An evolving perspective on novel modified release drug delivery systems for inhalational therapy.

Introduction: Drugs delivered via the lungs are predominantly used to treat various respiratory disorders, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, respiratory tract infections and lung cancers, and pulmonary vascular diseases such as pulmonary hypertension. To treat respiratory diseases, targeted, modified or controlled release inhalation formulations are desirable for improved patient compliance and superior therapeutic outcome.

Areas Covered: This review summarizes the important factors that have an impact on the inhalable modified release formulation approaches with a focus toward various formulation strategies, including dissolution rate-controlled systems, drug complexes, site-specific delivery, drug-polymer conjugates, and drug-polymer matrix systems, lipid matrix particles, nanosystems, and formulations that can bypass clearance via mucociliary system and alveolar macrophages.

Stress-induced alterations in HPA-axis reactivity and mesolimbic reward activation in individuals with emotional eating.

Background: Emotional eating has emerged as a contributing factor to overeating, potentially leading to obesity or disordered eating behaviors. However, the underlying biological mechanisms related to emotional eating remain unclear. The present study examined emotional, hormonal, and neural alterations elicited by an acute laboratory stressor in individuals with and without emotional eating.

Diets Varying in Carbohydrate Content Differentially Alter Brain Activity in Homeostatic and Reward Regions in Adults.

Background: Obesity has one of the highest refractory rates of all chronic diseases, in part because weight loss induced by calorie restriction, the first-line treatment for obesity, elicits biological adaptations that promote weight regain. Although acute feeding trials suggest a role for macronutrient composition in modifying brain activity related to hunger and satiety, relevance of these findings to weight-loss maintenance has not been studied.

Objectives: We investigated effects of weight-loss maintenance diets varying in macronutrient content on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in brain regions involved in hunger and reward.

Newer insights into the pathobiological and pharmacological basis of the sex disparity in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) affects more women than men, although affected females tend to survive longer than affected males. This sex disparity in PAH is postulated to stem from the diverse roles of sex hormones in disease etiology. In animal models, estrogens appear to be implicated not only in pathologic remodeling of pulmonary arteries, but also in protection against right ventricular (RV) hypertrophy.