Knowledge of Non-Invasive Biomarkers of Breast Cancer, Risk Factors, and BSE Practices Among Nursing Undergraduates in Farasan Island, KSA.

Background of the Study: Mammograms are sometimes met with issues of overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis; therefore, they are less reliable in identifying cancer in women with dense breasts. As a result, it is critical to be aware of other sensitive screening techniques for the early diagnosis of breast cancer. Aim: The ultimate objective of this study was to assess the knowledge of nursing undergraduates regarding non-invasive biomarkers, such as volatile organic compounds in breath, nipple aspirate fluid, sweat, urine, and tears, for the early detection of breast cancer to help improve patient care, determine the risk factors, and encourage practice of breast self-examination. Methods: Cross-sectional research was done in the Department of Nursing at Farasan campus using a self-structured questionnaire as the study tool. A total of 260 students willingly participated. The study tool had evaluation questions focused on the non-invasive biomarkers of breast cancer, risk factors, and breast self-examination practices to collect data. The data were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistics. The statistical significance was calculated at P < .05. Data analyses were done using Microsoft Excel (2013). Results: A significant knowledge gap existed among the study participants about the non-invasive biomarkers of breast cancer. A lesser percentage of students (25%) stated that they do breast self-examination on a monthly basis. The most common reasons for not doing the breast self-examination were "not knowing how to do the breast self-examination" (77.3%), fear of a positive diagnosis (53.9%), thinking that they are not at risk as all were in their teens and hence not required (44.7%), and lack of time (48.7%). Age and frequency of breast self-examination were significantly associated (P < .05) as those few students (22.7%) who were doing breast self-examination practices every 2-4 months belonged to a higher study year. Furthermore, knowledge regarding incidence rates and health care expenditure by the government on breast cancer was also significantly low (P < .05). Conclusions: Outcomes would help prioritize actions to help future nurses better understand breast cancer, allowing them to extend patient care in the best way possible.

Predicting risk of low birth weight offspring from maternal features and blood polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentration.

Prenatal exposure to organic pollutants increases the risk of low birth weight (LBW) offspring. Women involved in the plucking of tea leaves can be exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during pregnancy through inhalation and diet. Therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the association of maternal socio-demographic features and blood PAH concentration with LBW; also to develop a model for predicting LBW risk. The study was performed by recruiting 55 women who delivered LBW and 120 women with NBW (normal birth weight) babies from Assam Medical College. The placental tissue, maternal and cord blood samples were collected. A total of sixteen PAHs and cotinine were analysed by HPLC and GC-MS. Association of PAH concentration with weight was determined using correlation and multiple logistic regression analyses. Predictive model was developed using SVMlight and Weka software. Maternal features such as age, education, food habits, occupation, etc. were found to be associated with LBW deliveries (p-value<0.05). Overall, 9 PAHs and cotinine were detected in the samples. A multiple logistic regression depicted an increased likelihood of LBW by exposure to PAHs (pyrene, di-benzo (a,h) anthracene, fluorene and fluoranthene) and cotinine. Models based on the features and PAHs/ cotinine predicted LBW offspring with 84.35% sensitivity and 74% specificity. LBW prediction models are available at http://dev.icmr.org.in/plbw/ webserver. With machine learning gaining more importance in medical science; our webserver could be instrumental for researchers and clinicians to predict the state of the fetus.

Nanocarriers for the Effective Treatment of Cervical Cancer: Research Advancements and Patent Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer being the cancer of cervix is caused by an aberrant cell growth that acquires an ability to spread/ invade to other body parts. It has also been reported to be the second most common cause of death and cancer among women. Based on the severity of the disease, treatment aspects need to be explored more in order to overcome the limitations acquired by the conventional treatment. Recently, nanocarriers based drug delivery systems including liposomes, nanofibres, metallic NPs, polymeric NPs, dendrimers, polymeric micelles, antibody-drug conjugates, etc. have been explored to target and treat cervical cancer. OBJECTIVE: This review highlights numerous recent research and patent reports as well on nanocarriers based systems. METHODS: Patents viz US, EP and WIPO have been retrieved using sites www.uspto.gov/patft and www.freepatentsonline.com to collect literature on nanocarriers. RESULTS: Various research reports and patents revealed nanocarriers to be effective in treating cervical cancer and these carriers are observed to be safer than the conventional treatment. CONCLUSION: Nanocarriers result in transforming drug distribution that can overpower drug resistance. Further, nanocarriers based drug delivery systems can particularly target drugs to cellular, subcellular and tissue sites. By enhancing the drug's bioavailability at the desired site, these systems result in therapeutic benefits like enhanced safety and efficacy. Also, in combination with other treatment approaches like radiation, photothermal and gene therapy, nanocarriers are reported to be quite effective and can define novel strategies to combat cervical cancer.

Investigating the penetrating potential of nanocomposite ß-cycloethosomes: development using central composite design, in vitro and ex vivo characterization.

CONTEXT: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic skin disease characterized by inflammation of the skin and has exhibited remarkable repercussions on human life across the globe. Fluocinolone acetonide (FA), a topical corticosteroid is employed in the treatment of atopic dermatitis, but suffers from limited penetration into deeper epidermis of atopic skin. OBJECTIVE: The present investigation was focused to explore the utility of ß-cylcoethosomes in improvising the penetration deep into the skin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ß-Cylcoethosomes developed using ß-cycloamylose by injection method were evaluated for vesicle size, entrapment efficiency and in vitro release. Central Composite design employed for the preparation depicted FA8 as an optimized formulation which was then formulated as dermatological gel using carbomer 934P as a gel base. The gels were characterized for pH, viscosity, drug content and in vitro permeability. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Optimized formulation (FA8) showed maximum desirability (0.795) with vesicle size of 228.33 ± 1.23 nm), EE (82.49 ± 1.21%) and CDR (90.90 ± 0.29%). FA8-loaded gels showed maximum in vitro permeability as found in BG and BGP (83.22 ± 0.72% and 84.02 ± 0.87). BG was selected as an optimized gel and compared with optimized reference ethosomal gel and control gel. CLSM studies depicted deeper uniform penetration of fluorescent dye deep into the epidermis via BG. Improved penetration was observed due to the synergistic effect exerted by ethanol and ß-cycloamylose. CONCLUSION: ß-cylcoethosomes proved to be a promising carrier for improvised penetration of fluocinolone acetonide via topical gel.

Carbon Nanotubes in the Treatment of Skin Cancers: Safety and Toxicological Aspects.

BACKGROUND: Skin cancer is depicted to be the most common malignant disease across the globe that is frequently diagnosed in people bearing light skin. Three common forms of skin cancers are squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and malignant melanoma. Treatment of skin cancers comprises of various forms of management strategies that can help in curing the disease including the use of several therapeutic agents. Though numerous therapies have been explored till date to deliver the active therapeutics, nanoparticulate based targeted therapy has garnered considerable interest and is a promising approach in treating skin cancers. OBJECTIVE: The present review aims to explore a novel nano-sized carrier, carbon nanotubes for the delivery of various actives researched for skin cancer treatment. The write up traces the pre-clinical and clinical reports on carbon nanotubes. The feasibility of the nanoparticulate system has been elaborated inclusive of the safety and toxicological aspects of the carrier system. CONCLUSION: From the reviewed literature it can be concluded that carbon nanotubes are the emerging treatment modality in skin cancers as they offer targeted delivery to the cancerous cells, act selectively and provide better penetration in the neoplastic cells due to improved permeability and retention effect.

Probiotics as a Tool to Biosynthesize Metallic Nanoparticles: Research Reports and Patents Survey.

BACKGROUND: Probiotics are the live microbes that exert beneficial effects on the health of the host cell, creating novel nanoformulations via probiotic bacteria, thus gaining tremendous momentum recently. The probiotic bacteria are being employed in synthesizing or more specifically biosynthesizing several nanoparticles like metallic as well as non-metallic nanoparticles. Biosynthesis of metallic nanoparticles is currently the focus of research nowadays due to several applications. Research inputs have led to the exploration of probiotic bacteria in biosynthesizing novel metallic nanoparticles. OBJECTIVE: The present review explores various research and patent reports on metallic nanoparticles biosynthesized using probiotic bacteria. METHOD: Through the sites, www.freepatentsonline.com and www.uspto.gov/patft, patents have been retrieved including US patents, EP and WIPO patents. RESULTS: Various reports and patents have revealed that probiotic bacteria can effectively produce metallic nanoparticles. These nanoparticles have found applications in cosmetics, pharmaceutics, medicine and biotechnology. Areas of future research can include the exploration of formulation aspects of metallic nanoparticles of iron, zinc, tellurium and synthesis of these particles using yeast, fungi, plant extracts and several biomaterials. CONCLUSION: Use of probiotic bacteria in synthesizing metallic nanoparticles is an effective biosynthetic approach. However, the technique needs wider exploration for newer metallic/nonmetallic/metalloid NPs for therapeutic applications.

Feasibility of binary composition in development of nanoethosomal glycolic vesicles of triamcinolone acetonide using Box-behnken design: in vitro and ex vivo characterization.

Triamcinolone acetonide (TA) employed for the treatment of atopic dermatitis exhibits limited penetration into the epidermis. This investigation aimed to explore the role of binary solvents in topical drug delivery of TA by developing nanoethosomal glycolic lipid vesicles by infusion method. Screening of vesicles (TA1-TA17) formulated by Box Behnken design identified the optimized formulation (TA10) that was developed as carbomer gels. The gels were then evaluated for pharmaceutical properties and compared with control and reference ethosomal gel (RG). Higher in vitro permeation was found in gels containing TA10, prepared with or without using penetration enhancer (EGP 83.76 ± 0.72% and EG 82.42 ± 0.89%, respectively). CLSM studies depicted deeper uniform penetration of fluorescent tracer into the epidermis via EG as compared with RG and control gel. Enhanced penetration was due to combinational solvent effect exerted by ethanol and propylene glycol. Histological analysis confirmed the non-irritant potential of the gel. Thus, it can be concluded that nanoethosomal glycolic vesicles proved to be an effective non irritant carrier for improvised penetration of triamcinolone acetonide for potential topical therapeutics.

Ethosomes as Vesicles for Effective Transdermal Delivery: From Bench to Clinical Implementation.

BACKGROUND: Drug delivery across the deeper layers of skin to make it systemically available is a considerable challenge in the development of a carrier. Numerous efforts have been put forward to find ways to overcome the formidable barrier of stratum corneum. Various lipid based vesicles viz liposomes, transfersomes, and invasomes have gained prominent deliberations across the globe. More recently, ethosomes have been investigated for their potential for transdermal delivery of several drugs. OBJECTIVE: In the present review an attempt has been made to illustrate preclinical and clinical studies depicting enhanced safety and efficacy of drugs delivered via ethosomes. Further, patents on transdermal delivery have been highlighted specifying the effectiveness of ethosomes in the transport of therapeutic actives. METHODS: Through the search engine "Scopus" literature on therapeutic categories such as antimicrobials, anti-inflammatory, and drugs acting on CNS has been collected. RESULTS: Preclinical and clinical studies that have been carried out by various researchers affirm the potentiality of ethosomes for delivering wide variety of drugs belonging to different therapeutic categories. In vitro and in vivo permeability analyses delineated the enhancement of permeability. Consequently, enhanced transdermal flux was reported and in vivo confocal laser scanning microscopy depicted the quantity as well as depth of penetrability via ethosomes. CONCLUSION: From various research reports, it can be concluded that ethosomes are the competent and efficient vesicles to provide better drug transport via transdermal route.

Nose to Brain Delivery of Nanoformulations for Neurotherapeutics in Parkinson`s disease: Defining the Preclinical, Clinical and toxicity issues.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson`s disease (PD) is depicted as the most prevailed neurodegenerative disease being secondary to the alzheimer`s disease. PD is featured by severe dropping of dopamine related neurons present in substantia nigra as well as cytoplasmic inclusions. A number of therapeutic agents are available to treat initial as well as later complications of PD. However, transport of neurotherapeutics into the brain has been a consistent challenge for researchers, because of the existence of blood-brain barrier (BBB). In some last decades, nasal delivery pathway has gained extensive deliberations. Intranasal administration as a way to target neurotherapeutics to the central nervous system bypassing blood brain barrier, exhibit several advantages for treating neurodegenerative disorders. This route for transport of neurotherapeutics offers the merits of convenience of administration, avoidance of pre-systemic hepatic metabolism, and non- invasiveness. OBJECTIVE: The present review explores the novel nano sized formulations of various actives researched for intranasal drug transport to be used in PD therapy. Feasibility of various nano-carriers systems such as nano-emulsions, lipid nanoparticles and polymeric micelles has been elaborated. The write up traces the pre-clinical and pharmacokinetic aspects of the nano-formulations. The neuroprotection and neurotoxicity aspects have also been furnished. CONCLUSION: Nano-formulations are the rising formulations in PD treatment as they offer targeted drug delivery, enhanced therapeutic efficacy and decreased systemic side effects of neurotherapeutics. These formulations provide effective intranasal transport by encapsulating drug, protecting it from biological/chemical degradation and extracellular transport through P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux thus, and enhancing CNS availability for drugs.

Localization of fluconazole in oral cavity by preferential coating of buccoadhesive tablet for treatment of oral thrush.

BACKGROUND: The present research work was aimed at localization of fluconazole in the oral cavity by preferential coating of buccoadhesive tablet for the treatment of oral thrush. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In order to achieve the aim, buccoadhesive tablets were optimized using 3(2) full factorial design to study the influence of varying content of chitosan and carbopol 934P (input variables) on the responses. RESULTS: Perturbation plots revealed high sensitivity of the input variables to ex vivo mucoadhesion force and percent cumulative drug release (CDR) whereas the ex vivo mucoadhesion time was less sensitive to the input variables. Based on the highest desirability factor of 0.693 the formulation F9 was identified as the optimized formulation and was preferentially coated with ethyl cellulose (3% w/v) on one tablet face to get F9C. In reference to F9, F9C showed superior mucoadhesive features (P < 0.05) but the % CDR was comparable (f2 = 50.80). The preferential coating (F9C, Jss = 0.812 µg/cm(2)/h) limited the permeation of fluconazole across goat buccal mucosa by almost half the value of F9 (Jss = 1.34 µg/cm2/h) that could serve as an advantage in establishing high local concentration of drug in the oral cavity, thereby facilitating faster attainment of minimum inhibitory concentration. Scanning electron microscopy and histological analysis established nonirritant potential. The developed formulation was stable and demonstrated antifungal activity against Candida albicans. CONCLUSION: Thus it can be concluded that preferentially coated buccoadhesive tablets of fluconazole might be considered as a precise approach to localize the drug delivery in oral cavity.

Onychomycosis: Potential of Nail Lacquers in Transungual Delivery of Antifungals.

Onychomycosis constitutes the most common fungal infection of the nail (skin beneath the nail bed) that affects the finger as well as toe nails. It is an infection that is initiated by yeasts, dermatophytes, and nondermatophyte molds. Nail lacquers are topical solutions intended only for use on fingernails as well as toenails and have been found to be useful in the treatment of onychomycosis. Thus, in the present review an attempt has been made to focus on the treatment aspects of onychomycosis and the ungual delivery of antifungals via nail lacquer. Several patents issued on nail lacquer till date have also been discussed. Penetration efficiency was assessed by several researchers across the human nail plate to investigate the potentiality of nail lacquer based formulations. Various clinical trials have also been conducted in order to evaluate the safety and efficacy of nail lacquers in delivering antifungal agents. Thus, it can be concluded that nail lacquer based preparations are efficacious and stable formulations. These possess tremendous potential for clinical topical application to the nail bed in the treatment of onychomycosis.

Gastroretentive carrier systems in the delivery of therapeutic actives: an updated patent review.

Gastroretentive drug-delivery systems have the potential to prolong the gastric retention time and provide controlled/sustained release of a drug at the absorption site, thereby improving the bioavailability. Advantageous features include reduction in dose, side effects and dosing frequency. Research inputs have led to exploration of novel gastroretentive systems. The present review explores various patents issued on gastroretentive drug delivery on the basis of the therapeutic category of drugs. It traces US, EP and WIPO patents issued in the last 10 years. Various patents have revealed that gastrocarriers can effectively enhance therapeutic activity of a drug. Drugs acting on the CNS have been prominently investigated, followed by antimicrobials and locally acting drugs. Areas of future research can be drugs acting on the cardiovascular system.

Topical delivery of drugs for the effective treatment of fungal infections of skin.

The prevalence of fungal infections of skin has increased rapidly, affecting approximately 40 million people across the globe. A wide variety of antifungal drugs has been utilized in the effective management of numerous dermatological infections. Topical treatment of fungal infections has proved to be quite advantageous due to various factors like targeting the site of infection, minimizing systemic side effects, enhanced efficacy of treatment, and improved patient compliance. In spite the fact that these agents are therapeutically active on topical application, these have restricted drug delivery across the skin resulting in insufficient therapeutic index and may exert local as well as systemic side effects. The accomplishment of topical drug delivery needs to pacify two anomalous aspects, first the barrier nature of stratum corneum, and second, deposition of drug within the skin should be ideally achieved with limited percutaneous absorption. Thus, to facilitate the delivery of antifungal drugs and improve the treatment aspects, various novel delivery carriers have been developed. This article attempts to provide an in-depth knowledge of nanoparticulate and vesicular carriers. This article focuses on the different aspects of fungal infections and their effective treatment with antifungal drugs. Efficacy of various carrier systems (nanoparticulate and vesicular carriers) in delivering antifungal drugs topically has also been discussed. Besides, compiling various research reports, this article also includes formulation considerations inclusive of regulatory aspects of excipients used, the mechanisms of penetration, and patents reported.

Product development studies on sonocrystallized curcumin for the treatment of gastric cancer.

Curcumin suffers from the limitation of poor solubility and low dissolution that can lead to limited applications. The investigation was aimed to substantiate the potentiality of melt sonocrystallized gastroretentive tablets of curcumin. Melt sonocrystallized curcumin (MSC CMN) was developed and its therapeutic potential was validated by in vitro cytotoxicity studies against Human oral cancer cell line KB. MSC curcumin was then formulated as floating tablet and evaluated. MSC form of CMN exhibited 2.36-fold and 2.40-fold solubility enhancement in distilled water and phosphate buffer, pH 4.5, respectively, better flow properties and intrinsic dissolution rate (0.242 ± 1.42 and 0.195 ± 1.26 mg/cm2/min) in comparison to its original form. The GI50 value of MSC CMN was found to be less than 10, specifying inhibition of growth more effectively at its least concentration by 50%. The gastroretentive-floating tablet (Formulation F4) displayed controlled drug release (96.22% ± 1.43%) for over 12 h. The present study revealed melt sonocrystallization can be used to produce particles with superior biopharmaceutical properties without the use of organic solvents or the addition of other excipients, and amenable to formulation in to a pharmaceutical dosage form.

Preparation and evaluation of a buflomedil hydrochloride niosomal patch for transdermal delivery.

CONTEXT: Niosomes are the non-ionic surfactant vesicles obtained on hydration of synthetic non-ionic surfactants. These are the promising vehicles for effective transdermal drug delivery. OBJECTIVE: The present research work was aimed to develop niosomal-based transdermal buflomedil hydrochloride patch containing a stable formulation with improved drug permeation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Niosomes were prepared by solvent evaporation method using 32 factorial design. All the formulations were evaluated for vesicle size, zeta potential and percent entrapment efficiency. Optimized niosomal and liposomal formulation were loaded into a patch system. All the patches were then characterized for drug-excipient interaction study, scanning electron microscopy, pharmacotechnical properties and in vitro permeation studies. RESULT: F9 formulation having optimum vesicle size (10.09 ± 1.2 µm), highest zeta potential (-85.4 ± 0.56 mV) and maximum percent entrapment efficiency (97.09 ± 0.11%) was selected as optimized formulation. In case of liposomes, formulation F12 was selected. Patches loaded with niosomes showed 95.12 ± 1.19% cumulative amount of drug permeated as compared to liposomal vesicle-loaded patches which showed 82.21 ± 1.24% and control patches 70.10 ± 1.33%. DISCUSSION: Flux, permeation rate and permeability coefficient were found to be higher in case of niosomal patches as compared to liposomal patches and control patches. Surfactant present in niosomes act as a penetration enhancer which contribute in the permeation enhancement of buflomedil hydrochloride from niosomes. CONCLUSION: Thus, it was concluded that niosomal vesicles represented to be an efficient and stable vesicular carrier for transdermal delivery of buflomedil hydrochloride.

Vesicles: a recently developed novel carrier for enhanced topical drug delivery.

As skin is one of the crucial and important organs of the human body, delivering the drug across it requires an effective development in the field of research. Topical drug delivery system is specifically designed with the objective to accomplish the delivery of therapeutically active drugs across the skin. Though skin is considered to be a multifunctional organ of a human body, it has the limitation of lesser permeability across the stratum corneum. As this layer constitutes an effective barrier for the drugs, various carrier systems have been developed to overcome this barrier. Vesicular carriers are one of the recently invented carriers. Liposomes, niosomes, transferosomes and ethosomes constitute the major part of these vesicles that have been sufficiently employed for the treatment of variety of topical skin diseases. In the past few years various research reports on the development of topical carrier systems showed that these carriers have emerged as a novel vesicular carrier. These are considered to be effective enough for the enhanced and safe delivery of both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs. The present review focuses on the topical delivery via these vesicles, emphasizing on various aspects of all these carriers.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus and Invokana: an FDA approved drug.

Diabetes Mellitus is a chronic metabolic disease affecting wide range of people across the globe. In India the rate of subjects being suffered from diabetes is continuously increasing. So, the development of drugs for its effective treatment is essential. Thereby, various attempts have been made to discover newer drugs, to reduce the rate of anti diabetic occurrence. Anti-diabetic drugs were found to treat diabetes mellitus by lowering glucose levels in the blood. Both the use antidiabetic drugs as well as the changes in lifestyle and proper diet can significantly affect the severity of diabetes mellitus and also reduces the symptoms and occurrence of the disease. Researches in the past few years on diabetes mellitus showed that this disease is spreading at a very faster rate, thereby; various attempts have been made to treat it efficaciously. Development and approval of antidiabetic drugs is quite necessary. There are different classes of anti-diabetic drugs reported to treat diabetes. The objective of the present review is to explore Invokana as a newly approved antidiabetic drug for the effective treatment of type 2 diabetes. This review focuses mainly on the various aspects of diabetes mellitus and its treatment perspectives. From the various clinical studies done on Invokana, it was concluded that and Invokana was found to be very effective for the efficacious therapy of diabetes mellitus.

Pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09: an unrecognized cause of mortality in children in Pakistan.

The role of influenza virus as a cause of child mortality in South Asia is under-recognized. We aimed to determine the incidence and case fatality rate of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 infections in hospitalized children in Karachi, Pakistan. Children less than 5 y old admitted with respiratory illnesses to the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from 17 August 2009 to 16 September 2011, were tested for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 using a real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Out of 2650 children less than 5 y old admitted with a respiratory illness during the study period, 812 (31%) were enrolled. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus was detected in 27 (3.3%) children. There were 4 deaths in children who tested positive for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 (case fatality rate of 15%). Children with influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 were 5 times more likely to be admitted or transferred to the intensive care unit, 5.5 times more likely to be intubated, and 12.9 times more likely to die as compared to children testing negative for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09.

Cavamax W7 composite ethosomal gel of clotrimazole for improved topical delivery: development and comparison with ethosomal gel.

The present research work was aimed to formulate clotrimazole encapsulated Cavamax W7 composite ethosomes by injection method for improved delivery across epidermis. 3(2) factorial design was used to design nine formulations (F1-F9) and compared with ethosomal formulations (F10-F12). F9 with vesicle size of 202.8 ± 4.8 nm, highest zeta potential (-83.6 ± 0.96 mV) and %EE of 98.42 ± 0.15 was selected as optimized composite ethosome and F12 as reference ethosomal formulation. As revealed by transmission electron microscopy F9 vesicles were more condensed, uniformly spherical in shape than F12 vesicles. Vesicular stability studies indicated F9 to be more stable as compared to F12. Both F9 and F12 were incorporated in carbopol 934 gel base to get G1-G8 gel formulations and evaluated for in vitro skin permeability. Cavamax W7 composite ethosomal optimized gel (G5) showed higher in vitro percent cumulative drug permeation (88.53 ± 2.10%) in 8 h and steady state flux (J(ss)) of 3.39 ± 1.45 µg/cm(2)/min against the J(ss) of 1.57 ± 0.23 µg/cm(2)/min for ethosomal gel (G1) and 1.13 ± 0.06 µg/cm(2)/min for marketed formulation. The J(ss) flux of G5 was independent of amount of drug applied/unit area of skin. In vivo confocal laser scanning microscopic study of G5 depicted uniform and deeper penetration of rhodamine B (marker) in epidermis from Cavamax W7 composite ethosomal gel in comparison to G1. Finally, G5 demonstrated better (p < 0.05) antifungal activity against Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger than G1 thus, signifying that Cavamax W7 composite ethosomes present a superior stable and efficacious vesicular system than ethosomal formulation for topical delivery of clotrimazole.

Phenolic acid glucosides from the seeds of Entada phaseoloides Merill.

Phytochemical investigation of the defatted seeds of Entada phaseoloides Merill. (Mimosaceae) led to the isolation of three new phenolic acid glucosides, which were characterized as 2-hydroxy-5-methylbenzoyl-ß-L-glucopyranoside (p-cresotyl glucoside, 1), 2-hydroxy-5-methylbenzoyl-ß-L-glucopyranosyl (2 → 1)-ß-L-glucopyranosyl (2 → 1)-ß-L-glucopyranoside (p-cresotyl triglucoside, 2), and 2-hydroxybenzoyl-ß-L-glucopyranosyl (2 → 1)-ß-L-glucopyranosyl (2 → 1)-ß-L-glucopyranosyl (2 → 1)-ß-L-glucopyranoside (salicylic acid tetraglucoside, 5), along with sucrose and triglucoside. The structures of these phytoconstituents have been established on the basis of spectral data analysis and chemical reactions.