Fabrication and In-Vivo Evaluation of Polyvinyl pyrrolidone/Poloxamer 188 Hybrid Nanofibers of Deflazacort.

The superior flexibility, efficient drug loading, high surface-to-volume ratio, ease of formulation, and cost-controlled production are considered exceptional advantages of nanofibers (NFs) as a smart delivery system. Deflazacort (DEF) is an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant agent. It is categorized as a poorly soluble class II drug. In this study, DEF-loaded polymeric nanofibrous using the electrospinning technique mats, Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) with or without Poloxamer 188 (PX) were used as mat-forming polymers. Microscopical imaging, drug content (%), and in vitro dissolution studies were conducted for all NFs formulae (F1-F7). All NFs improved the DEF dissolution compared to the unprocessed form, with the superiority of the PVP/PX hybrid. The optimized formula (F7) exhibited an average diameter of 655.46 ± 90.4 nm and % drug content of 84.33 ± 5.58. The dissolution parameters of DEF loaded in PVP/PX NFs (F7) reflected a release of 95.3 % ± 3.1 and 102.6 % ± 1.7 after 5 and 60 min, respectively. NFs (F7) was investigated for drug-polymer compatibility using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Powder X-ray diffraction analysis (PXRD), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). In vivo anti-inflammatory study employing male Sprague-Dawley rats showed a significant reduction of rat paw edema for F7 (p < 0.05) compared with unprocessed DEF with a normal epidermal and dermal skin structure comparable to the healthy negative control. Immunohistochemical and morphometric data displayed similarities between the immune reaction of F7 and the negative healthy control. The finding of this work emphasized that DEF loaded in PVP/PX NFs could be considered a useful strategy for enhancing the therapeutic performance of DEF.

Students' Perceptions and Attitudes After Exposure to Three Different Instructional Strategies in Applied Anatomy.

BACKGROUND: The advancements of technologies have developed anatomical education into a new era. The study aims to assess medical students' performance and overall satisfaction who used the anatomage table and plastinated specimens for the teaching and learning anatomy courses. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on students of the first-year college of medicine at Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU). Students were randomly distributed equally into three groups A, B, and C. All groups were taken two sessions of lectures for one hour each. Each lecture was followed by a practical session of two hours. Group A learned with the "Anatomage" table and Group B learned the same topics on plastinated specimens. Group C was learning on both plastinated specimens and the "Anatomage" table. The objective structured practical examination was given to all students immediately after the practical sessions. A structured questionnaire was given to each group to determine the students' views on the educational methods. RESULTS: There was a statistically significant difference between the means of the total scale scores for the three teaching methods, where students expressed a higher attitude towards both strategies for teaching in comparison to the anatomage table and plastinated models for teaching, where the means were 18±4.4, 18.3±4.6, 20.4±5.6, respectively, F=12.6 and P=0.0001. There were higher and positive students' attitudes regarding the five statements in favor of both models teaching compared to anatomage table and plastinated model teaching alone. CONCLUSION: The first-year medical students have valued the combination of anatomage table and plastinated prosections in learning and assessing anatomy education at the undergraduate level. The advantages outweigh the limitation of these educational tools.

Physical Characterisation as an Insight into a Gene Delivery System Containing Cyclodextrins with Pluronic®-F127 and Folic acid as Non-Viral Vectors.

Gene delivery into cells offers opportunities to treat various human genetic diseases. Effective gene delivery is dependent on its stability and ability to transfect across cells. DNA is susceptible to enzymatic degradation and its negatively charge are barriers towards successful transfection. DNA has to be protected from degradation and neutralised. Non-viral vectors are preferred carrier systems, therefore, the use of cyclodextrins with Pluronic(®)-F127 and folic acid at different concentrations to stabilise the formulation was investigated. Formulations were characterised in fresh and freeze dried forms. DNA stability in formulations was tested by determining the stability of DNA against enzymatic degradation. Degree of DNA inclusion into cyclodextrins was investigated using fluorescence spectroscopy. Thermal behaviour was studied using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). Incorporation of Pluronic(®)-F127 produced most stable formulations regarding enzymatic degradation. These formulations show high percentage inclusion. Shift of peaks in FTIR data, appearance of uniform particulate as detected by SEM and changing in the denaturation temperature as demonstrated by DSC data for Pluronic(®)-F127 containing formulations confirm clear interaction between Pluronic(®)-F127 and cyclodextrin/ DNA complex. It was noted that γ-cyclodextrin provide better protection and inclusion compared to ß-cyclodextrin. Pluronic(®)-F127 with cyclodextrins is a promising combination to improve stability.