Search results for "Liver"

The need for an independent evaluation of the COVID-19 response in Spain.

2020

Spain has been hit hard by COVID-19, with more than 300 000 cases, 28 498 confirmed deaths,1 and around 44 000 excess deaths, as of Aug 4, 2020.2 More than 50 000 health workers have been infected, and nearly 20 000 deaths were in nursing homes.3 With a population of 47 million, these data place Spain among the worst affected countries. Spain is also reported to have one of the best performing health systems in the world4 and ranks 15th in the Global Health Security index.5 So how is it possible that Spain now finds itself in this position?

Solidarity and transparency against the COVID ‐19 pandemic

2020

Management of liver disease in Italy after one year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a web-based survey

2021

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)pandemic has severely limited the clinical activity of most hospitals around the world. A previous survey of the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver (AISF) has demonstrated a negative impact of the first pandemic wave on all inpatient and outpatient hepatologyactivities. Like other countries, Italy has subsequently experienced a second and third wave, which occurred in November 2020 and in March 2021 respectively. During the second and third wave many hospitals had already developed emergency management plans and improved knowledge on the management of mild-moderate COVID19 disease was available. However, it is unknown w…

The UK needs a sustainable strategy for COVID-19

2020

The UK is well into the second wave of COVID-19, with 60 051 lives lost to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection to date, according to provisional data from the Office for National Statistics. Official UK Government data show that cases have been rising exponentially since late August, 2020, with increases across all regions in England in recent weeks.As of Nov 4, 2020, the UK had 25 177 confirmed daily cases. These are almost certainly underestimates as between Oct 17 and Oct 23, 2020, England alone had 52 000 estimated daily cases.Estimates of the effective reproduction number in England vary between 1.1 and 1.6.Daily deaths have doubled every fortnight si…

PHEA-PLA biocompatible nanoparticles by technique of solvent evaporation from multiple emulsions

2015

Nanocarriers of amphiphilic polymeric materials represent versatile delivery systems for poorly water soluble drugs. In this work the technique of solvent evaporation from multiple emulsions was applied to produce nanovectors based on new amphiphilic copolymer, the α,β-poly(N-2-hydroxyethyl)-DL-aspartamide-polylactic acid (PHEA-PLA), purposely synthesized to be used in the controlled release of active molecules poorly soluble in water. To this aim an amphiphilic derivative of PHEA, a hydrophilic polymer, was synthesized by derivatization of the polymeric backbone with hydrophobic grafts of polylactic acid (PLA). The achieved copolymer was thus used to produce nanoparticles loaded with α toc…

Stabilization of unilamellar catanionic vesicles induced by β-cyclodextrins: A strategy for a tunable drug delivery depot.

2018

The limited stability of catanionic vesicles has discouraged their wide use for encapsulation and controlled release of active substances. Their structure can easily break down to form lamellar phases, micelles or rearrange into multilamellar vesicles, as a consequence of small changes in their composition. However, despite the limited stability, catanionic vesicles possess an attractive architecture, which is able to efficiently encapsulate both hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules. Therefore, improving the stability of the vesicles, as well as the control on unilamellar structures, are prerequisites for their wider application range. This study focuses on the impact of β-cyclodextrins fo…

Synchronizing the release rates of salicylate and indomethacin from degradable chitosan hydrogel and its optimization by definitive screening design.

2018

Abstract Three types of ionically crosslinked (with citric acid) chitosan discs were loaded with the highly water- soluble drug, sodium salicylate (SS) and the poorly water-soluble drug, indomethacin (Ind). In separate experiments the hydrated discs were immersed in a de-crosslinking solution comprising of different concentrations of calcium chloride, which induced a controlled erosion of the discs, a process which was optimized to synchronize the release rates of the two drugs over a predetermined period of time. The optimization was accomplished by manipulating six factors: chitosan MW, its amount in the formulation, the concentration of the crosslinker agent, the concentration of the de-…

Buccal drug delivery: what's new and what does the future hold?

2014

The buccal mucosa is the stratified squamous epithelial tissue inside lining of the cheeks. It is a favorable site of drug absorption since the tissue is non-keratinized, relatively immobile and strongly supplied with blood by a dense capillary-vessel network; moreover, it is highly tolerant to allergens, resistant to potentially harmful agents and has a relatively low enzymatic activity. The tissue consents quick onset of effect, offers an easily accessible and generally well-accepted site for drug delivery, is a useful route of administration in patients in an unconscious state (e.g., when swallowing is impaired), and is suitable for retentive dosage forms of administration. Buccal mucosa…

Glycerosomes: Use of hydrogenated soy phosphatidylcholine mixture and its effect on vesicle features and diclofenac skin penetration.

2016

In this work, diclofenac was encapsulated, as sodium salt, in glycerosomes containing 10, 20 or 30% of glycerol in the water phase with the aim to ameliorate its topical efficacy. Taking into account previous findings, glycerosome formulation was modified, in terms of economic suitability, using a cheap and commercially available mixture of hydrogenated soy phosphatidylcholine (P90H). P90H glycerosomes were spherical and multilamellar; photon correlation spectroscopy showed that obtained vesicles were ∼131nm, slightly larger and more polydispersed than those made with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) but, surprisingly, they were able to ameliorate the local delivery of diclofenac, whic…

Nanoparticles of a polyaspartamide-based brush copolymer for modified release of sorafenib: In vitro and in vivo evaluation.

2017

Abstract In this paper, we describe the preparation of polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with sorafenib for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A synthetic brush copolymer, named PHEA-BIB-ButMA (PBB), was synthesized by Atom Trasnfer Radical Polymerization (ATRP) starting from the α-poly( N -2-hydroxyethyl)- d , l -aspartamide (PHEA) and poly butyl methacrylate (ButMA). Empty and sorafenib loaded PBB NPs were, then, produced by using a dialysis method and showed spherical morphology, colloidal size, negative ζ potential and the ability to allow a sustained sorafenib release in physiological environment. Sorafenib loaded PBB NPs were tested in vitro on HCC cells in order to e…