The objective of this research was to study the oxidative stability and antioxidant properties of microencapsulated kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed oil (MKSO) produced by co-extrusion technology upon accelerated storage. The combination of sodium alginate, high methoxyl pectin, and chitosan were used as shell materials. The oxidative stability of the kenaf seed oil was determined by iodine value, peroxide value, p-Anisidine value, total oxidation (TOTOX), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances assay, and free fatty acid content. Total phenolic content, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) cation radical-scavenging assay and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay were used to examine the antioxidant properties of oils. Oxidative stability tests showed that bulk kenaf seed oil (BKSO) was oxidized significantly higher (P < 0.05) than MKSO. The total increment of TOTOX value of BKSO was 165.93% significantly higher (P < 0.05) than MKSO. Co-extrusion technology has shown to be able to protect kenaf seed oil against lipid oxidation and delay the degradation of natural antioxidants that present in oil during storage.
Cat scratch disease (CSD) is a benign condition caused by the inoculation of Bartonella henselae. The imaging findings are non-specific, and it is difficult to diagnose the disease via imaging. However, imaging studies help exclude other differential diagnoses in diagnostic dilemmas. We encountered a case of a 17-year-old adolescent who presented with painful neck swelling. CT showed multiple bilateral cervical lymphadenopathies with triangular soft tissue mass at the anterior mediastinum likely to be thymic hyperplasia, which is unusual in CSD and was mistaken for a lymphoproliferative disorder. Tissue diagnosis with a thorough clinical history yielded the diagnosis of cat scratch disease, and follow-up imaging showed resolution of the cervical lymphadenopathy and thymic hyperplasia.
A previous study has shown that synthetic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) derived from Anabas testudineus (ATMP1) could in-vitro inhibit the progression of breast cancer cell lines. In this study, we are interested in studying altered versions of previous synthetic AMPs to gain some insight into the peptides functions. The AMPs were altered and subjected to bioinformatics prediction using four databases (ADP3, CAMP-R3, AMPfun, and ANTICP) to select the highest anticancer activity. The bioinformatics in silico analysis led to the selection of two AMPs, which are ATMP5 (THPPTTTTTTTTTTTYTAAPATTT) and ATMP6 (THPPTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAPARTT). The in silico analysis predicted that ATMP5 and ATMP6 have anticancer activity and lead to cell death. The ATMP5 and ATMP6 were submitted to deep learning databases (ToxIBTL and ToxinPred2) to predict the toxicity of the peptides and to (AllerTOP & AllergenFP) check the allergenicity. The results of databases indicated that AMPs are non-toxic to normal human cells and allergic to human immunoglobulin. The bioinformatics findings led to select the highest active peptide ATMP5, which was synthesised and applied for in-vitro experiments using cytotoxicity assay MTT Assay, apoptosis detection using the Annexin V FTIC-A assay, and gene expression using Apoptosis PCR Array to evaluate the AMP's anticancer activity. The antimicrobial activity is approved by the disc diffusion method. The in-vitro experiments analysis showed that ATMP5 had the activity to inhibit the growth of the breast cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) after 48 h and managed to arrest the cell cycle of the MDA-MB-231, apoptosis induction, and overexpression of the p53 by interaction with the related apoptotic genes. This research opened up new opportunities for developing potential and selective anticancer agents relying on antimicrobial peptide properties.