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Innovations
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Improving the Asthma Arsenal Christopher G. Reuther Abstract A new method for depositing nanometer-thin coatings onto tiny particles could be used for a wide range of applications, including making safer and more convenient asthma drugs. Scientists from the University of Florida in Gainesville and the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, have begun using a new technique called pulse laser deposition to coat glucocorticoids, a component of asthma treatments, with thin layers of a biodegradable polymer. Once glucocorticoids are absorbed into the bloodstream they become ineffective, and recent studies have suggested that high concentrations of glucocorticoids in the blood may inhibit growth in children. The hope is that coating the inhaled steroids will reduce the concentrations that collect in the blood of asthma patients. The full version of this article is available for free in HTML or PDF formats. |
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