I read with great interest the article by Job van der Palen et al. [1]. The article describes the comparison of a new single-dose dry powder inhaler, Elpenhaler (EH) (Elpen Pahrmaceutical Co., Inc., Greece) versus the established dry powder inhaler, Accuhaler/Diskus (DK) (GlaxoSmithKline, UK) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. The basic conclusion of the a...

BACKGROUND Two studies were undertaken to characterize the maximal effort inhalation profiles of healthy subjects and patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) through a moderate-resistance dry powder inhaler (DPI). Correlations between inhaler-specific inhalation characteristics and inhaler-independent lung function parameters were investigated. METHODS Healthy sub...

Dry powders containing a live-attenuated Newcastle disease vaccine (LZ58 strain) and intended for mass vaccination of poultry were prepared by spray drying using mannitol in combination with trehalose or inositol, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and/or bovine serum albumin (BSA) as stabilizers. These powders were evaluated for vaccine stabilizing capacity during production and storage (at 6 °C and 2...

Understanding and controlling powder de-agglomeration is of great importance in the development of dry powder inhaler (DPI) products. Dry dispersion laser diffraction measures particle size readily under controlled dispersing conditions, but has not been exploited fully to characterise inherent powder dispersibility. The aim of the study was to utilise particle size-dispersing pressure titratio...

BACKGROUND Multi-dose dry-powder inhalers are perceived as being easier for patients to use than conventional pressurized aerosol inhalers; however, no study has determined whether patients handle such devices adequately and whether there is a need for patient education in this area. METHOD We used trained observers to assess the handling of a specific multi-dose dry powder inhaler (Turbuhale...

The question addressed in this study was the ability of young children to use a dry-powder inhaler, Turbuhaler. One hundred and sixty five children suspected of asthma, equally distributed in one year age-groups from 6 months to 8 yrs, inhaled from a Pulmicort Turbuhaler, 200 micrograms budesonide-dose-1, through a filter. The amount of drug trapped by the filter was used as a measure of drug r...

OBJECTIVE To investigate a group of patients' preferences among 3 dry powder inhalers--Accuhaler, Easyhaler, and Turbuhaler--and to analyze the features that were most important for motivating choices. MATERIAL AND METHOD The study enrolled 30 patients with stable asthma with a mean (SD) age of 40 (13) and who habitually used inhaled corticosteroids. The patients were shown in detail how to u...

A powder vaccine intended for aerosol delivery was formulated by spray drying the Ad35-vectored tuberculosis (TB) AERAS-402 vaccine with mannitol-based stabilizers. Thermodynamic properties, water absorption, particle size distribution and morphology of the powders were evaluated. Virus survival during spray drying and storage was determined by medium Tissue Culture Infectious Dose (TCID(50)). ...

Direct detection of saponins in medicinal plants using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is reported in this paper. Crude dry plant powders were mixed with potassium bromide (KBr) powder and compressed to a thin pellet for infrared examination. FTIR spectra of the test samples showed -OH, -C=O, C-H, and C=C absorptions characteristic of oleanane triterpenoid saponins. The C-O-C abs...