Methods disclosed herein provide for an environmentally-friendly approach that employ citric extracts from fruits as unique reducing and stabilizing agents for making a tellurium nanomaterial. A particular method of making a tellurium nanomaterial includes combining citrus fruit extract with a tellurium salt to form a mixture of citrus fruit extract and dissolved tellurium salt; and heating the mixture of citrus fruit extract and dissolved tellurium salt, thereby making the tellurium nanomaterial. The resulting nanoparticles exhibit enhanced and desirable biomedical properties toward treatment of both infectious diseases and cancer.

Disclosed herein are compounds which inhibit the kinase activity of dual leucine zipper (DLK) kinase (MAP3K12), pharmaceutical compositions, and methods of treatment of DLK-mediated diseases, such as neurological diseases that result from traumatic injury to central nervous system and peripheral nervous system neurons (e.g. stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury), or that result from a chronic neurodegenerative condition (e.g. Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal dementia, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinocerebellar ataxia, progressive supranuclear palsy, Lewy body disease, Kennedy's disease, and other related conditions), from neuropathies resulting from neurological damage (chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, diabetic neuropathy, and related conditions) and from cognitive disorders caused by pharmacological intervention (e.g. chemotherapy induced cognitive disorder, also known as chemobrain).

The task of the invention is therefore making available transfer capsules that are taken up by the target cell type and permanently or transiently modify the target cell, without exerting any toxic effects on the cell during this process.

The solution according to the invention consists of the use of monodisperse cores, so as to produce polyelectrolyte nanocapsules having cell-specific sizes from them. The sizes for hematopoietic cells are in a range of 20-80 nm, preferably in a range of 40-60 nm. In this regard, the sizes of the particles must be in a very narrow range, so as to prevent toxic effects from occurring. In order to keep the toxicity of the nanocapsules low, it is furthermore important to remove the nanoparticles around which the capsules are built up (cores) before use. Methods in this regard are known from the state of the art (for example dissolution by means of EDTA).

A further task is the stabilization of the transfer capsules.

The solution according to the invention consists in the modification of the capsules, the layers and/or the cargo to be packed, by means of functional groups, which allows stabilization and thereby long-term storage at room temperature.

The third task is the targeted introduction of the transfer capsules.

The solution according to the invention is a functionalization of the layers by way of chemical modifications and/or supplementing of the layers with antibodies, proteins or peptides.

There is provided a process for the preparation of composition in the form of a plurality of particles having a weight-, number-, and/or volume-based mean diameter that is between amount 10 nm and about 700 μm, which particles comprise: (a) solid cores, preferably comprising a biologically active agent; and (b) two or more sequentially applied, discrete layers, each of which comprises at least one separately applied coating material, and which two or more layers together surround, enclose and/or encapsulate said cores, which process comprises the sequential steps of: (1) applying an initial layer of at least one coating material to said solid cores by way of a gas phase deposition technique; (2) discharging the coated particles from the gas phase deposition reactor and subjecting the coated particles to agitation to disaggregate particle aggregates formed during step (1) by way of mechanical sieving technique; (3) reintroducing the disaggregated, coated particles from step (2) into the gas phase deposition reactor and applying a further layer of at least one coating material to the reintroduced particles; and (1) optionally repeating steps (2) and (3) one or more times to increase the total thickness of the at least one coating material that enclose(s) said solid core. The gas phase deposition technique is preferably atomic layer deposition. When the cores comprise biologically active agent, the compositions may provide for the delayed or sustained release of said active agent without a burst effect.

The present disclosure presents nanoparticle compositions for use in the treatment, prevention, or imaging of a disease (e.g., cancer), methods of treating, preventing, or imaging a disease in a subject in need thereof with the nanoparticle compositions, and methods of preparing the nanoparticle compositions of the disclosure. The nanoparticle compositions can include a magnetic nanoparticle ferric chloride, ferrous chloride, or a combination thereof, and a dextran coating functionalized with one or more amine groups.

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The invention relates to nanoparticles containing complexes constituted by nucleic acids and cationic copolymers containing the recurring structural units of formulae (Ia) and (Ib) wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.6 independently represent hydrogen, alkyl or —COOR.sup.9, R.sup.2 and R.sup.7 independently represent hydrogen or alkyl, R.sup.3 is selected from the group consisting of —O—R.sup.10—, —COO—R.sup.10, —CONH—R.sup.10- or —R.sup.10—, R.sup.4 represents hydrogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, aralkyl or alkylaryl, R.sup.5 represents hydrogen, alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl, aralkyl, alkylaryl or —(alkylene-NH—).sub.malkyl, or R.sup.4 and R.sup.5 together with the nitrogen atom they have in common form a heterocyclic ring, R.sup.8 is selected from the group consisting of —O—R.sup.11, —COO—R.sup.11, —CONH—R.sup.11 or —R.sup.11, R.sup.9 and R.sup.11 independently represent hydrogen or a monovalent organic residue, R.sup.10 represents a bivalent organic residue, and m is an integer from 1 to 5, with the proviso that the nanoparticles have a diameter (z-average) of less than or equal to 900 nm as determined by dynamic light scattering and that the molar ratio of nitrogen atoms in the copolymer to the phosphate groups in the nucleic acid ranges between 1 and 200. The nanoparticles according to the invention allow the transfer of nucleic acids into cells with great efficiency.

An “inverse” precipitation route to precipitate aqueous soluble species with copolymers as nanoparticles having a hydrophilic, polar core and a less polar shell is described.

Nanosphere composition containing a mixture of a triblock oligomer and a diblock oligomer for the delivery of an active agent. Also disclosed are methods of preparing the nanospheres and methods of delivering an active agent enclosed in the nanospheres.

Non-liposome, non-micelle particles formed of a lipid, an additional adjuvant such as a TLR4 agonist, a sterol, and a saponin are provided. The particles are porous, cage-like nanoparticles, also referred to as nanocages, and are typically between about 30 nm and about 60 nm. In some embodiments, the nanocages include or are administered in combination with an antigen. The particles can increase immune responses and are particularly useful as adjuvants in vaccine applications and related methods of treatment. Preferred lipids, additional adjuvants including TLR4 agonists, sterols, and saponins, methods of making the nanocages, and method of using them are also provided.

Cancer treatment methods using thermotherapy and/or enhanced immunotherapy are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the method comprising the steps of: (i) applying controlled thermal energy at 40-43° C. for a first predetermined time period to damage and weaken tumor cells of a tumor in a patient; (ii) administering pulsed high intensity focused ultrasound (pHIFU) in a first ultrasound mode to the tumor cells in the patient so as to damage the tumor cells without increasing the thermal energy; and (iii) administering low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) in a second ultrasound mode to further damage the tumor cells at a temperature of 39-43° C. for a second predetermined time period while performing observation of the tumor cells by ultrasonic thermometry.