The present paper is part two of a small series of three publications on spontaneous breakages of toughened glass. In part one, we deal with the detailed effects of the crystallographic and physical properties of the nickel sulphide species contained in those inclusions; we find that solely under this aspect, only c. 40% of the breakages in a Heat Soak Test (HST) according to, e.g., EN 14179-1:2006, would be physically able to cause a breakage in a façade. The present paper partly builds up on these findings. In the present paper, we prove experimentally that nickel sulphide inclusions are found everywhere in the raw glass section. On the other hand, their repartition is visibly influenced by gravitational settling. The resulting distribution profile is explained by a physical model. Further elaboration of this model allows to better understand Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (
A novel drug delivery vehicle using nanodroplets activated by light irradiation for drug release in a controlled manner has been developed. The drug encapsulated in the nanodroplets was released upon phase transition from a liquid droplet to microbubbles (vaporization) by plasmonic photothermal heat from gold nanorods adsorbed on the surface of the nanodroplets. The nanodroplets were stable against aggregation and dissolution at 4 °C over 3 months to date. The phase transition was quantitatively analyzed by ultrasound imaging to examine the amount of drug release noninvasively. In vitro studies showed that cell death occurred only when light irradiation was performed on the drug-encapsulated nanodroplets. Ex vivo studies demonstrated a potential application of the nanodroplets for treating posterior eye diseases. Thus, it has been demonstrated that our gold-nanorod-coated light-activatable nanodroplets can be a candidate for a controlled release and a dosage-monitored drug delivery system.
The current standard
of care for posterior segment eye diseases,
such as neovascular age-related macular degeneration, diabetic macular
edema, is frequent intravitreal injections or sustained-release drug
implants. Intravitreal injections have a low incidence of serious
complications such as retinal detachment, endophthalmitis, iatrogenic
traumatic cataract, or iridocyclitis and injection-site reactions.
However, there is a significant burden to the patient, the patient’s
family, and the health system because current intravitreal therapies
require between every 4 and 12 week administration over many years.
Drug implants have side effects due to the burst release of the drugs,
and their release cannot be easily controlled after implantation.
We have developed a size-exclusive nanoporous biodegradable PLGA capsule
for dosage-controllable drug delivery implants. We have optimized
the nanoporous structure by tuning the ratio between porogen and high
molecular weight PLGA and tested the stability against passive leakage
of the liposomal drug (1–2 μm) and the safety in vivo
rabbit eyes for 6 months. Our results suggest that PLGA implants made
of the nanoporous PLGA sheet can selectively release drug molecules,
keeping the liposomal drug inside. In addition, the implant was biocompatible,
causing no inflammation and foreign body response when implanted for
6 months. Overall, the implant shows great potential for on-demand
dose-controllable drug release applications.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.