A significant compound in living organisms, hydrogen peroxide (HO) plays a dual role as a signalling molecule in cellular communication and as a pivotal biomarker in assessing disease and oxidative stress. Thus, the detection of abnormal changes in HO levels is essential to understanding its function and involvement in biological systems. The growing demand to meet the specific needs for applications, particularly in biological systems, has sharpened focus on highly sensitive, highly selective molecular sensors and, in turn, heightened interest in these diagnostic tools with innovative designs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBecause of the brain's complexity, developing effective treatments for neurological disorders is a formidable challenge. Research efforts to this end are advancing as in vitro systems have reached the point that they can imitate critical components of the brain's structure and function. Brain-on-a-chip (BoC) was first used for microfluidics-based systems with small synthetic tissues but has expanded recently to include in vitro simulation of the central nervous system (CNS).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssociated with a high mortality rate, pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is the end stage of several interstitial lung diseases. Although many factors are linked to PF progression, initiation of the fibrotic process remains to be studied. Current research focused on generating new strategies to gain a better understanding of the underlying disease mechanism as the animal models remain insufficient to reflect human physiology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAddressing osteochondral defects, the objective of current study was to synthesize bilayered hydrogel, where the cartilage layer was formed by alginate (Alg)-polyacrylamide (PAAm) with and without the addition of TGF-β3 and bone layer by laponite XLS/Alg-PAAm and characterize by in vitro and in vivo experiments. Exceeding the mechanical strength of Alg-PAAm (32.95 ± 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAppl Biochem Biotechnol
September 2021
Ketone bodies (acetoacetate, beta-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), acetone) are generated as a result of fatty acid oxidation in the liver and exist at low concentrations in urine and blood. Elevated concentrations can indicate health problems such as diabetes, childhood hypoglycemia, alcohol, or salicylate poisoning. Development of portable and cost-effective bedside point-of-care (POC) tests to detect such compounds can help to reduce the risk of disease progression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRespiratory viral infections are leading causes of death worldwide. A number of human respiratory viruses circulate in all age groups and adapt to person-to-person transmission. It is vital to understand how these viruses infect the host and how the host responds to prevent infection and onset of disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCurrent implantable materials are limited in terms of function as native tissue, and there is still no effective clinical treatment to restore articular impairments. Hereby, a functionalized polyacrylamide (PAAm)-alginate (Alg) Double Network (DN) hydrogel acting as an articular-like tissue is developed. These hydrogels sustain their mechanical stability under different temperature (+4 °C, 25 °C, 40 °C) and humidity conditions (60% and 75%) over 3 months.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Propolis exhibits therapeutic properties due to the presence of phenolic acids, esters, and flavonoids. The scope of this study was to develop a nano-vesicular formulation and establish a three-dimensional (3D) spheroid model in which lung cancer is recapitulated.
Results: Niosome vesicles doped with galangin-rich propolis extract were synthesized by the ether injection method using a cholesterol : surfactant mass ratio of 1 : 3 at 40 °C for 1 h.
The abnormal concentrations or absence of biomolecules (e.g., proteins) in blood can further be used in diagnosis of a particular pathology at an early stage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA low-cost and easy-to-fabricate microchip remains a key challenge for the development of true point-of-care (POC) diagnostics. Cellulose paper and plastic are thin, light, flexible, and abundant raw materials, which make them excellent substrates for mass production of POC devices. Herein, a hybrid paper-plastic microchip (PPMC) is developed, which can be used for both single and multiplexed detection of different targets, providing flexibility in the design and fabrication of the microchip.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFZika virus (ZIKV) is a reemerging flavivirus causing an ongoing pandemic and public health emergency worldwide. There are currently no effective vaccines or specific therapy for Zika infection. Rapid, low-cost diagnostics for mass screening and early detection are of paramount importance in timely management of the infection at the point-of-care (POC).
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