Nanoemulsion with wine lees: a green approach.

Bioactive substances can be found in wine lees, a waste from the winemaking industry. This work developed two formulations, a nanoemulsion with coconut oil (NE-OC) and a nanoemulsion with coconut oil and 0.5% of wine lees extract (NE-OC-Ext), to investigate their effect on untreated, bleached, and bleached-colored hair. The oil-in-water (O/W) nanoemulsions were prepared with coconut oil, TweenTM 80, SpanTM 80, AristoflexTM AVC, Conserve NovaMit MFTM, wine lees extract, and deionized water. The hydration measurements were carried out using a Corneometer® CM 825 with the capacitance method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize the effect of formulations on hair fibers. Differential Thermal Analysis (DTA) was to assess the thermal stability and compatibility of wine lees and coconut oil in formulations. Compared to NE-OC, NE-OC-Ext showed a greater hydration effect on bleached-colored hair. DTA showed that NE-OC-Ext presented a smaller number of exothermic degradation events than those of NE-OC, suggesting good interaction and compatibility of the wine lees extract in this formulation. This study highlights the value of wine lees, a residue from the winemaking process, and its possibility of use as raw material for the cosmetic hair industry since it shows a greater moisturizing potential in colored hair.

Trends in Nanotechnology for in vivo Cancer Diagnosis: Products and Patents.

BACKGROUND: Cancer is a set of diseases formed by abnormal growth of cells leading to the formation of the tumor. The diagnosis can be made through symptoms' evaluation or imaging tests, however, the techniques are limited and the tumor detection may be late. Thus, pharmaceutical nanotechnology has emerged to optimize the cancer diagnosis through nanostructured contrast agent's development. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to identify commercialized nanomedicines and patents for cancer diagnosis. METHODS: The databases used for scientific articles research were Pubmed, Science Direct, Scielo and Lilacs. Research on companies' websites and articles for the recognition of commercial nanomedicines was performed. The Derwent tool was applied for patent research. RESULTS: This article aimed to research on nanosystems based on nanoparticles, dendrimers, liposomes, composites and quantum dots, associated to imaging techniques. Commercialized products based on metal and composite nanoparticles, associated with magnetic resonance and computed tomography, have been observed. The research conducted through Derwent tool displayed a small number of patents using nanotechnology for cancer diagnosis. Among these patents, the most significant number was related to the use of systems based on metal nanoparticles, composites and quantum dots. CONCLUSION: Although few systems are found in the market and patented, nanotechnology appears as a promising field for the development of new nanosystems in order to optimize and accelerate the cancer diagnosis.

The development and characterization of Propranolol Tablets using Tapioca starch as excipient.

Tapioca starch (TS) is produced from Cassaca roots and it is differentiated from other starches because it contains about 17-20% amylase and low amount of residual substances. Propranolol (POP) is a non-selective beta-adrenergic blocking agent and it is in the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. The aim of this work was to investigate the potential of TS in the development of POP tablets by means of direct compression. Its evaluation was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxometry, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), uniformity of weight, drug content, disintegration, friability, hardness, dissolution test and drug release kinetics. The TS granules were spherical with mean diameter of 10.09 ± 1.85 µm. The XRD, FTIR and NMR suggested physical interaction between TS and POP. The tablets presented average diameter of 1.1 ± 0.0 cm, 0.24 ± 0.02 cm thickness and average weight of 0.544 ± 0.003 g. The hardness of tablets was 10.98 ± 0.31 N and the percentage of friability was 25.74 ± 0.08%. POP was released after 45 min and the release kinetics properly fitted the Hixson-Crowell equation.

The structure of polycaprolactone-clay nanocomposites investigated by 1H NMR relaxometry.

Nanocomposites based on polycaprolactone (PCL), containing concentrations of 1, 3 and 5 wt% of sodium montmorillonite (NT-25) and organo-modified montmorillonite clay, with three different salts (Viscogel B7, Viscogel S4 and Viscogel B8), were prepared employing the solution intercalation method using chloroform. The PCL nanocomposites were characterized by relaxometry, through determination of the hydrogen spin-lattice relaxation times using low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Conventional X-ray diffraction (XDR) was also used to measure the basal space of the nanoclay. The proton spin-lattice relaxation parameters showed that hybrid nanocomposites were formed, containing different parts of intercalated and exfoliated organoclay. The proton T1rhoH also indicated changes in the microstructure, organization and the molecular mobility of the hybrid materials. NMR relaxometry is a good way to evaluate nanomaterials because it provides complementary information, since it is measured in a different time scale. Furthermore, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis were also used to investigate the crystallization and thermal behavior of the nanocomposites, respectively. All materials had low crystallization temperature (Tc) and the melting temperature (Tm) were very close to that of the PCL matrix, but the degree of crystallinity of the nanocomposites decreased. TGA analysis demonstrated that montmorillonite accelerates PCL's decomposition while unmodified montmorillonite has the opposite effect.