Background: There are few data on the efficacy of oral antibiotics in the initial empirical management of severe forms of urinary tract infection (UTI).

Previous studies involving poly N-vinylcaprolactam (PNVCL) and itaconic acid (IA) have synthesised the hydrogels with the presence of a solvent and a crosslinker, producing chemically crosslinked hydrogel systems. In this study, however, temperature sensitive PNVCL was physically crosslinked with a pH-sensitive comonomer IA through ultraviolet (UV) free-radical polymerization, without the presence of a solvent, to produce hydrogels with dual sensitivity. The attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy indicated successful polymerisation of the hydrogels. The temperature and pH sensitivity of the hydrogels was investigated. The lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of the gels was determined using the UV spectrometry and it was found that the incorporation of IA decreased the LCST. Rheology was conducted to investigate the mechanical and viscoelastic properties of the hydrogels, with results indicating IA that enhances the mechanical properties of the gels. Swelling studies were carried out at ~20 °C and 37 °C in different buffer solutions simulating the gastrointestinal tract (pH 2.2 and pH 6.8). In acidic conditions, the gels showed gradual increase in swelling while remaining structurally intact. While in basic conditions, the gels had a burst in swelling and began to gradually degrade after 30 min. Results were similar for drug release studies. Acetaminophen was incorporated into the hydrogels. Drug dissolution studies were carried out at 37 °C in pH 2.2 and pH 6.8. It was found that <20% of acetaminophen was released from the gels in pH 2.2, whereas the maximum drug released at pH 6.8 was 74%. Cytotoxicity studies also demonstrated the hydrogels to be highly biocompatible. These results indicate that physically crosslinked P(NVCL-IA) gels possess dual pH and temperature sensitive properties, which may be beneficial for biomedical applications such as drug delivery.

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Thermally stimulated depolarization current is applied to study the dielectric relaxations coexisting from 80 to 380 K in the PLLA/starch, immiscible biodegradable blend system. The relaxation parameters are determined for chain mobilities at different ranges, whether in the amorphous or coldcrystallized state for PLLA, and totally amorphous one for starch as demonstrated by wide-angle X-ray scattering experiments. The PLLA crystallization is favored by the presence of starch, in both the crystallinity degree reached and the crystallization time. The effect of moisture is followed for both the local modes and the segmental mobilities, where a bimodal relaxation for starch sweeps the temperature range, thus evidencing the heterogeneities existing in the starch disordered phase. The moisture plasticization effect is estimated and shows differences in the water absorption in starch either neat or as a minority component. The onset of the segmental mobility in PLLA is independent of composition or crystallinity, but the large intensity decrease observed when PLLA coldcrystallizes evidences the simultaneous formation of a rigid amorphous fraction and the crystallites. The normal relaxation mode is recorded in amorphous PLLA whether neat or blended, which again demonstrates the absence of interactions among the blend components. V C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J.

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