Novel water-soluble polyurethane nanomicelles for cancer chemotherapy: physicochemical characterization and cellular activities

Background  

Efficient delivery of anticancer chemotherapies such as paclitaxel (PTX) can improve treatment strategy in a variety of tumors such as breast and ovarian cancers. Accordingly, researches on polymeric nanomicelles continue to find suitable delivery systems. However, due to biocompatibility concerns, a few micellar nanoformulations have exquisitely been translated into clinical uses. Here, we report the synthesis of novel water-soluble nanomicelles using bioactive polyurethane (PU) polymer and efficient delivery of PTX in the human breast cancer MCF-7 cells.     

Interactions between Sympathomimetic Amines and Antidepressant Agents in Man

Intravenous infusions of phenylephrine, noradrenaline, adrenaline, and isoprenaline were given to healthy human volunteers after five to seven days on phenelzine, tranylcypromine, or imipramine, and cardiovascular responses were compared with those observed under control conditions. With monoamine oxidase inhibitors there was a 2-2½ fold potentiation of the pressor effect of phenylephrine, but no clinically significant potentiation of cardiovascular effects of noradrenaline, adrenaline, or isoprenaline. With imipramine there was potentiation of the pressor effects of phenylephrine (2-3 fold), noradrenaline (4-8 fold), and adrenaline (2-4 fold); there were dysrhythmias during adrenaline infusions, but no noticeable or consistent changes in response to isoprenaline.Noradrenaline and adrenaline in amounts contained in local anaesthetics used in dentistry are not likely to be significantly potentiated in otherwise healthy patients receiving monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Hazardous potentiation of their cardiovascular effects might occur in patients receiving tricyclic antidepressants.Our observations do not indicate that the hazards associated with isoprenaline inhalation by bronchial asthmatics would be increased by coincident therapy with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor or tricyclic antidepressant.     

A robust universal method for extraction of genomic DNA from bacterial species

The intactness of DNA is the keystone of genome-based clinical investigations, where rapid molecular detection of life-threatening bacteria is largely dependent on the isolation of high-quality DNA. Various protocols have been so far developed for genomic DNA isolation from bacteria, most of which have been claimed to be reproducible with relatively good yields of high-quality DNA. Nonetheless, they are not fully applicable to various types of bacteria, their processing cost is relatively high, and some toxic reagents are used. The routine protocols for DNA extraction appear to be sensitive to species diversity, and may fail to produce high-quality DNA from different species. Such protocols remain time-consuming and tedious, thus to resolve some of these impediments, we report development of a very simple, rapid, and high-throughput protocol for extracting of high-quality DNA from different bacterial species. Based upon our protocol, interfering phenolic compounds were removed from extraction using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and RNA contamination was precipitated using LiCl. The UV spectrophotometry and gel electrophoresis analysis resulted in high A ₂₆₀/A ₂₈₀ ratio (>1.8) with high intactness of DNA. Subsequent evaluations were performed using some quality-dependent techniques (e.g., RAPD marker and restriction digestions). The isolated DNA from 9 different bacterial species confirmed the accuracy of this protocol which requires no enzymatic processing and accordingly its low-cost making it an appropriate method for large-scale DNA isolation from various bacterial species.     

Phage display-derived antibody fragments against conserved regions of VacA toxin of Helicobacter pylori

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - Infection with Helicobacter pylori may result in the emergence of gastric adenocarcinoma. Among various toxins assisting pathogenesis of H. pylori,...     

Bitter apricot ethanolic extract induces apoptosis through increasing expression of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and caspase-3 in PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cells

Molecular Biology Reports - Pancreatic cancer is the fourth common cause of cancer death. Surgery and chemotherapy are the common treatment strategies for pancreatic cancer patients; however, the...