Background Pulmonary route is an attractive target for both systemic and local drug delivery, with the advantages of a large surface area, rich blood supply, and absence of first-pass metabolism. Numerous polymeric micro/nanoparticles have been designed and studied for controlled and targeted drug delivery to the lung. Area covered Among the natural and synthetic polymers for polymeric particles, poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(lacticco-glycolic acid) (PLGA) have been widely used for the delivery of anti-cancer agents, anti-inflammatory drugs, vaccines, peptides, and proteins because of their highly biocompatible and biodegradable properties. This review focuses on the characteristics of PLA/PLGA particles as carriers of drugs for efficient delivery to the lung. Furthermore, the manufacturing techniques of the polymeric particles, and their applications for inhalation therapy were discussed. Expert opinion Compared to other carriers including liposomes, PLA/PLGA particles present a high structural integrity providing enhanced stability, higher drug loading, and prolonged drug release. Adequately designed and engineered polymeric particles can contribute to a desirable pulmonary drug delivery characterized by a sustained drug release, prolonged drug action, reduction in the therapeutic dose, and improved patient compliance.

No abstract

Background: Clinically, irregular protrusions and blockages after stent deployment can lead to significant adverse outcomes such as thrombotic reocclusion or restenosis. In this study, we propose a novel fully automated method for irregular lumen segmentation and normal/abnormal lumen classification. Methods:The proposed method consists of a lumen segmentation, feature extraction, and lumen classification. In total, 92 features were extracted to classify normal/abnormal lumen. The lumen classification method is a combination of supervised learning algorithm and feature selection that is a partition-membership filter method.Results: As the results, our proposed lumen segmentation method obtained the average of dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and the accuracy of proposed features and the random forest (RF) for normal/abnormal lumen classification as 97.6% and 98.2%, respectively.Conclusions: Therefore, we can lead to better understanding of the overall vascular status and help to determine cardiovascular diagnosis. K E Y W O R D S cardiac, cardiology, heart, image analysis, vascular surgery, vessel

Background Most biopharmaceuticals are developed in liquid dosage forms that are less stable than solid forms. To ensure the stability of biopharmaceuticals, it is critical to use an effective drying technique in the presence of an appropriate stabilizing excipient. Various drying techniques are available for this purpose, such as freeze drying or lyophilization, spray drying, spray freeze-drying, supercritical fluid drying, particle replication in nonwetting templates, and fluidized bed drying. Area covered In this review, we discuss drying technologies and their applications in the production of stable solid-state biopharmaceuticals, providing examples of commercially available products or clinical trial formulations. Alongside this, we also review how different analytical methods may be utilized in the evaluation of aerosol performance and powder characteristics of dried protein powders. Finally, we assess the protein integrity in terms of conformational and physicochemical stability and biological activity. Expert opinion With the aim of treating either infectious respiratory diseases or systemic disorders, inhaled biopharmaceuticals reduce both therapeutic dose and cost of therapy. Drying methods in the presence of optimized protein/stabilizer combinations, produce solid dosage forms of proteins with greater stability. A suitable drying method was chosen, and the process parameters were optimized based on the route of protein administration. With the ongoing trend of addressing deficiencies in biopharmaceutical production, developing new methods to replace conventional drying methods, and investigating novel excipients for more efficient stabilizing effects, these products have the potential to dominate the pharmaceutical industry in the future.

No abstract

No abstract

We demonstrate a wearable temperature sensor based on a Peltier thermoelectric device. The wearable temperature sensor is attached to the wrist using a bracelet, which can monitor, control, and change the human body temperature using a local temperature change. The body temperature was changed by transferring the heat from one side to the other side of the Peltier semiconductor or vice versa. The feedback control system was used to maintain the human body temperature during increases and decreases in the temperature of the surrounding environment. The results showed the changes in body temperature over 300 s in 100 trials with different rates of increase and decrease in the temperature. The highest relative increase in temperature was 86.1% with a change from 18.7 to 34.8 °C, while the lowest relative increase was 1.2% with a change from 24.6 to 24.9 °C. The average change was 33.5% with a standard deviation of 25.5%. This technology provides a basis for next-generation wearable temperature sensors to control and change the temperature of the human body.

As part of the recent electrification of the transportation industry, internal combustion engines are being coupled with or replaced by electric motors. This movement towards an electrified drivetrain poses new noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) challenges related to electric motors. In this paper, the acoustic signature of an electric motor was analyzed to obtain a better understanding of the sound generated by these motors. This work provides an insight into an acoustic measurement technique that can be used to identify certain frequency bands that significantly contribute to the perceived sound. In the first part, the structural response of the motor was correlated with its acoustic spectra. Furthermore, data from acoustic and structural measurements were used to analyze the order content of the signal and identify critical contributors to the overall perceived sound. The differences between data captured by microphones in different positions around the motor helped to localize components of the overall sound. The results provide some discussion about techniques to decrease the overall sound. The technique described in this paper can be extended to fan-cooled motors that are used in vehicles such as golf carts or as auxiliary motors in electric/hybrid vehicles, as well as across a wide range of industrial applications.