Recent Update on Nanoemulgel as Topical Drug Delivery System.

Being an emerging transdermal delivery tool, nanoemulgel, has proved to show surprising upshots for the lipophilic drugs over other formulations. This lipophilic nature of majority of the newer drugs developed in this modern era resulting in poor oral bioavailability, erratic absorption, and pharmacokinetic variations. Therefore, this novel transdermal delivery system has been proved to be advantageous over other oral and topical drug delivery to avoid such disturbances. These nanoemulgels are basically oil-in-water nanoemulsions gelled with the use of some gelling agent in it. This gel phase in the formulation is nongreasy, which favors user compliance and stabilizes the formulation through reduction in surface as well as interfacial tension. Simultaneously, it can be targeted more specifically to the site of action and can avoid first-pass metabolism and relieve the user from gastric/systemic incompatibilities. This brief review is focused on nanoemulgel as a better topical drug delivery system including its components screening, formulation method, and recent pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic advancement in research studies carried out by the scientists all over the world. Therefore, at the end of this survey it could be inferred that nanoemulgel can be a better and effective drug delivery tool for the topical system.

A multimedia patient simulation for teaching and assessing endodontic diagnosis.

Teaching and assessing diagnostic skills are difficult due to relatively small numbers of total clinical experiences and a shortage of clinical faculty. Patient simulations could help teach and assess diagnosis by displaying a well-defined diagnostic task, then providing informative feedback and opportunities for repetition and correction of errors. This report describes the development and initial evaluation of SimEndo I, a multimedia patient simulation program that could be used for teaching or assessing endodontic diagnosis. Students interact with a graphical interface that has four pull-down menus and related submenus. In response to student requests, the program presents patient information. Scoring is based on diagnosis of each case by endodontists. Pilot testing with seventy-four junior dental students identified numerous needed improvements to the user interface program. A multi-school field test of the interface program using three patient cases addressed three research questions: 1) How did the field test students evaluate SimEndo I? Overall mean evaluation was 8.1 on a 0 to 10 scale; 2) How many cases are needed to generate a reproducible diagnostic proficiency score for an individual student using the Rimoldi scoring procedure? Mean diagnostic proficiency scores by case ranged from .27 to .40 on a 0 to 1 scale; five cases would produce a score with a 0.80 reliability coefficient; and 3) Did students accurately diagnose each case? Mean correct diagnosis scores by case ranged from .54 to .78 on a 0 to 1 scale. We conclude that multimedia patient simulations offer a promising alternative for teaching and assessing student diagnostic skills.

Mechanical properties of excipients do not affect polymer matrix formation.

Coalescence of polymer particles has been identified as a crucial step in film formation on tablets, pellets and granules. Though the significance of thermal treatment on matrix dosage forms is well established the process of coalescence in matrix formation and the forces driving it remain unexplored. The aim of this study was to investigate whether stresses in tablets, caused by deformation of excipient during compression, provide a driving force for polymer matrix formation. Polymer matrix tablets containing Eudragit-RLPO, a pH independent and permeable polymer at two levels 10 and 40% (w/w) were prepared by direct compression. Either lactose monohydrate (brittle) or mannitol (plastic) was used as a diluent at 80 or 50% (w/w) and indomethacin, a model drug was present at 10% (w/w). Tablets from each formulation type were prepared at two compression pressures either 221 MPa (above the yield pressure of both excipients) or 74 MPa (below the yield pressure of both excipients). Tablets from each formulation type compressed at the two compression pressures were thermally treated at 40 degrees C (below Tg) or 70 degrees C (above Tg) for 24 h. The rotating basket (100 rpm) method was used for the release studies conducted at 37 degrees C in 900 ml phosphate buffer (0.2 M) pH 7.2 as the dissolution medium. Morphological characteristics of the tablets were observed by scanning electron microscopy. Differences in tablet structure due to the formulation and processing variables were further evaluated by disintegration and tensile strength testing. Data from this factorial study were analysed by analysis of variance. Excipient mechanical properties determine matrix properties only at low polymer level independent of curing temperature and at high polymer level cured at 40 degrees C only. Though lactose and mannitol have different mechanical properties and therefore different deformation behaviors, this did not influence the properties of tablets containing 40% (w/w) polymer cured at 70 degrees C, suggesting stresses in these tablets are not a significant driving force for matrix formation.