A modified hen's egg chorioallantoic membrane (HET-CAM) test has been developed, combining ImageJ analysis with Adobe(®) Photoshop(®). The irritation potential of an ophthalmic medicine can be quantified using this method, by monitoring damage to blood vessels. The evaluation of cysteamine containing hyaluronate gel is reported. The results demonstrated that the novel gel formulation is non-irritant to the ocular tissues, in line with saline solution (negative control). In conclusion, the modification of the established HET-CAM test can quantify the damage to minute blood vessels. These results offer the possibility to formulate cysteamine in an ocular applicable gel formulation.

Protein kinases have emerged as the most important class of targets in oncology drug discovery because of their major roles in regulating cellular growth and survival. At least, 11 kinase inhibitors have received FDA approval to be used as cancer treatments, and there are continuous efforts to bring more candidates from laboratory benches to the clinic. Although many protein kinase inhibitors directly interact with the ATP binding site, other can alter the kinase conformation to prevent productive ATP binding. Herein we discuss the different mechanisms of action of kinase inhibitors and provide classification of the inhibitors according to their binding sites. Some of these are allosteric inhibitors, ATP competitive inhibitors, protein substrate competitive inhibitors, and covalent bond forming inhibitors. This review provides a broad overview of the relation between mechanism of action and the issues of target selectivity and resistance. Special attention was given to the kinase inhibitors currently in clinical trials.

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A simple tripodal sensor (3) with multifunctional capability has been synthesized in three steps. The sensor, a naphthalene-functionalized Schiff base, displays selectivity for sodium over other important physiological and environmentally important cations through changes in the emission spectra at lambda(max) 355 nm when excited at 270 nm. Interestingly, the combined addition of both sodium and potassium produced a new band at lambda(max) 445 nm, while the addition of sodium or potassium alone produced negligible changes at this wavelength. Therefore, the conditions of a two-input AND logic operator were also satisfied.