Poloxamers and poloxamines in nanoparticle engineering and experimental medicine

Poloxamers and poloxamine nonionic surfactants have diverse applications in various biomedical fields ranging from drug delivery and medical imaging to management of vascular diseases and disorders. Although this is a progressive, rapidly advancing field in biotechnology, the future will depend on the recognition and rectification of a range of toxicity issues, which have to be addressed but have frequently been ignored until now.     

Transgenic oil palm: production and projection

Oil palm is an important economic crop for Malaysia. Genetic engineering could be applied to produce transgenic oil palms with high value-added fatty acids and novel products to ensure the sustainability of the palm oil industry. Establishment of a reliable transformation and regeneration system is essential for genetic engineering. Biolistic was initially chosen as the method for oil palm transformation as it has been the most successful method for monocotyledons to date. Optimization of physical and biological parameters, including testing of promoters and selective agents, was carried out as a prerequisite for stable transformation. This has resulted in the successful transfer of reporter genes into oil palm and the regeneration of transgenic oil palm, thus making it possible to improve the oil palm through genetic engineering. Besides application of the Biolistics method, studies on transformation mediated by Agrobacterium and utilization of the green fluorescent protein gene as a selectable marker gene have been initiated. Upon the development of a reliable transformation system, a number of useful targets are being projected for oil palm improvement. Among these targets are high-oleate and high-stearate oils, and the production of industrial feedstock such as biodegradable plastics. The efforts in oil palm genetic engineering are thus not targeted as commodity palm oil. Due to the long life cycle of the palm and the time taken to regenerate plants in tissue culture, it is envisaged that commercial planting of transgenic palms will not occur any earlier than the year 2020.     

Synergistic apoptotic effect of Mcl-1 inhibition and doxorubicin on B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells

Molecular Biology Reports - Myeloid cell leukemia-1 (MCL-1) is a component of the Bcl-2 anti-apoptotic family that plays a key role in cell proliferation and differentiation. Despite tremendous...     

Association between extract of Euphorbia szovitsii and expression level of microRNAs in MDA-MB-231 cell line

Molecular Biology Reports - The miRNAs have been shown to be involved in breast cancer. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the impacts of extract from Euphorbia szovitsii Fisch...     

A global treatments for coronaviruses including COVID-19

In late December 2019 in Wuhan, China, several patients with viral pneumonia were identified as 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). So far, there are no specific treatments for patients with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), and the treatments available today are based on previous experience with similar viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and Influenza virus. In this article, we have tried to reach a therapeutic window of drugs available to patients with COVID-19. Cathepsin L is required for entry of the 2019-nCoV virus into the cell as target teicoplanin inhibits virus replication. Angiotensin-converting-enzyme 2 (ACE2) in soluble form as a recombinant protein can prevent the spread of coronavirus by restricting binding and entry. In patients with COVID-19, hydroxychloroquine decreases the inflammatory response and cytokine storm, but overdose causes toxicity and mortality. Neuraminidase inhibitors such as oseltamivir, peramivir, and zanamivir are invalid for 2019-nCoV and are not recommended for treatment but protease inhibitors such as lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) inhibit the progression of MERS-CoV disease and can be useful for patients of COVID-19 and, in combination with Arbidol, has a direct antiviral effect on early replication of SARS-CoV. Ribavirin reduces hemoglobin concentrations in respiratory patients, and remdesivir improves respiratory symptoms. Use of ribavirin in combination with LPV/r in patients with SARS-CoV reduces acute respiratory distress syndrome and mortality, which has a significant protective effect with the addition of corticosteroids. Favipiravir increases clinical recovery and reduces respiratory problems and has a stronger antiviral effect than LPV/r. currently, appropriate treatment for patients with COVID-19 is an ACE2 inhibitor and a clinical problem reducing agent such as favipiravir in addition to hydroxychloroquine and corticosteroids.     

Telomerase reverse transcriptase downregulation by RNA interference modulates endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial energy production

Molecular Biology Reports - Telomerase is a cancer promoting ribonucleoprotein complex and is a potential therapeutic target for cancer. In this study, the effects of telomerase downregulation on...     

Silibinin treatment results in reducing OPA1&MFN1 genes expression in a rat model hepatic ischemia–reperfusion

The mitochondrial damage has a pivotal role in triggering apoptosis and cell death. This study assessed the effect of silibinin on optical atrophy-1 (OPA1) and mitofusin-1 (MFN1) gene expression in liver tissue during hepatic warm ischemia–reperfusion (IR). Four groups of rats, eight rats each were designed: Vehicle: the rats received normal saline and encountered to laparotomy, Sili: silibinin (60 mg/kg) was administered to animals, IR: the rats received the normal saline and insulted by liver IR procedure, and IR?+?Sili: silibinin was injected to rats. All groups were subjected to the same process of injection of the solvent or silibinin (30 min before laparotomy or ischemia and immediately after the reperfusion), intraperitoneally (IP). After 3 h of reperfusion, blood and liver tissue samples were collected for future examinations. Our results showed no significant differences between the Vehicle and Sili groups in all assessed parameters. In IR?+?Sili, the increased serum levels of AST and ALT in comparison with the control group were markedly reduced by silibinin treatment. Silibinin lowered the elevated expression of OPA1 and MFN1 mRNAs in the IR group. Histology revealed silibinin could decline tissue degeneration compared to the IR group. Electron microscopy of control and silibinin groups showed no fusion of mitochondria and tissue degradation both of which were observed in the IR group. The extent of tissue destruction and mitochondrial fusion decreased significantly with silibinin treatment. Silibinin has a protective effect on liver cells against IR induced injuries by preserving mitochondrial membrane.

     

EEG power spectral density in locked-in and completely locked-in state patients: a longitudinal study

Persons with their eye closed and without any means of communication is said to be in a completely locked-in state (CLIS) while when they could still open their eyes actively or passively and have some means of communication are said to be in locked-in state (LIS). Two patients in CLIS without any means of communication, and one patient in the transition from LIS to CLIS with means of communication, who have Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis were followed at a regular interval for more than 1 year. During each visit, resting-state EEG was recorded before the brain–computer interface (BCI) based communication sessions. The resting-state EEG of the patients was analyzed to elucidate the evolution of their EEG spectrum over time with the disease’s progression to provide future BCI-research with the relevant information to classify changes in EEG evolution. Comparison of power spectral density (PSD) of these patients revealed a significant difference in the PSD’s of patients in CLIS without any means of communication and the patient in the transition from LIS to CLIS with means of communication. The EEG of patients without any means of communication is devoid of alpha, beta, and higher frequencies than the patient in transition who still had means of communication. The results show that the change in the EEG frequency spectrum may serve as an indicator of the communication ability of such patients.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s11571-020-09639-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

The solvation study of carbon, silicon and their mixed nanotubes in water solution

Nanotubes are believed to open the road toward different modern fields, either technological or biological. However, the applications of nanotubes have been badly impeded for the poor solubility in water which is especially essential for studies in the presence of living cells. Therefore, water soluble samples are in demand. Herein, the outcomes of Monte Carlo simulations of different sets of multiwall nanotubes immersed in water are reported. A number of multi wall nanotube samples, comprised of pure carbon, pure silicon and several mixtures of carbon and silicon are the subjects of study. The simulations are carried out in an (N,V,T) ensemble. The purpose of this report is to look at the effects of nanotube size (diameter) and nanotube type (pure carbon, pure silicon or a mixture of carbon and silicon) variation on solubility of multiwall nanotubes in terms of number of water molecules in shell volume. It is found that the solubility of the multi wall carbon nanotube samples is size independent, whereas multi wall silicon nanotube samples solubility varies with diameter of the inner tube. The higher solubility of samples containing silicon can be attributed to the larger atomic size of silicon atom which provides more direct contact with the water molecules. The other affecting factor is the bigger inter space (the space between inner and outer tube) in the case of silicon samples. Carbon type multi wall nanotubes appeared as better candidates for transporting water molecules through a multi wall nanotube structure, while in the case of water adsorption problems it is better to use multi wall silicon nanotubes or a mixture of multi wall carbon/ silicon nanotubes.