Dual peptide-mediated targeted delivery of bioactive siRNAs to oral cancer cells in vivo.

Objectives: Despite significant advances in cancer treatment, the prognosis for oral cancer remains poor in comparison to other cancer types, including breast, skin, and prostate. As a result, more effective therapeutic modalities are needed for the treatment of oral cancer. Consequently, in the present study, we examined the feasibility of using a dual peptide carrier approach, combining an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeting peptide with an endosome-disruptive peptide, to mediate targeted delivery of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) into EGFR-overexpressing oral cancer cells and induce silencing of the targeted oncogene, cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A (CIP2A).

The application of discriminant analysis and Machine Learning methods as tools to identify and classify compounds with potential as transdermal enhancers.

Discriminant analysis (DA) has previously been shown to allow the proposal of simple guidelines for the classification of 73 chemical enhancers of percutaneous absorption. Pugh et al. employed DA to classify such enhancers into simple categories, based on the physicochemical properties of the enhancer molecules (Pugh et al.

How sharp can a screening tool be? A qualitative study of patients' experience of completing a bowel cancer screening questionnaire.

Introduction: There is evidence to suggest that the Patient Consultation Questionnaire (PCQ) is a reliable tool to predict symptomatic left-sided colorectal cancer. While previous research has examined the sensitivity and specificity of the PCQ as a tool, it has not addressed patients' perspectives.

Objective: To examine qualitatively patients' perspectives on ease of use of the PCQ, and their attitude to completing it.

Formulation and characterization of a captopril ethyl ester drug-in-adhesive-type patch for percutaneous absorption.

Background: The ethyl ester of captopril has been shown to exhibit enhanced permeation across human skin compared to the parent drug. A drug-in-adhesive patch formulation of a captopril ethyl ester was therefore developed for optimum drug release.

Method: A wide range of transdermal patches were prepared using two commercially available bioadhesive polymers.

The application of Gaussian processes in the prediction of percutaneous absorption.

Objectives: The aim was to assess mathematically the nature of a skin permeability dataset and to determine the utility of Gaussian processes in developing a predictive model for skin permeability, comparing it with existing methods for deriving predictive models.

Methods: Principal component analysis was carried out in order to determine the nature of the dataset. MatLab software was used to assess the performance of Gaussian process, single linear networks (SLN) and quantitative structure-permeability relationships (QSPRs) using a range of statistical measures.