1,721,162 research outputs found
Synthesis, degradation and nanoparticulate applications of carboxylated (ABA)n type block copolymers of lactic acid (A) and ethylene glycol (B) for drug delivery
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Multiblock copolymers of lactic acid and ethylene glycol containing periodic side-chain carboxyl groups : synthesis, characterization, and nanoparticle preparation
No full textMultiblock copolymers containing periodically spaced side-chain carboxyl groups were obtained by a two-step synthesis involving the preparation of ABA triblock prepolymers of lactic acid (A block) and ethylene glycol (B block) followed by chain extension to (ABA)n multiblock copolymers by reaction with pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA). A series of polymer grades were synthesized by varying PEG and PLA chain length. NMR analysis demonstrated the incorporation of PMDA in polymer chain and revealed the possibility of PMDA units to exist in two isomers, cisoid and transoid forms. Chain extension resulted in the incorporation of free carboxylic groups in polymer backbone and in a 6-fold increase of molecular weight. Thermal analysis indicated that the extended polymers are more stable and have a Tg of 30−50 °C higher than their prepolymers. The polymers were found to be fast degrading in water following coupled first-order kinetics. Further, the carboxylated polymers can be processed into nanoparticulates by either nanoprecipitation or emulsion−diffusion methods resulting in 50−200 nm sized particles
Nanoparticles made of multi-block copolymer of lactic acid and ethylene glycol containing periodic side-chain carboxyl groups for oral delivery of cyclosporine A
No full textThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential of new carboxylated multi-block copolymer of lactic acid and ethylene glycol (EL14) for nanoparticle (NP) formation and their ability to deliver high molecular weight hydrophobic drug-cyclosporine A (CsA). CsA-loaded EL14 NPs were compared with traditional poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) NPs, both prepared by emulsion-diffusion-evaporation process. On the one hand, the increase in drug payload from 10 to 30 per cent for EL14 NPs showed no difference in particle size, however the entrapment efficiency tends to decrease from 50 to 43 per cent; on the other hand, the more hydrophobic PLGA showed an increasing trend in entrapment efficiency from 20 to 62 per cent with increasing particle size. Over 90 per cent of CsA was released in vitro from both the nanoparticulates; however, the release was much slower in the case of more hydrophobic PLGA. On in vivo evaluation in rats, the NPs made of EL14 showed a higher C-max, a faster T-max and enhanced tissue levels to that of PLGA that are crucial for CsA's activity and toxicity; however, the overall bioavailability of the nanoparticulates was similar and higher than Neoral. Together these data demonstrate the feasibility of NPs made of low molecular weight, hydrophilic polymer EL14 for efficient delivery of CsA
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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