PRODAN Photophysics as a Tool to Determine the Bilayer Properties of Different Unilamellar Vesicles Composed of Phospholipids.

Vesicles formed by phospholipids are promising candidates for drug delivery. It is known that the lipid composition affects properties such as the rigidity-fluidity of the membrane and that it influences the bilayer permeability, but sometimes sophisticated techniques are selected to monitor them. In this work, we study the bilayer of different unilamellar vesicles composed of different lipids (1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, DOPC, and lecithin) and diverse techniques such as extruder and electrospun templates and using 6-propionyl-2-(N,N-dimethyl) aminonaphthalene (PRODAN) and its photophysics. Moreover, we were able to monitor the influence of cholesterol on the bilayers. We demonstrate that the bilayer properties can be evaluated using the emission feature of the molecular probe PRODAN. This fluorescent probe gives relevant information on the polarity and fluidity of the microenvironment for unilamellar vesicles formed by two different methods. The PRODAN emission at 434 nm suggests that the bilayer properties significantly change if DOPC or lecithin is used in the vesicle preparation especially in their fluidity. Moreover, cholesterol induces alterations in the bilayer's structural and microenvironmental properties to a greater or lesser degree in both vesicles. Thus, we propose an easy and elegant way to evaluate physicochemical properties, which is fundamental for manufacturing vesicles as a drug delivery system, simply by monitoring the molecular probe emission band centered at 434 nm, which corresponds to the PRODAN species deep inside the bilayer.

Pilot study to validate a standard operating procedure for providing health education to diabetic patients.

Introduction: The lack of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to provide health education to patients with diabetes means that this service is provided in a heterogeneous, isolated and intermittent manner, thus limiting quality. Objective: To validate a SOP to provide health education to diabetic patients using Delphi methodology and determining its efficacy in clinical practice by performing a pilot study. Methods: The SOP was designed from a theoretical analysis of the available literature; a participatory brainstorming technique was used to define the processes included in the SOP. The research was carried out at the Comprehensive Pharmaceutical Care Polyclinic of a Mexican Institute of Health Sciences, from August 2017 to March 2020. The pilot test was carried out on 15 outpatients with diabetes type 1 and 2. The validation was carried out by a panel of experts using Delphi methodology, the consensus among the experts was estimated by determining Kendall's coefficient of concordance. The practice clinical efficacy of the SOP was determined by a pilot study in 15 diabetic patients using process indicators. Results: The SOP was structured in nine sections with the process approach described in the ISO 9001:2008 standards. The criteria issued by the experts relating to content, records and data extraction tools allowed improvement of the SOP. The pilot test showed that health education, following the SOP, improved metabolic control, level of knowledge, therapeutic adherence and the attitudes of more than 80% of patients. Conclusions: The SOP designed and validated by experts was effective in educating patients with diabetes due to the high impact achieved with the intervention and incorporates indicators to guarantee the quality of the health service provided.