A Systematic Approach to Evaluating Closed System Drug-Transfer Devices During Drug Product Development.

The use of Closed System Drug-Transfer Devices (CSTDs) has increased significantly in recent years due to NIOSH and USP recommendations to use them during preparation of hazardous drugs. Mechanistic and material differences between CSTDs and traditional in-use components warrant an assessment of their impact on product quality and dosing accuracy. Using a combination of prevalent CSTDs with biologic molecules, we performed an extensive assessment of the effect of using CSTDs for dose preparation and observed no negative impact on product quality attributes.

Droplet-based microfluidics at the femtolitre scale.

We have built a toolbox of modules for droplet-based microfluidic operations on femtolitre volume droplets. We have demonstrated monodisperse production, sorting, coalescence, splitting, mixing, off-chip incubation and re-injection at high frequencies (up to 3 kHz). We describe the constraints and limitations under which satisfactory performances are obtained, and discuss the physics that controls each operation.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of fluoro analogues of antimitotic phenstatin.

With the aim of investigating the influence of fluorine, in particular on the A-ring, a new series of fluoro analogues (7a-l) of phenstatin (3) was synthesized and tested for interactions with tubulin polymerization and evaluated for cytotoxicity on an NCI-60 human cancer cell lines panel. We have shown that the replacement of 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl A-ring of phenstatin with 2,4,5-trifluoro-3-methoxyphenyl unit, results in the conservation of both antitubulin and cytotoxic effect. Fluoro isocombretastatin 7k was the most effective anticancer agent in the present study and demonstrated the highest antiproliferative potential on leukemia cell lines SR (GI50=15 nM) and HL-60(TB) (GI50=23 nM) and on melanoma cell line MDA-MB-435 (GI50=19 nM).

A microfluidic vibrating wire viscometer for operation at high pressure and high temperature.

This article discusses a microfluidic vibrating wire viscometer with an internal volume of a few microliters. Accuracy of order ±10% for viscosities ranging from 0.1 to 100 cP is demonstrated for temperatures (10 °C-175 °C) and pressures (10-24,000 psi) suitable for oilfield use by prior calibration in air and toluene.

Subjective visual vertical perception relates to balance in acute stroke.

Objective: To determine whether misperception of the subjective visual vertical (SVV) underlies balance difficulties in hemiplegic patients.

Design: Descriptive study, using a convenience sample.

Setting: Department of physical medicine of a university hospital.