Glucose-sensitive films were prepared by the layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition of poly(ethyleneimine) (H-PEI) solution and DNA solution (containing glucose oxidase (GOx)). H-PEI/DNA+GOx multilayer films were constructed using electrostatic interactions. The (H-PEI/DNA+GOx)5 film was then partially decomposed by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The mechanism for the decomposition of the LbL film was considered to involve a more reactive oxygen species (ROS) that was formed by the reaction of hemin and H2O2, which then caused nonspecific DNA cleavage. GOx present in the LbL films reacts with glucose to generate hydrogen peroxide. Therefore, decomposition of the H-PEI/DNA+GOx)5 film was observed when the thin film was immersed in a glucose solution. A (H-PEI/DNA+GOx)5 film exposed to a glucose solution for periods of 24, 48 72, and 96 h indicated decomposition of the film increased with the time. The rate of LbL film decomposition increased with the glucose concentration. At pH and ionic strength close to physiological conditions, it was possible to slowly decompose the LbL film at a sub-millimolar glucose concentration.

In this work, an enzymatic sensor, based on a bionanocomposite film consisting of a polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) [Chitosan/kappa-carrageenan] doped with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) encapsulating glucose oxidase (GOD) deposited on a gold electrode (Au) for glucose sensing, is described. Using the electrocatalytic synergy of AuNPs and GOD as a model of enzyme, the variation of the current (µA) as a function of the log of the glucose concentration (log [glucose]), shows 3 times higher sensitivity for the modified electrode (283.9) compared to that of the PEC/GOD modified electrode (93.7), with a detection limit of about 5 µM and a linearity range between 10µM and 7mM. The response of the PEC/AuNPs/GOD based biosensor also presents good reproducibility, stability and negligible interfering effects from ascorbic acid, uric acid, urea and creatinine. The applicability of the PEC/AuNPs/GOD based biosensor was tested in glucose-spiked saliva samples and acceptable recovery rates were obtained.

Adaptation to climate change is being addressed in many domains. This means that there are multiple perspectives on adaptation; often with differing visions resulting in disconnected responses and outcomes. Combining singular perspectives into coherent, combined perspectives that include multiple needs and visions can help to deepen the understanding of various aspects of adaptation and provide more effective responses. Such combinations of perspectives can help to increase the range and variety of adaptation measures available for implementation or avoid maladaptation compared with adaptations derived from a singular perspective. The objective of this paper is to present and demonstrate a framework for structuring the local adaptation responses using the inputs from multiple perspectives. The adaptation response framing has been done by: (i) contextualizing climate change adaptation needs; (ii) analyzing drivers of change; (iii) characterizing measures of adaptation; and (iv) establishing links between the measures with a particular emphasis on taking account of multiple perspectives. This framework was demonstrated with reference to the management of flood risks in a case study Can Tho, Vietnam. The results from the case study show that multiple perspective framing of adaptation responses enhance the understanding of various aspects of adaptation measures, thereby leading to flexible implementation practices.

Background: Several kinds of research say that adjuvant blood glucose and blood pressure are usual, but an efficient solution for medical application count remains. This review analyzes the pandemic blood pressure and blood glucose to identify the publications which tell about the clinical practices and research gaps in systematic research.Methods: A study guides to identify the research of Blood Pressure (BP) and Blood Glucose. In order to analyze the recent innovations and research on BP and Blood glucose, the relevant publications and literature from journals were identified.Results: Co-morbidity of BP and Blood glucose is reported as very high. The commonness of blood pressure is thrice as high in type I diabetes patients and almost two times higher in type II diabetes patients when compared to others without Diabetes. The pervasiveness of getting depression is more in the female when compared with men. A detailed study about the linkage of BP and blood glucose tells that the relationship between them is not exactly clear.Limitations: Nearly all reviews providing the linkage of BP and blood glucose are with some limitations and they are not providing any clear conclusion.Conclusions: Present research tells that people having high blood glucose will have a greater chance of getting high blood pressure. More research is needed to state the linkage between BP, blood glucose, and the growth of diabetes mellitus issues and to provide support for managing Diabetes.

The authors present a novel sensing platform for a disposable electrochemical, non-enzymatic glucose sensor strip at physiological pH. The sensing material is based on dendritic gold nanostructures (AuNs) resembling feather branches, which are electrodeposited onto a Laser-scribed 3D-Graphene electrode (LSGE). The LSGEs were fabricated via a one-step laser scribing process on a commercially available polyimide sheet. This study investigates several parameters that influence the morphology of the deposited Au nanostructures and the catalytic activity towards glucose electro-oxidation. The electrocatalytic activity of AuNs-LSGE was evaluated using Cyclic Voltammetry (CV), Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV), and Amperometry, and was compared to commercially available carbon electrodes prepared under the same electrodeposition conditions. The sensor demonstrated good stability and high selectivity of the amperometric response in the presence of interfering agents, such as ascorbic acid, when a Nafion membrane was applied over the electrode surface. The proposed sensing strategy offers a wide linear detection range, from 0.5 to 20 mM, which covers normal and elevated levels of glucose in the blood, with a detection limit of 0.21 mM. The AuNs-LSGE platform exhibits great potential for use as a disposable glucose sensor strip for point-of-care applications, including self-monitoring and food management. Its non-enzymatic features reduce dependence on enzymes, making it suitable for practical and cost-effective biosensing solutions.

Salidroside, a valuable phenylethanoid glycoside, is obtained from plants belonging to the Rhodiola genus, known for its diverse biological properties. At present, salidroside is still far from large-scale industrial production due to the lower titer and higher process cost. In this study, we constructed a biosynthetic pathway from L-tyrosine to salidroside in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To increase sali-droside production, we for the first time constructed an in vivo UDP-glucose regeneration system that sucrose synthase GmSUS worked in conjunction with UDP-glucose transferase RrUGT33 to improve the UDP-glucose availability with inexpensive sucrose as the consumed substrate. Finally, the molar conversion rate of L-tyrosine could reach 95%. To further reduce the cost, co-culture with E. coli that synthesized L-tyrosine de novo resulted in an 81% reduction in the final substrate cost per 1 kg of salidroside compared to the initial cost. The final titer of salidroside obtained 3.8 g/L and was the highest titer achieved at the Shake-Flask-Level in the existing reports. And this marked the first successful synthesis of salidroside in an in situ enhanced UDP-glucose system using sucrose. This accomplishment laid a robust groundwork for further investigations into the synthesis of other notable glycosides and natural compounds.

Postprandial glucose levels between 4 and 7.9 hours (PPG4–7.9h) correlate with mortality from various diseases including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. This study aimed to assess if predicted PPG4–7.9h could diagnose diabetes. Two groups of participants were involved: Group 1 (4420 participants) had actual PPG4–7.9h, while Group 2 (8422 participants) lacked this measure but had all the diabetes diagnostic measures. Group 1 underwent multiple linear regression to predict PPG4–7.9h using 30 predictors, achieving accuracy within 11.1 mg/dL in 80% of the participants. Group 2 had PPG4–7.9h predicted using this model. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that predicted PPG4–7.9h could diagnose diabetes with an accuracy of 87.3% in Group 2, with a sensitivity of 75.1% and specificity of 84.1% at the optimal cutoff of 102.5 mg/dL. Simulation on 10,000 random samples from Group 2 revealed that 175 participants may be needed to investigate PPG4–7.9h as a diabetes diagnostic marker with a power of at least 80%. In conclusion, predicted PPG4–7.9h appears to be a promising diagnostic indicator for diabetes. Future studies seeking to ascertain its definitive diagnostic value might require a minimum sample size of 175 participants.

The refractive index of seawater is one of the essential parameters in ocean observation, so it is necessary to achieve high precision seawater refractive index measurement. In this paper, we propose a method for measuring the refractive index of seawater based on a Position Sensitive Detector (PSD). Theoretical model is established to depict the correlation between laser spot displacement and refractive index change, utilizing a combination of position sensitive detector and laser beam deflection principle. Based on this optical measurement method, a seawater refractive index measurement system was established. To effectively enhance the sensitivity of refractive index detection, a focusing lens was incorporated into the optical path of the measuring system, and simulations were conducted to investigate the impact of focal length on refractive index sensitivity. The calibration experiment of the measuring system was performed based on the relationship between refractive index of seawater and underwater pressure (depth). By measuring laser spot displacement at different depths, changes in displacement with respect to both refractive index and depth were determined. Experimental results demonstrate that the system exhibits a sensitivity of 9.9277×10−9RIU (refractive index unit), the refractive index deviation due to stability is calculated as ±7.545×10−9RIU. Thereby the feasibility of highly sensitive measurement of seawater refractive index is verified.

The GLUT members belong to a family of glucose transporter proteins that facilitate glucose transport across the cell membrane. The mammalian GLUT family consists of thirteen members (GLUTs 1-12 and HMIT). Humans have a recently duplicated GLUT member, GLUT14. Avians express the majority of GLUT members. The arrangement of multiple GLUTs across all somatic tissues signifies the important role of glucose across all organisms. Defects in glucose transport have been linked to metabolic disorders, insulin resistance and diabetes. Despite the essential importance of these transporters, our knowledge regarding GLUT members in avians is fragmented. It has been clear that there are no chicken orthologs of mammalian GLUT4 and GLUT7. Our examination of GLUT members in the chicken revealed that some chicken GLUT members do not have corresponding orthologs in mammals. We review the information regarding GLUT orthologs and their function and expression in mammals and birds, with emphasis on chickens and humans.

Background/objectives: The health benefits of resistant starch are well known, but there have not been many studies available documenting the effect of basmati rice products containg resistant starch upon blood glucose level and lipid profile in vivo efficacy. Methods: Common cooking methods were used to prepare basmati rice products including two boiling methods viz. boiling 1 (boiling by absorption), boiling 2 (boiling in extra amount of water), frying and pressure cooking. The cooked rice were held at various temperatures and times: it was made fresh (T1), kept at room temperature (20–22°C) for 24 h (T2), kept at 4°C for 24 h (T3), and then reheated after being kept at 4°C for 24 h(T4). Next, the products' proximate composition, total dietary fibre (soluble and insoluble), resistant starch (RS), and In vitro starch digestion rate (rapidly and slowly digested starch) were examined. The effect of RS on blood glucose and lipid profile were measured in humans and rats. Histopathological study of liver and pancreas in rats were also observed. Results: The basmati rice prepared by boiling 1 and stored with T3 was found more effective to control blood glucose and lipid profile. Similarly in rats, the blood glucose level, cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL were reduced about 29.7, 37.9, 31.3 and 30.5% respectively, after consumption of basmsti rice prepared by boiling 1 and stored at T3. Conclusion: Rice products stored at 4⁰C have a high amount of resistant starh, insoluble dietary fibre, slowly digestible starch and low glycemic index. Thus helps to inhibit glycogen and lipid synthesis.

BACKGROUND This study investigated the association of postprandial plasma glucose (PPG) with cancer mortality using a general cohort of US adults. METHODS This cohort study included 14,860 US adults who attended the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1988 to 1994, with mortality being followed up to December 31, 2019. The experimental exposures were levels of plasma glucose, including PPG with a fasting time of 0-3.9 h (PPG_0-3.9h) and 4-7.9 h (PPG_4-7.9h), plasma glucose with a fasting time ≥ 8 h (PG_fasting), and plasma glucose at 2 h after oral glucose tolerance test (PG_2hOGTT). Plasma glucose-associated cancer mortality risk was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS A 1-natural-log-unit increase in PPG_4-7.9h was associated with a higher multivariate-adjusted risk for cancer mortality [hazard ratio (HR), 3.24; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.50-7.00]. However, PPG_0-3.9h, PG_fasting, PG_2hOGTT, hemoglobin A_1c, and insulin were not significantly associated with cancer mortality. The positive association of PPG_4-7.9h with cancer mortality remained in those without a prior diagnosis of cancer. CONCLUSIONS High PPG_4-7.9h is associated with a higher cancer mortality risk in US adults. Lowering PPG_4-7.9h may reduce cancer mortality.

Aim: Aging is companied by deteriorations of insulin resistance (IR) and insulin secretion. However, little is known about the roles of aging on different phases of insulin secretion (ISEC); i.e., the first- and second-phase of insulin secretion (FPIS, SPIS) and glucose effectiveness (GE). Methods: Totally 169 individuals (43 men and 126 women) with the similar fasting plasma glucose (FPG: 90 mg/dL) and BMI (men: 23 kg/m2, women 22 kg/m2) were enrolled. IR, FPIS, SPIS, and GE were estimated using our previously developed equations shown below. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to assess the correlations between age and four diabetes factors (DFs: IR, FPIS, SPIS and GE). The equations that are used to calculate the DF in the present study were built and published by our group. Results: The age of the participants ranged from 18- to 78-year-old. Men had higher FPIS but lower HDL-C levels than women (2.067±0.159, 1.950±0.186 μU/min and 1.130±0.306, 1.348±0.357 mmol/dl, accordingly). The results of Pearson correlation revealed that age was negatively related to IR and GE in both genders (IR: r = -0.39, p < 0.001 for men, r = -0.24, p < 0.003 for women; GE: r = 0.66, p < 0.001 for men, r = 0.78, p < 0.001 for women). In the meanwhile, FPIS was also only found to be negatively correlated with age in female (r = -0.238, p = 0.003). But there was no different with SPIS and age in both of genders. Conclusions: We have found that in Chinese with normal FPG level (90 mg/dl) and body mass index (men: 23 kg/m2, women: 22: kg/m2), age is negatively related to IR and GE in both genders. At the same time, only FPIS was found to be negatively related to age in women. The tightness of their relationships, from the highest to the lowest are, GE, FPIS and IR accordingly. The importance of GE should be re-evaluated. These results should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size.

The aim of this study is to solve the problems of complicated pretreatment and high analytical cost in the detection technology of trace drug toxicants in municipal wastewater. A high-performance magnetic sorbent was synthesized for enrichment of trace drug substances in wastewater to develop magnetic solid-phase extraction pretreatment combined with the acoustic ejection mass spectrometry (AEMS) analytical methods for the molecules in wastewater drug toxicants. The magnetic nanospheres was successfully prepared by magnetic nanoparticles modified with divinylbenzene and vinyl pyrrolidone.The results showed that the linear dynamic range of 17 drugs was 1-500 ng/L, the recovery was 43%-105%, the matrix effect was more than 67%, the limit of quantitative detection was 1-2 ng/L, and the detection time of each sample was 2.98s. It can be seen that the developed magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) method is a good solution to the problem of complicated pre-treatment and analytical cost in the detection of drugs in wastewater. The developed magnetic material and acoustic excitation coupled mass spectrometry analysis method can realize the low-cost, efficient enrichment and fast analysis of different kinds of drug molecules in urban sewage.

Insulin resistance is a prominent pathophysiologic syndrome in a plethora of metabolic disorders including obesity, prediabetes, type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (Ten et al., 2007), impaired glucose tolerance, dyslipidemia, polycystic ovary syndrome and hypercoagulability (Smith & LeRoith, 2004). It is strongly associated with obstructive sleep apnea, hypoventilation syndrome, pancreatitis, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, steatohepatitis, cirrhosis, gall bladder disease, multiple cancers (breasts, uterus, cervix prostate, kidney, colon, esophagus, pancreas and liver), stroke, cataracts, coronary heart disease, and hypertension. It is also associated with causation of abnormal menses, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome, osteoarthritis, phlebitis and other venous diseases. Insulin resistance is thought to be caused by intrinsic and extrinsic factors that contribute to its development. Once present, insulin resistance affects the metabolism, behavior, physical appearance and has lasting effects. This paper will review the latest evidence in development of insulin resistance, its pathogenesis and manifestation and its relation to other conditions. The final aim is to raise awareness of its role on diet, metabolic, genetics and microbiome.

In this work, a novel heterojunction based on ZnSnO3/ZnO nanofibers was prepared using electrospinning method. The crystal, structural and surface compositional properties of sample based on ZnSnO3 and ZnSnO3/ZnO composite nanofibers were investigated by X-ray diffractometer (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). Compared to pure ZnSnO3 nanofibers, the ZnSnO3/ZnO heterostructure nanofibers display high sensitivity and selectivity response with fast response towards ethanol gas at low operational temperature. The sensitivity response of sensor based on ZnSnO3/ZnO composite nanofibers were 19.6 towards 50 ppm ethanol gas at 225°C, which was about 1.5 times superior than that of pure ZnSnO3 nanofibers, which can be owed mainly to the presence of oxygen vacancies and the synergistic effect between ZnSnO3 and ZnO.

The cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein H (CREBH, encoded by CREB3L3) is a membrane-bound transcriptional factor that primarily localizes in the liver and small intestine. CREBH governs triglyceride metabolism in the liver, which mediates the changes in gene expression governing fatty acid oxidation, ketogenesis, and apolipoproteins upregulating LPL activity. A deficiency of CREBH in mice leads to severe hypertriglyceridemia. CREBH, in synergy with PPARα, has a crucial role in upregulating Fgf21 expression, which is implicated in metabolic homeostasis. CREBH binds to and functions as a co-activator for both PPARα and LXRα in regulating gene expression of lipid metabolism. Furthermore, intestinal CREBH in overexpression reduces cholesterol absorption and suppresses high-cholesterol diet-induced fatty liver. Conversely, a deficiency of CrebH in mice fed on various high-fat diets leads to severe fatty liver. Thus, CREBH could be a therapeutic target in the treatment of metabolic diseases.

Based on the demographic shift and the related challenges resulting from the growing number of elderly and persons with chronic diseases, the idea of smart home that supports its inhabitants in the daily life, gains importance. The purpose of this paper was to examine in a prototypic Ambient Assisted Living environment if users after interaction with different health-supporting applications intend to use such in the future. Two experimental studies exemplary show possible applications of home-integrated technology that can support, assist and accompany the target group in different contexts, and examine to what extent participants are willing to future use such sophisticated technology at home. The results show that people in general, but especially the old and chronically ill ones are quite fascinated of health-supporting ambient technology and the majority intends to use such ambient assistance in the future (study I). Moreover, serious games for healthcare are shown as a hedonic use of technology in smart homes that have a great potential to retain or improve the physical health, mobility and the overall well-being of the inhabitants (study II). The article provides two examples of ambient technology to leverage the demographic change and presents important user factors for facilitating high user acceptance.

Diabetic patients need long-term and frequent glucose monitoring to assist in insulin intake. The current finger-prick devices are painful and costly which make noninvasive glucose sensors highly demanded. In this review paper, we discuss several advanced electromagnetic (EM) wave based technologies for noninvasive glucose measurement, including infrared (IR) spectroscopy, photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence, optical coherent tomography (OCT) and microwave sensing. Development and progress of each method are discussed regarding fundamental principle, system setup and experimental results. Despite the promising achievements reported previously, there is no established product to obtain FDA approval or survive marketing test. Limitations and prospects of these techniques are discussed at the end of this review.

The objective of this pilot study was to compare glucose concentrations in capillary blood (CB) samples analysed in a laboratory by a validated method and glucose concentrations measured in the interstitial fluid (ISF) by continuous glucose monitoring under different physical activity levels in a postprandial state in healthy and active subjects without diabetes. Ten healthy, active subjects (26±4 years, 67±11 kg bodyweight (BW), 11±3 h) were included in the study. Within 14 days, they underwent six tests consisting of a) resting fasted (R/Fast), b) resting after intake of 1 g glucose/kg BW (R/Glc) and c) running for 60 minutes at moderate (65/Glc) and d) high (85/Glc) intensity after intake of 1 g glucose/kg BW. Data were collected in the morning, following a standardised dinner before test day. Sensor-based glucose concentrations were compared to simultaneous capillary blood glucose concentrations. Pearson’s r correlation coefficient was highest for R/Glc (.92, p<.001) compared to R/Fast (.45, p<.001), 65/Glc (.60, p<.001) and 85/Glc (.70, p<.001). Mean absolute relative deviation (MARD) and standard deviation (SD) was smallest for resting fasted and similar between all other conditions (R/Fast: 8±6%, R/Glc: 17±12%, 65/Glc: 22 ± 24%, 85/Glc: 18±17%). However, Bland-Altman plot analysis showed a higher range between lower and upper limits of agreement (95% confidence interval) of paired data under exercising compared to resting conditions. Under resting fasted conditions, both methods produce similar outcomes. Under resting postprandial and exercising conditions, respectively, there are differences between both methods. However, further data in healthy subjects need to be gathered considering physical activity and nutrition status.

Background: Obesity among pregnant women is common, and their offspring are predisposed to obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes. Circulating metabolites that are related to insulin resistance and are associated with this decreased tissue-specific uptake are unknown. Here, we assessed metabolite profiles in elderly women and who were either female offspring from obese mothers (OOM) or offspring of lean mothers (OLM). Metabolic changes were tested for associations with metrics for insulin resistance. Methods: 37 elderly women were separated into an elderly offspring from obese mothers (OOM; n = 17) and elderly offspring from lean/normal weight mothers (OLM; n = 20) groups. We measured plasma metabolites using 1H-NMR and also insulin-dependent tissue specific glucose uptake in skeletal muscle were assessed. Associations were made between metabolites and glucose uptake. Results: Compared to the OLM group, we found that the 22:6 docosahexaenoic acid percentage of the total long chain n-3 fatty acids (DHA/FA) was significantly lower in OOM (P = 0.015). DHA/FA associated significantly to skeletal muscle GU (P = 0.031) and M-value in the OLM group only (P = 0.050). Conclusions: DHA/FA is associated with insulin-dependent skeletal muscle glucose uptake and that this association is significantly weakened in the offspring of obese mothers.

Rho guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) are key regulators in a number of cellular functions, including actin cytoskeleton remodeling and vesicle traffic. Traditionally, Rho GTPases are studied because of their function in cell migration and cancer, while their roles in metabolism are less documented. However, emerging evidence implicates Rho GTPases as regulators of processes of crucial importance for maintaining metabolic homeostasis. Thus, the time is now ripe for reviewing Rho GTPases in the context of metabolic health. Rho GTPase-mediated key processes include the release of insulin from pancreatic β-cells, glucose uptake into skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, and muscle mass regulation. Through the current review, we cast light on the important role of Rho GTPases in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, and the pancreas and mechanisms by which Rho GTPases act to regulate glucose metabolism in health and disease. We also describe challenges and goals for future research.

Telomere repeats at the ends of human chromosomes protect chromosomes from degradation, and telomerase has a prominent role in telomere maintenance. Telomerase also affects cell proliferation, DNA replication, differentiation, and tumourigenesis. TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase enzyme) is the catalytic subunit of telomerase and is critical for enzyme activity. TERT promoter mutations and promoter methylation are strongly associated with increased telomerase activation in cancer cells. Notably, TERT and telomerase are downregulated in stem cells during their differentiation. Therefore, the link between differentiation and telomerase provides a valuable tool for studying the epigenetic regulation of TERT enzyme. Oxygen tension affects several cellular behaviours including proliferation, metabolic activity, stemness, and differentiation. The role of oxygen tension in driving promoter modifications of the TERT gene in embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is poorly understood either in vitro or in vivo. We adopted a monolayer ESCs differentiation model to explore the role of low, physiological, oxygen (physoxia) in the epigenetic regulation of telomerase and associated genes, including TERT, DNMTs, and HDACs. Cells were cultured in either air, a 2% O2 incubator, or a 2% O2 oxygen workstation to provide a fully defined 2% O2 environment. Pre-gassed media (pre-conditioned to 2% O2 in a HypoxyCool unit) was used in all 2% O2 experimentation. As anticipated, physoxia culture increased the proliferation rate and stemness of ESCs and a slower onset of differentiation in physoxia was evident. Further, downregulated TERT expression was correlated to reduced telomerase activity during differentiation. TERT expression and telomerase activity remained significantly elevated in physoxia during differentiation. A substantial increase in TERT promoter methylation levels was noted during differentiation. Chemical inhibition of DNMT3B reduced TERT promoter methylation and was associated with increased TERT gene and telomerase activity during differentiation. DNMT3B CHiP demonstrated that downregulated TERT expression and increased proximal promoter methylation were associated with DNMT3B binding to the promoter. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that DNMT3B can directly bind TERT promoter, change its methylation levels, and contribute to regulation of telomerase activity.

Knowing that biomolecules, such as β-amyrin and α-amyrin, have some pharmacological effects, the aim of this study was directed towards exploring the protective effect of a Tomato Peel and Seed Extract (TPSE) for its soothing function but also for its capacity to modulate the adrenal axis, involved in stress response. Ex vivo tests were carried out on skin explants to evaluate the effectiveness of TPSE formulated at 0.5% on Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) and IL-10 release, Kappa Opioid Receptor (KOR) and Caspase 14 expression. An in vivo study combined a clinical evaluation of skin homogeneity, psychological parameter as well as analysis of salivary cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone concentrations. All measurements were carried out at the beginning and after 28 days of applying a TPSE face cream. TPSE regulated not only the release of CGRP and Il-10, reflecting an anti-neurogenic and anti-inflammatory properties, but also modulated KORs. Twenty height days of TPSE application induced a significant decrease in intensity and extent erythrosis, a lower output of salivary cortisol and a significant increase in pleasant emotions when compared to placebo. These results provide encouragement to continue exploring the impact of cosmetic ingredient on psychophysiological parameters to improve skin health and well-being.

The present study reports on the fabrication and performance of ammonia sensors based on single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) coated with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The sensors were subjected to controlled concentrations of ammonia at two temperatures, namely 25 oC and 140 oC, and their response was monitored through successive cycles of ammonia exposure and nitrogen purging. The results demonstrate that the sputtering-based deposition of AuNPs on SWCNTs led to the best sensor performance, characterized by a rapid increase in resistance values upon exposure to ammonia, and efficient recovery at 140 oC. By contrast, the sensor with chemically impregnated AuNPs exhibited a slower response time. Furthermore, a novel device was developed that combined MoS2-AuNPs (sputtering)-SWCNTs, and it showed improved sensor performance compared to the devices with only AuNPs. Overall, the study provides valuable insights into the fabrication and optimization of SWCNT-based ammonia sensors for various applications, especially for detecting and quantifying small amounts of ammonia (concentrations below 1 ppm).

The copper deposition on the platinum and palladium nanoelectrode has been studied using cyclic voltammetry. The use of nanoelectrode platinum and palladium are defined in the study of heavy metals. The noble nanoelectrode of metal has a typical silicone processing structure. In comparison to the nanoelectrodes, the geometry of the electrode series is complex and balanced. Nanoelectrodes of platinum are found effective in detecting heavy metal. There was regular analysis of the use of the sensors. The identification constraints down to the ng /L level was accomplished by refined electrode geometry and the stripping procedures. The process was used for the study of water sample determination. Another heavy metal ion attack voltammetric reaction was studied. The SEM picture clearly observed and characterized the nanoparticle electrode by X-ray diffraction and cyclic voltammetry.

Objectives and Background: Gestational diabetes (GDM) is a common pregnancy complication, defined as a glucose intolerance diagnosis during pregnancy. GDM is strongly associated with adverse fetal and maternal outcomes. In Germany, to screen and diagnose GDM we use a 1-hour 50g oGCT (oral glucose challenge test) followed by a 2-hour 75g oGTT if the first was pathological. This analysis examines the correlation of 75g oGTT glucose levels and fetomaternal outcome. Methods: Data of 1664 patients from a gestational diabetes consultation clinic at the Charité University hospital in Berlin, Germany, were analyzed retrospectively from 2015 until 2022. The 75g oGTT blood glucose levels were categorized into isolated fasting hyperglycemia (GDM-IFH), isolated post-load hyperglycemia (GDM-IPH) and combined hyperglycemia (GDM-CH), using the levels of the fasting, 1-hour and 2-hour values after glucose application. These subtypes were compared regarding baseline characteristics as well as fetal and maternal outcome. Results: GDM-IFH and GDM-CH women displayed higher preconceptional BMI and required insulin therapy more frequently (p<0,001). The GDM-IFH group was at higher risk of having a primary cesarean section (p=0,047), while GDM-IPH women were significantly more likely to have an emergent cesarean section (p=0,013). The offspring of GDM-IFH and GDM-CH women were born with a significantly higher mean birthweight (p<0,001) and birth weight percentiles (p<0,001) and were at increased risk of being large for gestational age (LGA) (p=0,004). Women from the GDM-IPH group delivered significantly more neonates who were small for gestational age (p=0,027) or with low fetal weight <30th percentile (p=0,003). Conclusion: This analysis shows a strong association between glucose response pattern in the 75g oGTT and adverse perinatal fetomaternal outcome. The differences among the subgroups, specifically concerning insulin therapy, mode of delivery and fetal growth, suggest an individualized approach in prenatal care after a GDM diagnosis.

Glucose is a simple sugar molecule. The sugar molecule is chemically symbolised as C6H12O6. This means that the glucose molecule contains 6 carbon atoms (C), 12 hydrogen atoms (H) and 6 oxygen atoms (O). In human blood, the molecule glucose circulates as blood sugar. Normally after eating or drinking, our body breaks down the sugars in food and uses them to obtain energy for our cells. To do this, our pancreas produces insulin. Insulin "pulls" sugar from the blood and puts it into the cells for use. If someone has diabetes, their pancreas can't produce enough insulin. As a result, the level of glucose in the blood rises. This can lead one to many potential complications, including blindness, disease, nerve damage, amputation, stroke, heart attack and damage to blood vessels etc. In this study, a non-invasive method for monitoring blood glucose has been developed and is therefore easily usable. The device developed can measure the glucose level continuously and eliminates the disadvantages of the invasive system. Near-IR sensors (optical sensors) were used to estimate the concentration of glucose in the blood; these sensors have a wavelength of 940 nm. The sensor is placed on the tip of the finger and the output of the optical sensor is then connected to the microcontroller at the analogue input. Another sensor used, but only to provide more medical information was the heartbeat sensor. After processing and regression analysis, the glucose level is predicted, and data is sent via the Bluetooth network to a developed APP. The results of the implemented device were compared with available invasive methods. The study consists of a hardware platform inserted into an armband and then a small black parallelepiped-shaped box in which the optical sensors are inserted. The hardware consists of a microcontroller, a Near-IR optical sensor, a heartbeat sensor and a Bluetooth module.

Increased chronic glucose is associated with pandemic diseases. To date, there is not a practical, as well as accurate sample for reflecting that level. We measured earwax glucose in 37 controls. They provided standard serum samples, Glycated Haemoglobin (HbA1c) and earwax samples on two time-points, one month a part. The specimens measured baseline fasting glucose, a follow-up postprandial glucose level and a between sample chronic glucose, calculated using the average level on the two occasions. The baseline earwax sample was obtained using a clinical method and the follow-up using a novel self-sampling earwax device. The earwax analytic time was significantly faster using the novel device in comparison to the clinical use of the syringe. Earwax accurately reflected glucose at both assessments with stronger correlations than HbA1c. Follow-up postprandial concentrations were more significant than their respective fasting baseline concentrations, reflecting differences in fasting and postprandial glycaemia and more efficient standardisation at follow up. Earwax demonstrated to be more predictable than HbA1c in reflecting systemic fasting, postprandial and long-term glucose levels and immune by confounders. Earwax glucose was approximately 60% more predictable than HbA1c in reflecting glycaemia over a month. The self-sampling device provided a sample that might accurately reflect chronic glycaemia.

Whole cell biosensors could serve as eco-friendly and cost-effective alternatives for detecting potentially toxic bioavailable heavy metals in aquatic environments. However, they often fail to meet practical requirements due to an insufficient limit of detection (LOD) and high background noise. In this study, we designed a synthetic genetic circuit specifically tailored for detecting ionic mercury, which we applied to environmental samples collected from artisanal gold mining sites in Peru. We developed two distinct versions of the biosensor, each utilizing a different reporter protein: a fluorescent biosensor (Mer-RFP) and a colorimetric biosensor (Mer-Blue). Mer-RFP enabled real-time monitoring of the culture’s response to mercury samples using a plate reader, whereas Mer-Blue was analysed for colour accumulation at the endpoint using a specially designed, low-cost camera set up for harvested cell pellets. Both biosensors exhibited negligible baseline expression of their respective reporter proteins and responded specifically to HgBr2 in pure water. Mer-RFP demonstrated a linear detection range from 1 nM to 1 μM, whereas Mer-Blue showed a linear range from 2 nM to 125 nM. Our biosensors successfully detected a high concentration of ionic mercury in the reaction bucket where artisanal miners produce a mercury-gold amalgam. However, they did not detect ionic mercury in the water from active mining ponds, indicating a concentration lower than 3.2 nM Hg2+ -a result consistent with chemical analysis quantitation. Furthermore, we discuss the potential of Mer-Blue as a practical and affordable monitoring tool, highlighting its stability, reliance on simple visual colorimetry, and the possibility of sensitivity expansion to organic mercury.

Introduction: Among the many factors that may limit effective wound healing in patients with chronic ulcers, bacterial infection and poor cell recruitment are primary causes that contribute to prolonged healing. Thus, a novel strategy that aims to prevent bacterial infection within the wound, while at the same time providing structural scaffolding that promotes endogenous tissue repair, would be of great interest. Here, we developed a thermo-sensitive silver nanoparticle hydrogel composite as an antibacterial nutritional scaffold for the wound that contains all nutrients required for cell growth while preventing bacterial infection with the ability to fill up all the cavities and void areas in wounds regardless of their geometry. Methods: Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were synthesized by chemical reduction. After characterization, silver hydrogel nanocomposite was developed by reconstitution of collagen-based hydrogel powder in a nanoparticle suspension of varying AgNPs concentrations (200, 400, and 600 ppm). The antibacterial activity of the formulations was examined in vitro and in vivo in subcutaneous implant infected model. The wound healing efficacy of the hydrogel nanocomposite was also evaluated using a splinted wound model in rats through comparison of clinical wound measurements and histological assessments. Cytocompatibility assay and biochemical analysis of blood at the end of in vivo wound healing study were performed to evaluate the safety of formulations. Results: The synthesized nanoparticles were spherical and stable. While hydrogel alone did not show any bacterial reduction in vitro, the inhibition of bacterial growth was significant in all silver hydrogel nanocomposites compared to controls (p <0.05) and was dose-dependent, with maximum reduction observed in the 600 ppm group (4.56±0.26 LOG CFU/mL, P<0.001). All concentrations of AgNPs hydrogel composites showed significant antibacterial activity in vivo as well (P<0.0001). Treatment of splinted wounds with AgNPs hydrogel composite resulted in faster wound closure and accelerated wound re-epithelialization. The formulations were non-cytotoxic and did not differ significantly in hematological and biochemical factors from the control group in in vivo study. Conclusions: By presenting promising antibacterial and wound healing activity, silver hydrogel nanocomposite offers a safe therapeutic option that can be used as a functional scaffold for an acceleration of wound healing.

Viral infections can endanger public health by causing serious illness, leading to pandemics and burdening healthcare systems. Moreover, in the situation of a global spread, disruptions occur in every aspect of life including business, education, and social life. Fast and accurate diagnosis of viral infections has huge implications for saving people’s lives, preventing spread of the diseases, and minimizing social and economic damages. In the last decades, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based techniques have been frequently used to detect viruses in the clinic. However, in a situation where rapid virus detection is the primary measure in preventing the spread, as in the case of ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, disadvantages of PCR, such as long processing times and requirement of sophisticated laboratory instruments, have been faced. Due to the urgent need for accurate techniques for virus detection, biosensor systems involved in many applications in biological detection are being developed for rapid, real-time, and high-throughput detection of viruses. Among various sensing platforms, optical devices are of great interest due to their advantages such as high sensitivity and direct readout. In the current review, usability of sensing techniques depending on optical phenomena, such as fluorescence-based sensors, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), optical resonators and interferometry-based platforms, is discussed for virus diagnostics applications. Then, we focus on an interferometric biosensor developed by our group, single-particle interferometric reflectance imaging sensor (SP-IRIS), which has the capability to visualize single nanoparticles, to demonstrate its application for digital virus detection.

Common genetic variants of the fat mass and obesity associated (FTO) gene are strongly associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. FTO is ubiquitously expressed, but appears to have tissue-specific roles. Earlier studies have focused on the role of hypothlamic FTO in the regulation of metabolism. However, it appears that FTO plays a role in the regulation of metabolism in a tissue-specific manner. Recent studies suggest that expression of hepatic FTO is regulated by metabolic signals such as nutrients and hormones and altered FTO levels in liver affects glucose and lipid metabolism. This review outlines recent findings on hepatic FTO in the regulation of metabolism, with particular focus on hepatic glucose and lipid metabolism. It is proposed that abnormal activity of hepatic signaling pathways involving FTO links metabolic impairments such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Therefore, a better understanding of these pathways may lead to therapeutic approaches to treat these metabolic diseases by targeting hepatic FTO. The overall goal of this review is to place FTO within the context of hepatic regulation of metabolism.

Increased sugar intake is implicated in Type-2 diabetes and fatty liver disease. Mechanisms by which glucose and fructose components promote these conditions are unclear. We hypothesize that alterations in intestinal metabolite and microbiota profiles specific to each monosaccharide are involved. Two groups of six adult C57BL/6 mice were fed for 10-weeks with a diet where either glucose or fructose was the sole carbohydrate component (G and F, respectively). A third group was fed with normal chow (N). Fecal metabolites were profiled every 2-weeks by ¹H NMR and microbial composition was analysed by real-time PCR (qPCR). Glucose tolerance was also periodically assessed. N, G and F mice had similar weight gains and glucose tolerance. Multivariate analysis of NMR profiles indicated that F mice were separated from both N and G, with decreased butyrate and glutamate and increased fructose, succinate, taurine, tyrosine and xylose. Compared to N and G, F mice showed a shift in microbe populations from gram-positive Lactobacillus spp. to gram-negative Enterobacteria species. Substitution of normal chow carbohydrate mixture by either pure glucose or fructose for 10 weeks did not alter adiposity or glucose tolerance. However, F G and N mice generated distinctive fecal metabolite signatures with incomplete fructose absorption as a dominant feature of F mice.

The main aspects of material research: material synthesis, material structure, and material properties, are interrelated. Acquiring atomic structure information of electron beam sensitive materials by electron microscope, such as porous zeolites, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites, metal-organic frameworks, is an important and challenging task. The difficulties in characterization of the structures will inevitably limit the optimization of their synthesis methods and further improve their performance. The emergence of integrated differential phase contrast scanning transmission electron microscopy (iDPC-STEM), a STEM characterization technique capable of obtaining images with high signal-to-noise ratio under lower doses, has made great breakthroughs in the atomic structure characterization of these materials. This article reviews the developments and applications of iDPC-STEM in electron beam sensitive materials, and provides an outlook on its capabilities and development.

Biosensors have shown great potential in realizing rapid, low cost and portable on-site detection for diseases. This work reports the development of a new bioelectronic sensor called AC electrokinetics-based capacitive (ABC) biosensor, for the detection of genomic DNA (gDNA) of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The ABC sensor is based on interdigitated microelectrodes biofunctionalized with oligonucleotide probes. It uses a special AC signal for direct capacitive monitoring of topological change on nanostructured sensor surface, which simultaneously induce dieletrophoretic enrichment of target gDNAs. As a result, rapid and specific detection of gDNA/probe hybridization can be realized with high sensitivity. It requires no signal amplification such as labelling, hybridization chain reaction, or nucleic acid sequence-based amplification. This method involves only simple sample preparation. After optimization of nano-structured sensor surface and signal processing, the ABC sensor demonstrated fast turnaround of results (~10 s detection), excellent sensitivity (a detection limit of 4.7 DNA copies /µL MRSA gDNA) and high specificity, suitable for point of care diagnosis. As a bioelectronic sensor, the developed ABC sensors can be easily adapted for detection of other infectious agents.

The kidney and the heart work together in balancing the body circulation and although their physiology is based on strict inter dependence, their performance fulfills different aims. While the heart can rapidly increase its own oxygen consumption to comply with the wide changes in metabolic demand linked to body function, the kidney physiology is primarily designed to maintain a stable metabolic rate and has limited capacity to cope with any steep increase in renal metabolism. In the kidneys the glomerular population filters a large amount of blood and the tubular system has been programmed to reabsorb 99% of filtrate by reabsorbing sodium together with other filtered substances including all glucose molecules. Glucose reabsorption involves the sodium-glucose cotransporters SGLT2 and SGLT1 on the apical membrane in the proximal tubular section; it also enhances bicarbonate formation so as to preserve the acid-base balance. The complex work of reabsorption in the kidney is the main factor in renal oxygen consumption; analysis of renal glucose transport in disease states is providing better understanding of the renal physiology changes that occur when clinical conditions alter the neurohormonal response leading to an increase in glomerular filtration pressure. In this circumstance glomerular hyperfiltration occurs, imposing a higher metabolic demand on kidney physiology and causing progressive renal impairment. Albumin urination is the warning signal of renal engagement over-exertion and most frequently heralds heart failure development, regardless of disease etiology. The review analyzes the mechanisms linked to renal oxygen consumption, focusing on sodium-glucose management.

Background. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a predictor of chronic disease that is impractical to routinely measure in primary care settings. We used a new estimated cardiorespiratory fitness (eCRF) algorithm that uses information routinely documented in electronic health care records to predict abnormal blood glucose incidence. Methods: Participants were adults (17.8% female) 20-81 years old at baseline from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study between 1979 and 2006. eCRF was based on sex, age, body mass index, resting heart rate, resting blood pressure, and smoking status. CRF was measured by maximal treadmill testing. Cox proportional hazards regression models were established using eCRF and CRF as independent variables predicting the abnormal blood glucose incidence while adjusting for covariates. Results: Of 8,602 participants at risk at baseline, 3,580 (41.6%) developed abnormal blood glucose during an average of 4.9 years follow-up. The average eCRF of 12.03 ± 1.75 METs was equivalent to the CRF of 12.15 ± 2.40 METs within the 10% equivalence limit. In fully adjusted models, the estimated risks were the same (HRs = 0.96), eCRF (95% CIs = 0.93−0.99), and CRF (95% CI of 0.94−0.98). Each 1-MET increase was associated with a 4% reduced risk. Conclusion: Higher eCRF is associated with a lower risk of abnormal glucose. eCRF can be a vital sign used for research and prevention.

Various efforts have been made to detect minimum value of glucose in any medium like water or body buffer solutions with high-sensitivity, accurate, and low-cost sensors in order to enhance life style. Therefore, the present study was done to investigate reliability of two-dimensional plasmonic structure by circular dichroism (CD) and ellipsometry tools in different concentrations of glucose. Our results confirmed a dependency of the CD signal on glucose concentrations and also a very good sensitivity based on the phase difference between each polarization in ellipsometry parameters with the help of an achiral plasmonic structure.

A human organism depends on stable glucose blood levels in order to maintain the metabolic needs. Glucose is considered as the most important energy source and glycolysis is postulated as a backbone pathway. However, when glucose supply is limited, ketone bodies and amino acids can be used to produce enough ATP. In contrast, for the functioning of pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) glucose is essential and cannot be substituted by other metabolites. PPP generates and maintains levels of NADPH needed for reduction of oxidized glutathione and protein thiols, synthesis of lipids and DNA as well as for xenobiotic detoxification, regulatory redox signaling and counteracting infections. Flux of glucose into a PPP, particularly under extreme oxidative and toxic challenges is critical for survival, whereas the glycolytic pathway is primarily activated when glucose is abundant, and there is lack of NADP⁺ that is required for activation of glucose-6 phosphate dehydrogenase. An important role of glycogen stores in resistance to oxidative challenges is discussed. Current evidences explain disruptive metabolic effects and detrimental health consequences of chronic nutritional carbohydrate overload and provides new insights into positive metabolic effects of intermittent fasting, caloric restriction, exercise, and ketogenic diet through modulation of redox homeostasis.

The aim of this study is to prepare redox-sensitive nanophotosensitizers for targeted delivery of chlorin e6 (Ce6) against cervical cancer. For this purpose, Ce6 was conjugated with β-cyclodextrin (bCD) via disulfide bond creating nanophotosensitizers that were fabricated for redox-sensitive delivery of Ce6 against cancer cells. bCD was treated with succinic anhydride to synthesize suc-cinylated bCD (bCDsu). After that, cystamine was attached to the carboxylic end of bCDsu (bCDsu-ss) and the amine end group of bCDsu-ss was conjugated with Ce6 (bCDsu-ss-Ce6). Chemical composition of bCDsu-ss-Ce6 was confirmed with 1H and 13C NMR spectra. bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers were fabricated by dialysis procedure. They formed small particles with an average particle size of 152.0±23.2 nm and they showed improved singlet oxygen (SO) generation in the aqueous solution under light irradiation and was significantly higher than that of Ce6 alone. Ce6 release rate from bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers was accelerated by addition of glutathione (GSH), indicating that bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers have re-dox-sensitive photosensitizer delivery capacity. bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers have low in-trinsic cytotoxicity against CCD986Sk human skin fibroblast cells as well as Ce6 alone. However, bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers showed improved Ce6 uptake ratio, higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and phototoxicity compared to those of Ce6 alone. GSH addition resulted in higher Ce6 uptake ratio, ROS generation and phototoxicity than those of Ce6 alone, indicating that bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers have redox-sensitive biological activity in vitro against HeLa human cervical cancer cells. At tumor xenograft model using HeLa cells, bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers efficiently accumulated in the tumor rather than normal organs, i.e. fluores-cence intensity in tumor tissues was significantly higher than those of other organs while Ce6 alone did not specifically target tumor tissue. These results indicated higher anticancer activity of bCDsu-ss-Ce6 nanophotosensitizers, by efficiently inhibiting growth of tumor in in vivo animal tumor xenograft study.

We demonstrate, for the first time, a highly sensitive detection of 4-methylimidazole (4-MeI), a carcinogenic material, by applying an electric field enhancement technique using a terahertz (THz) metamaterial at the THz region. The THz metamaterials were fabricated with a metal array using an electric-field-coupled inductor-capacitor (ELC) resonator structure, and FDTD simulation showed good agreement with experimental results. We measured the THz spectra of the metamaterials to detect 4-MeI concentrations of 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mg/L. The resonance frequency of the metamaterial was shifted by approximately 8 GHz and transmittance at the resonance frequency increased to 2 x 10-3 as the concentration was increased, up to 20 mg/L. Our study provides new insight into application of metamaterials to detect carcinogen using a THz technique.

In this work, several random Boolean networks (RBN) are generated and analyzed from two characteristics: their time evolution diagram and their transition diagram. To do this, its randomness is estimated using three metrics, of which algorithmic complexity is the only one capable of revealing both transitions towards the chaotic regime and the algorithmic contribution of certain states to the transition diagram and their relationship with the order they occupy in the temporal evolution of the respective RBN.

A rapid and efficient method using an alkyl functionalized magnetic nanoparticles-based extraction technique combined with Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography was developed for the detection of trace amounts of polycystic aromatic hydrocarbons in tea leaves. As a popular coating for chromatographic column packing materials, C18-alkyl has been demonstrated to be effective in separating polycystic aromatic hydrocarbons. And the magnetism of the nanomaterials accelerates the extraction process while their high surface ratio enables desirable dispersity in the sample matrix. Meanwhile, the adsorbents can be washed and reused 30 times without compromise on recovery, which greatly reduced the budget. The effects of various parameters were investigated and optimized, and the recoveries for five analytes were in the range of 84.8–103.7%. The reproducibility rate of intra-day and inter-day were below 7.1% and 11.3% respectively. The limits of detection and limits of quantification ranged from 1.69–9.97 ng g-1 and 5.12–30.21 ng g-1, indicating satisfactory sensitivity. Thus, the proposed methodology is rapid, highly efficient, and economical, and it expands the application of magnetic cleanup approaches in complex food matrices.

A highly sensitive strain sensor based on tunable cascaded Fabry-Perot interferometers (FPIs) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Cascaded FPIs consist of a sensing FPI and a reference FPI which effectively generate the Vernier Effect (VE). The sensing FPI comprises a hollow core fiber (HCF) segment sandwiched between single-mode fibers (SMFs), and the reference FPI consists of a tunable air reflector, which is constituted by a computer programable fiber holding block to adjust the desired cavity length. Simulation results predict the dispersion characteristics of modes carried by HCF. The sensor’s parameters are designed corresponding to a narrow bandwidth range, i.e., 1530 nm to 1610 nm. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed sensor exhibits optimum strain sensitivity of 23.9 pm/με in the range of 0 to 3000 με which is 13.73 times higher than the single sensing FPI strain sensitivity of 1.74 pm/με. The strain sensitivity of the sensor can be further enhanced by extending the source bandwidth. The proposed sensor exhibits ultra-low temperature sensitivity of 0.49 pm/°C in the wider temperature range of 25 °C to 135 °C, providing good isolation for eliminating cross-talk between strain and temperature. The sensor is very robust, cost-effective, easy to manufacture, repeatable, and shows a highly linear and stable response in the wider range of axial strain. Based on the sensor’s performance, it may suit plenty of practical applications in the real sensing world

Automated medical diagnosis is one of the important machine learning applications in the domain of healthcare. In this regard, most of the approaches primarily focus on optimizing the accuracy of classification models. In this research, we argue that unlike general-purpose classification problems, medical applications, such as chronic kidney disease (CKD) diagnosis, require special treatment. In the case of CKD, apart from model performance, other factors such as the cost of data acquisition may also be taken into account to enhance the applicability of the automated diagnosis system. In this research, we have proposed two techniques for cost-sensitive feature ranking. An ensemble of decision tree models is employed in both the techniques for computing the worth of a feature in the CKD dataset. An automatic threshold selection heuristic is also introduced which is based on the intersection of features’ worth and their accumulated cost. A set of experiments are conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the proposed techniques on both tree-based and non-tree based classification models. The proposed approaches are also evaluated against several comparative techniques. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the proposed techniques select around 1/4^th of the original CKD features while reducing the cost by a factor of 7.42 of the original feature set. Based on the extensive experimentation it is concluded that the proposed techniques employing feature-cost interaction heuristic tend to select feature subsets that are both useful and cost-effective.

A Zn(II) perchlorate complex has been prepared and characterized by single X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The complex crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c (Z = 4) with a pentacoordinated zinc center. Interestingly, the Zn complex was found be to a potential fluorophore that could sense acetone and other ketones with high selectivity and sensitivity.

Background: Diet is a risk factor for gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). There are few studies on women´s diet and glucose tolerance test (GTT) results. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between previous diet and the number of abnormal values on the diagnostic GTT in women with GDM. We hypothesized there would be an inverse relation between antioxidant micronutrient consumption and the number of abnormal GTT values. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 60 women diagnosed with GDM (2-hours, 75g-GTT). Shortly after diagnosis, participants answered a validated food frequency questionnaire to assess food consumption in the last 6 months. Mann-Whitney´s test was used to compare the dietary intake of participants with one (group 1) versus two-three (group 2) abnormal GTT values. Results: Participant characteristics were similar. There were no significant differences between groups in median intake of total calories, carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Participants in group 1 had significantly higher intakes of fiber (11.9 vs. 11.0 g/day p= 0.049), vitamin D (40.6 vs. 40.4 mcg/day p= 0.049) and vitamin C (180.0 vs. 151.0 mg/day p= 0.008) than those in group 2. Conclusion: Results suggest a possible association between consumption of fiber and some antioxidant micronutrients and GDM severity at the time of diagnosis.

Kaempferia parviflora Wall. ex Baker (KP), Krachaidam in Thai or Thai ginseng, is an herbal medicine that has many potential pharmacological effects. This study focused on the oral glucose tolerance test and pharmacokinetic study in healthy volunteers administered with KP extract (90 and 180 mg/day, placebo). The oral glucose tolerance tests were performed at baselines and 28-days of administration. The pharmacokinetics were determined after a single dose administration of the tested products using 3,5,7,3,4-pentamethoxyflavone (PMF) and 5,7,4-trimethoxylfavone (TMF) as markers. The results showed that glucose metabolism via oral glucose tolerance test was not affected by KP extract. The results of pharmacokinetics study revealed that only TMF and PMF, but not DMF levels could be detected in human blood. The given doses of KP extract at 90 and 180 mg/day showed a linear dose-relationship of blood PMF concentration whereas blood TMF was detected only at high given dose (180 mg/day). The half-lives of PMF and TMF were 2–3 h. The Cmax, AUC and Tmax values of PMF and TMF estimated for the 180 mg/day dose were 85.3711.31, 73.2329.93 mg/ml; 291.8948.23, 412.20203.69 mg.h/ml; and 3.890.37, 4.500.96 h, respectively. PMF was quickly eliminated with higher Ke and Cl than TMF at the dose of 180 mg/day of KP extract. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that KP extract had no effect on glucose tolerance test. In addition, this is the first demonstration of the pharmacokinetic parameters of methoxyflavones of KP extract in healthy volunteers in a phase I study in drug development. The data suggest the safety of the KP extract and will be of benefit for further clinical trials using KP extract as food and sport supplements as well as a drug in health product development.

The human whipworm, Trichuris trichiura, is estimated to infect 289.6 million people globally. Control of human trichuriasis is a particular challenge, as most anthelmintics have a limited single-dose efficacy, with the striking exception of the narrow-spectrum anthelmintic, oxantel. We recently identified a novel ACR-16-like subunit from the pig whipworm, T. suis which gave rise to a functional acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) preferentially activated by oxantel. However, there is no ion channel described in the mouse model parasite T. muris so far. Here, we have identified the ACR-16-like and ACR-19 subunits from T. muris, and performed the functional characterization of the receptors in Xenopus laevis oocytes using two-electrode voltage-clamp electrophysiology. We found that the ACR-16-like subunit from T. muris formed a homomeric receptor gated by acetylcholine whereas the ACR-19 failed to create a functional channel. The subsequent pharmacological analysis of the Tmu-ACR-16-like receptor revealed that acetylcholine and oxantel were equally potent. The Tmu-ACR-16-like was more responsive to the toxic agonist epibatidine, but insensitive to pyrantel, in contrast to the Tsu-ACR-16-like receptor. These findings confirm that the ACR-16-like nAChR from Trichuris spp. is a preferential drug-target for oxantel, and highlights the pharmacological difference between Trichuris species.

Dictionary Learning (DL) and Sparse Representation (SR) based Classifier have impacted greatly on the classification performance and has had good recognition rate on image data. In Video Semantic Analysis (VSA), the local structure of video data contains more vital discriminative information needed for classification. However, this has not been fully exploited by the current DL based approaches. Besides, similar coding findings are not being realized from video features with the same video category. Based on the issues stated afore, a novel learning algorithm, called Sparsity based Locality-Sensitive Discriminative Dictionary Learning(SLSDDL) for VSA is proposed in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, a discriminant loss function for the category based on sparse coding of the sparse coefficients is introduced into structure of Locality-Sensitive Dictionary Learning (LSDL) algorithm. Finally, the sparse coefficients for the testing video feature sample are solved by the optimized method of SLSDDL and the classification result for video semantic is obtained by minimizing the error between the original and reconstructed samples. The experiment results show that, the proposed SLSDDL significantly improves the performance of video semantic detection compared with the comparative state-of-the-art approaches. Moreover, the robustness to various diverse environments in video is also demonstrated, which proves the universality of the novel approach.

A key response to glucose stress is an increased production of unsaturated fatty acids to balance the increase of saturated fatty acids in the membrane. The C. elegans homolog of stearoyl-CoA desaturase, FAT-7, introduces the first double bond into saturated C18 fatty acids yielding oleic acid and is a critical regulatory point for surviving cold and glucose stress. Here, we incorporated 13C stable isotopes into the diet of nematodes and quantified the 13C-labelled fatty acid by GC-MS and HPLC/MS-MS to track the metabolic response to various concentrations of glucose. Previous work has analyzed membrane composition of C. elegans when responding to mild glucose stress and showed few alterations in overall fatty acid composition in the membrane. Here, in nematodes exposed to higher concentrations of glucose, a specific reduction of oleic acid and linoleic acid was observed. Using time courses and stable isotope tracing, the response of fatty acid me-tabolism to increasing levels of glucose stress has been characterized, revealing a funneling of monounsaturated fatty acids to preserve polyunsaturated fatty acid abundance. Taken together, higher levels of glucose unveil a specific reduction of oleic and linolenic acid in the metabolic re-wiring required to survive glucose stress.

As an option to deal with the insulin-dependent disease, a recent commuted PD control strategy is designed and carefully analyzed for different clinic diabetic patients. This controller approach is mainly conceived to stabilize the glucose blood concentration in a diabetic patient around its basal value, hence avoiding extreme situations such as hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. This control strategy receives two inputs carefully tuned to actuate when the measured variable is out of a prescribed healthy zone. Therefore, one of these variables is invoked to decrease the glucose concentration to insulin injection, and the other is employed to increase the glucose absorption, both by using a proper PD controller. According to our numerical experiments, our controller approach performs well, even when there is an external disturbance in the controlled system.

Nanocomposite hydrogels offer remarkable potential for applications in bone tissue engineering. They are synthesized through the chemical or physical crosslinking of polymers and nanomaterials, allowing for the enhancement of their behaviour by modifying the properties and compositions of the nanomaterials involved. However, their mechanical properties require further enhancement to meet the demands of bone tissue engineering. Here, we present an approach to improve the mechanical properties of nanocomposite hydrogels by incorporating polymer grafted silica nanoparticles into a double network inspired hydrogel (gSNP Gels). The gSNP Gels were synthesised via a graft polymerization process using a redox initiator. gSNP Gels were formed by grafting 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid (AMPS) as the first network gel followed by a sequential second network acrylamide (AAm) onto amine functionalized silica nanoparticles (ASNPs). We utilized glucose oxidase (GOx), to create an oxygen-free atmosphere during polymerization resulting in higher polymer conversion compared to argon degassing. The gSNP Gels showed excellent compressive strengths of 13.9 ± 5.5 MPa, a strain of 69.6 ± 6.4%, and a water content of 63.4% ± 1.8. The synthesis technique demonstrates a promising approach to enhance the mechanical properties of hydrogels, which can have significant implications for bone tissue engineering and other soft tissue applications.

Pathogens and adulterants in human feeding consumables can be readily identified according to their electrical properties. Electrical bioimpedance analysis (BIA) has been widely used for body contents characterization, such as blood, urine, lactate and sweat. If the blood glucose concentration alters the electrical properties of the blood medium, then the impedance spectrum obtained by BIA can be used to measure glycemia. In some applications, artificial neural networks allows the correlation of these parameters (impedance and glucose concentration) by means of symbolic and statistical rules. According to our literature review, there is any physical model that allows the interpretation of the relationship between blood’s electrical properties, obtained by BIA, and the concentration of glucose in the blood plasma. This article proposes a simplified physical model for blood electrical conductivity as a function of glucose concentration, based on Bruggeman’s effective medium theory. The equations of this model were obtained considering an insulating phase distribution diffused in a conductive matrix, in which red blood cells are represented by macroscopic insulating nuclei and glucose molecules by microscopic insulating particles. The impedance spectrum for different glucose concentrations (4.0 to 6.8 mmol/L) in a blood sample, published by Kamat Bagul (2014), were compared with the proposed model. The results showed a significant correlation with the experimental data, showing a maximum error of 5.2%. The proposed model might be useful in the design of noninvasive blood glucose monitoring systems.

Non-enzymatic glucose sensing is a crucial field of study because of the current market demand. This study proposes a novel design of glucose sensor with enhanced selectivity and sensitivity by using graphene Schottky diodes, which is composed of Graphene/Platinum Oxide/n-Silicon heterostructure. The sensor was tested with different glucose concentrations and interfering solutions to investigate its sensitivity and selectivity. Different structures of the device were studied by adjusting the platinum oxide film thickness to investigate its catalytic activity. It was found that the film thickness plays a significant role in the efficiency of glucose oxidation and hence in overall device sensitivity. Moreover, theoretical investigations were conducted using Density Function Theory (DFT) to better understand the detection method and the origins of selectivity. The working principle of the sensors puts it in a competitive position with other non-enzymatic glucose sensors. DFT calculations provided a qualitative explanation of the charges distributed across the graphene sheet within a system of a platinum substrate with D-glucose molecules above. The proposed graphene/PtO/n-Si heterostructure has proven to satisfy these factors, which opens the door for further developments of more reliable non-enzymatic glucometers for continuous glucose monitoring systems.

Calorie restriction (CR) has been shown to prolong the lifespan of humans, but enforcing long-term CR is difficult. Therefore, a compound that reproduces the effect of CR without CR is needed. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge on compounds with CR mimetic (CRM) effects. More than 10 compounds have been listed as CRMs, some of which are conventionally categorized as upstream-type CRMs showing glycolytic inhibition while the others are categorized as downstream-type CRMs that regulate or genetically modulate intracellular signaling proteins. Among these, we focus on upstream-type CRMs and propose their classification as compounds with energy metabolism inhibition effects, particularly glucose metabolism modulation effects. The upstream-type CRMs reviewed include chitosan, acarbose, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, and hexose analogs such as 2-deoxy-D-glucose, D-glucosamine, and D-allulose, which show anti-aging and longevity effects. Finally, we discuss the molecular definition of upstream-type CRMs.

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM), considered one of the most common metabolic disorders, has dramatically increased and resulted in higher rate of morbidity and mortality around the world, in the past decade. It is well known that insulin resistance in target tissues and a deficiency in insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells are the main characteristic of type 2 diabetes. The aim of this study was the bio-evaluation of compounds isolated from three selected plant species; namely, Salvia africana-lutea, Leonotis ocymifolia and Plectranthus madagascariensis, for their glucose uptake ability. Methanolic extracts were produced from the arterial part of each plant. Compounds were identified using different spectroscopic techniques. The glucose uptake ability of each compound was then evaluated in mammalian cells using 2-deoxyglucose-6-phosphate. The cytotoxicity of each compound was established via the MTT assay. Chromatographic purification of the three plant species yielded fifteen pure terpenoids. Compounds 1 (p = 0.0031), 8 (p = 0.0053), and 6 (p = 0.0086), showed a marked increase in glucose uptake, with p values of p=0.0031, p=0.0053 and p=0.0086, respectively. Additionally, 1, 4 and 6 exhibited cytotoxicity toward mammalian tissue with a decrease in cell viability of ~70%, ~68% and ~67%, respectively. The results suggested that several compounds demonstrated a marked increase in glucose uptake while two of the compounds exhibited signs of cytotoxicity. It may, therefore, be suggested that these compounds be considered as potential candidates for novel plant-derived alternative therapies in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Drought poses a significant constraint on rice production, and in this study, we have discovered a novel drought-sensitive mutant, designated as dsm3, arising from the progenies of indica rice variety Zhonghui8015 treated with EMS. Under drought stress conditions, dsm3 exhibited characteristic withered leaf tips, accompanied by increased levels of MDA and H2O2, reduced Pn, and decreased activity of POD and SOD. Genetic analysis revealed that the withered leaf tip phenotype was governed by a single recessive gene, designated as Osdsm3.To begin with, Osdsm3 was initially mapped to the short arm of chromosome 1 through a cross involving dsm3 and 02428. Subsequently, utilizing a population of 2591 F2 individuals, we narrowed down the location of Osdsm3 to a 78Kb interval, encompassing 13 open reading frames (ORFs). Sequencing analysis unveiled a mutation (1275G→A) in the exon of the candidate gene (LOC_Os01g10680), leading to premature translation termination. Moreover, a quantitative RT-PCR assay demonstrated high expression of OsDSM3 in the panicle and sheath, with a significant upregulation of drought stress-related genes under drought conditions. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that Osdsm3 shares evolutionary homology with UNE1, an intracellular transport protein found in Arabidopsis thaliana. Subcellular studies further confirmed that OsDSM3 resides in the cytoplasm. In conclusion, the forthcoming cloning of Osdsm3 holds promise for delving deeper into the molecular mechanisms governing rice drought resistance.

We have designed cell penetrating peptides that target the leucine zipper transcription factors ATF5, CE-BPB and CEBPD and that promote apoptotic death of a wide range of cancer cell types, but not normal cells, in vitro and in vivo. While such peptides have the potential for clinical application, their mechanisms of action are not fully understood. Here, we show that one such peptide, Dpep, compromises glucose uptake and glycolysis in a cell-context-dependent manner (in about 2/3 of cancer lines assessed). These actions are dependent on induction of tumor suppressor TXNIP (thioredoxin interacting protein) mRNA and protein. Knockdown studies show that TXNIP significantly contributes to apoptotic death in those cancer cells in which it is induced by Dpep. The metabolic actions of Dpep on glycolysis led us to explore combinations of Dpep with clinically approved drugs metformin and atovaquone that inhibit oxidative phosphorylation and that are in trials for cancer treatment. Dpep showed additive to synergistic activities in all lines tested. In summary, we find that Dpep induces TXNIP in a cell-context-dependent manner that in turn sup-presses glucose uptake and glycolysis and contributes to apoptotic death of a range of cancer cells.

A cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) thin layer served as the base for a non-enzymatic glucose sensor in an alkaline medium, 0.1 NaOH solution, with a linear range of 50-200 mg/dL using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurement. An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study confirmed the formation of the cuprous oxide layer on the thin gold film sensor prototype. Quantitative detection of glucose in both phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and undiluted human serum were carried out. Neither ascorbic acid nor uric acid even at a relatively high concentration level of 100mg/dL in serum interfered with the glucose detection, demonstrating the excellent selectivity of this non-enzymatic cuprous oxide thin layer based glucose sensor. Chronoamperometry (CA) and single potential amperometric voltammetry were used to verify the measurements obtained by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and the positive results validated that the detection of glucose in a 0.1 M NaOH alkaline medium by DPV measurement was effective. Nickel, platinum and copper are commonly used metals for non-enzymatic glucose detection. The performance of these metal-based sensors for glucose detection using DPV were also evaluated. Cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) thin layer based sensor showed the best sensitivity for glucose detection among the sensors evaluated.

The purpose of current research work was to formulate and typify gelatin and poly(vinyl) alcohol (Gel/PVA) hydrogel which would be highly pH-responsive and can able to accomplish targeted delivery of methotrexate in order to treat the colo-rectal pathologies. The primed gel/pva hydrogel discs were subjected to various physicochemical techniques i.e. swelling, diffusion co-efficient, sol-gel analysis and porosity using three altered sorts of pH (1.2, 6.8 & 7.4) phosphate buffer solutions for assessment/evaluation, and their characterization was done through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). Shape alteration and controlled methotrexate of release of Gel/PVA hydrogel have been done using three type of pH (1.2, 6.8 & 7.4) phosphate buffer mediums. Methotrexate was loaded through in-situ drug loading method due to hydrophobicity. Different kinetic models (first order & zero order kinetic), Higuchi model and Krosmere peppas model/Power law were applied to manipulate the drug release data. Physicochemical evaluation tests and drug release profile results were found insignificant (p< 0.05) in various pH mediums and dependent upon polymers concentration pH of medium and cross-linker amount. Kinetic model disclosed that release of methotrexate from Gel/PVA hydrogel follow non-Fickian diffusion method. It became concluded from this research work that release of methotrexate Gel/PVA hydrogel in targeted colon area can be achieved for treating colo-rectal disorders.

Background: Targeted methods that dominated toxicological research until recently did not allow for screening of all molecular changes involved in toxic response. Therefore, it is difficult to infer if all major mechanisms of toxicity have already been discovered, or if some of them are still overlooked. Objectives: To identify molecular mechanisms sensitive to chemical exposures in an unbiased manner. Methods: We used data on 641,516 unique chemical-gene interactions from the Comparative Toxicogenomic Database. Only data from high-throughput gene expression experiments with human, rat or mouse cells/tissues were extracted. The total number of chemical-gene interactions was calculated for every gene, and used as a measure of gene sensitivity to chemical exposures. These values were further used in enrichment analyses to identify molecular mechanisms sensitive to chemical exposures. Results: Remarkably, use of different input subsets with non-overlapping lists of chemical compounds identified largely the same genes and molecular pathways as most sensitive to chemical exposures, indicative of an unbiased nature of our analysis. One of the most important findings of this study is that almost every known molecular mechanism may be affected by chemical exposures. Predictably, xenobiotic metabolism pathways and mechanisms of cellular response to stress and damage were among the most sensitive. Additionally, our analysis identified a range of highly sensitive molecular pathways, which are not widely recognized by modern toxicology as major targets of toxicants, including lipid metabolism pathways, longevity regulation cascade and cytokine mediated signaling. Discussion: Molecular mechanisms identified as the most sensitive to chemical exposures are relevant for significant public health problems, such as aging, cancer, metabolic and autoimmune disease. Thus, public health system will likely benefit from future research focus on these sensitive molecular mechanisms. Additionally, approach used in this study may guide identification of priority adverse outcome pathways (AOP) for in-vitro and in-silico toxicity testing methods.

[NiFe]-hydrogenases are gas-processing metalloenzymes that catalyze the conversion of dihydrogen (H2) to protons and electrons in a broad range of microorganisms. Within the framework of green chemistry, the molecular proceedings of biological hydrogen turnover inspired the design of novel catalytic compounds for H2 generation. The bidirectional “O2-sensitive” [NiFe]-hydrogenase from Escherichia coli HYD-2 has recently been crystallized; however, a systematic infrared characterization in the presence of natural reactants is not available yet. In this study, we analyze HYD-2 from E. coli by in situ ATR FTIR spectroscopy under quantitative gas control. We provide an experimental assignment of all catalytically relevant redox intermediates alongside the O2- and CO-inhibited cofactor species. Furthermore, the reactivity and mutual competition between H2, O2, and CO was probed in real time, which lays the foundation for a comparison with other enzymes, e.g., “O2-tolerant” [NiFe]-hydrogenases. Surprisingly, only Ni-B was observed in the presence of O2 with no indications for the “unready” Ni-A state. The presented work proves the capabilities of in situ ATR FTIR spectroscopy as an efficient and powerful technique for the analysis of biological macromolecules and enzymatic small molecule catalysis.

Millions of people worldwide are affected by diabetes, a chronic disease that continuously grows due to abnormal glucose concentration levels present in the blood. Monitoring blood glucose concentrations is therefore an essential diabetes indicator to aid in the management of the disease. Enzymatic electrochemical glucose sensors presently account for the bulk of glucose sensors in the market. However, their disadvantages are that they are expensive and are dependent on environmental conditions, hence affecting their performance and sensitivity. To meet the increasing demand, non-enzymatic glucose sensors based on chemically modified electrodes for the direct electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose are a good alternative to the costly enzymatic-based sensors currently on the market, and the research thereof continues to grow. Nanotechnology-based biosensors have been explored for their electronic and mechanical properties, resulting in enhanced biological signalling through the direct oxidation of glucose. Copper oxide and copper sulfide exhibit attractive attributes for sensor application, due to their non-toxic nature, abundance, and their unique properties. Thus, in this review, copper oxide and copper sulfide-based materials, are evaluated based on their chemical structure, morphology, and fast electron mobility as suitable electrode materials for non-enzymatic glucose sensors. The review highlights the present challenges of non-enzymatic glucose sensors that have limited their deployment into the market.

The heat and matter transfer during glucose catabolism in living systems and their relation with entropy production are a challenging subject of the classical thermodynamics applied to biology. In this respect, an analogy between mechanics and thermodynamics has been performed via the definition of the entropy density acceleration expressed by the time derivative of the rate of entropy density and related to heat and matter transfer in minimum living systems. Cells are regarded as open thermodynamic systems that exchange heat and matter resulting from irreversible processes with the intercellular environment. Prigogine’s minimum energy dissipation principle is reformulated using the notion of entropy density acceleration applied to glucose catabolism. It is shown that, for out-of-equilibrium states, the calculated entropy density acceleration is finite and negative and approaches as a function of time a zero value at global thermodynamic equilibrium for heat and matter transfer independently of the cell type and the metabolic pathway. These results could be important for a deeper understanding of entropy generation and its correlation with heat transfer in cell biology with special regard to glucose catabolism representing the prototype of irreversible reactions and a crucial metabolic pathway in stem cells and cancer stem cells.

Mutation analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) has applications in monitoring of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients for recurrence. Considering the low tumor fraction of ctDNA in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) isolated from blood plasma, the sensitivity of the detection method is important. Here, plasma DNA collected at diagnosis and follow-up from 25 CRC patients was analyzed using a multiplex superRCA mutation detection assay. The assay was also performed on genomic DNA (gDNA) from tumor and normal tissue from 20 of these patients. The lower limit of detection for most sequence variants was in the range of 10^-5, while when analyzing cfDNA from plasma with a typical input of 33 ng, the practical detection limit was ~10^-4 or 0.01% mutant allele frequency (MAF). In 17 of 19 patients with identified hotspot mutations in tumor gDNA, at least one hotspot mutation could be detected in plasma DNA at the time of diagnosis. The MAF increased at subsequent time points in four of the patients who experienced a clinical relapse. Multiplex superRCA analysis of the remaining six patients did not reveal any hotspot mutations. In conclusion, multiplex superRCA assays proved suitable for monitoring CRC patients by analyzing hotspot mutations in cfDNA, and dynamic changes in MAF were observed in patients with clinical relapse.

The presented work studies the processes of synthesis of nitrogen-containing structures of ZnO using atmospheric pressure microwave nitrogen plasma and investigates their photocatalytic activity in the processes of degradation of 2,4-dinitrophenol and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin when irradiated with sunlight. The work proposes an effective method for formation of photosensitive ZnO powders. Due to the features of plasma treatment in the open atmosphere of zinc metal microparticles, ZnO structures are formed with sizes from hundreds of nanometers to several micrometers with various micromorphologies. High photoactivity was demonstrated (rate constants 0.036 min-1 and 0.051 min-1) of synthesized ZnO structures during photo-degradation of 2,4-dinitrophenol and ciprofloxacin, respectively, when exposed to solar radiation. Photo-active structures of ZnO synthesized using microwave nitrogen plasma can find application in processes of mineralization of toxic organic compounds.

Herein, we developed a highly sensitive and specific bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC)-based influenza A virus (IAV) sensing system created by combining a galactose/glucose-binding protein (GGBP) with an N-terminal large domain (YN1-172) and a C-terminal small domain (YC173-239) of enhanced yellow fluorescence protein (eYFP). The GGBP-based BiFC reporter exhibits the fluorescence reconstitution as a result of conformational changes in GGBP when lactose, derived from 6’-silalyllactose used as a substrate for neuraminidase (NA), binds to GGBP in the presence of IAV. The system showed a linear dynamic range from 1 x 100 TCID50/mL to 1 x 107 TCID50/mL, with a detection limit of 4 x 101 TCID50/mL for IAV (H1N1), demonstrating ultra-high sensitivity. Our system exhibited fluorescence intensity enhancements in the presence of IAV, while displaying weak fluorescence signals when exposed to NA-deficient viruses such as RSV A, RSV B, adenovirus and rhinovirus, thereby indicating selective responses for IAV detection. Taken together, our system provides a simple, highly sensitive and specific IAV detection platform based on BiFC capable of detecting the ligand-induced protein conformational changes, obviating the need for virus culture or RNA extraction processes.

Stemming from the Bulgarian case study developed within a European research project (ECHOES, Horizon 2020), the paper discusses the links between: (a) the urgent need to operationalize EU energy transition policy in the housing domain; (b) the complexity of factors influencing the policy implementation in different contexts – geographical, economic, and technical but also social and cultural; and (c) the important role of the urban level in policy implementation. Under the specific spatial planning context of Bulgaria, the local collective energy-related decision-making in the housing field evolves through the interaction – formal (at the municipal level of governance) and informal (individuals, households and homeowners’ associations taking decisions on self-organization and collective action). The authors claim that interdisciplinary context-sensitive research would contribute to a better understanding for the ongoing energy-related decision-making processes at the local level and would enable the development and implementation of effective and efficient policy instruments in support of energy transition in the housing sector in Europe.

Pentagalloyl glucose (PGG) is currently being investigated as a non-surgical treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA); however molecular mechanisms of action of PGG on the AAA matrix components and the intra-luminal thrombus (ILT) still need to be better understood. To assess these interactions, we utilized peptide fingerprinting and molecular docking simulations to predict the binding of PGG to vascular proteins in normal and aneurysmal aorta, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), cytokines and fibrin. We performed PGG diffusion studies in pure fibrin gels and human ILT samples. PGG was predicted to bind with high affinity to most vascular proteins, the active sites of MMPs, and several cytokines known to be present in AAA. Finally, despite potential binding to fibrin, PGG was shown to diffuse readily through thrombus at physiologic pressures. In conclusion, PGG can bind to all the normal and aneurysmal aorta protein components with high affinity, potentially protecting the tissue from degradation and exerting anti-inflammatory activities. Diffusion studies showed that thrombus presence in AAA is not a barrier to endovascular treatment. Together, these results provide a deeper understanding of the clinical potential of PGG as a non-surgical treatment of AAA.

External stressors strongly increase cardiovascular activity and induce metabolic changes that ensure the availability of glucose and oxygen as part of a co-ordinated stress response. Exposure to stress during early life appears to have an exaggerated long-term effect on this response, leading to an increased risk or cardiometabolic disorders. Here we demonstrate that acute stress induced glucose release is impacted by the early life environment in rodent maternal deprivation and early-life infection models and this was validated in our EpiPath human early-life adversity cohort. In all three models differences in baseline blood glucose levels after ELA exposure were sex dependent. The human ELA model showed higher levels of basal glucose in females, similar to the mouse infection and rat maternal deprivation models. We anticipated that the stress induced glucose rise would be a GC dependent process. However, the kinetics of stress-induced glucose release, peaking 15-28 minutes before cortisol suggest that it is a GC-independent process. We confirmed this by administering an escalating dose of cortisol to a health human cohort, and the inability of an intravenous GC bolus induce a glucose rise in man confirms that it is a rapid, GC independent, process.In conclusion, we provide a novel perspective on the mechanisms behind stress related metabolic changes and highlights the importance of collecting early life data as a measure to understand an individual’s metabolic status in a better light.

Seeing atomic configuration of single organic nanoparticles at sub-Å spatial resolution by transmission electron microscopy has been so far prevented by the high sensitivity of soft matter to radiation damage. The difficulty is related to the need to irradiate the particle with a total dose of few electrons/Å2, not compatible with the electron beam density necessary to search the low-contrast nanoparticle, to control its drift, to finely adjust the electro-optical conditions and particle orientation, and to finally acquire an effective atomic resolution image. On the other hand, the capability to study individual pristine nanoparticles, such as proteins, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and polymers, with peculiar sensitivity to the variation of the local structure, defects, and strain, would provide advancements in many fields, including materials science, medicine, biology, and pharmacology. Here we report direct sub-ångström resolution imaging at room temperature of pristine unstained crystalline polymer-based nanoparticles. This result is obtained by combining low-dose in-line electron holography and phase-contrast imaging on state-of-the-art equipment, providing an effective tool for the quantitative sub-angstrom imaging of soft matter.

The erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular carcinoma (Eph) receptors are the largest receptor tyrosine kinases family. EphB4 is essential for cell adhesion and motility during embryogenesis. Pathologically, EphB4 is overexpressed and contributes to poor prognosis in various tumors. Therefore, sensitive monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) should be developed to predict the prognosis for multiple tumors with high EphB4 expression, including breast and gastric cancers. This study aimed to develop highly sensitive and specific anti-EphB4 mAbs for several applications using the Cell-Based Immunization and Screening (CBIS) method. EphB4-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 (CHO/EphB4) cells were immunized into mice, and we established an anti-EphB4 mAb (clone B4Mab-7), which is applicable for flow cytometry, western blotting, and immunohistochemistry. B4Mab-7 reacted with endogenous EphB4-positive breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-468, but did not react with EphB4-knockout MCF-7 (BINDS-52) in flow cytometry. Dissociation constant (KD) values were determined to be 2.9 × 10‑9 M, 1.3 × 10‑9 M, and 3.3 × 10‑9 M by flow cytometric analysis for CHO/EphB4, MCF-7, and MDA-MB-468 cells, respectively. B4Mab-7 detected the EphB4 protein bands from breast cancer cells in western blotting, and stained breast cancer tissues immunohistochemistry. Altogether, B4Mab-7 demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity against EphB4 in various applications.

Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) is implementing the concept of green campus by various means including through elements in its sustainable campus development plan. With regards to several factors related to Energy and Climate Change indicators set by UI GreenMetric, this research examined the existing condition of the area of UGM which belongs to academic zone in order to construct a proposal based on a building mass reconfiguration. This proposal was aimed to improve the implementation of energy-specific green campus concept within the Forestry cluster area as a sample case study. This selection was based on the average value of the Building Coverage Ratio (BCR) values in all of the clusters; thus, the scenario was relevant for generalization and could be replicated in other clusters in the university. The study was done in three stages of simulation, and was based on a series of digital simulation of sunlight hour and solar radiation run in Grasshopper using Lady Bug environmental analysis plug-in for a period of five summer months during the building office hours. Following the reconfiguration, results had shown a similar downtrend between the amount of sunlight hour and solar radiation in the area (up to 49% and 45% respectively on building envelopes, and up to 44% and 42% respectively on landscaping surfaces). This reduction indicated a potential of energy efficiency by applying selective building mass reconfiguration as a passive design strategy that goes hand in hand with the campus’s development policy to optimize the use of BCR for a greener UGM campus through its many undergoing and upcoming redevelopment projects.

Directional modulation (DM), as an emerging promising physical layer security (PLS) technique at the transmitter side with the help of an antenna array, has developed rapidly over decades. In this study, a DM technique using a polarization sensitive array (PSA) to produce the modulation with different polarization states (PSs) at different directions is investigated. A PSA, as a vector sensor, can be employed for more effective DM for an additional degree of freedom (DOF) provided in the polarization domain. The polarization information can be exploited to transmit different data streams simultaneously at the same directions, same frequency, but with different PSs in the desired directions to increase the channel capacity, and with random PSs off the desired directions to enhance PLS. The proposed method has the capability of concurrently projecting independent signals into different specified spatial directions while simultaneously distorting signal constellation in all other directions. The symbol error rate (SER), secrecy rate, and the robustness of the proposed DM scheme are analyzed. Design examples for single- and multi-beam DM systems are also presented. Simulations corroborate that 1) the proposed method is more effective for PLS; 2) the proposed DM scheme is more power-efficient than the traditional artificial noise aided DM schemes; and 3) the channel capacity is significantly improved compared with conventional scalar antenna arrays.

Recently, the phase-sensitive OTDR (Φ-OTDR) based vibration sensor system has gained the focus of many researchers and some efforts have been undertaken to push further the limitations imposed on the performance of the Φ-OTDR sensor system. Then, progress in the different areas of its performance evaluation factors such as: improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), spatial resolution (SR) in the sub-meter range, enlargement of the sensing range, frequency response bandwidth over the conventional limit and phase signal demodulation for quantitative measurement have been realized. This paper presents an overview of the recent progress in the Φ-OTDR based vibration sensing system in the different areas mentioned above.

This paper is intended at highlighting the main mechanical parameters controlling the behavior of the so-called "acceleration-sensitive" Non-Structural Components (NSCs). In the first part a short review of the current state of knowledge and the critical issues related to the prediction of the seismic response of NSCs is reported. Then, the paper presents the results of a numerical parametric analysis intended to capture the key features of the dynamic response of a two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) system which is supposed to be representative of both the main structure and the "non-structural" component (NSC). Particularly, it allows to simulate the coupled behaviour of both main structure and NSC and evaluating their response. The main parameters controlling the dynamic response of NSCs emerge from this study, which could pave the way towards formulating more mechanically consistent relationships for evaluating the maximum accelerations induced by seismic shakings on NSCs.

MIPs inspired by antigen-antibody interactions have received substantial interest as a biomimetic artificial receptor system in environmental applications. Herein, we present a molecularly imprinted surface plasmon resonance (SPR) sensor integrated with Au nanoparticles for the identification of bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine-disrupting chemical. The synthetic wastewater samples were analyzed to ensure the method's reliability and feasibility. Under ideal conditions, the suggested approach performed well in terms of analytical performance to BPA, with a wide linear range of 0.1 to 10 ppb and LOD of 10 ng/L. The sensor results and the Langmuir adsorption model have good agreement. It has also been shown that repeated use of the biosensor can be achieved. According to selectivity studies, BPA adsorbed within the imprinted cavities favorably compared to 4-nitrophenol and phenol. The produced BPA-imprinted SPR sensor provides improved sensitivity based on the signal amplification strategy, unconjugated sensing without the need for labeling, real-time sensing, low sample consumption rates, quantifiable assessment, and very good kinetic rate constant calculation in actual samples. Also, because the produced sensor is reusable with relative standard deviations (RSD)<1.25, indicating the sensor's accuracy, the SPR-based biomimetic BPA sensor is simple to practice and may be an economical option.

Mitochondrial hypochlorite (ClO-) plays important and often contradictory roles in maintaining the redox balance of mitochondria. Abnormal ClO- levels can induce mitochondrial inactivation and further cause cell apoptosis. Herein. we have developed an anthracene carboxyimide-based fluorescent probe mito-ACS for imaging mitochondrial ClO- in living cells. This probe exhibits some distinctive features as excellent resistance to photobleaching, high selectivity and sensitivity, as well as good water solubility. Mito-ACS showed a noticeable fluorescence response toward ClO-with a fast response (within 6 s) and a low detection limit (23 nM). Moreover, the introduction of triphenylphosphonium makes the probe soluble in water and selectively localizes to mitochondria. Furthermore, mito-ACS was successfully applied to image mitochondria ClO- in living cells with low toxicity. Remarkably. the less used fluorophore anthracene carboxyimide exhibiting excellent photostability and desirable optical properties provides a promising application prospect in biological systems.

The aim of the current study was to develop and evaluate the therapeutic potential of apocynin (APO) loaded pH-sensitive nanoparticles (NPs) based transdermal hydrogel for management of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Slightly modified nanoprecipitation technique was used for preparation of polymeric nanoparticles. Optimization was done through design expert software. Optimized APO-NPs were loaded into carbopol-934 based hydrogel as final dosage form and further studied for physicochemical properties. Optimized APO-NPs formulation had a minimum particle size 63.44 nm, polydisperibility index 0.161, and zeta potential -15mV with a maximum encapsulation efficiency of 89%. In-vitro and ex-vivo studies of APO-NPs based hydrogel was performed at pH 5.5 (pH of normal skin) and 6.8 (pH of inflammed joint) showed a pH-responsive sustained drug release and increased penetration in comparison to free APO based hydrogel. The stability studies of APO-NPs based hydrogel were done to strengthen the potential use of the prepared formulation through transdermal route. Assessment and therapeutic efficacy of the prepared pH-sensitive nanocarriers system was evaluated in chronic inflammatory RA mice model. Parameters associated with chronic inflammation were investigated including behavioral changes and histopathological, and radiological x-rays images of joints of mice paws. In-vivo study depicts improvement in behavioral parameter, decline in synovial hyperplasia and bone structure restoration. In conclusion, APO loaded pH-sensitive NPs based transdermal is a promising carrier system that can effectively manage RA.

CD39 is involved in adenosine metabolism through conversion of extracellular ATP to adenosine. Because extracellular adenosine plays a critical role in the immune suppression of tumor microenvironment, the inhibition of CD39 activity by monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is one of the important strategies for tumor therapy. In this study, we developed specific and sensitive mAbs for mouse CD39 (mCD39) using the Cell-Based Immunization and Screening (CBIS) method. The established anti-mCD39 mAbs, which were established by the CBIS method including C₃₉Mab-1 (rat IgG_2a, kappa) and C₃₉Mab-2 (rat IgG_2a, lambda), reacted with not only mCD39-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary-K1 (CHO/mCD39) but also endogenously mCD39-expressed cell lines, such as L1210 (mouse lymphocytic leukemia) and J774-1 (mouse macrophage-like) cell lines through flow cytometry. Kinetic analyses using flow cytometry indicated that the dissociation constant (K_D) of C₃₉Mab-1 and C₃₉Mab-2 for CHO/mCD39 was 7.3 × 10⁻⁹ M and 5.5 × 10⁻⁹ M, respectively. K_D of C₃₉Mab-1 and C₃₉Mab-2 for L1210 was 3.3 × 10⁻⁹ M and 3.6 × 10⁻¹⁰ M, respectively. Furthermore, C₃₉Mab-1 could detect the lysate of CHO/mCD39 by western blot analysis. These results indicate that C₃₉Mab-1 and C₃₉Mab-2 are useful for the detection of mCD39 in many functional studies.

Background: Novel technologies like continuous glucose monitor (CGM) systems are improving diabetes management by means of real-time sensor glucose levels, retrospective course of glucose and trend arrows. Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) offers real-time alerts for (prognostic) hypo- and hyperglycemia, fast dropping or increasing glucose, and hence improving glycaemia under unstable conditions like during meals, physical activity and exercise management. Complex CGM systems challenge people with diabetes and health care professionals in interpreting rapid changes, sensor delay (~10-minute difference between interstitial and plasma glucose), and malfunctions. Enhanced prediction models are necessary for optimal insulin dosing, daily activities, and especially for future fully closed-loop systems. Methods: The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of three different predictive models for glucose responses: 1) an autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA), 2) logistic regression, 3)and long short-term memory networks (LSTM), in predicting glucose levels after 15 minutes and one hour. We compared and evaluated the performance of these models in predicting hypoglycemia (<70 mg/dL), euglycemia (70-180 mg/dL), and hyperglycemia (>180 mg/dL). In more detail, by assessing metrics such as precision, recall, F1-score, and accuracy, we specifically assessed which model provided the most accurate and reliable predictions for glucose levels Results: As expected, ARIMA showed the worst accuracy especially predicting hypoglycaemia withing 1-hour (7.3%). The accuracy of the logistic regression model, predicting hypoglycemia during the first 15 min was higher (98%), comparing to LSTM (88%). However, the LSTM model (87%) exceeded the accuracy of hypoglycemia prediction of the logistic regression (83%) during an hour prognosis. The same pattern observed in hyperglycemia - ARIMA model (60%, 1 hour), logistic regression (96%, 15 minutes) and LSTM (85%, 1 hour) Conclusions: These findings suggest that different models may have varying strengths and weaknesses in predicting glucose levels, and the choice of model should be carefully considered based on the specific requirements and context of the clinical application. The logistic regression model was more accurate for the next 15 minutes, especially predicting hypoglycemia. However, the LSTM model exceeded logistic regression for the next one hour prediction. Future research could explore hybrid models or ensemble approaches that combine the strengths of multiple models to further improve the accuracy and reliability of glucose predictions.

Magnesium supplementation has recently attracted attention as effective in the management of diabetes and its related complications though its mechanisms of action is yet to be fully unraveled. This study was carried out to determine the effects of magnesium supplementation on body weight, fasting blood sugar, Oral glucose tolerance (OGTT 2 and OGTT 4), glucose transporter isoform 2 (GLUT2), GLUT4 and insulin receptor (INSR) mRNA expressions in streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced diabetic Sprague dawley rats. A total of 24 Sprague dawley rats (Four groups of six rats each) were used for this study, and the treatment was for 28 days. Group 1: Normal control rats were given distilled water; Group 2: Metformin treated rats were given 100 mg/kg body weight; Group 3: Metformin + Magnesium treated rats were given 100 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg body weight respectively; Group 4: Diabetic untreated rats given distilled water. Data were analyzed statistically using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and graphically by Graph pad prism. The GLUT4 and INSR gene expressions of Group 3 were significantly (p<0.05) upregulated when compared with Group 4. There was significant (p<0.05) decrease fasting blood sugar and GLUT2 mRNA level in the treated diabetic rats but the metformin-magnesium supplement treated group showed more decrease (p<0.05) when compared with the group treated with metformin only. This study demonstrates that magnesium may mediate effective metabolic control by stimulating insulin sensitivity, and upregulating mRNA levels of GLUT4, INSR as well as improving glucose tolerance in diabetic rats. Therefore, magnesium supplementation appears to have a beneficial role and improves glucose uptake by cells in those at high risks of diabetes. Magnesium supplementation, Metformin, INSR, GLU4, glucose tolerance.

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is associated with a high risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) disease. Contributing pathophysiologic factors include endothelial dysfunction caused by excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), increased activity of nuclear factor kB (NFkB), altered macrophage polarization, and reduced synthesis of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). Consequently, there can be a potentially rapid progression of the atherosclerotic disease with a higher propensity to unstable plaque, leading to increased cardiovascular mortality. Management is aimed at prevention, early diagnosis, and treatment of hyperglycemia and vascular complications. Innovative therapeutic approaches for T2DM seek to customize the antidiabetic treatment to each patient in order to optimize glucose-lowering effects, minimize hypoglycemia and adverse effects, and prevent cardiovascular events. The newer drugs (Glucagon Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists, GLP-1 RAs; Sodium GLucose coTransporter-2 inhibitors, SGLT2is; DiPeptidyl Peptidase-4 inhibitors, DPP4is) impact body weight, lipid parameters, and blood pressure, as well as endothelial function, inflammatory markers, markers of oxidative stress, and subclinical atherosclerosis. The present review summarizes the results of trials that evaluated the cardiovascular safety of these drugs and found them to be safe from the CV standpoint.

NiFe alloy nanoparticles/graphene oxide hybrid (NiFe/GO) was prepared for electrochemical glucose sensing. The as-prepared NiFe/GO hybrid was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results indicated that NiFe alloy nanoparticles can be successfully deposited on GO. The electrochemical glucose sensing performance of the as-prepared NiFe/GO was studied by cyclic voltammetry and amperometric measurement. Results showed that NiFe/GO modified glassy carbon electrode had sensitivity of 173 μA mM⁻¹cm⁻² for glucose sensing with a linear range up to 5 mM, which was superior to commonly used Ni nanoparticles. Furthermore, high selectivity for glucose detection can be achieved by NiFe/GO. All the results demonstrated that NiFe/GO hybrid was promising for using in electrochemical glucose sensing.

The microglia, displaying diverse phenotypes, play a significant regulatory role in the development, progression, and prognosis of Parkinson's disease. Research has established that glycolytic reprogramming serves as a critical regulator of inflammation initiation in pro-inflammatory macrophages. Furthermore, the modulation of glycolytic reprogramming has the potential to reverse the polarized state of these macrophages. Previous studies have shown that levetistilide A (LA), a phthalide component derived from Angelica sinensis, possesses a range of pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective properties. In our study, we have examined the impact of LA on inflammatory cytokines and glucose metabolism in microglia induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Furthermore, we explored the effects of LA on the AMPK/mTOR pathway and assessed its neuroprotective potential both in vitro and in vivo. The findings revealed that LA notably diminished the expression of M1 pro-inflammatory factors induced by LPS in microglia, while leaving M2 anti-inflammatory factor expression unaltered. Additionally, it reduced ROS production and suppressed IκB-α phosphorylation levels as well as NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation. Notably, LA exhibited the ability to reverse microglial glucose metabolism reprogramming and modulate the phosphorylation levels of AMPK/mTOR. In vivo experiments further corroborated these findings, demonstrating that LA mitigated the death of TH-positive dopaminergic neurons and reduced microglia activation in the ventral SNpc brain region of the midbrain and the striatum. In summary, LA exhibited neuroprotective benefits by modulating the polarization state of microglia and altering glucose metabolism, highlighting its therapeutic potential.

Olfactory Receptors (ORs) are a large family of G protein coupled receptors predominantly expressed by the main olfactory epithelium at nasal level and are responsible for the generation of smelling sense. Microarray and deep sequencing analyses, however, have demonstrated that ORs are ectopically expressed in various human tissues including testis, kidneys, adipose tissue and liver and their biological functions become to be unrevealed. Molecular and pharmacological approaches have shown that some of these ORs modulate glucose and lipid metabolism at multiple interfaces, suggesting that ORs might be part of the large family of nutrient sensors. i.e. molecular/ cellular machines that respond to a specific nutrient component. By using nutrients- derived agonists it has been shown that ORs effectively modulates glucose and lipid metabolism raising interest on their possible therapeutic application in the treatment of metabolic disorders including dyslipidemia, obesity and metabolic syndrome.

The study aimed to determine the relationship between glucose, C-peptide, BDNF, and leptin between mother and fetus and neonatal weight. Methods: In the prospective observational cohort study, we included 66 women with T1DM. According to the z-score for neonatal weight, patients were divided into Healthy weight neonates (n=42) and Overweight neonates (n=24). The maternal blood samples were taken during pregnancy and cesarean section when the umbilical vein blood sample was also withdrawn. The maternal vein sera were analyzed for fasting glucose, CRP, leptin, BDNF, TSH, FT3, and FT4. The umbilical vein sera were analyzed for glucose, C-peptide, leptin, TSH, FT3, FT4, and BDNF concentration. The neonatologist measured the skinfold thickness on the third day of neonatal life. Results: A strong correlation was confirmed between maternal and umbilical vein glucose concentration and maternal glucose and C-peptide in umbilical vein blood. A negative correlation was found between the concentration of BDNF in the umbilical vein and glucose in maternal blood. A strong correlation was seen between BMI and maternal blood leptin concentration, neonatal fat body mass, and umbilical vein blood leptin concentration. Increased odds for Overweight neonates were BMI, BDNF, and TSH in the first trimester of pregnancy. Maternal leptin concentration decreased the odds of Overweight neonates. Conclusions: Maternal glucose concentrations affect the fetus’s glucose, C-peptide, and BDNF concentrations. Leptin levels increase in maternal blood due to increased body mass index, and in the neonate, its fat body mass is responsible for increased leptin concentrations.

: Increased glucose and choline uptake are hallmarks of cancer. We investigated if the uptake and conversion of [2H9]choline alone and together with that of [6,6’ 2H2]glucose can be assessed in subcutaneous tumors by deuterium metabolic imaging (DMI) after bolus administration of these compounds. Therefore tumors with human renal carcinoma cells were grown subcutaneously in mice up to ~0.5 cm3. Mice were anesthetized with isoflurane and IV infused in the MR magnet for ~20 sec with ~0.2 ml solutions containing either [2H9]choline (0.05g/kg) alone or together with [6,6’ 2H2]glucose (1.3g/kg). 2H MR was performed on a 11.7T MR system with a home-built 2H/1H coil using a 900 excitation pulse and 400ms repetition time. 3D DMI was recorded at high resolution (2x2x2mm) in 37 min or at low resolution (3.7x3.7x3.7mm) in 2:24 min. Absolute tissue concentrations were calculate assuming initial [HOD]=13.7mM. Within 5 minutes after [2H9]choline infusion its signal appeared in tumor spectra representing concentration increasing up to 0.3–1.2 mM and then slowly decreased or remained constant over 100 minutes. In plasma [2H9]choline disappeared within 15 minutes post-infusion implying that its tumor signal arises from tissue and not blood. After infusing a mixture of [2H9]choline and [6,6’ 2H2]glucose their signals were observed separately in tumor 2H spectra. Over time the [2H9]choline signal broadened, possibly due to conversion to other choline compounds, [[6,6’ 2H2]glucose] declined, [HOD] increased and a lactate signal appeared, reflecting glycolysis. Metabolic maps of all 2H compounds were reconstructed from high resolution DMIs. As choline infusion and glucose DMI is feasible in patients, their simultaneous detection has clinical potential for tumor characterization.

EphB2 is a member of the Eph family tyrosine kinase receptors. EphB2 binds to ephrin-B1, ephrin-B2, and ephrin-B3, which are critical regulators of vascular and nervous development through controlling cell migration and axon guidance. EphB2 is overexpressed in tumors, including glioma, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and malignant mesothelioma, and it functions as a tumor promoter. Therefore, the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against EphB2 is essential for tumor diagnosis and therapy for EphB2-positive tumors. In this study, we developed novel mAbs for human EphB2 using the Cell-Based Immunization and Screening (CBIS) method. One of the established anti-EphB2 mAbs, Eb2Mab-3 (mouse IgG1, kappa), reacted with EphB2-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary-K1 (CHO/EphB2) and an endogenously EphB2-expressing cancer cell line (LS174T) by flow cytometry. Using flow cytometry, the dissociation constant (KD) values of Eb2Mab-3 for CHO/EphB2 and LS174T were determined as 1.1 × 10−9 M and 3.6 × 10−10 M, respectively. These results indicated that Eb2Mab-3 possesses a high affinity for detecting EphB2 and could apply to tumor therapy.

One of the G protein-coupled receptors, C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5), is an important regulator for the activation of T and B lymphocytes, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, and macrophages. Upon binding to the ligands, CCR5 activates downstream signaling, which plays critical roles in the innate and adaptive immune response through the promotion of lymphocyte migration and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Anti-CCR5 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been developed and evaluated in clinical trials for tumors and inflammatory diseases. In this study, we developed novel mAbs for mouse CCR5 (mCCR5) using the N-terminal peptide immunization. Among the established anti-mCCR5 mAbs, C₅Mab-4 (rat IgG_2a, kappa) and C₅Mab-8 (rat IgG₁, kappa), recognized mCCR5-overexpressed Chinese hamster ovary-K1 (CHO/mCCR5) and an endogenously mCCR5-expressing cell line (L1210) by flow cytometry. The dissociation constant (K_D) values of C₅Mab-4 and C₅Mab-8 for CHO/mCCR5 were determined as 3.5 × 10⁻⁸ M and 7.3 × 10⁻⁹ M, respectively. Furthermore, both C₅Mab-4 and C₅Mab-8 could detect mCCR5 by western blotting. These results indicated that C₅Mab-4 and C₅Mab-8 are useful for detecting mCCR5 by flow cytometry and western blotting and provide a possibility to obtain the proof of concept in preclinical studies.

Pressure-sensitive paint (PSP) has received significant attention for capturing surface pressure in recent years. One major source of uncertainty in PSP measurements, temperature dependency, stems from the fundamental photophysical process that allows PSP to extract pressure information. The motion-capturing PSP method, which involves two luminophores, is introduced as a method to reduce the measurement uncertainty due to temperature dependency. A theoretical model for the pressure uncertainty due to temperature dependency is proposed and demonstrated using a static pressure measurement with an applied temperature gradient. The experimental validation of the proposed model shows that the motion-capturing PSP method reduces the temperature dependency by 37.7% compared to the conventional PSP method. The proposed model also proves that a PSP with zero temperature dependency is theoretically possible.

The present work focuses on developing miniaturized, light weight electrochemical sensors for detection of chemical warfare agents (CWAs) like sarin and tabun simulants, i.e., diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP), and O,S-diethyl methyl phosphonothioate (O,S-DEMPT). Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) was employed to examine the redox properties of capturing molecular probe CE2 with the nerve agent stimulants. Coupling of a portable potentiostat with the drone technology could allow on-situ and remote detection of analytes such CWAs to be realized, which can be crucially important to the national and global securities.

Cervical cancer is the most common female reproductive tract tumor and is currently the only cancer that can be prevented by vaccination. Early detection and treatment of cervical cancer can be achieved through regular screening for human papillomavirus (HPV). Therefore, in this paper, an electrochemical sensor was designed to detect HPV 16 using a dual signal amplification technique. APTES modified glassy carbon electrode to improve stability. Combining gold nanoparticles and chain amplification reactions for signal amplification purposes. The limit of detection (LOD) was 1.731×10-16 mol/L, and the detection range of this electrochemical sensor was increased in comparison to previous research, with a linear response range from 1.0×10-13 mol/L to 1.0×10-5 mol/L (R2 = 0.99232) for the target detector.In addition, the sensor showed equally good recovery in sophisticated human serum samples. It shows that it has good interference resistance and the designed biosensor can be a powerful and reliable tool for clinical disease diagnosis.

Chemical exposures from diverse sources merge on a limited number of molecular pathways described as toxicity pathways. Changes in the same set of molecular pathways in different cell and tissue types may generate seemingly unrelated health conditions. Today, no approaches are available to predict in an unbiased way sensitivities of different disease states and their combinations to multichemical exposures across the exposome. We propose an inductive in-silico workflow where sensitivities of genes to chemical exposures are identified based on the overlap of existing genomic datasets, and data on sensitivities of individual genes is further used to sequentially derive predictions on sensitivities of molecular pathways, disease states, and groups of disease states (syndromes). Our analysis predicts that conditions representing the most significant public health problems are among the most sensitive to cumulative chemical exposures. These conditions include six leading types of cancer in the world (prostatic, breast, stomach, lung, colorectal neoplasms, and hepatocellular carcinoma), obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, autistic disorder, Alzheimer's disease, hypertension, heart failure, brain and myocardial ischemia, and myocardial infarction. Overall, our predictions suggest that environmental risk factors may be underestimated for the most significant public health problems.

This study aimed to investigate sex differences in the functional movement in the adolescent period. Seven hundred and thirty adolescents (365 boys) aged 16–17 years participated in the study. The participants performed standardized Functional Movement Screen™ (FMS™) protocol and a t-test was used to examine sex differences in the total functional movement screen score while the chi-square test was used to determine sex differences in the proportion of dysfunctional movement and movement asymmetries within the individual FMS tests. Girls demonstrated a higher total FMS™ score compared to boys (12.7 ± 2.3 and 12.2 ± 2.4, respectively; F=8.26, p=0.0054). Also, sex differences were present in several individual functional movement patterns where boys demonstrated a higher prevalence of dysfunctional movement compared to girls in patterns that challenge mobility and flexibility of the body, while girls underperformed in tests that have higher demands for upper-body strength and abdominal stabilization. Findings of this study suggest that sex dimorphism exists in functional movement patterns in the period of mid-adolescence. The results of this research need to be considered while using FMS™ as a screening tool as well as the reference standard for exercise intervention among the secondary school-aged population.

New TLC-densitometric method have been developed for the identification and quantification of paracetamol (PA), propyphenazone (PP) and caffeine (C) of Saridon tablets using the NP-TLC technique combined with densitometry. This method allows for the simultaneous determination of PA, PP, and C in the same sample. Among all tested chromatographic conditions, the mixture consisting of chloroform + toluene + ethyl acetate + ethanol + acetic acid (18:18:7.5:5.0:0.3, v/v) and silica gel 60F254 plate proved to be the most effective for the separation of three tested active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and substances related to paracetamol. The fully validation of the proposed NP-TLC method proves that it is specific, precise, accurate, robust and sensitive. The percentage content in relation to the content declared by the manufacturer is for propyphenazone 99.8%, paracetamol 101.6% and caffeine 100.8%, which are in accordance with pharmacopoeial requirements. The results presented indicate the possibility of using the developed method in the routine control of pharmaceutical preparations containing these APIs. The proposed method is economical and more sensitive compared to the previously proposed planar methods for the simultaneously determination of PA, PP and CAPIs. Will be an What is more, the presented method may be anaxcellent excellent economical alternative when HPLC method is unavailable for such determination.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is a causal agent of severe emergent diseases in Solanaceae hosts with agronomic relevance, such as tomato and pepper. Herein, we analyzed the seed transmission rate and efficacy of different seed disinfection treatments and performed a comparison of molecular biology techniques seeking rapid and sensitive detection in seed lots. We evaluated several total RNA extraction and RT-PCR protocols using a distinct combination of PCR primers to test for the presence of the ToBRFV Mexican strain in tobacco host. Our results showed that the percentage of seed and seedlings transmission was less than 1% and that a 3% sodium hypochlorite solution was effective as a seed disinfection treatment. Finally, the most sensitive molecular method identified for virus detection consisted of a CTAB-Trizol RNA extraction followed by nested PCR using primers reported by Dovas et al. (2004). Additionally, we tested potential natural hosts in selected Cucurbitaceae and Solanaceae species. Our results showed that the ToBRFV Mexican strain is capable of experimentally infecting eggplant (Solanum melongena), tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa), and tobacco (Nicotiana rustica).

Nanomaterials such as pH-responsive polymers are promising for targeted drug delivery systems, due to the difference in pH between tumor and healthy regions. However, there is a significant concern about the application of these materials in this field due to their low mechanical resistance, which can be mitigated by combining these polymers with mechanically resistant inorganic materials such as mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) and hydroxyapatite (HA). Mesoporous silica has interesting properties such as high surface area and hydroxyapatite has been widely studied to aid in bone regeneration, providing special properties adding multifunctionality to the system. Furthermore, fields of medicine involving luminescent elements such as rare earth are an interesting option in cancer treatment. The present work aims to obtain a pH-sensitive hybrid system based on silica and hydroxyapatite with photoluminescent and magnetic properties. The nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nitrogen adsorption methods, CHN elemental analysis, Zeta Potential, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), vibrational sample magnetometry (VSM), and photoluminescence analysis. Incorporation and release studies of the antitumor drug doxorubicin were performed to evaluate the potential use of these systems in targeted drug delivery. The results showed the luminescent and magnetic properties of the materials and showed suitable characteristics for application in the release of pH-sensitive drugs.

In this work, fluorinated graphene nanoscrolls (FGN) were synthesized via facile chemical methods under simple and mild conditions. Interestingly, the formation of the featured FGN was significantly solvent sensitive. Experimental results indicated that in the presence of aprotic solvent, for example, N,N dimethylformamide (DMF), the reaction system inclined to form the interesting FGN nanostructures. The structure and morphology of the prepared FGN were detailed characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) etc. The obtained FGN was used as a cathode material for primary lithium ion batteries with superior discharge specific capacity (eg. 979.3 mAhg-1), stable discharge platform and high energy density (eg. 2287.9 Wh kg-1), which fosters it a high density, low cost and durable candidate for cathode material for lithium ion batteries..