Background. Topical treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis is an attractive alternative avoiding toxicities of parenteral therapy while being administered through a simple painless route. Recently liposomal formulations of amphotericin B have been increasingly used in the treatment of several types of leishmaniasis. Aims. The efficacy of a topical liposomal amphotericin B formulation was compared with intralesional glucantime in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Methods. From 110 patients, the randomly selected 50 received a topical liposomal formulation of amphotericin B into each lesion, 3–7 drops twice daily, according to the lesion's size and for 8 weeks. The other group of 60 patients received intralesional glucantime injection of 1-2 mL once a week for the same period. The clinical responses and side effects of both groups were evaluated weekly during the treatment course. Results. Per-protocol analysis showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.317, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.610 (0.632–4.101)). Moreover, after intention-to-treat analysis, the same results were seen (P = 0.650, 95% CI = 0.1.91 (0.560–2.530)). Serious post treatment side effects were not observed in either group. Conclusions. Topical liposomal amphotericin B has the same efficacy as intralesional glucantime in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.

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Employing targeting ligands with high affinity to tumour receptors is an important strategy to increase treatment efficacy. The use of aptamers as targeting agent is increasingly prevalent in drug delivery systems. Mucin1 (MUC1) is a glycoprotein that is over-expressed on the surface of several cancer cells and plays an important role in metastasis and invasion. 5TR1-aptamer is a DNA aptamer, which targets MUC1 receptors. The present study investigated the anti-tumour activity and therapeutic effectiveness of 5TR1-aptamer-PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) delivery system in C26 tumour-bearing mice. The in vitro experiments demonstrated enhanced cytotoxicity and cellular uptake of PLD at the presence of 5TR1 aptamer into MUC1C26 cell line. Biodistribution study indicated that aptamer conjugation increased tumour accumulation of PLDs. Pharmacokinetic analysis showed despite higher clearance rate, selective delivery of doxorubicin to tumour tissue was increased in the 5TR1-Doxil group. In C26-bearing tumour mice, treatment with 5TR1-Doxil exhibited significant deceleration in tumour growth and enhanced survival. The results suggested that 5TR1 aptamer is promising ligand for active targeting which improves therapeutic efficiency of PLD in cancer therapy.

This paper hints at the Goos-Hänchen shift properties of a cavity containing an ensemble of atoms using a four-level atomic system involving a Rydberg state. By means of the stationary phase theory and density matrix formalism in quantum optics, we study theoretically the Goos-Hänchen shifts in both reflected and transmitted light beams. It is realized that as a result of the interaction between Rydberg and excited states in such a four-level atom-light coupling scheme the maximum positive and negative Goos-Hänchen shifts can be obtained in reflected and transmitted light beams owning to the effect of the Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) or Rydberg electromagnetically induced absorption. In particular, when the switching field is absent and the Rydberg EIT is dominant in the medium, a giant Goos-Hänchen shift can be achieved for both reflected and transmitted light beams.

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