Effect of Antiadherents on the Physical and Drug Release Properties of Acrylic Polymeric Films

Antiadherents are used to decrease tackiness of a polymer coating during both processing and subsequent storage. Despite being a common excipient in coating formulae, antiadherents may affect mechanical properties of the coating film as well as drug release from film-coated tablets, but how could addition of antiadherents affect these properties and to what extent and is there a relation between the physical characteristics of the tablet coat and the drug release mechanisms? The aim of this study was to evaluate physical characteristics of films containing different amounts of the antiadherents talc, glyceryl monostearate, and PlasACRYL^TM T20. Eudragit RL30D and Eudragit RS30D as sustained release polymers and Eudragit FS30D as a delayed release material were used. Polymer films were characterized by tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), microscopic examination, and water content as calculated from loss on drying. The effect of antiadherents on in vitro drug release for the model acetylsalicylic acid tablets coated with Eudragit FS30D was also determined. Increasing talc concentration was found to decrease the ability of the polymer films to resist mechanical stress. In contrast, glyceryl monostearate (GMS) and PlasACRYL produced more elastic films. Talc at concentrations higher than 25% caused negative effects, which make 25% concentration recommended to be used with acrylic polymers. All antiadherents delayed the drug release at all coating levels; hence, different tailoring of drug release may be achieved by adjusting antiadherent concentration with coating level.     

Competition for Mitogens Regulates Spermatogenic Stem Cell Homeostasis in an Open Niche

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Natural variation of ebony gene controlling thoracic pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster

We identified the causal genetic variation for the difference in the thoracic trident pigmentation intensity between two wild-derived strains of Drosophila melanogaster. It was found to be the difference in expression level of ebony, which codes for an enzyme in the melanin-synthesis pathway and has pleiotropic effects on vision and behavior.     

Personalized medicine and proteomics: lessons from non-small cell lung cancer

Personalized medicine allows the selection of treatments best suited to an individual patient and disease phenotype. To implement personalized medicine, effective tests predictive of response to treatment or susceptibility to adverse events are needed, and to develop a personalized medicine test, both high quality samples and reliable data are required. We review key features of state-of-the-art proteomic profiling and introduce further analytic developments to build a proteomic toolkit for use in personalized medicine approaches. The combination of novel analytical approaches in proteomic data generation, alignment and comparison permit translation of identified biomarkers into practical assays. We further propose an expanded statistical analysis to understand the sources of variability between individuals in terms of both protein expression and clinical variables and utilize this understanding in a predictive test.     

Genome-wide association study of idiopathic hypersomnia in a Japanese population

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - Idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) is a rare sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, great difficulty upon awakening, and prolonged sleep time. In...     

Hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma in a Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata)

Primary neuroendocrine neoplasm of the liver is extremely rare in both humans and non‐human primates. The present report describes the clinical and pathological findings of an aged Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata) with hepatic neuroendocrine carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first report of hepatic neuroendocrine neoplasm in macaques.     

Developmental process of genital ducts in the medaka, Oryzias latipes

The morphological development of genital ducts both intra-gonadal (ovarian cavity and efferent duct) and extra-gonadal (oviduct and sperm duct) was investigated in a model teleost, medaka Oryzias latipes. The results showed that the extra-gonadal genital ducts contained two structural units, the anterior and posterior parts, in both sexes. Of special interest is a newly discovered process for the development of a posterior part of the oviduct. The anterior part of oviduct extended continuously from the ovarian cavity at the posterior end of the ovary. Then the posterior part of oviduct, which termed genital pore lip (GPL) in this study, was formed. This part results from invagination and cavitation of the cortex of urinogenital papillae (UGP) and forms the wall of the oviduct opening. We also suggest that the ventral region of urethra mesenchyme has an important role in extra-genital ducts formation.