Distinct In Vitro Effects of Liposomal and Nanostructured Lipid Nanoformulations with Entrapped Acidic and Neutral Doxorubicin on B16-F10 Melanoma and Walker 256 Carcinoma Cells.

Liposomes and, more recently, structured nanolipid particles have demonstrated effectiveness as carriers for delivering hydrophilic or lipophilic anticancer agents, enhancing their biocompatibility, bioavailability, and sustained release to target cells. Herein, four doxorubicin formulations-comprising either the acidic or neutral form-were encapsulated into liposomes (Lipo) or nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) and characterized in terms of size, entrapment efficiency, morphology, and effects on two cancer cell lines (melanoma B16-F10 and breast carcinoma Walker 256 cells). While liposomal formulations containing acidic doxorubicin displayed IC values ranging from 1.

Synthesis and Characterization of PEGylated Liposomes and Nanostructured Lipid Carriers with Entrapped Bioactive Triterpenoids: Comparative Fingerprints and Quantification by UHPLC-QTOF-ESI-MS, ATR-FTIR Spectroscopy, and HPLC-DAD.

: Pentacyclic triterpenoids, as bioactive phytochemicals, have proven to exhibit significant bioactivity (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, and anticancer) and low cytotoxicity. This study developed convenient methods for extracting and characterizing a birch bark extract enriched in pentacyclic triterpenoids (betulin, betulinic acid, and lupeol) and entrapped in two bioavailable nanoformulations. The performance of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy as a cost-effective and non-destructive method was evaluated comparatively with accurate HPLC-based methods.

Liposomal and Nanostructured Lipid Nanoformulations of a Pentacyclic Triterpenoid Birch Bark Extract: Structural Characterization and In Vitro Effects on Melanoma B16-F10 and Walker 256 Tumor Cells Apoptosis.

: Pentacyclic triterpenoids are increasingly studied as anticancer agents with many advantages compared to synthetic chemotherapeutics. The aim of this study was to prepare liposomal and nanostructured lipid formulations including a standardized extract of silver birch () outer bark (TTs) and to evaluate their potential as anticancer agents in vitro, using Melanoma B16-F10 and Walker carcinoma cells. : Appropriate solvents were selected for efficient TTs extraction, and original recipes were used to obtain Pegylated liposomes and nanolipid complexes with entrapped TTs, comparative to pure standards (betulinic acid and doxorubicin) in similar conditions.

Enhanced Cytotoxicity and Antimelanoma Activity of Novel Semisynthetic Derivatives of Betulinic Acid with Indole Conjugation.

The prevalence and severity of skin cancer, specifically malignant melanoma, among Caucasians remains a significant concern. Natural compounds from plants have long been explored as potential anticancer agents. Betulinic acid (BI) has shown promise in its therapeutic properties, including its anticancer effects.

Pentacyclic Triterpenoid Phytochemicals with Anticancer Activity: Updated Studies on Mechanisms and Targeted Delivery.

Pentacyclic triterpenoids (TTs) represent a unique family of phytochemicals with interesting properties and pharmacological effects, with some representatives, such as betulinic acid (BA) and betulin (B), being mainly investigated as potential anticancer molecules. Considering the recent scientific and preclinical investigations, a review of their anticancer mechanisms, structure-related activity, and efficiency improved by their insertion in nanolipid vehicles for targeted delivery is presented. A systematic literature study about their effects on tumor cells in vitro and in vivo, as free molecules or encapsulated in liposomes or nanolipids, is discussed.

Soil physicochemical properties change by age of the oil palm crop.

For decades there have been controversies related to the changes generated by oil palm plantations in the physicochemical properties of the soil, soil biota, and ecological interactions. Therefore, the present investigation evaluated root diameter and biomass at three ages of oil palm cultivation. Besides, we evaluated the effect of the ages on the physicochemical parameters of the soil in comparison with pasture plots.

Enhanced diagnosis and prognosis of severe alcoholic hepatitis using novel metabolomic biomarkers.

Aim: Differentiating alcoholic hepatitis (AH) from acute decompensation of alcoholic cirrhosis (DC) is challenging, as the presentation and biochemistry are similar. We aimed to identify potential metabolomic biomarkers to differentiate between AH and DC, and to predict short-term mortality.

Methods: We included consecutive biopsy proven AH and DC patients, which were managed according to current guidelines and followed up until the end of the study.

SERS liquid biopsy in breast cancer. What can we learn from SERS on serum and urine?

SERS analysis of biofluids, coupled with classification algorithms, has recently emerged as a candidate for point-of-care medical diagnosis. Nonetheless, despite the impressive results reported in the literature, there are still gaps in our knowledge of the biochemical information provided by the SERS analysis of biofluids. Therefore, by a critical assignment of the SERS bands, our work aims to provide a systematic analysis of the molecular information that can be achieved from the SERS analysis of serum and urine obtained from breast cancer patients and controls.

From Influenza Virus to Novel Corona Virus (SARS-CoV-2)-The Contribution of Obesity.

From the beginning of 2020, the governments and the health systems around the world are tackling infections and fatalities caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) resulting in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This virus pandemic has turned more complicated as individuals with co-morbidities like diabetes, cardiovascular conditions and obesity are at a high risk of acquiring infection and suffering from a more severe course of disease. Prolonged viral infection and obesity are independently known to lower the immune response and a combination can thus result in a "cytokine storm" and a substantial weakening of the immune system.

Lineage-Specific Proteomic Signatures in the Complex Reveal Differential Abundance of Proteins Involved in Virulence, DNA Repair, CRISPR-Cas, Bioenergetics and Lipid Metabolism.

Despite the discovery of the tubercle bacillus more than 130 years ago, its physiology and the mechanisms of virulence are still not fully understood. A comprehensive analysis of the proteomes of members of the human-adapted complex (MTBC) lineages 3, 4, 5, and 7 was conducted to better understand the evolution of virulence and other physiological characteristics. Unique and shared proteomic signatures in these modern, pre-modern and ancient MTBC lineages, as deduced from quantitative bioinformatics analyses of high-resolution mass spectrometry data, were delineated.

N,N-Dimethlyacetamide Prevents the High-Fat Diet-Induced Increase in Body Weight.

Increased body weight caused by visceral fat accumulation is on the rise and is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide. Hence, means and ways to tackle the problem of increased adiposity is of utmost importance. In this work, we report the effect of a water-soluble small molecule N,N-Dimethlyacetamide (DMA) on weight gain and adiposity and .

Influence of mastitis metritis agalactia (MMA) on bone and fat metabolism.

Mastitis metritis agalactia (MMA) is a common disease in post-partum sows and has a negative effect on sows' longevity as well as on sows' and piglets' health. MMA leads to an inflammatory state. The aim was to investigate the impact of MMA on bone and fat metabolism.

First Apocarotenoids Profiling of Four Microalgae Strains.

Both enzymatic or oxidative carotenoids cleavages can often occur in nature and produce a wide range of bioactive apocarotenoids. Considering that no detailed information is available in the literature regarding the occurrence of apocarotenoids in microalgae species, the aim of this study was to study the extraction and characterization of apocarotenoids in four different microalgae strains: sp. CCMP 2294, SAG 8-6, CCMP 526, and NIVA-CHL 176.

New ecosystems in the deep subsurface follow the flow of water driven by geological activity.

Eukarya have been discovered in the deep subsurface at several locations in South Africa, but how organisms reach the subsurface remains unknown. We studied river-subsurface fissure water systems and identified Eukarya from a river that are genetically identical for 18S rDNA. To further confirm that these are identical species one metazoan species recovered from the overlying river interbred successfully with specimen recovered from an underlying mine at -1.

Ample glycosylation in membrane and cell envelope proteins may explain the phenotypic diversity and virulence in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

Multiple regulatory mechanisms including post-translational modifications (PTMs) confer complexity to the simpler genomes and proteomes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). PTMs such as glycosylation play a significant role in Mtb adaptive processes. The glycoproteomic patterns of clinical isolates of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) representing the lineages 3, 4, 5 and 7 were characterized by mass spectrometry.

Development of an enterotoxigenic vaccine based on the heat-stable toxin.

Infection with enterotoxigenic (ETEC) is an important cause of diarrhea-related illness and death among children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Recent studies have found that it is the ETEC subtypes that produce the heat-stable enterotoxin (ST), irrespective of whether they also secrete the heat-labile enterotoxin (LT), which contribute most importantly to the disease burden in children from LMIC. Therefore, adding an ST toxoid would importantly complement ongoing ETEC vaccine development efforts.

Purification and Characterization of Native and Vaccine Candidate Mutant Enterotoxigenic Heat-Stable Toxins.

Enterotoxigenic (ETEC), which secretes the heat-stable toxin (ST) is among the four most important enteropathogens that cause moderate-to-severe diarrhea in children in low- and middle-income countries. ST is an intestinal molecular antagonist causing diarrhea and hence an attractive vaccine target. A non-toxic and safe ST vaccine should include one or more detoxifying mutations, and rigorous characterization of such mutants requires structurally intact peptides.

Development of Versatile Vectors for Heterologous Expression in .

The discovery of new enzymes for industrial application relies on a robust discovery pipeline. Such a pipeline should facilitate efficient molecular cloning, recombinant expression and functional screening procedures. Previously, we have developed a vector set for heterologous expression in .

SBMLmod: a Python-based web application and web service for efficient data integration and model simulation.

Background: Systems Biology Markup Language (SBML) is the standard model representation and description language in systems biology. Enriching and analysing systems biology models by integrating the multitude of available data, increases the predictive power of these models. This may be a daunting task, which commonly requires bioinformatic competence and scripting.