlled drug release.

Matrix-type drug delivery systems were prepared by moulding and drying cross-linked chitosan gels in 24-well plates and they were evaluated in terms of their physical properties, drug content, surface morphology and swelling. Furthermore, the in vitro drug release profiles were subjected to kinetic modelling at two different pH values. In general, the moulded matrix systems showed statistically significantly slower drug release compared to immediate release tablets as measured by the mean dissolution time.