Liposomes and micro/nanoparticles as colloidal carriers for nasal drug delivery

The use of the nasal route for drug delivery has attracted much interest in recent years in the pharmaceutical field. Local and principally systemic drug delivery can be achieved by this route of administration. But the nasal route of delivery is not applicable to all drugs. Polar drugs and some macromolecules are not absorbed in sufficient concentration due to poor membrane permeability, rapid clearance and enzymatic degradation into the nasal cavity. Thus, alternative means that help overcome these nasal barriers are currently in development. Absorption enhancers such as phospholipids and surfactants are constantly used, but care must be taken in relation to their concentration. Drug delivery systems including liposomes, cyclodextrins, micro- and nanoparticles are being investigated to increase the bioavailability of drugs delivered intranasally. This review article discusses recent progress and specific development issues relating to colloidal drug delivery systems in nasal drug delivery. © 2006 Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.

Efeito da adição de probiótico e/ou prebiótico em dietas de leitões desmamados sobre o desempenho, incidência de diarréia e contagem de coliformes totais

In the Experiment 1, 50 pigs weaned at the 21 days were fed with either of five diets: T1 - basal diet; T2 - basal diet + antibiotic; T3 - basal diet + probiotic; T4 - basal diet + prebiotic; T5 - basal diet + simbiotic. The variables studied were body weight, feed intake and feed conversion in the Phase 1 (21 to 43 days), Phase 2 (44 to 57 days), Phase 3 (58 to 70 days) and Total Phase (21 to 70 days). During the performance experiment, a fecal survey score was conducted to verify diarrhea incidence. In the Experiment 2, 44 pigs weaned at 21 days were fed with the same diets of Experiment 1. Pigs were slaughtered at three differents ages (at weaning, at seven and 14 days after weaning). A segment of the small intestine was collected for analisys of total coliformes. The results showed that the best performance was obtained with the utilization of prebiotic and simbiotic. There were not differences in relation to diarrhea incidence among the treatments studied. The addition of probiotic and/or prebiotic in the diet prevented increase of colonization by pathogenic bacterias from seven to 14 days after weaning.

Uso de probiótico em dietas de suínos: Incidência de diarréia, desempenho zootécnico e digestibilidade de rações

Two trials were conducted aiming to of evaluate the effect of probiotic supplementation in pig's diet: Trial 1: diarrhea incidence and performance; Trial 2: feed intake and digestibility. In the Trial 1, forty weaning barrow piglets were distributed in four treatments: T0-basal diet; T100-basal diet +100ppm of probiotic; T200-basal diet +200ppm e T300-basal diet +300ppm. The trial 2 was a digestibility trial, where eight barrow pigs were used, distributed in two treatments: T1-basal diet and T2-basal diet + 200 ppm of same probiotic used in the Experiment 1. In the Period 1 the animals of T0 and T100 groups showed higher diarrhea incidence (P<0.05) than the T200 and T300 groups. The performance of animals of T100 group were lower than other treatment groups (P<0.05). In the Period 2 the T200 and T300 animals, showed better FG ratio than the animals of T0 (P<0.05). In the total period it was not observed significative difference concerning performance, except for DFI. In the trial 2, the animals of treatment T2, showed an increase of feed intake when compared with animals of T1. Digestibility coefficients showed no significative differences among treatments. It was concluded that the addition of 200 and 300 ppm of probiotic in the Period 1 reduces incidences of diarrhea. But, in the total period of trial 1, the performance was similar among treatments. In the trial 2 it was observed better adaptation of animals receiving probiotics which was represented by higher feed intake.

Avaliação histológica da pele após exposição a gel acrescido de hialuronidase associado ou não a ultra-som

The objective of this work was to verify the effect in the skin of male swines gel (G) containing hyaluronidase (H) associated or not to ultrasound (US). In different areas was applied G; G+US; G+H; G+H+US and mesotherapy (M). Skin fragment was processed in paraffin. To evidence hyaluronic acid (HA) coloration with Alcian Blue (AB) was used and coloration with Hematoxilin/Eosin for morphometry. It was observed that G+H and G+H+US did not reduce coloration for the AB nor presented significant differences for the morphometry. When H was applied mesoteraphycally coloration for the AB diminished. Then, the use of H associated or with US did not seem efficient in the HA reduction.

Comparação de métodos para determinação da estabilidade de agregados por vias seca e úmida em diferentes sistemas de uso e manejo do solo

The purpose of the work is to evaluate the stability by dry and humid of theaggregate in different systems or the use and management in Argissolos: agricultural, pasture and torest utilization. This work was realized in agricultural property, in Anhumas city, SR Several analyses including percentage of the aggregate (by way of dry and humid); the weighted mean diameter of the aggregate calculation and statistic analysis. Conclusion: the organic matter content of the A horizon of the soil under forest is 64 % more than the soil under pasture and 79 % more than the soil under annual crop; the WMDA of the aggregate obtained by dry and humid ways of the horizon A and its mean value for the soil decrease in the following sequence: PVAd - forest > PVe -pasture > PVd - annual culture, respectively, with the following values: 1.33560 and 1.445496 (D), 2.81114 and 2.351380 (H); 0.66748 and 1.011830 (D); 2.79642 and 1.624250 (H); 0.32468 and 0.993775 (S), 1.25808 and 0.983135 mm (H); the two methods are equally sensitive to reveal the effect of the soil use and management; the organic matter provides additional stability to the aggregates submitted to humid sieving and clay to the dry sieving: the WMDA obtained by dry and humid ways are statistically different for the soil profiles.

Diferentes fontes proteicas em rações de leitões sobre atividade da tripsina e parâmetros sangüíneos

Were used 64 piglets submitted eight treatments: ration with skim milk (SM), three rations with crescent levels of swine plasma (SP), three rations with whole egg (WE) and a ration with high inclusion of soybean meal (SB). Were monitored the blood parameters (BP) in pigs at 27 and at 34 days of age. The piglets were slaugther at 28 and at 35 days of age, for collections pancreas and posterior mensurements of absolut (AW) and relative weigth (RW) of pancreas and trypsin activity (TA). Treatments not influencied AW and TA. Significant effect of the crescent levels was verified of SP, with lineal reduction of the leukocytes and increase of the globular volume, to the 27 days; while to the 34 days, lineal increase of the hematias was observed. At 27 days, animals feds rations with crescent levels of SP have inferior percentage of eosinophils than others that consumed crescent levels of WE. The utilization of SP promoted smaller stimulus to the immune reply, while the use of WE promoted larger humoral reply of the piglets.

Plasma suíno e ovo inteiro em rações de leitões sobre desempenho na fase inicial e efeito residual até a terminação

Were used 64 weaned pigs, distributed in eight treatments: ration with skim milk (SM), three rations with crescent levels of swine plasma (SP), three rations with whole egg (WE) and a ration with high inclusion of soybean meal (SB). Daily weight gain (DWG), daily feed intake (DFI) and feed conversion (FC) were evaluated. The animals that consumed ration SB have the mean of DWG higher that other treatments, and inferior FC, from 35 to 48 days of age. The crescent levels of SP promoted linear reduction in DWG, from 21 to 35, and from 35 to 48 days of age, in DFI from 48 to 138 days of age and linear increased in FC from 21 to 35 of age. Considering the weaned phase until finishing, initial rations can be formulated with SP and WE substituted partially the CP of skim milk in 25 and 45%, respectively.

Agentes tróficos na dieta de leitões desmamados sobre a atividade das enzimas digestivas e o desempenho

It was evaluated the effect of the addition of glutamine, polyunsaturated fatty acids or cellular wall of yeast to the diet of weaned pigs on the activity of the pancreatic enzymes (lipase, amylase and trypsin) and the intestinal mucous membrane (dipeptidase, sucrase and maltase) and on the performance. Forty-five weaned pigs were used and distributed in a randomized block design, in factorial outline, with four diets (T1 - basal diet (BD); T2 - BR + 1% glutamine; T3 - BD + 0,2% cellular wall of yeast; T4 - BD + 5% fish oil) and two slaughter ages (seven and 14 days post weaning). The performance was measured in the first two weeks post-weaning. The addition of 1% glutamine in the diet of pigs increased the specific and total activity of the amylase, and total activity of the trypsin in the second week post weaning. The others supplements not change the activity of the digestive enzymes in the pigs. Also an increase was observed in the total activity of the lipase, and specific activity of the trypsin and maltase in function of the age post-weaning. In general, the activities of the digestive enzymes were correlated positively, except for the dipeptidase that was not correlated with any other enzyme. Positive correlation was observed between weight gain and activity of the lipase and of the amylase. The supplements included in the diet not influence the performance of weaned pigs.

Diferentes níveis de betaína sobre incidência de diarreia, desempenho, características de carcaça e parâmetros sanguíneos de suínos

Thirty six piglets weaned at 19 days of age were useddistributed in a randomized block design, were used to evaluate the effects of the addition of crescent levels of betaine (0,0%, 0,1%, 0,2% e 0,3%) in the diets on the performance in initial, growing and finishing phases. The indexes of diarrhea incidence were monitored in the first 14 days post-weaning; and the blood parameters at 20, 75, and 150 days of age, as well as the carcass characteristics at the end of the experiment. It was not observed (P > 0,05) effect of the betaine on the diarrhea incidence. Significative differences (P < 0.05) were verified among treatments in the finishing phase for daily weight gain and feed conversion. Differences (P < 0.0001) among the days to the blood parameters analysed were also observed. In regard to the backfat thickness, it was verified significative difference (P < 0.05) among the treatments.

Fontes proteicas e idades de abate sobre a estrutura e ultraestrutura do intestino delgado de leitões desmamados

Two experiments (experiment 1 - conventional feeding and experiment 2 - feeding of the sows, starting at 109 days of pregnancy and during lactation, and the lactating piglets, with rations without soybean meal) were conducted to evaluate the effects of sources of protein (soybean meal-SBM, extruded semi-integral soybean-ESISB, and milk products-MP) on the intestinal morphology of piglets slaughtered at the 0, 5 and 15 days later at weaning. Twenty-seven piglets weaned with 25 days of age were used, being nine piglets slaughter in each slaughtering age. A 3 ×3 factorial (3 diets × 3 slaughtering ages) was studied, according to a randomized block design. The results showed that animals receiving SBM, presented lower values of villi height and villus: crypt ratio when compared to those that received ESISB or MP. The villi height and the villus: crypt ratio were not affected by the differential feeding of the sows and of the piglets before the weaning. The depth of the crypt was not affected by diets or slaughtering ages in none of the segments studied being, however, smaller in the duodenum and bigger in the jejunum and ileo of the animals of exp. 2. It was concluded that the SBM was the affected the height of the villi and the relationship villi: Crypt negatively after it weans. The intestinal morphology was more affected at five days, showing signals of recovering at 15 days after weaning and that the feeding of the sows did not affect the morphology of the segments of the thin intestine.

A model to store coordination mappings

Exploratory tasks supported by visualization are usually improved by Coordinated and Multiple Views (CMV) of the data under study. Several coordination techniques have been proposed in the literature, resulting in a diversity of tools to generate mappings among the multiple views. These mappings can be highly dynamic, and their history reveals the settings employed in the multiple exploratory tasks conducted in a discovery process. Several solutions have been proposed to help users to recover the steps performed in exploratory tasks, but little support is found for registering the multiple coordination mappings employed. This paper provides a contribution in this direction, proposing a model for storing and recovering such mappings. We believe such a facility is an important feature of CMV systems, so that users can recover and rerun the coordinations performed when exploring their data. We present details of the proposed model and show some potential applications. © 2012 IEEE.

Digestibilidade da soja semi-integral extrusada para leitões na fase inicial

Two assays were conducted to determine the coefficients of digestibility (CD) and the digestible nutrients (DN) of the extruded semi-whole soybean (Assay 1 conventional feeding and Assay 2 feeding for sows, starting at 109 days of pregnancy and during the lactation and for lactating piglets and in the initial phase, with rations without soybean meal). Each assay was divided into two phases (32 and 50 days of age). Eight piglets weaned at 25 days of age were used. Total feces collection method was used. The following variables were analyzed in feed and in feces: dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, crude fiber and gross energy. The following average values were obtained: CDDM 88.87%; CDCP 86.81%; CDEE 85.41%; CDCF 78.22%; CDGE 80.21% and CMDE 95.71%, which allowed the calculation of the digestible nutrients: DDM 81.28%; DP 34.49%; DEE 14.02%; DF 4.49%; DEa 4087.86 kcal/kg and MEa 3912.73 kcal/kg. The different coefficients of digestibility were not affected by the differential feeding for sows and piglets nor by the different ages of the animals. Moreover, the extruded semi-whole soybean presented good levels of DN, concerning mainly the digestible and metabolizable energy.

Coping strategies among brazilian professional and amateur football players

To identify coping strategies used among professional and amateur Brazilian football players. The Ways of Coping Scale (WOCS) was completed by 134 male football players (71 professionals: mean age = 22.77 ± 3.98 years; 63 amateurs: mean age = 17.18 ± 0.84 years) from three teams that participated in the Campeonatos Estaduais da Primeira Divisão (the state championships for the first division of football). There was no significant difference between the two groups in the type of coping strategy they used (e.g., problem-focused, emotion-focused, fantasy thoughts, religious practices and social support). Problem-focused coping was the most frequently used strategy by all of the players and social support was the least frequently used strategy. Both professional and amateur players failed to focus on the development of adequate coping strategies. Further studies are needed to better understand the impact that Brazilian athletes experience has on their choice of coping strategies during pre-competitive and competitive phases of their sport. © JPES.

Mananoligossacarídeo em dietas para leitões desmamados

An assay was carried out to evaluate the use of mannanoligosaccharide (MOS) in piglet diets on performance, diarrhea incidence and blood parameters. Different levels of MOS inclusion (0, 0.1 and 0.2%) for pig diets were compared. A total of 72 piglets of Topigs lineage weaned at 21 days of age with 5.28±0.90 kg of live weight were used. It was used a randomized block design to control differences between initial weights of replicates. The results show that MOS inclusion in weaning pig diets did not promote better results on daily weight gain, daily feed intake and feed conversion. Although reduction in diarrhea incidence was observed in animals fed with 0.2% MOS diet, this prebiotic did not improve the immune response of piglets. Any level of MOS evaluated is recommended for piglets.

Molecularly designed layer-by-layer (LbL) films to detect catechol using information visualization methods

The control of molecular architectures has been exploited in layer-by-layer (LbL) films deposited on Au interdigitated electrodes, thus forming an electronic tongue (e-tongue) system that reached an unprecedented high sensitivity (down to 10-12 M) in detecting catechol. Such high sensitivity was made possible upon using units containing the enzyme tyrosinase, which interacted specifically with catechol, and by processing impedance spectroscopy data with information visualization methods. These latter methods, including the parallel coordinates technique, were also useful for identifying the major contributors to the high distinguishing ability toward catechol. Among several film architectures tested, the most efficient had a tyrosinase layer deposited atop LbL films of alternating layers of dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-3-glycero-fosfo-rac-(1-glycerol) (DPPG), viz., (DODAB/DPPG)5/DODAB/Tyr. The latter represents a more suitable medium for immobilizing tyrosinase when compared to conventional polyelectrolytes. Furthermore, the distinction was more effective at low frequencies where double-layer effects on the film/liquid sample dominate the electrical response. Because the optimization of film architectures based on information visualization is completely generic, the approach presented here may be extended to designing architectures for other types of applications in addition to sensing and biosensing. © 2013 American Chemical Society.