Fecal estradiol concentrations were measured in three captive unmated female sun bears (Helarctos malayanus) from August 1998 to July 1999 in Sarawak, Malaysia and vaginal smears from one of the females was observed in August 1998 and March 1999. A single peak in fecal estradiol concentration was obvious for each bear in August or September 1998, and there was a much higher percentage of superficial vaginal anuclear cells in August 1998 than in March 1999. These results suggest that sun bears in Sarawak are likely to be a seasonal breeder associated with a peak of estrogen production in August or September.
A new series of oxadiazole with thiadiazole moiety (6-27) were synthesized, characterized by different spectroscopic techniques and evaluated for β-glucuronidase inhibitory potential. Sixteen analogs such as 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 showed IC50 values in the range of 0.96 ± 0.01 to 46.46 ± 1.10 μM, and hence were found to have excellent inhibitory potential in comparison to standard d-saccharic acid 1,4-lactone (IC50 = 48.4 ± 1.25 μM). Two analogs such as 16 and 19 showed moderate inhibitory potential while analogs 11, 15, 21 and 22 were found inactive. Our study identifies new series of potent β-glucuronidase inhibitors for further investigation. Structure activity relationships were established for all compounds which showed that the activity is varied due to different substituents on benzene ring. The interaction of the compounds with enzyme active site were confirmed with the help of docking studies, which reveals that the electron withdrawing group and hydroxy group make the molecules more favorable for enzyme inhibition.
To enhance the cytotoxicity of benzimidazole and/or benzoxazole core, the benzimidazole/benzoxazole azo-pyrimidine were synthesized through diazo-coupling of 3-aminophenybenzimidazole (6a) or 3-aminophenylbenzoxazole (6b) with diethyl malonate. The new azo-molanates 6a&b mixed with urea in sodium ethoxide to afford the benzimidazolo/benzoxazolopyrimidine 7a&b. The structure elucidation of new synthesized targets was proved using spectroscopic techniques NMR, IR and elemental analysis. The cytoxicity screening had been carried out against five cancer cell lines: prostate cancer (PC-3), lung cancer (A-549), breast cancer (MCF-7), pancreas cancer (PaCa-2) and colon cancer (HT-29). Furthermore, the antioxidant activity, phospholipase A2-V and cyclooxygenases inhibitory activities of the target compounds 7a&b were evaluated and the new compounds showed potent activity (cytotoxicity IC50 range from 4.3 to 9.2 µm, antioxidant activity from 40% to 80%, COXs or LOX inhibitory activity from 1.92 µM to 8.21 µM). The docking of 7a&b was made to confirm the mechanism of action.
Core-shell Fe3O4/Au nanostructures were constructed using an advanced method of two-step synthesis from Juglans regia (walnut) green husk extract. Several complementary methods were applied to investigate structural and magnetic properties of the samples. X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), electron diffraction, optical, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) were used for nanoparticle characterizations. As shown by HR-TEM, the mean diameter of core-shell Fe3O4/Au nanoparticles synthesized using co-precipitation method was 6.08 ± 1.06 nm. This study shows that the physical and structural properties of core-shell Fe3O4/Au nanoparticles possess intrinsic properties of gold and magnetite. VSM revealed that the core-shell Fe3O4/Au have high saturation magnetization and low coercivity due to the magnetic properties. The core-shell nanoparticles show the inhibitory concentration (IC)50 of 235 μg/ml against a colorectal cancer cell line, HT-29. When tested against non-cancer cells, IC50 was not achieved even up to 500 μg/ml. This study highlights the magnetic properties and anticancer action of core-shell Fe3O4/Au nanoparticles. This compound can be ideal candidate for cancer treatment and other biomedical applications.
Reduction of graphene oxide becomes an alternative way to produce a scalable graphene and the resulting nanomaterial namely reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has been utilized in a wide range of potential applications. In this article, the level of green reduction strategies, especially the solution-based reduction methods are overviewed based on recent progression, to get insights towards biomedical applications. The degrees of gaining tips with the solution-based green reduction methods, conditions, complexity and the resulting rGO characteristics have been elucidated comparatively. Moreover, the application of greenly produced rGO in electrochemical biosensors has been elucidated as well as their electrical performance in term of linear range and limit of detections for various healthcare biological analytes. In addition, the characterization scheme for graphene-based materials and the analyses on the reduction especially for the solution-based green reduction methods are outlined for the future endeavours.
The application of proteomic and peptidomic technologies for food-derived bioactive peptides is an emerging field in food sciences. These technologies include the use of separation tools coupled to a high-resolution spectrometric and bioinformatic tools for prediction, identification, sequencing, and characterization of peptides. To a large extent, one-dimensional separation technologies have been extensively used as a continuous tool under different optimized conditions for the identification and analysis of food peptides. However, most one-dimensional separation technologies are fraught with significant bottlenecks such as insufficient sensitivity and specificity limits for complex samples. To address this limitation, separation systems based on orthogonal, multidimensional principles, which allow for the coupling of more than one analytical separation tool with different operational principles, provide a higher separation power than one-dimensional separation tools. This review describes the structure-informed separation and purification of protein hydrolyzates to obtain peptides with desirable bioactivities. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Application of bioactive peptides in the formulation of functional foods, nutraceuticals, and therapeutic agents have increasingly gained scholarly and industrial attention. The bioactive peptides exist originally in protein sources and are only active after hydrolysis of the parent protein. Currently, several tools can be configured in one-dimensional or multidimensional systems for the separation and purification of protein hydrolyzates. The separations are informed by the structural properties such as the molecular weight, charge, hydrophobicity or hydrophilicity, and the solubility of peptides. This review provides a concise discussion on the commonly used analytical tools, their configurations, advantages and challenges in peptide separation. Emphasis is placed on how the structural properties of peptides assist in the separation and purification processes and the concomitant effect of the separation on peptide bioactivity.
Many wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) operating in biological nitrogen removal activated sludge process in the tropics are facing the pressure of increasingly stringent effluent standards while seeking solutions to reduce the plants' energy consumption and operating cost. This study investigated the feasibility of applying low-dissolved oxygen (low-DO) nitrification and utilizing slowly-biodegradable chemical oxygen demand (sbCOD) for denitrification, which helps to reduce energy usage and operating cost in treating low soluble COD-to-nitrogen tropical wastewater. The tropical wastewater was first characterized using wastewater fractionation and respirometry batch tests. Then, a lab-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was operated to evaluate the long-term stability of low-DO nitrification and utilizing sbCOD for denitrification in an anoxic-oxic (AO) process treating tropical wastewater. The wastewater fractionation experiment revealed that particulate settleable solids (PSS) in the wastewater provided slowly-biodegradable COD (sbCOD), which made up the major part (51 ± 10%) of the total COD. The PSS hydrolysis rate constant at tropical temperature (30 °C) was 2.5 times higher than that at 20 °C, suggesting that sbCOD may be utilized for denitrification. During the SBR operation, high nitrification efficiency (93 ± 6%) was attained at low-DO condition (0.9 ± 0.1 mg O2/L). Utilizing sbCOD for post-anoxic denitrification in the SBR reduced the effluent nitrate concentration. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction, 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and fluorescence in-situ hybridization revealed that the genus Nitrospira was a dominant nitrifier. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing result suggested that 50% of the Nitrospira-related operational taxonomic units were affiliated with comammox, which may imply that the low-DO condition and the warm wastewater promoted their growth. The nitrogen removal in a tropical AO process was enhanced by incorporating low-DO nitrification and utilizing sbCOD for post-anoxic denitrification, which contributes to an improved energy sustainability of WWTPs.
Subcritical water extraction (SCW) was used to extract oil from Chlorella pyrenoidosa. The operational factors such as reaction temperature, reaction time, and biomass loading influence the oil yield during the extraction process. In this study, response surface methodology was employed to identify the desired extraction conditions for maximum oil yield. Experiments were carried out in batch reactors as per central composite design with three independent factors including reaction temperature (170, 220, 270, 320, and 370°C), reaction time (1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 min), and biomass loading (1, 3, 5, 10, and 15%). A maximum oil yield of 12.89 wt.% was obtained at 320°C and 15 min, with 3% biomass loading. Sequential model tests showed the good fit of experimental data to the second-order quadratic model. This study opens the great potential of SCW to extract algal oil for use in algal biofuel production.
The effect of pre-treatment of dewatered sludge using different nitrite concentrations and pH for microbial fuel cell (MFC) application was investigated. The results show that the addition of nitrite was feasible to increase the solubilization rate of the sludge and may reduce mass transfer limitation at the anode. This helped the MFC to reach higher voltage and to generate more power. The higher free nitrous acid (FNA) concentration under the acidic condition helped to increase sludge solubilization. However, under an alkaline condition, during which the FNA concentration was relatively low, the solubilization of the sludge was higher. The highest voltage and power density produced was 390 mV and 153 mW/m2, respectively, with the addition of nitrite at 100 mg-N/L and pH 9. Furthermore, it was found that elevated levels of FNA could inhibit electrogenic bacteria thus reducing power generation.
Two new monoterpenoid indole alkaloids, alstoscholactine (1) and alstolaxepine (2), were isolated from Alstonia scholaris. Compound 1 represents a rearranged stemmadenine alkaloid with an unprecedented C-6-C-19 connectivity, whereas compound 2 represents a 6,7- seco-angustilobine B-type alkaloid incorporating a rare γ-lactone-bridged oxepane ring system. Their structures and absolute configurations were determined by spectroscopic analyses. Compound 1 was successfully semisynthesized from 19 E-vallesamine. Compound 2 induced marked vasorelaxation in rat isolated aortic rings precontracted with phenylephrine.
Matched MeSH terms: Cycloheptanes/chemistry; Heterocyclic Compounds with 4 or More Rings/chemistry; Indoles/chemistry; Lactones/chemistry; Oxepins/chemistry; Alstonia/chemistry*; Secologanin Tryptamine Alkaloids/chemistry
A study was carried out to determine the concentrations of rare earth elements (REEs) in Linggi river sediments collected from 113 sampling locations. The sediment analysis was performed by Neutron activation analysis (NAA) and Inductively coupled plasma - mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results of Linggi river sediment were normalized to "recent" reference shale values. The means of total concentrations of REEs (ΣREE), light REEs (ΣLREE) and heavy REEs (ΣHREE) in Linggi sediment were 241.2, 219.2, and 22.0 mg/kg, respectively, which indicates enrichment compared to ΣREE, ΣLREE and ΣHREE reference shale values. Results obtained from enrichment factors (EF) show no enrichment to moderate enrichment of Linggi sediments, indicating the sources of REEs pollution originated from natural and land-based activities. A similar pattern was observed by comparing the REEs values of Linggi sediments to other references shale values. Ce (δCe) and Eu (δEu) anomalies indicate Linggi sediments showed positive anomaly of Ce whilst negative anomaly of Eu.
Stimuli-responsive drug release and controlled delivery play crucial roles in enhancing the therapeutic efficacy and lowering over-dosage induced side effects. In this paper, we report magnetically-triggered drug release and in-vitro anti-colon cancer efficacy of Fe3O4@cellulose nanocrystal (MCNC)-stabilized Pickering emulsions containing curcumin (CUR). The loading efficiency of CUR in the micron-sized (≈7 μm) MCNC-stabilized Pickering emulsions (MCNC-PE) template was found to be 99.35%. The drug release profiles showed that the exposure of MCNC-PE to external magnetic field (EMF) (0.7 T) stimulated the release of bioactive from MCNC-PE achieving 53.30 ± 5.08% of the initial loading over a 4-day period. The MTT assay demonstrated that the CUR-loaded MCNC-PE can effectively inhibits the human colon cancer cells growth down to 18% in the presence of EMF. The formulation also resulted in 2-fold reduction on the volume of the 3-D multicellular spheroids of HCT116 as compared to the control sample. The MCNC particle was found to be non-toxic to brine shrimp up to a concentration of 100 μg/mL. Our findings suggested that the palm-based MCNC-PE could be a promising yet effective colloidal drug delivery system for magnetic-triggered release of bioactive and therapeutics.
Green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) using the plants' extract and their potential application have driven a tremendous interest in recent years. This study reports a green microwave-assisted method for synthesis of ZnO NPs using Silybum marianum L. seed extract. Characteristics of the as-prepared sample was explored in terms of crystalline phase, morphology, composition, surface area, optical, and thermal properties. The particles of the biosynthesized sample (ZnO/extract) had smaller sizes than the chemically produced one (ZnO). The existence of biomolecules from Silybum marianum L seed extract linked to the ZnO/extract sample was approved by various analyses. The ZnO/extract sample was used for treating alloxan-induced diabetic rats and its efficiency was compared with ZnO, extract, and insulin treatments. For this purpose, the levels of blood glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, total triglyceride, and high-density lipoprotein were measured before and after treating with the studied treatment agents and compared with each other. Moreover, the antibacterial activities of both ZnO samples were investigated against E. coli to assess their potential antibacterial application. From the results, ZnO/extract NPs represented an outstanding performance in overcoming the diabetic disorders and good antibacterial activity against the studied bacteria.
Matched MeSH terms: Anti-Bacterial Agents/chemistry; Hypoglycemic Agents/chemistry; Plant Extracts/chemistry; Seeds/chemistry; Milk Thistle/chemistry; Metal Nanoparticles/chemistry*; Green Chemistry Technology
The effect of saffron supplementation on subclinical inflammation remains inconclusive. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize available findings on the effect of saffron supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein [CRP], tumor necrosis factor-α [TNF-α], and interleukin-6 [IL-6]) in adults. We searched PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases up to November 2019 using relevant keywords to identify eligible trials. All randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examined the effect of oral saffron supplementation on plasma concentrations of CRP, TNF-α, and IL-6 were included. For each outcome, mean differences and SDs were pooled using a random-effects model. Overall, eight RCTs were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that saffron supplementation did not result in significant changes in serum CRP (weighted mean difference [WMD]: -0.43 mg/L; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -1.04 to 0.17; p = .16), serum TNF-α (WMD: -1.29 pg/mL; 95% CI: -4.13 to 1.55; p = .37), and IL-6 concentrations (WMD: 0.11 pg/mL; 95% CI: -0.79 to 1.00; p = .81). Subgroup analysis indicated a significant reduction in serum CRP levels in studies with baseline CRP of ≥3 mg/L, saffron dosage of ≤30 mg/day, and intervention duration of <12 weeks, as well as trials that used crocin. Similarly, saffron was found to decrease TNF-α in studies that recruited non-diabetic subjects, subjects with baseline levels of ≥15 pg/mL, and participants with <50 years old, as well as trials that administered saffron at the dosage of ≤30 mg/day. We also found a significant non-linear effect of saffron dosage on serum CRP concentrations (pnon-linearity = .03). The overall results indicated that saffron supplementation did not affect inflammatory cytokines. Further high-quality studies are needed to firmly establish the clinical efficacy of supplemental saffron on inflammatory biomarkers.
The biosynthesis of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) minerals through a metabolic process known as microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) between diverse microorganisms, and organic/inorganic compounds within their immediate microenvironment, gives rise to a cementitious biomaterial that may emerge as a promissory alternative to conventional cement. Among photosynthetic microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris has been identified as one of the species capable of undergoing such activity in nature. In this study, response surface technique was employed to ascertain the optimum condition for the enhancement of biomass and CaCO3 precipitation of C. vulgaris when cultured in Blue-Green (BG)-11 aquaculture medium. Preliminary screening via Plackett-Burman Design showed that sodium nitrate (NaNO3), sodium acetate, and urea have a significant effect on both target responses (p < 0.05). Further refinement was conducted using Box-Behnken Design based on these three factors. The highest production of 1.517 g/L C. vulgaris biomass and 1.143 g/L of CaCO3 precipitates was achieved with a final recipe comprising of 8.74 mM of NaNO3, 61.40 mM of sodium acetate and 0.143 g/L of urea, respectively. Moreover, polymorphism analyses on the collected minerals through morphological examination via scanning electron microscopy and crystallographic elucidation by X-ray diffraction indicated to predominantly calcite crystalline structure.
Curculin, a sweet protein found in Curculigo latifolia fruit has great potential for the pharmaceutical industry. This protein interestingly has been found to have both sweet taste and taste-modifying capacities comparable with other natural sweeteners. According to our knowledge this is the first reported case on the isolation of microsatellite loci in this genus. Hence, the current development of microsatellite markers for C. latifolia will facilitate future population genetic studies and breeding programs for this valuable plant. In this study 11 microsatellite markers were developed using 3' and 5' ISSR markers. The primers were tested on 27 accessions from all states of Peninsular Malaysia. The number of alleles per locus ranged from three to seven, with allele size ranging from 141 to 306 bp. The observed and expected heterozygosity ranged between 0.00-0.65 and 0.38-0.79, respectively. The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.35 to 0.74 and the Shannon's information index ranged from 0.82 to 1.57. These developed polymorphic microsatellites were used for constructing a dendrogram by unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean cluster analysis using the Dice's similarity coefficient. Accessions association according to their geographical origin was observed. Based on characteristics of isolated microsatellites for C. latifolia accessions all genotype can be distinguished using these 11 microsatellite markers. These polymorphic markers could also be applied to studies on uniformity determination and somaclonal variation of tissue culture plantlets, varieties identification, genetic diversity, analysis of phylogenetic relationship, genetic linkage maps and quantitative trait loci in C. latifolia.
The Drug Control Authority (DCA) of Malaysia implemented the phase three registration of traditional medicines on 1 January, 1992. A total of 100 products in various pharmaceutical dosage forms of a herbal preparation, containing Eugenia dyeriana, either single or combined preparations (more than one medicinal plant), were analyzed for the presence of lead contamination, using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. These samples were bought from different commercial sources in the Malaysian market, after performing a simple random sampling. Results showed that 22% of the above products failed to comply with the quality requirement for traditional medicines in Malaysia. Although this study showed that 78% of the products fully complied with the quality requirement for traditional medicines in Malaysia pertaining to lead, however, they cannot be assumed safe from lead contamination because of batch-to-batch inconsistency.
Over-expression of α-amylase enzyme causes hyperglycemia which lead to many physiological complications including oxidative stress, one of the most commonly associated problem with diabetes mellitus. Marketed α-amylase inhibitors such as acarbose, voglibose, and miglitol used to treat type-II diabetes mellitus, but also linked to several harmful effects. Therefore, it is essential to explore new and nontoxic antidiabetic agents with additional antioxidant properties. In this connection, a series of new N-sulfonohydrazide substituted indazoles 1-19 were synthesized by multistep reaction scheme and assessed for in vitro α-amylase inhibitory and radical (DPPH and ABTS) scavenging properties. All compounds were fully characterized by different spectroscopic techniques including 1H, 13C NMR, EI-MS, HREI-MS, ESI-MS, and HRESI-MS. Compounds showed promising α-amylase inhibitory activities (IC50 = 1.23 ± 0.06-4.5 ± 0.03 µM) as compared to the standard acarbose (IC50 1.20 ± 0.09 µM). In addition to that all derivatives were found good to moderate scavengers of DPPH (IC50 2.01 ± 0.13-5.3 ± 0.11) and ABTS (IC50 = 2.34 ± 0.07-5.5 ± 0.07 µM) radicals, in comparison with standard ascorbic acid having scavenging activities with IC50 = 1.99 ± 0.09 µM, and IC50 2.03 ± 0.11 µM for DPPH and ABTS radicals. In silico molecular docking study was conducted to rationalize the binding interaction of α-amylase enzyme with ligands. Compounds were observed as mixed type inhibitors in enzyme kinetic characterization.