The present research work is designed to prepare and evaluate piperine liposomes and piperine–chitosan-coated liposomes for oral delivery. Piperine (PPN) is a water-insoluble bioactive compound used for different diseases. The prepared formulations were evaluated for physicochemical study, mucoadhesive study, permeation study and in vitro cytotoxic study using the MCF7 breast cancer cell line. Piperine-loaded liposomes (PLF) were prepared by the thin-film evaporation method. The selected liposomes were coated with chitosan (PLFC) by electrostatic deposition to enhance the mucoadhesive property and in vitro therapeutic efficacy. Based on the findings of the study, the prepared PPN liposomes (PLF3) and chitosan coated PPN liposomes (PLF3C1) showed a nanometric size range of 165.7 ± 7.4 to 243.4 ± 7.5, a narrow polydispersity index (>0.3) and zeta potential (−7.1 to 29.8 mV). The average encapsulation efficiency was found to be between 60 and 80% for all prepared formulations. The drug release and permeation study profile showed biphasic release behavior and enhanced PPN permeation. The in vitro antioxidant study results showed a comparable antioxidant activity with pure PPN. The anticancer study depicted that the cell viability assay of tested PLF3C2 has significantly (p < 0.001)) reduced the IC₅₀ when compared with pure PPN. The study revealed that oral chitosan-coated liposomes are a promising delivery system for the PPN and can increase the therapeutic efficacy against the breast cancer cell line.

Valsartan (Val) is an important antihypertensive medication with poor absorption and low oral bioavailability. These constraints are due to its poor solubility and dissolution rate. The purpose of this study was to optimize a mixed micelle system for the transdermal delivery of Val in order to improve its therapeutic performance by providing prolonged uniform drug levels while minimizing drug side effects. Thin-film hydration and micro-phase separation were used to produce Val-loaded mixed micelle systems. A variety of factors, including the surfactant type and drug-to-surfactant ratio, were optimized to produce micelles with a low size and high Val entrapment efficiency (EE). The size, polydispersity index (PDI), zeta potential, and drug EE of the prepared micelles were all measured. The in vitro drug release profiles were assessed using dialysis bags, and the permeation through abdominal rat skin was assessed using a Franz diffusion cell. All formulations had high EE levels exceeding 90% and low particle charges. The micellar sizes ranged from 107.6 to 191.7 nm, with average PDI values of 0.3. The in vitro release demonstrated a uniform slow rate that lasted one week with varying extents. F7 demonstrated a significant (p < 0.01) transdermal efflux of 68.84 ± 3.96 µg/cm²/h through rat skin when compared to the control. As a result, the enhancement factor was 16.57. In summary, Val-loaded mixed micelles were successfully prepared using two simple methods with high reproducibility, and extensive transdermal delivery was demonstrated in the absence of any aggressive skin-modifying enhancers.

The prevalence of liver cancer is increasing over the years and it is the fifth leading cause of mortality worldwide. The intrusive features and burden of low survival rate make it a global health issue in both developing and developed countries. The recommended chemotherapy drugs for patients in the intermediate and advanced stages of various liver cancers yield a low response rate due to the nonspecific nature of drug delivery, thus warranting the search for new therapeutic strategies and potential drug delivery carriers. There are several new drug delivery methods available to ferry the targeted molecules to the specific biological environment. In recent years, the nano assembly of lipoprotein moieties (lipidic nanoparticles) has emerged as a promising and efficiently tailored drug delivery system in liver cancer treatment. This increased precision of nano lipoproteins conjugates in chemotherapeutic targeting offers new avenues for the treatment of liver cancer with high specificity and efficiency. This present review is focused on concisely outlining the knowledge of liver cancer diagnosis, existing treatment strategies, lipoproteins, their preparation, mechanism and their potential application in the treatment of liver cancer.

Purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common liver malignancy, which has a low survival rate of all cancers. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is clinically recognized to treat HCC. However, the success of this therapy is highly limited due to rapid clearance and non- selective distribution. Cholesterol- conjugate (5-FUC) loaded liposomes proposed to facilitate the transport of 5-FUC into tumor cells via Low-Density Lipoprotein receptor (LDL receptor) that overexpressed in HCC. Thus, the aim of this study was to use 5-FUC loaded liposome as a promising strategy to combat HCC and improve the response of HCC to chemotherapy. Methods: 5-FUC and 5-FU loaded liposomes were optimized based on Cholesterol (CHO) ratio and type of phospholipid to achieve a potential effect on HCC. Liposomes were prepared by the thin-film hydration method, and evaluated in terms of particle size, polydispersity, zeta potential, Entrapment Efficiency (EE), morphology, drug release and cytotoxicity. Results: The obtained liposomes had a suitable nano-range particle size with negative zeta potential, and acceptable EE%. In vitro drug release of 5-FUC loaded liposomes showed a lower cumulative release over 24 h as compared to 5-FU loaded liposomes. 5-FUC loaded liposomes exhibited a higher in vitro cytotoxic effect as compared to the free drug and 5-FU loaded liposomes against HepG2 cell lines after 48 h via MTT assay. Conclusion: These results concluded that 5-FUC loaded liposomes could be used as an alternative tactic to increase the therapeutic index of 5-FU and pave the way for potential clinical applications.

Background/Objectives: Malnutrition poses a significant challenge to public health, affecting millions worldwide, particularly among people in hospital, notably among surgical cases that require adequate nutritional support for effective recovery. Factors contributing to malnutrition include chronic illnesses that hinder nutritional intake and socioeconomic barriers limiting food access. This study aimed to assess malnutrition in surgical patients at admission to enhance recovery, minimize complications, and improve clinical outcomes. Methods: This prospective observational cross-sectional study involved 282 adults hospitalized for over 48 h for surgery. This study utilized the MUST and MNA-SF assessments to evaluate malnutrition risk, confirming diagnoses via the GLIM criteria. Statistical analysis, including the Pearson chi-square test and univariate and multivariate logistic regression, identified significant malnutrition risk factors. Results: This study found an 18.1% malnutrition prevalence among these patients, with Stage 1 malnutrition being the most common at 9.6%. Additionally, a notable proportion of patients were classified as obese (46.5%) or overweight (27.7%). Men had higher malnutrition rates (12.8%) than women (5.3%). Age disparities were also significant, with higher rates among older (7.4%) and younger adults (7.1%) compared to middle-aged individuals (2.5%). Patients undergoing elective surgeries (9.9%) and emergency surgeries (6.7%) had higher malnutrition rates than those admitted for surgical complications. Furthermore, malnutrition was observed in 12% of patients undergoing orthopedic or general surgeries. Conclusions: Among adult patients admitted to surgical wards, malnutrition prevalence during admission was 18%, underscoring the need for comprehensive preoperative nutritional assessments and targeted interventions for patients undergoing surgery.

Despite the fact that several analytical methodologies have been reported for the determination of curcumin (CCM) in a wide range of sample matrices, the greener liquid chromatographic approaches to determine CCM are scarce in the literature. Therefore, this research is designed to develop and validate a greener stability-indicating “high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)” methodology to determine CCM in an in-house developed nanoemulsion, Curcuma longa L. extract, and commercial tablets. CCM was measured on a Nucleodur (150 mm × 4.6 mm) RP C₁₈ column with 5 µm-sized particles. Ethanol and ethyl acetate (83:17 v/v) made up the greener eluent system, which was pumped at a flow speed of 1.0 mL/min. At a wavelength of 425 nm, CCM was detected. The greener HPLC methodology was linear in the 1–100 µg/mL range, with a determination coefficient of 0.9983. The greener HPLC methodology for CCM estimation was also rapid (R_t = 3.57 min), accurate (%recoveries = 98.90–101.85), precise (%CV = 0.90–1.11), and sensitive (LOD = 0.39 µg/mL and LOQ = 1.17 µg/mL). The AGREE approach predicted the AGREE score of 0.81 for the established HPLC technique, indicating an outstanding greenness profile. The utility of the greener HPLC methodology was demonstrated by determining CCM in the in-house developed nanoemulsion, Curcuma longa extract, and commercial tablets. The % amount of CCM in the in-house developed nanoemulsion, Curcuma longa extract, and commercial tablets was found to be 101.24%, 81.15%, and 78.41%, respectively. The greener HPLC methodology was able to detect its degradation product under various stress conditions, suggesting its stability-indication characteristics. These results suggested that CCM in developed nanoemulsion, plant extract samples, and commercial tablets may be routinely determined using the greener HPLC methodology.