Search results for "Gels"
showing 10 items of 671 documents
Functionalized Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-Based Microgels in Tumor Targeting and Drug Delivery
2021
Over the past several decades, the development of engineered small particles as targeted and drug delivery systems (TDDS) has received great attention thanks to the possibility to overcome the limitations of classical cancer chemotherapy, including targeting incapability, nonspecific action and, consequently, systemic toxicity. Thus, this research aims at using a novel design of Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) p(NIPAM)-based microgels to specifically target cancer cells and avoid the healthy ones, which is expected to decrease or eliminate the side effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. Smart NIPAM-based microgels were functionalized with acrylic acid and coupled to folic acid (FA), targeting the f…
Nanocarriers for optimizing the balance between interfollicular permeation and follicular uptake of topically applied clobetasol to minimize adverse …
2015
The treatment of various hair disorders has become a central focus of good dermatologic patient care as it affects men and women all over the world. For many inflammatory-based scalp diseases, glucocorticoids are an essential part of treatment, even though they are known to cause systemic as well as local adverse effects when applied topically. Therefore, efficient targeting and avoidance of these side effects are of utmost importance. Optimizing the balance between drug release, interfollicular permeation, and follicular uptake may allow minimizing these adverse events and simultaneously improve drug delivery, given that one succeeds in targeting a sustained release formulation to the hair…
Injectable in situ forming microgels of hyaluronic acid-g-polylactic acid for methylprednisolone release
2013
Abstract A hydrophobic derivative of hyaluronic acid (HA), obtained by grafting polylactic acid (PLA) to the polysaccharide, has been exploited to produce injectable in situ forming microgels. First of all, self assembling properties of HA-g-PLA copolymer have been evaluated by determining the critical aggregation concentration (CAC) value, then this copolymer has been dissolved in a mixture water/NMP 5:2 v/v with a concentration greater than CAC. When solutions at 1% or 2% w/v were injected into Dulbecco phosphate buffer solution (DPBS) pH 7.4, microgels promptly are formed. Their stability in DPBS pH 7.4 in the absence or in the presence of hyaluronidase and cell compatibility have been e…
Muslim Otherness in Post-9/11 Novels A postcolonial outlook on the fictional representation of Muslim otherness in post 9/11 novels.
2020
Master´s thesis in English (EN501) The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,led many Americans to vilify Muslims and Islam. Indeed, 9/11 bequeathed to the U.S. a new category of evil other, a decade and more after the “evil empire” of the USSR had been vanquished, and the cold war concluded. This thesis will investigate how this new other is represented in three post-9/11 novels, Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), Amy Waldman’s The Submission (2011),and H. M. Naqvi’s Home Boy (2010). These novels will be examined partly through the lens of postcolonial theory, as represented by Edward Said, Mohammad Samiei,and Robert Young. This thesis will demonstrate how the selected n…
“We’re Using Up the Earth. It’s Almost Gone ”Apocalyptic fiction, environmental awareness,and critique of anthropocentric and capitalist society in M…
2020
Master`s thesis in English (EN501) This thesis explores Margaret Atwood’s novels Oryxand Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood (2009), and MaddAddam (2013),and their criticism of anthropocentric and capitalist society. The novels depicta world where the planet has reached its limits due to humanity’s overpopulation, greed, and exploitation of nature. This thesis analyzes the books with an ecocritical lens and views Atwood’s representation of the environment in her apocalyptic narrative. Through a close reading of the trilogy, the analysis considers the novels’apocalyptic characteristics in a world where a virus has annihilated the human population,and genetically engineered creatures are left…
Worlds Ablaze : The insidious traumata of the future anterior in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (2006)
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN501) This thesis examines the novels Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and The Road (2006), two future-set dystopian narratives that extrapolate on their contemporary and ongoing traumas. This paper explores the novels through the lens of trauma studies, testing whether the concepts of insidious trauma and the future anterior can be used in conjunction.
‘The Invisible Blood Pours Forth’ : Trauma in Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin and Maria Padian’s Wrecked
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN501) This thesis investigates Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin (2000) and Maria Padian’s Wrecked (2016), and examine how the characters are affected by sexual trauma and rape culture. The novels depict a society that creates an environment for female trauma victims which causes them more pain and suffering. This thesis analyzes the books through a lens of trauma theory. The use of different narrations and narrators in the two novels provide new perspectives and understanding of trauma and how it can affect the people around the initial trauma victim. This thesis will examine how the selected novels are used to explore the connection between memory and traum…
‘Some degree of hope’ A queer reading of two young adult novels in post-agreement Northern Ireland
2020
Master´s thesis in English (EN 501) In 2018, a report published by Stonewall UK revealed that 52 per cent of LGBT individuals struggled with depression in the past year. The same year, an article claimed that Northern Ireland had the highest prevalence of mental illness and the highest rate of suicides in the UK. This thesis will explore how LGBTQ youths are portrayed in two literary fictions set in contemporary Northern Ireland. The Unknowns (2017) and Every Sparrow Falling (2019), both written by Shirley-Anne McMillan, are young adult novels that depict and comment on how LGBTQ youths are perceived in contemporary Northern Ireland. By reading these two novels through the theoretical frame…
Reclaiming Authorship : A Thematic Approach to the Poetry of Elise Cowen
2018
Master's thesis English EN501 - University of Agder 2018
Bound by society: Social identity in A Room with a View and The Rainbow
2021
Master´s thesis in English (EN501) The thesis presents a reading of the modernist novels The Rainbow (1915) by D.H. Lawrence and A Room with a View (1908) by E.M. Forster with a view at highlighting the factors that contribute to the formation of characters’ social identity. The analysis is founded on the theoretical background of social identity theory with special focus on aspects such as intergroup vs interpersonal interaction, self-categorization and gender schema theory. The thesis attempts to examine how the influencing factors affect selected characters on their journey towards self-discovery and self-categorization, and whether these forces ultimately lead them into a feeling of bel…