Maltooligosaccharides: Properties, Production and Applications.

Maltooligosaccharides (MOS) are homooligosaccharides that consist of 3-10 glucose molecules linked by α-1,4 glycosidic bonds. As they have physiological functions, they are commonly used as ingredients in nutritional products and functional foods. Many researchers have investigated the potential applications of MOS and their derivatives in the pharmaceutical industry.

Assessment of electrical dyssynchrony in cardiac resynchronization therapy: 12-lead electrocardiogram vs. 96-lead body surface map.

Aims: The standard deviation of activation time (SDAT) derived from body surface maps (BSMs) has been proposed as an optimal measure of electrical dyssynchrony in patients with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The goal of this study was two-fold: (i) to compare the values of SDAT in individual CRT patients with reconstructed myocardial metrics of depolarization heterogeneity using an inverse solution algorithm and (ii) to compare SDAT calculated from 96-lead BSM with a clinically easily applicable 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG).

Methods And Results: Cardiac resynchronization therapy patients with sinus rhythm and left bundle branch block at baseline (n = 19, 58% males, age 60 ± 11 years, New York Heart Association Classes II and III, QRS 167 ± 16) were studied using a 96-lead BSM.

Polymer nanomedicines with enzymatically triggered activation: A comparative study of in vitro and in vivo anti-cancer efficacy related to the spacer structure.

Polymer nanomedicines with anti-tumor activity should exhibit sufficient stability during systemic circulation to the target tissue; however, they should release the active drug selectively in the tumor. Thus, choice of a tumor-specific stimuli-sensitive spacer between the drug and the carrier is critical. Here, a series of polymer conjugates of anti-cancer drugs doxorubicin and pirarubicin covalently bound to copolymers based on N-(2-hydroxypropyl)methacrylamide via various enzymatically cleavable oligopeptide spacers were prepared and characterized.

Cross-Linking Effects Dictate the Preference of Galectins to Bind LacNAc-Decorated HPMA Copolymers.

The interaction of multi-LacNAc (Galβ1-4GlcNAc)-containing -(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide (HPMA) copolymers with human galectin-1 (Gal-1) and the carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) of human galectin-3 (Gal-3) was analyzed using NMR methods in addition to cryo-electron-microscopy and dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments. The interaction with individual LacNAc-containing components of the polymer was studied for comparison purposes. For Gal-3 CRD, the NMR data suggest a canonical interaction of the individual small-molecule bi- and trivalent ligands with the lectin binding site and better affinity for the trivalent arrangement due to statistical effects.