Guerramalling4406

Nanoparticle-based therapy has gained much attention in the pharmaceutical industry. Fucoidan is a sulfated polysaccharide naturally derived from marine brown algae and is widely used for medical applications. We explore preparation of fucoidan-based nanoparticles and their biomedical applications in the current review. The fucoidan-based nanoparticles have been synthesized using microwave, emulsion, solvent evaporation, green synthesis, polyelectrolyte self-assembly, precipitation, and ultrasonication methods. The synthesized nanoparticles have particle sizes ranging from 100 to 400 nm. Therefore, fucoidan-based nanoparticles have a variety of potential therapeutic applications, including drug delivery, cancer therapies, tissue engineering, antimicrobial applications, magnetic resonance imaging contrast, and atherothrombosis imaging. For example, fucoidan nanoparticles have been used to deliver curcumin, dextran, gentamicin, epigallocatechin gallate, and cisplatin for cancer therapies. Furthermore, fucoidan nanoparticles coupled with metal nanoparticles have been used to target and recognize clinical conditions for diagnostic purposes. Hence, fucoidan-based nanoparticles have been helpful for biomedical applications.Conventional drug development strategies typically use pocket in protein structures as drug-target sites. They overlook the plausible effects of protein evolvability and resistant mutations on protein structure which in turn may impair protein-drug interaction. In this study, we used an integrated evolution and structure guided strategy to develop potential evolutionary-escape resistant therapeutics using receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike-protein/S-protein as a model. Deploying an ensemble of sequence space exploratory tools including co-evolutionary analysis and deep mutational scans we provide a quantitative insight into the evolutionarily constrained subspace of the RBD sequence-space. Guided by molecular simulation and structure network analysis we highlight regions inside the RBD, which are critical for providing structural integrity and conformational flexibility. Using fuzzy C-means clustering we combined evolutionary and structural features of RBD and identified a critical region. Subsequently, we used computational drug screening using a library of 1615 small molecules and identified one lead molecule, which is expected to target the identified region, critical for evolvability and structural stability of RBD. This integrated evolution-structure guided strategy to develop evolutionary-escape resistant lead molecules have potential general applications beyond SARS-CoV-2.The aim of our studies was to determine the influence of a low-frequency electromagnetic field (EMF) on the phagocytosis of latex beads (LBs) and the expression level of proteins/genes in the human monocytic macrophage Mono Mac 6 (MM6) cell line in in vitro conditions. Before phagocytosis assay cells were pre-stimulated with infectious agents such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), or the proliferatory agent phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), and then exposed to EMF (30 mT, 7 Hz, 3 h). The expression of cytoplasmic proteins like iPLA, cPLA, iNOS, NLR3/4, and Hsp70 involved in the immune response pathways to phagocytosed particles were evaluated with the usage of the Western blot analysis. mRNA encoding the iNOS protein was detected by reverse transcription PCR method. click here The most meaningful changes were observed for PLA2 and NLC4 proteins level and between iNOS protein expression and mRNA encoding iNOS protein amount. The EMF exposure exerted the strongest effect on iNOS encoding mRNA in cells pre-stimulated with LPS or SEB and phagocytosing LBs. The influence of EMF on phagocytosis was experimentally proved for the first time and there is a need for further investigations in term of the usage of EMF as a prospect, supportive therapy.Red grape pomace was used as a source for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) production, which was then subject to a range of purification processes. The different PHB biopolymers were characterized for chemical structure, crystallinity, thermal properties, colour, release of compounds into different food simulants and antioxidant inhibition, and comparisons were made with a commercially available PHB. An increase in purification steps did not have a significant effect on the high thermal stability of the extracted biopolymer, but it decreased the degree of crystallinity and the presence of amino acids and aromatic compounds. With additional purification, the PHB powders also whitened and the number of components released from the biopolymer into food simulants decreased. The released compounds presented antioxidant inhibition, which has not been previously reported in the literature or with commercially available polyhydroxyalkanoates. This is of great interest for food packaging and biomedical industries where the addition of antioxidant additives to improve PHB functional properties may not be necessary and could be avoided.In view of the deficiencies in the preparation of cellulose gels, such as, cumbersome process, harsh conditions, high consumption of chemicals, secondary pollution caused by side reactions, this work reports a facile approach to make cellulose/multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs) hydrogels and aerogels via mixing cellulose with N,N'-methylene bisacrylamide (MBA) and MWCNTs in NaOH/urea/H2O aqueous solution. The gels were revealed to be formed by an addition reaction between the double bonds of MBA and the hydroxyl groups of cellulose and the intermolecular interactions between cellulose and MWCNTs. The preparation process can be realized at room temperature and atmospheric pressure without the intervention of ultrasonic dispersion, catalyst and initiator. The gelation time, puncture strength and water retention ability of the hydrogels were investigated. Results showed that, compared with pure cellulose hydrogel, cellulose/MWNCTs hydrogels have obviously shorter sol-gel transition time (124-129.2 min), higher puncture strength (29.6022-34.2854 KPa) and water retention ability (274.2619-301.7291 g/g). Cellulose/MWCNTs aerogels possessed three dimensional network with macroporous structure (about 500 μm), low density (0.00546-0.00557 g/cm3), high porosity (99.6360-99.6426 %), good thermal stability (242 °C) and certain absorbency to methylene blue (233.2901-242.1122 mg/g).Phryma leptostachya has attracted increasing attention because it is rich in furofuran lignans with a wide range of biological activities. Biosynthesis of furofuran lignans begins with the dimerization of coniferyl alcohol, one of the monolignol. Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD) catalyzes the final step of monolignol biosynthesis, reducing cinnamyl aldehydes to cinnamyl alcohol. As it is in the terminal position of monolignol biosynthesis, its type and activity can cause significant changes in the total amount and composition of lignans. Herein, combined with bioinformatics analysis and in vitro enzyme assays, we clarified that CAD in P. leptostachya belonged to a multigene family, and identified nearly the entire CAD gene family. Our in-depth characterization about the functions and structures of two major CAD isoforms, PlCAD2 and PlCAD3, showed that PlCAD2 exhibited the highest catalytic activity, and coniferyl aldehyde was its preferred substrate, followed by PlCAD3, and sinapyl aldehyde was its preferred substrate. Considering the accumulation patterns of furofuran lignans and expression patterns of PlCADs, we speculated that PlCAD2 was the predominant CAD isoform responsible for furofuran lignans biosynthesis in P. leptostachya. Moreover, these CADs found here can also provide effective biological parts for lignans and lignins biosynthesis.Diabetes leading to brain glucose metabolism disorders and cerebrovascular complications. Fucoidan is a kind of sulfated polysaccharides which found in brown algae, has multiply bioactivities and considered to be a promising therapeutic agent. Despite the increasing amount of evidence suggesting the diabetes protective role of fucoidans, the effect of fucoidan on brain abnormalities in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients remains unclear. In this study a low molecular weight fucoidan (LMWF) was obtained from Saccharina japonica and its effect on the cerebrovascular damage in db/db mice was investigated. Results were shown after LMWF treatment, the degree of cerebrovascular damage, the number of apoptotic neuronal cells and the inflammation were all decreased in db/db mice. Moreover, LMWF could up-regulates CD34 and VEGFA expression in db/db mice brain, and the subintestinal vessel angiogenesis in zebrafish was also promoted by LMWF. Moreover, the lumen formation of HUVEC endothelial cells was rescued by LMWF which was destroyed in high glucose treated endothelial cells. Further study found, LMWF alleviates vascular injury by up-regulating the expression level of phosphorylated PI3K and phosphorylated AKT. Our study indicates that LMWF has the potential to develop a cerebrovascular protection agent for type 2 diabetes patients.Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including microparticles and exosomes, have emerged as potential tools for tumor targeting delivery during the past years. Recently, mass of strategies are applied to assist EVs to accumulate and penetrate into deep tumor sites. In this review, EVs from different cells with unique innate characters and engineered approaches (e.g. chemical engineering, genetical engineering and biomimetic engineering) as drug delivery systems to enhance tumor accumulation and penetration are summarized. Meanwhile, efficient biological function modulation (e.g. extracellular matrix degradation, mechanical property regulation and transcytosis) is introduced to facilitate tumor accumulation and penetration of EVs. Finally, the prospects and challenges on further clinical applications of EVs are discussed.The enteric protist Blastocystis has a worldwide distribution, however its prevalence in the human population is still underestimated, especially in developing countries where proper diagnosis is not performed in the routine of clinical laboratories. In this study, we aimed to assess the frequency, genetic diversity, and spatial distribution of Blastocystis isolates detected in fecal samples referred to a clinical laboratory for routine examination in inner São Paulo State, Brazil. A total of 348 leftover stool samples available for disposal from female and male individuals with age ranging from 3 months to 88 years were analyzed by both microscopic examination and PCR/sequencing of the SSU rRNA gene. The overall frequency of Blastocystis sp. was 31% (108/348), including 20.1% (70/348) and 31% (108/348) by microscopic examination and PCR/sequencing, respectively. Significant association was found only between Blastocystis infection and age, since the highest rate of positive samples was detected among 5-9 yealikely to be easier and, (4) the genetic variability of Blastocystis isolates suggests exposure of inhabitants living in inner municipalities to different sources of contamination involving anthroponotic and zoonotic transmission pathways.