The emergence of different nanoparticles (NPs) has made a significant revolution in the field of medicine. Different NPs in the form of metallic NPs, dendrimers, polymeric NPs, carbon quantum dots ...and liposomes have been functionalized and used as platforms for intracellular delivery of biomolecules, drugs, imaging agents and nucleic acids. These NPs are designed to improve the pharmacokinetic properties of the drug, improve their bioavailability and successfully surpass physiological or pathological obstacles in the biological system so that therapeutic efficacy is achieved. In this review I present some of the current approaches used in intracellular delivery systems, with a focus on various stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, including cell-penetrating peptides, to highlight their various biomedical applications.
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•Disclose factors that influence the predominance of dye-decolorizing species.•Unveil the limiting criteria to distinguish dye biodegradation and biosorption.•Exhibit ...power-stimulating characteristics of the consortia in microbial fuel cells.
This study explored a bioenergy platform of biodegradability and toxicity evaluation through microbial fuel cells (MFCs) modules for simultaneous decolorization and bioelectricity generation. The most appropriate decolorizer consortia NIU pond exhibited the extent of decolorization: Sunset Yellow FCF (93 %), Allura Red (96.6 %), and Tartrazine (91.41 %) in 3, 8, 12 h respectively. The ranking for bioelectricity generation in MFCs (unit: mW m−2) (Sunset Yellow FCF Degradation) was hot spring water (46.42) > hot spring soil (22.17) > NIU pond (17.75) > NIU soil (7.89). In the presence of the dye, power density was increased by 88 %, 84 % and 27 % for NP, HS, and HW, respectively. Acclimation process was inspected in terms of bioenergy-extracting capability to evaluate toxicity potency of model dyes. According to metagenomics analysis upon microbial populations before and after acclimation, indigenous microbial community was only predominated by Pseudomonas monteilii and of Bacillus pumilus. Significant increased biodiversity was evolved under selection of dye stress. After acclimation, community ecology in the consortia contained Klebsiella, Citrobacter, Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus lactis, and Escherichia shigella. Tandem mass spectrometric analysis pointed out sunset yellow ECF was gradually degraded and decolorized intermediates steadily accumulated. MFC modules were promising platforms to select candidate biodecolorizers from microbial populations.
SARS-CoV-2 infections are highly correlated with the overexpression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in what is known as a cytokine storm, leading to high fatality rates. Such infections are accompanied ...by SIRS, ARDS, and sepsis, suggesting a potential link between the three phenotypes. Currently, little is known about the transcriptional similarity between these conditions. Herein, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) clustering was applied to RNA-seq datasets (GSE147902, GSE66890, GSE74224, GSE177477) to identify modules of highly co-expressed and correlated genes, cross referenced with dataset GSE160163, across the samples. To assess the transcriptome similarities between the conditions, module preservation analysis was performed and functional enrichment was analyzed in DAVID webserver. The hub genes of significantly preserved modules were identified, classified into upregulated or downregulated, and used to screen candidate drugs using Connectivity Map (CMap) to identify repurposed drugs. Results show that several immune pathways (chemokine signaling, NOD-like signaling, and Th1 and Th2 cell differentiation) are conserved across the four diseases. Hub genes screened using intramodular connectivity show significant relevance with the pathogenesis of cytokine storms. Transcriptomic-driven drug repurposing identified seven candidate drugs (SB-202190, eicosatetraenoic-acid, loratadine, TPCA-1, pinocembrin, mepacrine, and CAY-10470) that targeted several immune-related processes. These identified drugs warrant further study into their efficacy for treating cytokine storms, and in vitro and in vivo experiments are recommended to confirm the findings of this study.
Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) or formerly known as early mortality syndrome (EMS) is an emerging disease that has caused significant economic losses to the aquaculture industry. The ...primary causative agent of AHPND is
Vibrio parahaemolyticus
, a Gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium that has gained plasmids encoding the fatal binary toxins Pir A/Pir B that cause rapid death of the infected shrimp. In this review, the current research studies and information about AHPND in shrimps have been presented. Molecular diagnostic tools and potential treatments regarding AHPND were also included. This review also includes relevant findings which may serve as guidelines that can help for further investigation and studies on AHPND or other shrimp diseases.
Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) is one of the materials widely used in the biomedical field, yet its application is being limited by adverse reactions such as thrombosis when it comes in ...contact with blood. Thus, a simple and robust way to modify ePTFE to be biologically inert is sought after. Modification of ePTFE without high-energy pretreatment, such as immersion coating, has been of interest to researchers for its straightforward process and ease in scaling up. In this study, we utilized a two-step immersion coating to zwitterionize ePTFE membranes. The first coating consists of the co-deposition of polyethylenimine (PEI) and polydopamine (PDA) to produce amine groups in the surface of the ePTFE for further functionalization. These amine groups from PEI will be coupled with the epoxide group of the zwitterionic copolymer, poly(GMA-
-SBMA) (PGS), via a ring-opening reaction in the second coating. The coated ePTFE membranes were physically and chemically characterized to ensure that each step of the coating is successful. The membranes were also tested for their thrombogenicity via quantification of the blood cells attached to it during contact with biological solutions. The coated membranes exhibited around 90% reduction in attachment with respect to the uncoated ePTFE for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative strains of bacteria (
and
). The coating was also able to resist blood cell attachment from human whole blood by 81.57% and resist red blood cell attachment from red blood cell concentrate by 93.4%. These ePTFE membranes, which are coated by a simple immersion coating, show significant enhancement of the biocompatibility of the membranes, which shows promise for future use in biological devices.
Autoimmunity is defined as the inability to regulate immunological activities in the body, especially in response to external triggers, leading to the attack of the tissues and organs of the host. ...Outcomes include the onset of autoimmune diseases whose effects are primarily due to dysregulated immune responses. In past years, there have been cases that show an increased susceptibility to other autoimmune disorders in patients who are already experiencing the same type of disease. Research in this field has started analyzing the potential molecular and cellular causes of this interconnectedness, bearing in mind the possibility of advancing drugs and therapies for the treatment of autoimmunity. With that, this study aimed to determine the correlation of four autoimmune diseases, which are type 1 diabetes (T1D), psoriasis (PSR), systemic sclerosis (SSc), and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), by identifying highly preserved co-expressed genes among datasets using WGCNA. Functional annotation was then employed to characterize these sets of genes based on their systemic relationship as a whole to elucidate the biological processes, cellular components, and molecular functions of the pathways they are involved in. Lastly, drug repurposing analysis was performed to screen candidate drugs for repositioning that could regulate the abnormal expression of genes among the diseases. A total of thirteen modules were obtained from the analysis, the majority of which were associated with transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and post-translational modification processes. Also, the evaluation based on KEGG suggested the possible role of T
differentiation in the simultaneous onset of the four diseases. Furthermore, clomiphene was the top drug candidate for regulating overexpressed hub genes; meanwhile, prilocaine was the top drug for regulating under-expressed hub genes. This study was geared towards utilizing transcriptomics approaches for the assessment of microarray data, which is different from the use of traditional genomic analyses. Such a research design for investigating correlations among autoimmune diseases may be the first of its kind.
Neurocognitive impairment refers to a spectrum of disorders characterized by a decline in cognitive functions such as memory, attention, and problem-solving, which are often linked to structural or ...functional abnormalities in the brain. While its exact etiology remains elusive, genetic factors play a pivotal role in disease onset and progression. This study aimed to identify highly correlated gene clusters (modules) and key hub genes shared across neurocognition-impairing diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD), HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), and glioma. Herein, the microarray datasets AD (GSE5281), HAND (GSE35864), glioma (GSE15824), and PD (GSE7621) were used to perform Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) to identify highly preserved modules across the studied brain diseases. Through gene set enrichment analysis, the shared modules were found to point towards processes including neuronal transcriptional dysregulation, neuroinflammation, protein aggregation, and mitochondrial dysfunction, hallmarks of many neurocognitive disorders. These modules were used in constructing protein-protein interaction networks to identify hub genes shared across the diseases of interest. These hub genes were found to play pivotal roles in processes including protein homeostasis, cell cycle regulation, energy metabolism, and signaling, all associated with brain and CNS diseases, and were explored for their drug repurposing experiments. Drug repurposing based on gene signatures highlighted drugs including Dorzolamide and Oxybuprocaine, which were found to modulate the expression of the hub genes in play and may have therapeutic implications in neurocognitive disorders. While both drugs have traditionally been used for other medical purposes, our study underscores the potential of a combined WGCNA and drug repurposing strategy for searching for new avenues in the simultaneous treatment of different diseases that have similarities in gene co-expression networks.
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•An integrated microfluidic paper-based platform is proposed for low concentration CH2O detection.•The study is based on Hantzsch reaction and combined with microfluidics ...technology.•CH2O concentrations of 12 commercial food samples are measured.•The measurement results deviate by no more than 6.2% from those obtained using spectrophotometric method.
An integrated platform consisting of a microfluidic paper-based analytical device (μPAD) and a portable detection system is proposed for low concentration formaldehyde (CH2O) detection. In the proposed approach, the reaction zone of the μPAD is coated with ammonium acetate (AA) and acetoacetanilide (AAA) indicator and is dried at 40°C for 30min. The formaldehyde sample is then dripped on the reaction zone and the μPAD is transferred to a hot plate in the portable detection system. A Hantzsch reaction is induced by heating the μPAD at 30°C for 10min. The resulting fluorescent formaldehyde-Acetoacetanilide complex (dihydropyridine derivative) is observed by a CMOS camera and the color image is transferred to a smartphone by means of a connector. Finally, the CH2O concentration is derived using self-written RGB color analysis mobile software implemented on the phone. The experimental results obtained using control samples with known CH2O concentrations in the range of 0.2–2.5ppm show that the B (blue) fluorescence intensity (Y) and formaldehyde concentration (X) are related as Y=29.455 X+117.64. Moreover, the correlation coefficient is equal to R2=0.9937. The real-world applicability of the proposed detection platform is demonstrated by measuring the CH2O concentration in twelve commercial food samples. It is shown that the concentration measurements obtained using the proposed system deviate by no more than 6.2% from those obtained using a conventional spectrophotometric technique. Overall, the results presented in this study show that the proposed integrated microfluidic paper-based system provides a compact and reliable tool for low concentration CH2O measurement purposes.
Ji-Ming-Shan (JMS) is a traditional herbal prescription consisting of seven herbs including Areca cathechu Burm.f., Citrus reticulata Blanco, Chaenomeles speciosa (Sweet) Nakai, Euodia ruticarpa (A. ...Juss.) Benth., Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton, Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.). It was first recorded during the Song dynasty and has been used extensively for protection against rheumatism, treatment of swelling of tendons, relief from foot pain, gout and diuresis and other forms of inflammation.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and anti-osteoarthritis activity of JMS extracts with the use of different cell lines (RAW 264.7 cells, SW1353 cells and primary cultured rat chondrocytes). MIA-induced rat animal models were used to assess the anti-osteoarthritis activity of the extract.
This study investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of JMS-95E on LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages and IL-1β-stimulated chondrocytes. For the in vivo study, male Wistar rats were used and they were randomly assigned in different groups: blank, control, positive control and three different JMS-95E treatment groups (200, 400, 800 mg/kg/d). Paw edema, hind-limb weight bearing, serum inflammatory cytokines including hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining experiments were used to assess the efficacy of the extract in the rat model.
JMS 95% ethanol extract (JMS-95E, marker substance: narirutin (5.10 mg/g) and hesperidin (11.33 mg/g) has been identified in the extract using high pressure liquid chromatography. For in vitro assays, JMS-95E did not exhibit cytotoxicity and was able to downregulate the protein expression of iNOS, COX-2 and MMP-13. The production of inflammatory mediators such as NO and PGE2 were also reduced with an increase in dose-dependent manner in various cell lines. Inhibitory activity on the key enzyme xanthine oxidase was also observed in this study. In rat animal models, JMS-95E reduced the inflammatory responses such as acute swelling, chondrocyte degradation and pain section of paw edema in rat model. Molecular marker studies of inflammation demonstrated that JMS-95E significantly decrease PGE2 expression in MIA model.
JMS-95E inhibited the inflammatory pathway leading to the production or expression levels of NO, iNOS, COX-2 and PGE2 in macrophage cells. In primary cultured rat chondrocytes iNOS and SW1353 MMP-13 expression were downregulated after JMS-95E treatment. For the in vivo study JMS-95E significantly reduced the paw volume of carrageenan-induced rat paw edema through each dose and significantly inhibited paw volume, counterweight the distribution of hind-paw weight bearing through the MIA model which means JMS-95E could promote recovery of the acute swelling and chondrocyte degradation of the ankle joints. The above results provided the multiple mechanism of JMS-95E in OA treatment of the scientific founding which supported the description of JMS in traditional use.
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A microfluidic colorimetric detection (MCD) platform consisting of a sliding hybrid PMMA/paper microchip and a smart analysis system is proposed for the convenient, low-cost and rapid analysis of ...human urine and whole blood samples. The sliding PMMA/paper microchip comprises a PMMA microfluidic chip for sample injection and transportation, a paper strip for sample filtration (urine) or separation (blood), and a sealed paper-chip detection zone for sample reaction and detection. In the proposed device, the paper-chip is coated with bicinchoninic acid (BCA) and biuret reagent and is then assembled into the PMMA microchip and packaged in aluminum housing. In the detection process, the PMMA/paper microchip is slid partially out of the housing, and 2 μL of sample (urine or whole blood) is dripped onto the sample injection zone. The chip is then slid back into the housing and the sample is filtered/separated by the paper strip and transferred under the effects of capillary action to the sealed paper-chip detection zone. The housing is inserted into the color analysis system and heated at 45 °C for 5 min to produce a purple-colored reaction complex. The complex is imaged using a CCD camera and the RGB color intensity of the image is then analyzed using a smartphone to determine the total protein (TP) concentration of the sample. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated using TP control samples with known concentrations in the range of 0.03–5.0 g/dL. The detection results obtained for 50 human urine samples obtained from random volunteers are shown to be consistent with those obtained from a conventional hospital analysis system (R2 = 0.992). Moreover, the detection results obtained for the albumin (ALB) and creatine (CRE) concentrations of 50 whole blood samples are also shown to be in good agreement with the results obtained from the hospital analysis system (R2 = 0.982 and 0.988, respectively).
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•A MCD platform is presented for detection of urine and whole blood samples.•The platform comprises a sliding hybrid microchip and an intelligent analysis system.•The hybrid microchip has the functions of filtering urine and separating whole blood.•The hybrid microchip drives the fluid by capillary force without external driving force.•The platform can perform the detection of urine TP, whole blood ALB and CRE concentration.
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