An adhesion model in Distinct Element Method (DEM) for mixing of food powders having different adhesive forces was developed. It is necessary to determine which adhesive force should be applied in the DEM simulation when the particles having high adhesive force and particles having low adhesive force during mixing come in contact with each other. The simulations of mixing behavior of particles having high, low and their average adhesive forces were performed to discuss the effects of adhesive forces on mixing behavior. While, in order to compare to the mixing behavior simulated, two types of mixing experiments of salt and potato starch, and wheat flour and potato starch which have different adhesive forces were carried out. As a result, it was found that when the particles having different adhesive forces contact, the mixing behavior and mixing index of the simulation using the values of high adhesive force would be in agreement with those of the experiment.

In recent years, various active pharmaceutical ingredients, such as natural compounds, small molecules, middle molecules, macromolecules, cells, machines, etc., have been developed aggressively. To design the formulations for these drugs, advanced pharmaceutical technologies and/or materials are needed. In this review article, we firstly propose the novel concept for future pharmaceutical sciences, supramolecular pharmaceutical sciences, which are the fusion of supramolecular chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences. Next, advanced pharmaceutical technologies and materials based on supramolecular pharmaceutical sciences, e.g. reversible PEGylation, polypseudorotaxane hydrogels, transformable supermolecules and polycatenanes, are introduced. These supramolecular pharmaceutical technologies and materials are dynamic and intelligent; therefore, we believe that supramolecular pharmaceutical sciences could be useful for development of future pharmaceutical technologies and materials.

Targeted drug delivery system plays an important role to achieve a satisfactory therapeutic outcome. To obtain the efficient treatment of bone and kidney diseases, we developed bone or kidney-targeted delivery systems using amino acid modifications. In bone-targeting, we developed highly potent nano-carriers targeted to bone using L-aspartic acid modification for their use as therapeutic agents for bone metastasis. In kidney-targeting, we developed L-serine-modified nano-carrier as a potent renal targeting drug carrier for the treatment of kidney diseases.

In this article, these recent developments in bone or kidney-targeted delivery systems using amino acid modifications are summarized.

In an aging society, there is an increasing need for minimally invasive treatment, which is a treatment method that minimizes the degree of physical burden. Here, we focused on the properties of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂ NPs) as a sonosensitizer and outlined polymer micelles that are effective in sonodynamic therapy by combining with synthetic polymer materials. TiO₂ NPs-entrapped micelles not only exhibits a cell-killing effect through the generation of reactive oxygen species by sonication after cellular uptake but can also function as a carrier for multivalent anions or hydrophobic compounds. It is expected that such micelles have potential utilities in minimally invasive therapy.