Hepatoprotective efficacy of Argemone mexicana L. root in paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in a rat model.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Argemone mexicana L. (Papaveraceae), a weed that thrives in the tropical and subtropical areas of South and Central America, Mexico, Caribbean Islands and India. In India, it has been used traditionally to treat vesicular calculus, inflammatory conditions, and hepatobiliary disorders.

Gellan gum-based in-situ gel formulations for ocular drug delivery: A practical approach.

Ophthalmic disorders significantly impact global health, affecting millions worldwide. Conventional treatments often face challenges related to poor bioavailability and short residence times on the ocular surface. In recent years, in-situ gels prepared using different natural gums including gellan gum has been investigated as a viable means of improving ocular medication delivery.

VPS4A is the selective receptor for lipophagy in mice and humans.

Lipophagy is a ubiquitous mechanism for degradation of lipid droplets (LDs) in lysosomes. Autophagy receptors selectively target organelles for lysosomal degradation. The selective receptor for lipophagy remains elusive.

Protective effect of Tecoma stans (L.) Juss.ex Kunth in CFA-induced arthritic rats.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Tecoma stans (L.) Juss.ex Kunth (Bignoniaceae) is mainly found in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia.

Deubiquitinase JOSD1 tempers hepatic proteotoxicity.

Derangements in protein homeostasis and associated proteotoxicity mark acute, chronic, and drug-induced hepatocellular injury. Metabolic dysfunction-associated proteasomal inhibition and the use of proteasome inhibitors often underlie such pathological hepatic proteotoxicity. In this study, we sought to identify a candidate deubiquitinating enzyme (DUB) responsible for reversing the proteotoxic damage.

Amlodipine Ocular Delivery Restores Ferning Patterns and Reduces Intensity of Glycosylated Peak of Carrageenan-Induced Tear Fluid: An Flexible Docking with IL-β1.

Background: The tear ferning test can be an easy clinical procedure for the evaluation and characterization of the ocular tear film.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the restoration of tear ferning patterns and reduction of glycosylation peak after amlodipine application in carrageenan-induced conjunctivitis.

Methods: At the rabbit's upper palpebral region, carrageenan was injected for cytokine-mediated conjunctivitis.

Insulin and leptin oscillations license food-entrained browning and metabolic flexibility.

Timed feeding drives adipose browning, although the integrative mechanisms for the same remain unclear. Here, we show that twice-a-night (TAN) feeding generates biphasic oscillations of circulating insulin and leptin, representing their entrainment by timed feeding. Insulin and leptin surges lead to marked cellular, functional, and metabolic remodeling of subcutaneous white adipose tissue (sWAT), resulting in increased energy expenditure.

Reduced Work Function in Anatase ⟨101⟩ TiO Films Self-Doped by O-Vacancy-Dependent Ti Bonds Controlling the Photocatalytic Dye Degradation Performance.

TiO has the proven capability of catalytically decomposing pollutants under light illumination, thereby embracing potential applications in wastewater management. The photocatalytic dye degradation activity is largely controlled by the optical band gap that dictates the extent of electron-hole pair generation via photon absorption, and the recombination kinetics of charges. In this context, the material's work function governs how easily the charge carriers can be transferred at the dye-adsorbed photocatalytically active sites.

Chemometric profiling and anti-arthritic activity of aerial parts of Glinus oppositifolius (L.) Aug. DC.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Glinus oppositifolius (L.) Aug. DC.

A recent update on drugs and alternative approaches for parkinsonism.

Parkinson's disease, often known as PD, is a more common age-related neurological disorder that affects a huge number of older adults worldwide. Parkinson's disease is predominantly a movement-related pathosis and is distinguished by the deposition of intra-neuronal aggregates, as the alpha-synuclein gene is expressed as Lewy bodies (LB) causing dopaminergic neurons to die. Stress in early life may contribute to the development of depression, and depression in patients may result in the development of Parkinson's disease as they mature.

Liver-Derived S100A6 Propels β-Cell Dysfunction in NAFLD.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an independent predictor of systemic insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, converse correlates between excess liver fat content and β-cell function remain equivocal. Specifically, how the accumulation of liver fat consequent to the enhanced de novo lipogenesis (DNL) leads to pancreatic β-cell failure and eventually to T2DM is elusive.

Two-Step Visible Light Photocatalytic Dye Degradation Phenomena in AgO-Impregnated ZnO Nanorods via Growth of Metallic Ag and Formation of ZnO/Ag/AgO Heterojunction Structures.

Visible light photocatalytic activity follows the single-slope pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics in pristine ZnO nanorods, while for pure AgO, a two-slope paradigm is pursued with a higher slope at a later period. For the AgO-impregnated ZnO heterostructured nanorod photocatalyst, the two-step photocatalysis phenomena proceed with dye degradation rate constants emerging higher than those of individual ZnO and AgO, at both time zones. Improved performance of ZnO/AgO heterostructures arises initially from the reduced e/h recombination rate by the synergistic effect between ZnO and AgO.

Ex Vivo Dual-Hit Method for Inflammasome Activation in Liver.

Activation of the inflammasome in hepatocytes and the liver-resident macrophages is associated with drug-induced hepatotoxicity and a plethora of metabolic diseases including nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Initiation of this innate immune response requires two concomitant signals resulting in the formation of a molecular assembly that post-transcriptionally maturates a specific set of cytokines. While signal 1 results from the engagement and activation of pattern recognition receptors, signal 2 can be induced by diverse stimuli including adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Subcutaneous amyloidoma models for screening potential anti-fibrillating agents in vivo.

Here, we describe a robust protocol using mouse models to screen potential insulin-stabilizers and insulin moieties. We have generated a mouse model of amyloidoma, found in diabetic patients undergoing insulin therapy. This model can be used to screen potential insulin stabilizers and insulin moieties to prevent amyloidoma formation.

Outcome of Sublingual Immunotherapy in Allergic Rhinitis.

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is one of the most common types of allergy worldwide. It has significant negative impact on the quality of life (QOL). One of the available causal treatments of AR is allergen specific immunotherapy which remains effective even after the end of treatment course, unlike symptomatic drugs.

A nexus of miR-1271, PAX4 and ALK/RYK influences the cytoskeletal architectures in Alzheimer's Disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) share a common hallmark of insulin resistance. Reportedly, two non-canonical Receptor Tyrosine Kinases (RTKs), ALK and RYK, both targets of the same micro RNA miR-1271, exhibit significant and consistent functional down-regulation in post-mortem AD and T2D tissues. Incidentally, both have Grb2 as a common downstream adapter and NOX4 as a common ROS producing factor.

Proteasome dysfunction under compromised redox metabolism dictates liver injury in NASH through ASK1/PPARγ binodal complementary modules.

Incidence of hepatotoxicity following acute drug-induced proteasomal inhibition and development of chronic proteasome dysfunction in obesity and insulin resistance underscores the crucial importance of hepatic protein homeostasis albeit with an elusive molecular basis and therapeutic opportunities. Apart from lipotoxicity and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, herein we report that hepatocytes are highly susceptible to proteasome-associated metabolic stress attune to altered redox homeostasis. Bortezomib-induced proteasomal inhibition caused severe hepatocellular injury independent of ER stress via proapoptotic Apoptosis Signal-regulating Kinase 1 (ASK1)- c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK1)- p38 signaling concomitant with inadequate peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ)- Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) -driven antioxidant response.

Prion-derived tetrapeptide stabilizes thermolabile insulin via conformational trapping.

Unfolding followed by fibrillation of insulin even in the presence of various excipients grappled with restricted clinical application. Thus, there is an unmet need for better thermostable, nontoxic molecules to preserve bioactive insulin under varying physiochemical perturbations. In search of cross-amyloid inhibitors, prion-derived tetrapeptide library screening reveals a consensus V(X)YR motif for potential inhibition of insulin fibrillation.

Reduced Graphene Oxide-Laminated One-Dimensional TiO-Bronze Nanowire Composite: An Efficient Photoanode Material for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells.

A facile one-step hydrothermal method was developed to prepare reduced graphene oxide-laminated TiO-bronze (TiO-B) nanowire composites (TNWG), which contain two-dimensional graphene oxide nanosheets and TiO-B nanowires. In the hydrothermal process, the functional groups of graphene oxide were reduced significantly. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated using TNWG as the photoanode material.

Phytochemical profiling of Balarista formulation by GC-MS analysis.

GC-MS analysis of different fractions of in-house Balarista formulation (IBF) and marketed Balarista formulations (M1, M2, M3 and M4) confirmed the presence of various active metabolites. The database of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library was used to identify these compounds. This study revealed the presence of benzoic acid as a predominant compound in n-hexane fraction of M3 (94.

Autogenic single p/n-junction solar cells from black-Si nano-grass structures of p-to-n type self-converted electronic configuration.

Photovoltaic performance of solar cells automatically improves when the absorber layer itself simultaneously acts as the anti-reflection nanostructure with an enhanced active absorber area on the front surface. Combined physical and chemical etching of p-c-Si wafers by (Ar + H2) plasma in inductively coupled low-pressure plasma CVD produces various nanostructures with subsequent minimization of reflectance. At a reduced temperature, the rate constant of thermal diffusion of atomic-H in the Si-network becomes smaller, leading to enhanced chemical etching reactions that further increase at an elevated RF power.

Biocompatible implant mimicking cartilage: A new horizon for reconstructive facial field.

Cartilage is avascular with limited to no regenerative capacity, so its loss could be a challenge for reconstructive surgery. Current treatment options for damaged cartilage are also limited. In this aspect there is a tremendous need to develop an ideal cartilage-mimicking biomaterial that could repair maxillofacial defects.