Browse publications by year: 2018

  1. Bisong SA, Ukoh IE, Nna VU, Ebong PE
    Andrologia, 2018 Sep;50(7):e13050.
    PMID: 29806220 DOI: 10.1111/and.13050
    Previous studies showed that exposure to stress or nicotine induced reproductive impairment in male rats. Here, we assessed the effect of an antioxidant (vitamin E) on nicotine-, stress- and nicotine + stress-induced reproductive impairment in male rats. Forty-eight male albino Wistar rats were divided into eight groups as follows; control, stress (generator noise 90-120 dB, 8 hr/day), nicotine (1.5 mg kg-1 day-1 ), nicotine + stress, vitamin E (100 mg kg-1 day-1 ), stress + vitamin E, nicotine + vitamin E and stress + nicotine + vitamin E. Sperm count, viability, motility and rapid progressive forward movement decreased significantly (p 
    MeSH terms: Animals; Antioxidants/administration & dosage*; Disease Models, Animal; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects*; Humans; Infertility, Male/blood; Infertility, Male/etiology; Infertility, Male/prevention & control*; Male; Nicotine/toxicity; Noise/adverse effects; Spermatozoa/drug effects; Stress, Psychological/blood; Stress, Psychological/complications; Stress, Psychological/etiology; Testis/drug effects; Testosterone/blood; Vitamin E/administration & dosage*; Rats, Wistar; Oxidative Stress/drug effects*; Rats
  2. Anis SNS, Mohd Annuar MS, Simarani K
    Biotechnol Appl Biochem, 2018 Nov;65(6):784-796.
    PMID: 29806235 DOI: 10.1002/bab.1666
    Biosynthesis and in vivo depolymerization of intracellular medium-chain-length poly-3-hydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHA) in Pseudomonas putida Bet001 grown on lauric acid were studied. Highest mcl-PHA fraction (>50 % of total biomass) and cell concentration (8 g L-1 ) were obtained at carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio 20, starting cell concentration 1 g L-1 , and 48 H fermentation. The mcl-PHA comprised of 3-hydroxyhexanoate (C6 ), 3-hydroxyoctanote (C8 ), 3-hydroxydecanoate (C10 ), and 3-hydroxydodecanoate (C12 ) monomers. In vivo action was studied in a mineral liquid medium without carbon source, and in different buffer solutions with varied pH, molarity, ionic strength, and temperature. The monomer liberation rate reflected the mol percentage distribution of the initial polymer subunit composition. Rate and percentage of in vivo depolymerization were highest in 0.2 M Tris-HCl buffer (pH 9, strength = 0.2 M, 30 °C) at 0.21 g L-1  H-1 and 98.6 ± 1.3 wt%, respectively. There is a congruity vis-à-vis to specific buffer type, molarity, pH, ionic strength, and temperature values for superior in vivo depolymerization activities. Direct products from in vivo depolymerization matched the individual monomeric composition of native mcl-PHA. It points to exo-type reaction for the in vivo process, and potential biological route to chiral molecules.
    MeSH terms: Lauric Acids/chemistry; Pseudomonas putida/growth & development; Pseudomonas putida/metabolism*; Pseudomonas putida/chemistry*; Polyhydroxyalkanoates/biosynthesis*; Polyhydroxyalkanoates/chemistry; Polymerization*
  3. Buse GL, Manns B, Lamy A, Guyatt G, Polanczyk CA, Chan MTV, et al.
    Can J Surg, 2018 06;61(3):185-194.
    PMID: 29806816
    BACKGROUND: Myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery (MINS) is a mostly asymptomatic condition that is strongly associated with 30-day mortality; however, it remains mostly undetected without systematic troponin T monitoring. We evaluated the cost and consequences of postoperative troponin T monitoring to detect MINS.

    METHODS: We conducted a model-based cost-consequence analysis to compare the impact of routine troponin T monitoring versus standard care (troponin T measurement triggered by ischemic symptoms) on the incidence of MINS detection. Model inputs were based on Canadian patients enrolled in the Vascular Events in Noncardiac Surgery Patients Cohort Evaluation (VISION) study, which enrolled patients aged 45 years or older undergoing inpatient noncardiac surgery. We conducted probability analyses with 10 000 iterations and extensive sensitivity analyses.

    RESULTS: The data were based on 6021 patients (48% men, mean age 65 [standard deviation 12] yr). The 30-day mortality rate for MINS was 9.6%. We determined the incremental cost to avoid missing a MINS event as $1632 (2015 Canadian dollars). The cost-effectiveness of troponin monitoring was higher in patient subgroups at higher risk for MINS, e.g., those aged 65 years or more, or with a history of atherosclerosis or diabetes ($1309).

    CONCLUSION: The costs associated with a troponin T monitoring program to detect MINS were moderate. Based on the estimated incremental cost per health gain, implementation of postoperative troponin T monitoring seems appealing, particularly in patients at high risk for MINS.

    MeSH terms: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cost-Benefit Analysis*; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Risk; Surgical Procedures, Operative/adverse effects*; Troponin T/blood*
  4. Mohd Nawawi N, Selveindran NM, Rasat R, Chow YP, Abdul Latiff Z, Syed Zakaria SZ, et al.
    Clin Chim Acta, 2018 Sep;484:141-147.
    PMID: 29807018 DOI: 10.1016/j.cca.2018.05.048
    BACKGROUND: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a rare genetic bone disease characterized by bone fragility and low bone mass. OI was mainly caused by genetic mutations in collagen genes, COL1A1 and COL1A2. Nevertheless, new genes have been identified to be causally linked to OI. The clinical features between each OI groups share great similarities and it is sometimes difficult for clinicians to diagnose the disease accurately. Here, we identify the genetic mutations of OI patients from Malaysia and correlate the genetic mutations with the clinical features.

    METHOD: Targeted sequencing of fourteen genes panel was performed to identify the mutations in 29 OI patients with type I, III, IV and V disease. The mutations were determined using Ion Torrent Suite software version 5 and variant annotation was conducted using ANNOVAR. The identified mutations were confirmed using Sanger sequencing and in silico analysis was performed to evaluate the effects of the candidate mutations at protein level.

    RESULTS: Majority of patients had mutations in collagen genes, 48% (n = 14) in COL1A1 and 14% (n = 4) in COL1A2. Type I OI was caused by quantitative mutations in COL1A1 whereas most of type III and IV were due to qualitative mutations in both of the collagen genes. Those with quantitative mutations had milder clinical severity compared to qualitative mutations in terms of dentinogenesis imperfecta (DI), bone deformity and the ability to walk with aid. Furthermore, a few patients (28%, n = 8) had mutations in IFITM5, BMP1, P3H1 and SERPINF1.

    CONCLUSION: Majority of our OI patients have mutations in collagen genes, similar to other OI populations worldwide. Genotype-phenotype analysis revealed that qualitative mutations had more severe clinical characteristics compared to quantitative mutations. It is crucial to identify the causative mutations and the clinical severity of OI patients may be predicted based on the types of mutations.

    MeSH terms: Female; Genotype; Humans; Malaysia; Male; Osteogenesis Imperfecta/diagnosis; Osteogenesis Imperfecta/genetics*; Phenotype; Genetic Variation/genetics
  5. Bashir S, Teo YY, Ramesh S, Ramesh K, Mushtaq MW
    Int J Biol Macromol, 2018 Oct 01;117:454-466.
    PMID: 29807081 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.05.182
    Novel pH sensitive N-succinyl chitosan-g-poly (acrylic acid) hydrogels were synthesized through free radical mechanism. Rheometer was used to observe the mechanical strength of the hydrogels. In vitro degradation was conducted in SIF (pH 7.4). The effect of concentration of monomers, initiator, and crosslinking agent and pH and ionic strength of NaCl, CaCl2, and AlCl3 on swelling of the hydrogels was observed. The results showed that equilibrium swelling ratio was highly influenced by concentration of monomers, initiator, and crosslinking agent concentration, and pH and salt solutions of NaCl, CaCl2, and AlCl3. The swelling kinetics revealed that swelling followed non-Fickian anomalous transport. Furthermore, theophylline loading (DL %) and encapsulation efficiency (EE %) of the hydrogels was in the range of 15.5 ± 0.15-22.8 ± 0.06% and 62 ± 0.15-91 ± 0.26%, respectively. The release of theophylline in physiological mediums was strongly influenced by the pH. The theophylline release was in the range of 51 ± 0.20-92 ± 0.12% in SIF and 7.4 ± 0.02-14.9 ± 0.03% in SGF (pH 1.2), respectively. The release data fitted well to Korsmeyer-Peppas model. The chemical activity of the theophylline suggested that drug maintained its chemical activity after release in vitro. The results suggest that synthesized hydrogels are excellent drug carriers.
    MeSH terms: Acrylic Resins/chemical synthesis; Acrylic Resins/chemistry*; Calorimetry, Differential Scanning; Diffusion; Drug Carriers/chemistry*; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; Kinetics; Osmolar Concentration; Rheology*; Theophylline/pharmacology*; Water/chemistry; X-Ray Diffraction; Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; Hydrogels/chemical synthesis; Hydrogels/chemistry*; Chitosan/chemical synthesis; Chitosan/chemistry*; Drug Liberation*
  6. Geethaavacini G, Poh GP, Yan LY, Deepashini R, Shalini S, Harish R, et al.
    Med Chem, 2018;14(7):733-740.
    PMID: 29807521 DOI: 10.2174/1573406414666180529091618
    BACKGROUND: The development of severe drug resistance caused by the extensive use of anti-HIV agents has resulted in a greatly extensive reduction in these drugs efficacy.

    OBJECTIVES: To identify the important pharmacophoric features and correlate 3D chemical structure of benzothiazinimines with their anti-HIV potential using 2D, 3D-QSAR and pharmacophore modeling studies.

    METHODS: QSAR and pharmacophore mapping studies have been used to relate structural features. 2D QSAR and 3D QSAR studies were performed using partial least square and k-nearest neighbor methodology, coupled with various feature selection methods, viz. stepwise, genetic algorithm, and simulated annealing, to derive QSAR models which were further validated for statistical significance.

    RESULTS: The physicochemical descriptor XAHydrophilicArea and SsOHE-index, and alignmentindependent descriptor T_C_Cl_6 showed significant correlation with the anti-HIV activity of benzothiazinimines in 2D QSAR. 3D QSAR results showed the significant effect of electrostatic and steric field descriptors in the anti-HIV potential of benzothiazinimines. The generated pharmacophore hypothesis demonstrated the importance of aromaticity and hydrogen bond acceptors.

    CONCLUSION: The significant models obtained in this study suggested that these techniques could be used as a guidance for designing new benzothiazinimines with enhanced anti-HIV potential.

    MeSH terms: Algorithms; Drug Resistance; Hydrogen; Hydrogen Bonding; HIV Infections; Cluster Analysis; Least-Squares Analysis; Anti-HIV Agents; Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship; Static Electricity
  7. Bhoopathi PH, Voruganti S, Suma NS, Samudrala T, Kamath BV, Jahagirdar A
    J Contemp Dent Pract, 2018 May 01;19(5):546-553.
    PMID: 29807965
    AIM: To evaluate caries spectrum among 12- and 15-year-old Indian children using the Caries Assessment Spectrum and Treatment (CAST) index.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: An epidemiological survey of the schoolchildren was carried out in a district in India. A stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select the sample. The caries prevalence of the surveyed population was obtained by using this CAST tool. Chi-square test was used to verify the association between dental fluorosis, socioeconomic status, and age and caries experience. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare the caries experience between the two age groups.

    RESULTS: A total of 2,610 children were examined. The majority of the schoolchildren (12 years: 74.2%, 15 years: 75.5%) were healthy concerning their caries experience and the prevalence of the other codes was minimal. The prevalence of dentin carious lesions and the percent of restorable teeth was greater among the 15-year-olds. The mean decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) of 12- and 15-year-old subjects was calculated to be 0.22 and 0.29 respectively.

    CONCLUSION: The currently surveyed population showed a low caries prevalence and the use of the tool highlighted the caries spectrum in an impressive way.

    CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: A well-designed tool to assess the carious spectrum of an individual or a community, thus enabling the responsible stakeholders to plan an appropriate care that is necessary.

    MeSH terms: Adolescent; Age Factors; Child; Dental Caries/epidemiology*; Dental Caries/therapy*; Dental Restoration, Permanent/statistics & numerical data; Female; Humans; India/epidemiology; Male; Fluorosis, Dental/epidemiology; Socioeconomic Factors; Prevalence; Chi-Square Distribution
  8. Sweeti, Joshi D, Panigrahi BK, Anand S, Santhosh J
    J Healthc Eng, 2018;2018:9213707.
    PMID: 29808111 DOI: 10.1155/2018/9213707
    This paper presents a classification system to classify the cognitive load corresponding to targets and distractors present in opposite visual hemifields. The approach includes the study of EEG (electroencephalogram) signal features acquired in a spatial attention task. The process comprises of EEG feature selection based on the feature distribution, followed by the stepwise discriminant analysis- (SDA-) based channel selection. Repeated measure analysis of variance (rANOVA) is applied to test the statistical significance of the selected features. Classifiers are developed and compared using the selected features to classify the target and distractor present in visual hemifields. The results provide a maximum classification accuracy of 87.2% and 86.1% and an average classification accuracy of 76.5 ± 4% and 76.2 ± 5.3% over the thirteen subjects corresponding to the two task conditions. These correlates present a step towards building a feature-based neurofeedback system for visual attention.
    MeSH terms: Adult; Algorithms; Analysis of Variance; Attention*; Electrodes; Electroencephalography*; Female; Humans; Male; Rehabilitation/methods*; ROC Curve; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Visual Fields*; Reproducibility of Results; Discriminant Analysis; Neural Networks (Computer); Young Adult; Neurofeedback*; Neuroimaging; Support Vector Machine; Brain-Computer Interfaces
  9. Che Ahmad Tantowi NA, Lau SF, Mohamed S
    Calcif. Tissue Int., 2018 10;103(4):388-399.
    PMID: 29808374 DOI: 10.1007/s00223-018-0433-1
    Osteoporosis (OP) and osteoarthritis (OA) are debilitating musculoskeletal diseases of the elderly. Ficus deltoidea (FD) or mistletoe fig, a medicinal plant, was pre-clinically evaluated against OP- and OA-related bone alterations, in postmenopausal OA rat model. Thirty twelfth-week-old female rats were divided into groups (n = 6). Four groups were bilateral ovariectomized (OVX) and OA-induced by intra-articular monosodium iodoacetate (MIA) injection into the right knee joints. The Sham control and OVX-OA non-treated groups were given deionized water. The three other OVX-OA groups were orally administered daily with FD extract (200, 400 mg/kg) or diclofenac (5 mg/kg) for 4 weeks. The rats' bones and blood were evaluated for protein and mRNA expressions of osteoporosis and inflammatory indicators, and micro-CT computed tomography for bone microstructure. The non-treated OVX-OA rats developed severe OP bone loss and bone microstructural damage in the subchondral and metaphyseal regions, supported by reduced serum bone formation markers (osteocalcin, osteoprotegerin) and increased bone resorption markers (RANKL and CTX-I). The FD extract significantly (p 
    MeSH terms: Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Female; Humans; Inflammation/pathology*; Osteoarthritis/pathology*; Osteoporosis/pathology*; Plant Extracts/pharmacology*; Bone Remodeling/drug effects; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Ficus*; Rats
  10. Wang ZQ, Cheng H, Lü TY, Wang HQ, Feng YP, Zheng JC
    Phys Chem Chem Phys, 2018 May 29.
    PMID: 29808861 DOI: 10.1039/c8cp02257g
    We have studied the mechanical properties of a two-dimensional (2D) boron nanoribbon network (BNRN) subjected to a uniaxial or a biaxial tensile strain using first principles calculations. The results show that the 2D BNRN is super-stretchable. The critical tensile strains of the BNRN in the χ-h1 phase along the a- and b-directions are 0.51 and 0.41, respectively, and that for the biaxial strain reaches an ultrahigh value of 0.84. By analyzing the B-B interatomic distance, coordination number and charge distribution, it is found that with increasing biaxial tensile strain, the χ-h1 BNRN undergoes two structural phase transitions, which are characterized by breaking of the B-B bonds and the partial transformation of the nanoribbon-like structures into chain-like structures. The strain-induced phase transitions significantly reduce the strain energy. We also discuss the elastic constants, Young's modulus, shear modulus, and Poisson's ratios. The super-stretchable and flexible mechanical properties of the BNRNs, together with their superior transport properties, make BNRNs useful in a wide range of applications in nanoscale electronic devices.
  11. Mai CW, Kang YB, Hamzah AS, Pichika MR
    Food Funct, 2018 Jun 20;9(6):3344-3350.
    PMID: 29808897 DOI: 10.1039/c8fo00136g
    Vanilloid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl benzenoid) containing foods are reported to possess many biological activities including anti-inflammatory properties. Homodimerisation of the Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR-4)/Myeloid differentiation factor 2 (MD-2) complex results in life-threatening complications in inflammatory disorders. In this study, we report activity of vanilloids in inhibition of TLR-4/MD-2 homodimersization and their molecular interactions with the receptor. The inhibitory activities of vanilloids were assessed in vitro by determining their antagonistic actions of lipopolysaccharide from Escherichia coli (LPSEc) in activation of TLR-4/MD-2 homodimerisation in TLR-4/MD-2/CD-14 transfected HEK-293 cells. The in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of vanilloids was also determined using RAW 264.7 cells. All the vanilloids were found to be active in the inhibition of TLR-4/MD-2 homodimersiation and nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells. Rigid and flexible molecular docking studies were performed to gain insight into interactions between vanilloids and the binding site of the TLR-4/MD-2 complex.
    MeSH terms: Animals; Benzaldehydes/pharmacology*; Humans; Macrophages/drug effects; Macrophages/immunology; Protein Binding/drug effects; Dimerization; Toll-Like Receptor 4/immunology; Toll-Like Receptor 4/chemistry*; Lymphocyte Antigen 96/immunology; Lymphocyte Antigen 96/chemistry*; Mice
  12. Yeoh AE, Li Z, Dong D, Lu Y, Jiang N, Trka J, et al.
    Br J Haematol, 2018 Jun;181(5):653-663.
    PMID: 29808917 DOI: 10.1111/bjh.15252
    Accurate risk assignment in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is essential to avoid under- or over-treatment. We hypothesized that time-series gene expression profiles (GEPs) of bone marrow samples during remission-induction therapy can measure the response and be used for relapse prediction. We computed the time-series changes from diagnosis to Day 8 of remission-induction, termed Effective Response Metric (ERM-D8) and tested its ability to predict relapse against contemporary risk assignment methods, including National Cancer Institutes (NCI) criteria, genetics and minimal residual disease (MRD). ERM-D8 was trained on a set of 131 patients and validated on an independent set of 79 patients. In the independent blinded test set, unfavourable ERM-D8 patients had >3-fold increased risk of relapse compared to favourable ERM-D8 (5-year cumulative incidence of relapse 38·1% vs. 10·6%; P = 2·5 × 10-3 ). ERM-D8 remained predictive of relapse [P = 0·05; Hazard ratio 4·09, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·03-16·23] after adjusting for NCI criteria, genetics, Day 8 peripheral response and Day 33 MRD. ERM-D8 improved risk stratification in favourable genetics subgroups (P = 0·01) and Day 33 MRD positive patients (P = 1·7 × 10-3 ). We conclude that our novel metric - ERM-D8 - based on time-series GEP after 8 days of remission-induction therapy can independently predict relapse even after adjusting for NCI risk, genetics, Day 8 peripheral blood response and MRD.
    MeSH terms: Bone Marrow; Humans; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; Remission Induction; Risk; United States; Incidence; Confidence Intervals; Proportional Hazards Models; Neoplasm, Residual; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma; National Cancer Institute (U.S.); Transcriptome
  13. Lin AC, Biffi M, Exner DV, Johnson WB, Gras D, Hussin A, et al.
    PMID: 29808920 DOI: 10.1111/pace.13389
    BACKGROUND: Steroid-eluting (SE) electrodes suppress local inflammation and lower pacing capture thresholds (PCT); however, their effectiveness on quadripolar left ventricular (LV) leads in the cardiac vein is not fully studied. We evaluated the effectiveness of SE on all four LV pacing electrodes in human subjects enrolled in the Medtronic Attain® Performa™ quadripolar LV lead study.

    METHODS: A total of 1,097 subjects were included in this evaluation. At each follow-up visit (1, 3, 6, and 12 months), LV PCT and pacing impedance were measured using either manual or automated testing methods. Summary statistics for PCT and impedance values were obtained for implant and each scheduled follow-up visit for all lead models.

    RESULTS: Average extended bipolar (LV electrode to right ventricular Coil) PCTs for the four LV SE pacing electrodes (LV1, LV2, LV3, and LV4) on the three shapes of the quadripolar LV leads were 1.06 ± 0.97 V, 1.38 ± 1.26 V, 1.51 ± 1.33 V, and 2.25 ± 1.63 V, respectively, at 0.5-ms pulse width. PCTs remained low and stable throughout the 12-month follow-up period.

    CONCLUSION: This clinical trial demonstrated that SE on all LV pacing electrodes is associated with low and stable PCTs for all quadripolar LV lead electrodes, resulting in multiple viable vectors for LV pacing. The large number of available vectors facilitates basal pacing, avoidance of PNS, and potentially prolongs generator longevity due to lower PCTs.

  14. Sulaiman AH, Musa R
    Curr Drug Targets, 2018;19(8):855.
    PMID: 29792134 DOI: 10.2174/138945011908180518113546
    MeSH terms: Humans; Psychotropic Drugs/pharmacology*; Molecular Targeted Therapy*
  15. Pandey M, Choudhury H, Yi CX, Mun CW, Phing GK, Rou GX, et al.
    Curr Drug Targets, 2018;19(15):1782-1800.
    PMID: 29792143 DOI: 10.2174/1389450119666180523092100
    Diabetes mellitus, a metabolic disorder of glucose metabolism, is mainly associated with insulin resistance to the body cells, or impaired production of insulin by the pancreatic β-cells. Insulin is mainly required to regulate glucose metabolism in type 1 diabetes mellitus patients; however, many patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus also require insulin, especially when their condition cannot be controlled solely by oral hypoglycemic agents. Hence, major research is ongoing attempting to improve the delivery of insulin in order to make it more convenient to patients who experience side effects from the conventional treatment procedure or non-adherence to insulin regimen due to multiple comorbid conditions. Conventionally, insulin is administered via subcutaneous route which is also one of the sole reasons of patient's non-compliance due to the invasiveness of this method. Several attempts have been done to improve patient compliance, reduce side effects, improve delivery adherence, and to enhance the pharmaceutical performance of the insulin therapy. Despite facing substantial challenges in developing efficient delivery systems for insulin, vast research studies have been carried out for the development of smart delivery systems to deliver insulin via ocular, buccal, pulmonary, oral, transdermal, as well as rectal routes. Therefore, the present review was aimed to overview the challenges encountered with the current insulin delivery systems and to summarize recent advancements in technology of various novel insulin delivery systems being discovered and introduced in the current market.
    MeSH terms: Administration, Buccal; Administration, Cutaneous; Administration, Oral; Administration, Rectal; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/drug therapy*; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/drug therapy*; Drug Carriers; Humans; Insulin/administration & dosage*; Insulin/therapeutic use; Patient Compliance; Drug Delivery Systems/instrumentation; Drug Delivery Systems/methods*; Administration, Ophthalmic
  16. Ali Y, Hamid SA, Rashid U
    Mini Rev Med Chem, 2018;18(18):1548-1558.
    PMID: 29792144 DOI: 10.2174/1389557518666180524113111
    Azo dyes are widely used in textile, fiber, cosmetic, leather, paint and printing industries. Besides their characteristic coloring function, azo compounds are reported as antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and cytotoxic agents. They have the ability to be used as drug carriers, either by acting as a 'cargo' that entrap therapeutic agents or by prodrug approach. The drug is released by internal or external stimuli in the region of interest, as observed in colon-targeted drug delivery. Besides drug-like and drug carrier properties, a number of azo dyes are used in cellular staining to visualize cellular components and metabolic processes. However, the biological significance of azo compounds, especially in cancer chemotherapy, is still in its infancy. This may be linked to early findings that declared azo compounds as one of the possible causes of cancer and mutagenesis. Currently, researchers are screening the aromatic azo compounds for their potential biomedical use, including cancer diagnosis and therapy. In this review, we highlight the medical applications of azo compounds, particularly related to cancer research. The biomedical significance of cis-trans interchange and negative implications of azo compounds are also discussed in brief.
    MeSH terms: Anti-Infective Agents/pharmacology*; Antineoplastic Agents/pharmacology*; Azo Compounds/pharmacology*; Azo Compounds/toxicity; Azo Compounds/chemistry; Carcinogens/toxicity; Coloring Agents/pharmacology*; Humans; Isomerism; Mutagens/toxicity; Prodrugs/pharmacology; Drug Delivery Systems
  17. Oong XY, Chook JB, Ng KT, Chow WZ, Chan KG, Hanafi NS, et al.
    Virol J, 2018 05 23;15(1):91.
    PMID: 29792212 DOI: 10.1186/s12985-018-1005-8
    BACKGROUND: Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) is established as one of the causative agents of respiratory tract infections. To date, there are limited reports that describe the effect of HMPV genotypes and/or viral load on disease pathogenesis in adults. This study aims to determine the role of HMPV genetic diversity and nasopharyngeal viral load on symptom severity in outpatient adults with acute respiratory tract infections.
    METHODS: Severity of common cold symptoms of patients from a teaching hospital was assessed by a four-category scale and summed to obtain the total symptom severity score (TSSS). Association between the fusion and glycoprotein genes diversity, viral load (quantified using an improved RT-qPCR assay), and symptom severity were analyzed using bivariate and linear regression analyses.
    RESULTS: Among 81/3706 HMPV-positive patients, there were no significant differences in terms of demographics, number of days elapsed between symptom onset and clinic visit, respiratory symptoms manifestation and severity between different HMPV genotypes/sub-lineages. Surprisingly, elderly patients (≥65 years old) had lower severity of symptoms (indicated by TSSS) than young and middle age adults (p = 0.008). Nasopharyngeal viral load did not correlate with nor predict symptom severity of HMPV infection. Interestingly, at 3-5 days after symptom onset, genotype A-infected patients had higher viral load compared to genotype B (4.4 vs. 3.3 log10 RNA copies/μl) (p = 0.003).
    CONCLUSIONS: Overall, HMPV genetic diversity and viral load did not impact symptom severity in adults with acute respiratory tract infections. Differences in viral load dynamics over time between genotypes may have important implications on viral transmission.
    Study site: Primary Care Clinic, University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
    MeSH terms: Acute Disease; Aged; Ambulatory Care Facilities; Female; Genotype*; Hospitals, Teaching; Hospitals, University; Humans; Malaysia/epidemiology; Male; Middle Aged; Nasopharynx/virology; Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; Outpatients; Respiratory Tract Infections/diagnosis*; Respiratory Tract Infections/epidemiology; Respiratory Tract Infections/physiopathology; Respiratory Tract Infections/virology; Severity of Illness Index; Genetic Variation; Cohort Studies; Linear Models; Molecular Epidemiology; Paramyxoviridae Infections/diagnosis*; Paramyxoviridae Infections/epidemiology; Paramyxoviridae Infections/physiopathology; Paramyxoviridae Infections/virology; Viral Load; Metapneumovirus/classification; Metapneumovirus/genetics*; Metapneumovirus/isolation & purification; Metapneumovirus/pathogenicity; Host-Pathogen Interactions/genetics*
  18. Andy SN, Pandy V, Alias Z, Kadir HA
    Life Sci, 2018 Aug 01;206:45-60.
    PMID: 29792878 DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2018.05.035
    AIM: Neuroinflammation is a critical pathogenic mechanism of most neurodegenerative disorders especially, Alzheimer's disease (AD). Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are known to induce neuroinflammation which is evident from significant upsurge of pro-inflammatory mediators in in vitro BV-2 microglial cells and in vivo animal models. In present study, we investigated anti-neuroinflammatory properties of deoxyelephantopin (DET) isolated from Elephantopus scaber in LPS-induced neuroinflammatory rat model.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, DET (0.625. 1.25 and 2.5 mg/kg, i.p.) was administered in rats for 21 days and those animals were challenged with single injection of LPS (250 μg/kg, i.p.) for 7 days. Cognitive and behavioral assessment was carried out for 7 days followed by molecular assessment on brain hippocampus. Statistical significance was analyzed with one-way analysis of variance followed by Dunnett's test to compare the treatment groups with the control group.

    KEY FINDINGS: DET ameliorated LPS-induced neuroinflammation by suppressing major pro-inflammatory mediators such as iNOS and COX-2. Furthermore, DET enhanced the anti-inflammatory cytokines and concomitantly suppressed the pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokine production. DET treatment also reversed LPS-induced behavioral and memory deficits and attenuated LPS-induced elevation of the expression of AD markers. DET improved synaptic-functionality via enhancing the activity of pre- and post-synaptic markers, like PSD-95 and SYP. DET also prevented LPS-induced apoptotic neurodegeneration via inhibition of PARP-1, caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-3.

    SIGNIFICANCE: Overall, our studies suggest DET can prevent neuroinflammation-associated memory impairment and neurodegeneration and it could be developed as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of neuroinflammation-mediated and neurodegenerative disorders, such as AD.

    MeSH terms: Alzheimer Disease/drug therapy; Alzheimer Disease/metabolism; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal/pharmacology*; Avoidance Learning/drug effects; Behavior, Animal/drug effects; Brain Chemistry/drug effects; Cognition/drug effects; Hippocampus/drug effects; Hippocampus/metabolism; Lactones/pharmacology*; Lipopolysaccharides/antagonists & inhibitors*; Lipopolysaccharides/toxicity; Macrophage Activation/drug effects; Male; Memory Disorders/chemically induced*; Memory Disorders/prevention & control*; Memory Disorders/psychology; Sesquiterpenes/pharmacology*; Cytokines/antagonists & inhibitors; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Neuroprotective Agents/pharmacology*; Chemokines/antagonists & inhibitors; Recognition (Psychology)/drug effects; Rats
  19. Inayat-Hussain SH, Fukumura M, Muiz Aziz A, Jin CM, Jin LW, Garcia-Milian R, et al.
    Environ Int, 2018 08;117:348-358.
    PMID: 29793188 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.05.010
    BACKGROUND: Recent trends have witnessed the global growth of unconventional oil and gas (UOG) production. Epidemiologic studies have suggested associations between proximity to UOG operations with increased adverse birth outcomes and cancer, though specific potential etiologic agents have not yet been identified. To perform effective risk assessment of chemicals used in UOG production, the first step of hazard identification followed by prioritization specifically for reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity is crucial in an evidence-based risk assessment approach. To date, there is no single hazard classification list based on the United Nations Globally Harmonized System (GHS), with countries applying the GHS standards to generate their own chemical hazard classification lists. A current challenge for chemical prioritization, particularly for a multi-national industry, is inconsistent hazard classification which may result in misjudgment of the potential public health risks. We present a novel approach for hazard identification followed by prioritization of reproductive toxicants found in UOG operations using publicly available regulatory databases.

    METHODS: GHS classification for reproductive toxicity of 157 UOG-related chemicals identified as potential reproductive or developmental toxicants in a previous publication was assessed using eleven governmental regulatory agency databases. If there was discordance in classifications across agencies, the most stringent classification was assigned. Chemicals in the category of known or presumed human reproductive toxicants were further evaluated for carcinogenicity and germ cell mutagenicity based on government classifications. A scoring system was utilized to assign numerical values for reproductive health, cancer and germ cell mutation hazard endpoints. Using a Cytoscape analysis, both qualitative and quantitative results were presented visually to readily identify high priority UOG chemicals with evidence of multiple adverse effects.

    RESULTS: We observed substantial inconsistencies in classification among the 11 databases. By adopting the most stringent classification within and across countries, 43 chemicals were classified as known or presumed human reproductive toxicants (GHS Category 1), while 31 chemicals were classified as suspected human reproductive toxicants (GHS Category 2). The 43 reproductive toxicants were further subjected to analysis for carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Calculated hazard scores and Cytoscape visualization yielded several high priority chemicals including potassium dichromate, cadmium, benzene and ethylene oxide.

    CONCLUSIONS: Our findings reveal diverging GHS classification outcomes for UOG chemicals across regulatory agencies. Adoption of the most stringent classification with application of hazard scores provides a useful approach to prioritize reproductive toxicants in UOG and other industries for exposure assessments and selection of safer alternatives.

    MeSH terms: Oil and Gas Industry; Environmental Exposure/analysis*; Gasoline/analysis*; Humans; Mutagens/analysis*; Hazardous Substances/analysis*; Risk Assessment/methods*
  20. Jaafar J, Rahman RA, Draman N, Yunus NA
    Korean J Fam Med, 2018 May;39(3):200-203.
    PMID: 29788710 DOI: 10.4082/kjfm.2018.39.3.200
    Hemiballismus, a subtype of chorea, is a rare movement disorder, and is most commonly found secondary to stroke. Movements are involuntary, violent, coarse, and have a wide amplitude. There is increasing report of hemiballismus occurring in non-ketotic hyperglycemia. Spontaneous improvements or remissions were observed in many patients, and treatment should be directed towards the cause of hemiballismus. There is no randomized control trial to guide clinicians in deciding the best treatment option when managing hemiballismus. Symptomatic treatment includes the use of drugs such as dopamine receptor blocker and tetrabenazine. Surgical treatment is reserved for severe, persistent, and disabling hemiballismus. This case is of an elderly woman with long standing uncontrolled diabetes who presented with abnormal movement in her left upper limb for 2 months, which resolved slowly with good control of her glucose levels. Treating physicians need to have a high index of suspicion to prevent mismanagement of the condition.
    MeSH terms: Aged; Chorea; Diabetes Mellitus; Female; Glucose; Humans; Hyperglycemia; Movement Disorders; Receptors, Dopamine; Tetrabenazine; Stroke; Dyskinesias
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