Novel Applications in Controlled Drug Delivery Systems by Integrating Osmotic Pumps and Magnetic Nanoparticles.

The alarming rise in chronic diseases worldwide highlights the urgent need to overcome the limitations of conventional drug delivery systems. In this context, osmotic pumps are able to release drugs by differential osmotic pressure, achieving a controlled rate independent of physiological factors and reducing the dosing frequency. As osmotic pumps are based on the phenomenon of osmosis, the choice of high osmolality draw solutions (DSs) is a critical factor in the successful delivery of the target drug.

Tracing Gadolinium levels throughout wastewater treatment: Insights from a yearly assessment in northern Spain.

Gadolinium (Gd) is a rare earth element (REE) used in the formulation of contrast agents for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) due to its paramagnetic properties. The growth in population and the improved quality of the healthcare systems over the last years, has promoted the use of MRI as an effective diagnostic tool thus increasing the consumption of gadolinium and its release into the wastewater treatment network. Therefore, the tracking and quantification of this metal in sewage treatment plants and water bodies, is of paramount importance since there are currently no specific rare earth treatment technologies installed in WWTPs, and consequently gadolinium is finally discharged into the environment.

Fast and reliable analysis of pH-responsive nanocarriers for drug delivery using microfluidic tools.

During the last decades, there has been growing interest in the application of functionalized mesoporous nanomaterials as stimuli-responsive carriers for drug delivery. However, at present there is not a standardized methodology to evaluate their performance. The limitations of the different techniques reported in literature give rise to the necessity for new, simple, and cost-effective alternatives.

Insights into the Binding Mode of Lipid A to the Anti-lipopolysaccharide Factor ALFPm3 from : An In Silico Study through MD Simulations.

The globally expanding threat of antibiotic resistance calls for the development of new strategies for abating Gram-negative bacterial infections. The use of extracorporeal blood cleansing devices with affinity sorbents to selectively capture bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is the major constituent of Gram-negative bacterial outer membranes and the responsible agent for eliciting an exacerbated innate immune response in the host during infection, has received outstanding interest. For that purpose, molecules that bind tightly to LPS are required to functionalize the affinity sorbents.