Eating disorders and excessive attachment to social media are a matter of great concern among youths. This study assessed the prevalence of eating disorders and their association with social media addiction among youths. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 participants aged 14–25 years. Two pre-validated tools were used, i.e., the Eating Attitude Test and the Social Networking Addiction Scale. SPSS was used to analyze the data. Out of the 350 students, 42% had probable eating disorders, and 41.7% had social media addictions. The findings revealed that the chances of having eating disorders were significantly higher among youths who lived in separate places, smoked, and had a family history of eating disorders (p ≤ 0.05). Furthermore, the dieting domain displayed notably higher scores for youths living separately (p ≤ 0.05) and smokers (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, the scores for bulimia and food preoccupation were significantly higher among participants who were married (p = 0.038), were smokers (p = 0.027), and had a family history of eating disorders (p = 0.001). Higher scores in the oral control domain were reported by females (p ≤ 0.05) and severely obese youths (p ≤ 0.01). Moreover, social media addiction was significantly higher among students aged 18–21 (p ≤ 0.01). Spearman’s correlation revealed that social media addiction has a weak positive relationship with eating disorders (r = 0.133, p ≤ 0.01), particularly bulimia and food preoccupation (r = 0.173, p ≤ 0.001). This reflects the need to address the harmful consequences of social media addiction that might raise the likelihood of developing eating disorders, particularly bulimia nervosa.

Lung cancer is a fatal disease caused by an abnormal proliferation of cells in the lungs. Similarly, chronic kidney disorders affect people worldwide and can lead to renal failure and impaired kidney function. Cyst development, kidney stones, and tumors are frequent diseases impairing kidney function. Since these conditions are generally asymptomatic, early, and accurate identification of lung cancer and renal conditions is necessary to prevent serious complications. Artificial Intelligence plays a vital role in the early detection of lethal diseases. In this paper, we proposed a modified Xception deep neural network-based computer-aided diagnosis model, consisting of transfer learning based image net weights of Xception model and a fine-tuned network for automatic lung and kidney computed tomography multi-class image classification. The proposed model obtained 99.39% accuracy, 99.33% precision, 98% recall, and 98.67% F1-score for lung cancer multi-class classification. Whereas, it attained 100% accuracy, F1 score, recall and precision for kidney disease multi-class classification. Also, the proposed modified Xception model outperformed the original Xception model and the existing methods. Hence, it can serve as a support tool to the radiologists and nephrologists for early detection of lung cancer and chronic kidney disease, respectively.

The objective of this research was to formulate ciprofloxacin (CIP) in solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) in an attempt to develop a controlled drug delivery system. An ultrasonic melt-emulsification method was used for preparing CIP-loaded SLNs. Key findings included that SLNs were successfully produced with average particle sizes ranging from 165 to 320 nm and polydispersity index in the range of 0.18–0.33. High entrapment efficiency values were reported in all formulations. The atomic force scanning microscopic images showed spherical shape with the size range closer to those found by the particle size analyzer. CIP release exhibited controlled-release behavior with various lipids. Ciprofloxacin solid lipid nanoparticles formula containing stearic acid (CIPSTE) displayed the strongest burst effect and the most rapid release rate. The release data revealed a better fit to the Higuchi diffusion model. After storing the CIPSTE formula at room temperature for 120 days, no significant difference in particle size and zeta potential was found. CIP-loaded SLNs exhibited superior antibacterial activity. Incorporation of CIP into SLNs leads to controlled release and a superior antibacterial effect of CIP.

The present study aimed to prepare, characterize, and evaluate a thermo-responsive sol–gel for intranasal delivery of lamotrigine (LTG), which was designed for sustained drug delivery to treat epilepsy. LTG sol–gel was prepared using the cold method by changing the concentrations of poloxamer 407 and poloxamer 188, which were used as thermo-reversible polymers. The optimized formulations of sol–gel were analyzed for clarity, pH, viscosity, gelation temperature, gelation time, spreadability, drug content, in vitro drug release studies, ex vivo permeation studies, and in vivo toxicological studies. FTIR, XRD, and DSC were performed to determine the thermal stability of the drug and polymers. The prepared formulations had a clear appearance in sol form; they were liquid at room temperature and became gel at temperatures between 31 °C and 36 °C. The pH was within the range of the nasal pH, between 6.2 and 6.4. The drug content was found to be between 92% and 94%. In vitro drug release studies indicated that the formulations released up to 92% of the drug within 24 h. The FTIR, DSC, and XRD analyses showed no interaction between the drug and the polymer. A short-term stability study indicated that the formulation was stable at room temperature and at 4–8 °C. There was a slight increase in viscosity at room temperature, which may be due to the evaporation of the vehicle. A histological study indicated that there were no signs of toxicity seen in vital organs, such as the brain, kidney, liver, heart, and spleen. It can be concluded from the above results that the prepared intranasal sol–gel for the delivery of LTG is safe for direct nose-to-brain delivery to overcome the first-pass effect and thus enhance bioavailability. It can be considered an effective alternative to conventional drug delivery for the treatment of epilepsy.

Curcumin’s applications in the treatment of conditions including osteoarthritis, dementia, malignancies of the pancreas, and malignancies of the intestines have drawn increasing attention. It has several wonderful qualities, including being an anti-inflammatory agent, an anti-mutagenic agent, and an antioxidant, and has substantially reduced inherent cytotoxicity outcomes. Although curcumin possesses multiple known curative properties, due to its limited bioavailability, it is necessary to develop efficient strategies to overcome these hurdles. To establish an effective administration method, various niosomal formulations were optimized using the Box–Behnken design and assessed in the current investigation. To examine the curcumin niosomes, zeta sizer, zeta potential, entrapment efficiency, SEM, antioxidant potential, cytotoxicity, and release studies were performed. The optimized curcumin niosomes exhibited an average particle size of 169.4 nm, a low PDI of 0.189, and high entrapment efficiency of 85.4%. The release profile showed 79.39% curcumin after 24 h and had significantly higher antioxidant potential as compared with that of free curcumin. The cytotoxicity results of curcumin niosomes presented increased mortality in human ovarian cancer A2780.

The current research aims to create a sol-gel-based nanocarrier containing terbinafine formulated for transdermal delivery of the drug into the skin. Sol-gel-based nanocarriers were prepared via the cold method using poloxamer-188, poloxamer-407, and distilled water. The prepared formulation was examined for pH, gelation temperature, Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) analysis, thermal stability analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size analysis, zeta potential, and anti-microbial activity. The in-vitro drug release study of F1 was found to be 94%, which showed greater drug release as compared to F2 and F3. The pH of the formulation was found to be within the range applicable to the skin. The gelation temperature was detected at 28 °C. The SEM images of formulations have spotted various particles well-segregated from each other. Analysis of formulations showed a mean globule size diameter of 428 nm, zeta potential values of 0.04 mV, refractive index (1.329), and viscosity (5.94 cP). FTIR analysis confirmed various functional groups’ presence in the prepared formulation. Thermal analysis has confirmed the stability of the drug within the prepared formulation. The growth of inhibition was found to be 79.2% in 60 min, which revealed that the prepared formulation has shown good permeation from the membrane. Hence, the sol-gel-based nanocarrier formulation of terbinafine was successfully developed and evaluated.