Exploring uranium bioaccumulation in the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum: insights from multi-scale spectroscopy and imaging.

Legacy radioactive waste can be defined as the radioactive waste produced during the infancy of the civil nuclear industry's development in the mid-20th Century, a time when, unfortunately, waste storage and treatment were not well planned. The marine environment is one of the environmental compartments worth studying in this regard because of legacy waste in specific locations of the seabed. Comprising nearly 70% of the earth's service, the oceans are the largest and indeed the final destination for contaminated fresh waters.

Rational peptide design for targeting cancer cell invasion.

Cell invasion is an important process in cancer progression and recurrence. Invasion and implantation of cancer cells from their original place to other tissues, by disabling vital organs, challenges the treatment of cancer patients. Given the importance of the matter, many molecular treatments have been developed to inhibit cancer cell invasion.

Design, Synthesis, and Comparison of PLA-PEG-PLA and PEG-PLA-PEG Copolymers for Curcumin Delivery to Cancer Cells.

Curcumin (CUR) has potent anticancer activities, and its bioformulations, including biodegradable polymers, are increasingly able to improve CUR's solubility, stability, and delivery to cancer cells. In this study, copolymers comprising poly (L-lactide)-poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (L-lactide) (PLA-PEG-PLA) and poly (ethylene glycol)-poly (L-lactide)-poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG-PLA-PEG) were designed and synthesized to assess and compare their CUR-delivery capacity and inhibitory potency on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Molecular dynamics simulations and free energy analysis indicated that PLA-PEG-PLA has a higher propensity to interact with the cell membrane and more negative free energy, suggesting it is the better carrier for cell membrane penetration.

Synthesis and Characterization of Folic Acid-Functionalized DPLA-co-PEG Nanomicelles for the Targeted Delivery of Letrozole.

An effective treatment for hormone-dependent breast cancer is chemotherapy using cytotoxic agents such as letrozole (LTZ). However, most anticancer drugs, including LTZ, are classified as class IV biopharmaceuticals, which are associated with low water solubility, poor bioavailability, and significant toxicity. As a result, developing a targeted delivery system for LTZ is critical for overcoming these challenges and limitations.

Peptidomimetics in cancer targeting.

The low efficiency of treatment strategies is one of the main obstacles to developing cancer inhibitors. Up to now, various classes of therapeutics have been developed to inhibit cancer progression. Peptides due to their small size and easy production compared to proteins are highly regarded in designing cancer vaccines and oncogenic pathway inhibitors.

Structural evolution of Delta lineage of SARS-CoV-2.

One of the main obstacles in prevention and treatment of COVID-19 is the rapid evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein. Given that Spike is the main target of common treatments of COVID-19, mutations occurring at this virulent factor can affect the effectiveness of treatments. The B.

Evaluation of pH change effects on the HSA folding and its drug binding characteristics, a computational biology investigation.

The binding of therapeutics to human serum albumin (HSA), which is an abundant protein in plasma poses a major challenge in drug discovery. Although HSA has several binding pockets, the binding site I on D2 and binding site II on D3 are the main binding pockets of HSA. To date, a few experiments have been conducted to examine the effects of the potential of hydrogen (pH) changes on HSA attributes.

Moderately hyperglycemia as an independent prognostic factor for the worse outcome of COVID-19.

Background: Blood sugar (BS) has been proposed as a prognostic factor for COVID-19. In this historical cohort study we evaluated the association between admission time BS and COVID-19 outcome.

Methods: First, hospitalized COVID-19 patients were divided into three groups; Non-diabetic patients with BS < 140 mg/dl (N = 394), non-diabetic patients with BS ≥ 140 mg/dl (N = 113) and diabetic patients (N = 315).

SARS-CoV-2 spike evolutionary behaviors; simulation of N501Y mutation outcomes in terms of immunogenicity and structural characteristic.

Since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a large number of mutations in its genome have been reported. Some of the mutations occur in noncoding regions without affecting the pathobiology of the virus, while mutations in coding regions are significant. One of the regions where a mutation can occur, affecting the function of the virus is at the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the spike protein.

A historical cohort study to investigation of statins safety in COVID-19 hospitalized patients.

Background And Objectives: A notable proportion of COVID-19 patients need statins for their co-existing conditions. Statins possess several anti-inflammatory properties. We have attempted to describe potential association of exposure to statins and severity of COVID symtpoms in a historical study in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Designing a chimeric subunit vaccine for influenza virus, based on HA2, M2e and CTxB: a bioinformatics study.

Background: Type A influenza viruses are contagious and even life-threatening if left untreated. So far, no broadly protective vaccine is available due to rapid antigenic changes and emergence of new subtypes of influenza virus. In this study, we exploited bioinformatics tools in order to design a subunit chimeric vaccine from the antigenic and highly conserved regions of HA and M2 proteins of H7N9 subtype of influenza virus.

Protein and Antibody Engineering: Suppressing Degranulation of the Mast Cells and Type I Hypersensitivity Reaction.

With an increase in atopic cases and owing to a significant role of mast cells in type I hypersensitivity, a therapeutic need to inhibit degranulation of mast cells has risen. Mast cells are notorious for IgE-mediated allergic response. Advancements have allowed researchers to improve clinical outcomes of already available therapies.

Breast Radiotherapy with Mixed Energy Photons; a Model for Optimal Beam Weighting.

Utilization of high energy photons (>10 MV) with an optimal weight using a mixed energy technique is a practical way to generate a homogenous dose distribution while maintaining adequate target coverage in intact breast radiotherapy. This study represents a model for estimation of this optimal weight for day to day clinical usage. For this purpose, treatment planning computed tomography scans of thirty-three consecutive early stage breast cancer patients following breast conservation surgery were analyzed.

Estimation of prostate cancer probability by logistic regression: free and total prostate-specific antigen, digital rectal examination, and heredity are significant variables.

Background: Despite low specificity, serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is widely used in screening for prostate cancer. Specificity can be improved by measuring free and total PSA and by combining these results with clinical findings. Methods such as neural networks and logistic regression are alternatives to multistep algorithms for clinical use of the combined findings.