Antidiabetic and antioxidant properties of Boswellia sacra oleo-gum in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Background: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder requiring the administration of insulin or other oral hypoglycemic medicines. Although metformin is a popular prescription for type 2 diabetes, long-term use of chemotherapy-based diabetes medications can be hazardous. As a result, novel plant medicines with a high concentration of bioactive molecules, no harmful side effects, and potent pharmacological effects must be found.

Comparison between Branded and Generic Furosemide 40 mg Tablets Using Thermal Gravimetric Analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.

Background And Purpose: There has been a long-standing belief that generic drugs are of lower value in comparison to their branded name counterparts. They are in particular under scrutiny due to their low market price. Even though the reduction in costs is largely based on skipping expensive preclinical studies and clinical trials for generic drugs, the purity and quality of the raw materials in the production of generic drugs is debatable.

Transdermal patches: Design and current approaches to painless drug delivery.

Use of transdermal patches can evade many issues associated with oral drug delivery, such as first-pass hepatic metabolism, enzymatic digestion attack, drug hydrolysis and degradation in acidic media, drug fluctuations, and gastrointestinal irritation. This article reviews various transdermal patches available in the market, types, structural components, polymer role, and the required assessment tools. Although transdermal patches have medical applications for smoking cessation, pain relief, osteoporosis, contraception, motion sickness, angina pectoris, and cardiac disorders, advances in formulation development are ongoing to make transdermal patches capable of delivering more challenging drugs.

Formulation and evaluation of diclofenac controlled release matrix tablets made of HPMC and Poloxamer 188 polymer: An assessment on mechanism of drug release.

In this study, hydrophilic hydroxypropyl methylcellulose matrices with various concentrations of Poloxamer 188 were used in the development of oral controlled release tablets containing diclofenac sodium. Four formulations of hydrophilic matrix tablets containing 16.7% w/w HPMC and 0, 6.

Corrigendum to "Effects of Lipoic Acid Supplementation on Activities of Cyclooxygenases and Levels of Prostaglandins E and F Metabolites, in the Offspring of Rats with Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes".

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1155/2016/9354937.].

Effects of Lipoic Acid Supplementation on Activities of Cyclooxygenases and Levels of Prostaglandins E and F Metabolites, in the Offspring of Rats with Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetes.

Our aim was to evaluate the protective effect of lipoic acid (LA) on fetal outcome of diabetic mothers. Diabetes was induced in female rats using streptozotocin and rats were made pregnant. Pregnant control (group 1; = 9; and group 2; = 7) or pregnant diabetic (group 3; = 10; and group 4; = 8) rats were treated daily with either LA (groups 2 and 4) or vehicle (groups 1 and 3) between gestational days 0 and 15.

Smoking practices in Jordanian people and their impact on semen quality and hormonal levels among adult men.

Despite worldwide anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette smoking prevalence is increasing in the third-world countries. It is now regarded as the most important public health issue. Here, we study the current smoking situation and investigate the impact of cigarette smoking on semen quality and hormonal levels among adult people.

Distinct polymer architecture mediates switching of complement activation pathways at the nanosphere-serum interface: implications for stealth nanoparticle engineering.

Nanoparticles with surface projected polyethyleneoxide (PEO) chains in "mushroom-brush" and "brush" configurations display stealth properties in systemic circulation and have numerous applications in site-specific targeting for controlled drug delivery and release as well as diagnostic imaging. We report on the "structure-activity" relationship pertaining to surface-immobilized PEO of various configurations on model nanoparticles, and the initiation of complement cascade, which is the most ancient component of innate human immunity, and its activation may induce clinically significant adverse reactions in some individuals. Conformational states of surface-projected PEO chains, arising from the block copolymer poloxamine 908 adsorption, on polystyrene nanoparticles trigger complement activation differently.

Testing lyoequivalency for three commercially sustained-release tablets containing diltiazem hydrochloride.

In vitro release kinetics of three commercially available sustained release tablets (SR) diltiazem hydrochloride were studied at pH 1.1 for 2 h and for another 6 h at pH 6.8 using the USP dissolution apparatus with the paddle assemble.

Effects of poly (ethylene glycol) chains conformational transition on the properties of mixed DMPC/DMPE-PEG thin liquid films and monolayers.

Foam thin liquid films (TLF) and monolayers at the air-water interface formed by DMPC mixed with DMPE-bonded poly (ethylene glycol)s (DMPE-PEG(550), DMPE-PEG(2000) and DMPE-PEG(5000)) were obtained. The influence of both (i) PEG chain size (evaluated in terms of Mw) and mushroom-to-brush conformational transition and (ii) of the liposome/micelle ratio in the film-forming dispersions, on the interfacial properties of mixed DMPC/DMPE-PEG films was compared. Foam film studies demonstrated that DMPE-PEG addition to foam TLFs caused (i) delayed kinetics of film thinning and black spot expansion and (ii) film stabilization.

Modification of the Stewart biphasic colorimetric assay for stable and accurate quantitative determination of Pluronic and Tetronic block copolymers for application in biological systems.

Block copolymers are increasingly being applied in areas such as transfection, membrane sealing, site-specific targeting, and bionanoengineering yet there is a relative paucity of assays available for simple, stable and reproducible colorimetric determination of copolymer concentration in solution. We have focused on improving the accuracy and reproducibility of a modified version of the Stewart biphasic colorimetric assay for quantitative determination of Pluronic (poloxamer) and Tetronic (poloxamine) macromolecules. The optimized assay achieved linear response ranges in chloroform for commonly used copolymers such as poloxamine 904 (20-300 microg/ml), poloxamine 908 (10-400 microg/ml), poloxamer 402 (20-400 microg/ml), and poloxamer 407 (10-400 microg/ml).

The role of connective tissue growth factor in skeletal growth and development.

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) is a secreted, extracellular matrix-associated protein that regulates diverse cellular functions in different cell types. CTGF gene belongs to a larger CCN gene family that also includes Cyr61 and NOV. It modulates many cellular functions, including proliferation, migration, adhesion, and extracellular matrix production, and it is involved in many biological and pathological processes.