Exploring Perinatal Indicators of Infant Social-Emotional Development: A Review of the Replicated Evidence.

The importance of infant social-emotional development for outcomes across the lifecourse has been amply demonstrated. Despite this, most screening measures of social-emotional development are designed for children 18 months of age and over, with a clear gap in earlier infancy. No systematic review has yet harvested the evidence for candidate indicators in the perinatal window.

Cyclodextrin and polysaccharide-based nanogels: entrapment of two hydrophobic molecules, benzophenone and tamoxifen.

The entrapment of two hydrophobic molecules, benzophenone and tamoxifen, into self-assembling cyclodextrin (CD)-based nanogels has been studied. These nanogels formed spontaneously upon the association of a hydrophobically modified dextran (MD) and a cyclodextrin polymer (pbetaCD). The interactions of benzophenone and tamoxifen with MD and pbetaCD were investigated using phase solubility studies, circular dichroism, and isothermal titration calorimetry.

Elucidation of the complexation mechanism between (+)-usnic acid and cyclodextrins studied by isothermal titration calorimetry and phase-solubility diagram experiments.

In the present work the complexation mechanism between (+)-usnic acid (UA) and cyclodextrins (CDs) has been investigated by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and phase-solubility diagrams using pH as a tool for modifying the molecule ionization. ITC experiments have been employed to evaluate the stoichiometry of interaction (N), affinity constants (K), and thermodynamic parameter variation associated with complexation between (+)-UA and alpha-, beta-, HP-beta-, SBE-beta-, and gamma-CD. It was shown that (+)-UA did not interact with alpha-CD and tended to interact more favorably with gamma-CD (K = 1030 M(-1), DeltaG = -17.

Physico-chemical investigation of asymmetrical peptidolipidyl-cyclodextrins.

A new class of amphiphilic peptidolipidyl-cyclodextrins is reported. The derivatives are chiral due to the presence of an L-leucine in the spacer arm that links a saccharide moiety and a grafted, saturated hydrocarbon chain. Self-assembly properties of the peptidolipidyl-cyclodextrins are characterized by quasi-elastic light scattering, turbidity and UV-visible absorption measurements.

Small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering from amphiphilic stimuli-responsive diamond-type bicontinuous cubic phase.

The structural evolution of a diamond-type bicontinuous lipid cubic phase upon application of thermal and chemical (hydration agent) stimuli is investigated by means of small-angle neutron (SANS) and X-ray scattering (SAXS). The soft-matter cubic architecture responds by dramatic swelling (DLarge cubic structure) upon incorporation of a hydration-enhancing guest component (octyl glucoside) at low and ambient temperatures, the aqueous channel diameter increasing twice to approximately 7 nm. DLarge appears to be built up from an assembly of cubosomic domains, which may coexist with an amphiphilic lamellae domain at low temperatures.