The in vitro dissolution mechanism of an amorphous solid dispersion (ASD) remains elusive and highly individualized, yet rational design of ASDs with optimal performance and prediction of their in vitro/in vivo performance are very much desirable in the pharmaceutical industry. To this end, we carried out comprehensive investigation of various ASD systems of griseofulvin, felodipine, and ketoconazole, in PVP-VA or HPMC-AS at different drug loading. Physiochemical properties and processes related to drug-polymer-water interaction, including the drug crystallization tendency in aqueous medium, drug-polymer interaction before and after moisture exposure, supersaturation of drug in the presence of polymer, polymer dissolution kinetics, etc., were characterized and correlated with the dissolution performance of ASDs at different dose and different drug/polymer ratio. It was observed that ketoconazole/HPMC-AS ASD outperformed all other ASDs in various dissolution conditions, which was attributed to the drug's low crystallization tendency, the strong ketoconazole/HPMC-AS interaction and the robustness of this interaction against water disruption, the dissolution rate and the availability of HPMC-AS in solution, and the ability of HPMC-AS in maintaining ketoconazole supersaturation. It was demonstrated that all these properties have implications for the dissolution performance of various ASD systems, and further quantification of them could be used as potential predictors for in vitro dissolution of ASDs. For all ASDs investigated, HPMC-AS systems performed better than, or at least comparably with, their PVP-VA counterparts, regardless of the drug loading or dose. This observation cannot be solely attributed to the ability of HPMC-AS in maintaining drug supersaturation. We also conclude that, for fast crystallizers without strong drug-polymer interaction, the only feasible option to improve dissolution might be to lower the dose and the drug loading in the ASD. In this study, we implemented an ASD/water Flory-Huggins parameter plot, which might assist in revealing the physical nature of the drug-polymer interaction. We also introduced supersaturation parameter and dissolution performance parameter as two quantitative measurements to compare the abilities of polymers in maintaining drug supersaturation, and the dissolution performance of various solid dispersions, respectively.

Background Hypertension in children and adolescents is on the rise worldwide, especially in China. The prevalence of hypertension is related to many factors, such as obesity. In the era of smart phones, it is important to study the negative health effects of mobile phones on blood pressure. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of hypertension and its association with smartphone addiction among junior school students in China. Methods A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted, including total 2639 junior school students (1218 boys and 1421 girls), aged 12–15 years old (13.18 ± 0.93 years), enrolled in the study by random cluster sampling. Height, weight, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured following standard protocols, and the body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Overweight/obesity and hypertension were defined according to sex- and age-specific Chinese children reference data. The Smartphone Addiction Scale short version (SAS-SV) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to assess smartphone addiction and sleep quality among the students, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to seek associations between smartphone addiction and hypertension. Results The prevalence of hypertension and smartphone addiction among participants were 16.2% (13.1% for females and 18.9% for males) and 22.8% (22.3% for females and 23.2% for males), respectively. Obesity (OR = 4.028, 95% CI: 2.829–5.735), poor sleep quality (OR = 4.243, 95% CI: 2.429–7.411), smartphone addiction (OR = 2.205, 95% CI: 1.273–3.820) were significantly and independently associated with hypertension. Conclusions Among the junior school students surveyed in China, the prevalence of hypertension was high, which was related to obesity, poor sleep quality and smartphone addiction. These results suggested that smartphone addiction may be a new risk factor for high blood pressure in adolescents.

Fatigue is a common symptom experienced by lung cancer patients. Acupuncture may be a safe and feasible optional method for adjunctive treatment in cancer palliative care, and appropriately powered trials are warranted to evaluate the effects of acupuncture.

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l-Theanine is the most popular nonprotein amino acid contained in tea leaves. It is one of the umami components of green tea, contributing to the unique flavor of tea. Because of its various health functions, l-theanine has been commercially developed as a valuable ingredient easily used for various applications in food and pharmaceutical industries. Nowadays, l-theanine is mass-produced by plant extraction, chemical synthesis, or enzymatic transformation in factories. This review embodies the available up to date information on the l-theanine synthesis metabolism in the tea plant as well as approaches to produce it, placing emphasis on the biotransformation of l-theanine. It also gives insight into the challenges of l-theanine production on a large scale, as well as directions for future research. This review comprehensively summarizes information on l-theanine to provide an approach for an in-depth study of l-theanine production.