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Title: Finding your way in qualitative research 
Authors: E. Henning, W. van Rensburg and B. Smit 
Year: 2004 
Publisher: Van Schaik 
ISBN: 0-627-02545-5 (paperback, 179 pages) 
'It's like trying to navigate a dangerous, and mainly uncharted raging river, full of hidden currents and submerged rocks, only no-one will give you a boat that doesn't leak.' This quote, taken from the diary of a postgraduate student attempting to conduct qualitative research for the first time, succinctly and trenchantly summarises the frustration and confusion often faced by 'novice' qualitative researchers. 
Whilst the use of qualitative methods in conducting research within ..

Finding your way in qualitative research, E. Henning, W. van Rensburg and B. Smit : book review

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica

Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have attracted special interest during last few decades. Solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) are two major types of Lipid-based nanoparticles. SLNs were developed to overcome the limitations of other colloidal carriers, such as emulsions, liposomes and polymeric nanoparticles because they have advantages like good release profile and targeted drug delivery with excellent physical stability. In the next generation of the lipid nanoparticle, NLCs are modified SLNs which improve the stability and capacity loading. Three structural models of NLCs have been proposed. These LNPs have potential applications in drug delivery field, research, cosmetics, clinical medicine, etc. This article focuses on features, structure and innovation of LNPs and presents a wide discussion about preparation methods, advantages, disadvantages and applications of LNPs by focusing on SLNs and NLCs.

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Solid Lipid Nanoparticles and Nanostructured Lipid Carriers: Structure, Preparation and Application.

A natural carbohydrate biopolymer was extracted from the agricultural biomass waste (durian seed). Subsequently, the crude biopolymer was purified by using the saturated barium hydroxide to minimize the impurities. Finally, the effect of different drying techniques on the flow characteristics and functional properties of the purified biopolymer was investigated. The present study elucidated the main functional characteristics such as flow characteristics, water- and oil-holding capacity, solubility, and foaming capacity. In most cases except for oven drying, the bulk density decreased, thus increasing the porosity. This might be attributed to the increase in the inter-particle voids of smaller sized particles with larger contact surface areas per unit volume. The current study revealed that oven-dried gum and freeze-dried gum had the highest and lowest compressibility index, thus indicating the weakest and strongest flowability among all samples. In the present work, the freeze-dried gum showed the lowest angle of repose, bulk, tapped and true density. This indicates the highest porosity degree of freeze dried gum among dried seed gums. It also exhibited the highest solubility, and foaming capacity thus providing the most desirable functional properties and flow characteristics among all drying techniques. The present study revealed that freeze drying among all drying techniques provided the most desirable functional properties and flow characteristics for durian seed gum.

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Effect of different drying techniques on flowability characteristics and chemical properties of natural carbohydrate-protein Gum from durian fruit seed.

Approaches for Enhancing Oral Bioavailability of Peptides and Proteins

© 2012 Attama et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Lipid Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems: A Revolution in Dosage Form Design and Development

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Lipid Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems: A Revolution in Dosage Form Design and Development

Starch is a naturally occurring polymer that is present in many green plants. Its nontoxic and nonirritant properties, as well as low cost, ease of modification, and versatility in use have placed starch in a leading position among polymers used as a pharmaceutical excipient. In many conventional tablets and capsules, starch is used as a diluent, disintegrant, binder, and lubricant. Starch has vital intrinsic properties that have made its pharmaceutical applications possible. It has also been used for a wide range of specialized drug delivery applications, such as delivery of challenging molecules and targeting to specific sites in the body. Although several official native starches with different proprietary identities are available, new sources will continue to evolve with the spate of economic and scientific interest in starch and starch-based products. This review discusses the contemporary trends in the types and application of native starch in conventional drug delivery systems in a world of dynamic drug production technology. It is the authors’ opinion that starch will continue to be a material of great value in drug delivery because of its overwhelming intrinsic properties, low cost, versatility in application, and ease of modification.

Pharmaceutical applications of native starch in conventional drug delivery

The purpose of this study was to isolate starch from the tubers of Cyperus esculentus L. and evaluate its physicochemical and binder properties. Extraction of starch using sodium metabisulfite yielded 37 g of starch per 100 g of the tubers. Scanning electron microscopy indicated that Cyperus starch consists of oval to elliptical particles with a smooth surface. Cyperus starch demonstrates a narrow particle size distribution with a mean of 8.25 μm. Cyperus starch conforms well to United States Pharmacopeia standards established for widely used starches like maize and potato. The X-ray powder diffraction pattern and moisture sorption profile of Cyperus starch were comparable to that of maize starch. Cyperus starch had lower swelling power than maize and potato starch, indicative of stronger associative forces within the granules. Carr’s index and Hausner ratio indicate that Cyperus starch should have comparable flow properties with respect to maize and potato starch. Cyperus starch was employed as binder for the formulation of metronidazole tablets. Formulations containing 5%, 7.5%, and 10% Cyperus starch were compared with those containing 10% potato starch. At 10% binder concentration, the tablets containing Cyperus starch exhibited better hardness and negligible friability as compared with those with potato starch. Although the binder concentration had a significant effect on the disintegration time of the tablets, it did not seem to affect the dissolution profile. These results indicate that Cyperus starch provides excellent binding properties without compromising drug release characteristics and should be explored in pharmaceutical formulations.

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Physicochemical and Binder Properties of Starch Obtained from Cyperus esculentus

Introduction: The application of vesicular carrier formulations has generated promise of overcoming some problems associated with drug delivery arising from not only the physicochemical properties of the drug but also those of the biological barriers, such as the membrane linings of various body tissues and the skin. This review article discusses the importance of various vesicular carriers, namely liposomes, niosomes, transfersomes and ethosomes in drug delivery with greater emphasis on ethosomes. Areas covered: The nature, mechanism of drug delivery, methods of preparation as well as characterization of vesicular carriers was discussed with a focus on ethosomes. An overview of their potential applications was provided with discussions on the future prospects and challenges of achieving enhanced drug delivery using ethosomes. Expert opinion: Vesicular carriers offer controlled and sustained drug release, improved permeability and protection of the encapsulated bioactives. Ethosomes offer more efficient a...

Nanovesicular carriers as alternative drug delivery systems: ethosomes in focus.

The purpose of this study was to elucidate functional properties of starch granules obtained from tubers of Tacca leontopetaloides and compare them to a commercially available maize starch. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size analysis, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), gravimetric moisture sorption, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to characterize the samples. Tacca starch exhibited a monomodal distribution of irregularly shaped granules with a mean particle size of 2.64 μm. The spherulites of both samples indicated an A-type pattern, with the degree of crystallinity estimated to be 35% for tacca starch and 38% for maize starch. The moisture sorption profile of both samples was analyzed according to the Guggenheim, Anderson and de Boer (GAB) equation. GAB analysis estimated the monolayer coverage for tacca and maize starch to be 0.0928 g/g and 0.0856 g/g, respectively. The gelatinization parameters of tacca starch were found to be 65.57 - 68.56 - 73.10°C while that of maize starch were 67.30 - 70.97 - 76.25°C. The results of DSC studies indicate that the associative forces that stabilize the granule structure in tacca starch are weaker than those in maize starch. The results obtained in this study establish the fundamental characteristics of tacca starch and suggest that further exploration of its potential for use in a variety of fields is warranted.

Philip F. Builders

Papers

Lipid Nanoparticulate Drug Delivery Systems: A Revolution in Dosage Form Design and Development

Pharmaceutical applications of native starch in conventional drug delivery

Physicochemical and Binder Properties of Starch Obtained from Cyperus esculentus

Nanovesicular carriers as alternative drug delivery systems: ethosomes in focus.

Physical, Thermal and Sorption Profile of Starch Obtained from Tacca leontopetaloides