Oral administration of therapeutic peptides is hindered by poor absorption across the gastrointestinal barrier and extensive degradation by proteolytic enzymes. Here, we investigated the absorption of orally delivered semaglutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 analog, coformulated with the absorption enhancer sodium -[8-(2-hydroxybenzoyl) aminocaprylate] (SNAC) in a tablet. In contrast to intestinal absorption usually seen with small molecules, clinical and preclinical dog studies revealed that absorption of semaglutide takes place in the stomach, is confined to an area in close proximity to the tablet surface, and requires coformulation with SNAC. SNAC protects against enzymatic degradation via local buffering actions and only transiently enhances absorption. The mechanism of absorption is shown to be compound specific, transcellular, and without any evidence of effect on tight junctions. These data have implications for understanding how highly efficacious and specific therapeutic peptides could be transformed from injectable to tablet-based oral therapies.
Nanogold is an emerging material for enhancing surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), which enables the detection of hazardous analytes at trace levels. This study presents a simple, single-step plasma synthesis method to control the size and yield of Au nanoparticles by using plasma-liquid redox chemistry. The pin-based argon plasma reduces the Au precursor in under 5 min, synthesizing Au spherical particles ranging from ∼20 nm at 0.
This study investigated the speciation and aqueous dissolution of macronutrients in fire ash from diverse ecosystems and speciation of ash and smoke from laboratory burning, exploring the variations and their causes. The speciation of phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), and potassium (K) in fire ash from five globally distributed ecosystems was characterized by using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and sequential fractionation. Aqueous dissolution of the macronutrients was measured by batch experiments at acidic and alkaline pHs.
Theoretical Chemistry Lab, Unit of Theoretical and Structural Physical Chemistry, Namur Institute of Structured Matter, University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles, 61, Namur B-5000, Belgium.
The Doktorov's quantum algorithm has been enacted in combination with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) to simulate the vibronic structure of the UV/visible absorption spectra of the phenol and phenolate molecules. On the one hand, DFT and TD-DFT are employed with classical algorithms to calculate the ground and excited-state electronic structures as well as their vibrational frequencies and normal modes, whereas, on the other hand, quantum algorithms are employed for evaluating the vibrational transition intensities. In comparison to a previous study, , 128, 4369-4377, which demonstrated Doktorov's quantum algorithm as a proof of concept to predict the vibronic structure of ionization spectra, it is applied here to medium-size molecules with more than 30 vibrational normal modes, without accounting for Duschinsky rotations due to software limitations.
Micromodification in bulk undoped polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) by single focused (numerical aperture (NA) = 0.25), 1030-nm 250-fs laser pump pulses was explored by pump self-transmittance; optical, 3D-scanning confocal photoluminescence (PL); Raman micro-spectroscopy; and optical polarimetric and interferometric microscopy. Starting from the threshold pulse energy = 0.
All-dielectric metasurface (ADM) absorbers driven by quasi-bound states in the continuum (BIC) are critical for high-performance optoelectronic devices due to their ability to offer high -factor absorption. However, these all-dielectric metasurfaces usually require the aid of degenerate critical coupling schemes or back-metal reflective layers to achieve high absorption, which often suffers from limitations such as sensitive geometrical parameters, ohmic losses, and low -factors. This work presents an ADM for high- near-perfect light absorption, which consists of double Si nanorods and SiO/TaO multilayers.
