A first-of-its-kind 3D biomimetic artificial mouth capable of reproducing the oral processing of soft foods.

With a growing global population and ageing demographics, the food industry stands at a pivotal crossroads, necessitating bespoke solutions and groundbreaking innovations. In vitro experiments can help understanding food oral processing and formulating products meeting the specific needs of different populations. However, current in vitro models do not reproduce well human oral anatomy and tongue biomechanics, essential for assessing the behaviour of novel and texturized foods under physiologically relevant oral conditions.

A Case Control Study of vNOTES versus Conventional Laparoscopic Salpingectomy for Ectopic Pregnancy.

Study Objective: While the laparoscopic approach is the surgical treatment of choice for ectopic pregnancy, vaginal Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (vNOTES) is emerging as an alternative route with its good optical visibility and avoidance of abdominal incisions. The authors compare demographics and outcome data of vNOTES vs conventional laparoscopic (CL) salpingectomy for the surgical management of ectopic pregnancy.

Design: Case-control study.

New hemisynthetic derivatives of sphaeropsidin phytotoxins triggering severe endoplasmic reticulum swelling in cancer cells.

Sphaeropsidins are iso-pimarane diterpenes produced by phytopathogenic fungi that display promising anticancer activities. Sphaeropsidin A, in particular, has been shown to counteract regulatory volume increase, a process used by cancer cells to avoid apoptosis. This study reports the hemi-synthesis of new lipophilic derivatives obtained by modifications of the C15,C16-alkene moiety.

Sphaeropsidin A C15-C16 Cross-Metathesis Analogues with Potent Anticancer Activity.

We recently discovered that sphaeropsidin A (SphA), a fungal metabolite from Diplodia cupressi, overcomes apoptosis resistance in cancer cells by inducing cellular shrinkage by impairing regulatory volume increase. Previously, we prepared a pyrene-conjugated derivative of SphA by a cross-metathesis reaction involving the phytotoxin's C15,C16-alkene. This derivative's evaluation in a cancer cell panel revealed a significant increase in potency, with the IC values 5-10× lower than those displayed by the original natural product.

On the rheological and sensory properties of a novel natural salivary substitute.

The prevalence of xerostomia, the sensation of dry mouth, is estimated at 20 % in the general population and up to 50 % in older adults. Saliva plays different roles during bolus formation: lubrication, mixing, coating, hydration, dissolution, and comminution of food particles. This study proposes and tests artificial saliva formulations mimicking human saliva rheological and sensory perceptions.

Targeted preventive vaccination campaigns to reduce Ebola outbreaks: An individual-based modeling study.

Introduction: Nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) and ring vaccination (i.e., vaccination that primarily targets contacts and contacts of contacts of Ebola cases) are currently used to reduce the spread of Ebola during outbreaks.

Amaryllidaceae Alkaloids Decrease the Proliferation, Invasion, and Secretion of Clinically Relevant Cytokines by Cultured Human Colon Cancer Cells.

Alkaloids isolated from members of the plant family are promising anticancer agents. The purpose of the current study was to determine if the isocarbostyrils narciclasine, pancratistatin, lycorane, lycorine, crinane, and haemanthamine inhibit phenomena related to cancer progression in vitro. To achieve this, we examined the proliferation, adhesion, and invasion of cultured human colon cancer cells via MTT assay and Matrigel-coated Boyden chambers.

In Vitro Effects of Fungal Phytotoxins on Cancer Cell Viability: First Insight into Structure Activity Relationship of a Potent Metabolite of Radicinin.

Natural compounds have always represented an important source for new drugs. Although fungi represent one such viable source, to date, no fungal metabolite has been marketed as an anticancer drug. Based on our work with phytotoxins as potential chemical scaffolds and our recent findings involving three phytopathogenic fungi, i.

Herb-anticancer drug interactions in real life based on VigiBase, the WHO global database.

Cancer patients could combine herbal treatments with their chemotherapy. We consulted VigiBase, a WHO database of individual case safety reports (ICSRs) which archives reports of suspected Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) when herbal products are used in conjunction with anti-cancer treatment. We focused on the possible interactions between antineoplastic (L01 ATC class) or hormone antagonists (L02B ATC class) with 10 commonly used herbs (pineapple, green tea, cannabis, black cohosh, turmeric, echinacea, St John's wort, milk thistle and ginger) to compare ADRs described in ICSRs with the literature.

In Vitro Antioxidant and Anticancer Properties of Various Extracts.

Although is a plant widely used in traditional medicine in sub-Saharan Africa, its biological properties have been poorly investigated to date. We first characterized by conventional reactions the composition of several stem bark extracts and evaluated in acellular and cellular assays their pro- or antioxidant properties supported by their high phenolic and flavonoid content, particularly with the methanolic extract. The pro- or antioxidant effects observed did not correlate with their IC concentrations against five cancer cell lines determined by MTT assay.

Safety of conservative management for non-stenotic culprit lesions in STEMI patients treated with a two-step reperfusion strategy: a SUPER-MIMI sub-study.

Background: In the observational SUPER-MIMI study, a minimalist immediate mechanical intervention (MIMI) technique-which involves restoring blood flow in the acute phase and postponing stenting-was shown to be safe and effective among patients with a high thrombotic burden after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). We aim to assess whether a non-stenting strategy after a SUPER-MIMI strategy was safe at 4-year follow-up in patients enrolled in the SUPER-MIMI study who were not stented.

Methods: This prospective cohort study assessed the long-term outcomes of a subgroup of patients included in the SUPER-MIMI study.

Systematic Review of Potential Anticancerous Activities of .

The objective of this study was to carry out a systematic review of the substances isolated from the African medicinal plant focusing on compounds harboring activities against cancer models detailed in depth herein at both in vitro and in vivo preclinical levels. The review was conducted through Pubmed and Google Scholar. Nineteen out of the forty-two secondary metabolites isolated to date from displayed interesting in vitro and/or in vivo antitumor activities.

Polygodial and Ophiobolin A Analogues for Covalent Crosslinking of Anticancer Targets.

In a search of small molecules active against apoptosis-resistant cancer cells, including glioma, melanoma, and non-small cell lung cancer, we previously prepared α,β- and γ,δ-unsaturated ester analogues of polygodial and ophiobolin A, compounds capable of pyrrolylation of primary amines and demonstrating double-digit micromolar antiproliferative potencies in cancer cells. In the current work, we synthesized dimeric and trimeric variants of such compounds in an effort to discover compounds that could crosslink biological primary amine containing targets. We showed that such compounds retain the pyrrolylation ability and possess enhanced single-digit micromolar potencies toward apoptosis-resistant cancer cells.

Texture contrast: Ultrasonic characterization of stacked gels' deformation during compression on a biomimicking tongue.

When undergoing compression during oral processing, stacked gels display different mechanical properties that shape perceptions of texture contrasts (Santagiuliana et al., 2018). However, to date, characterizing the mechanical responses of individual gel layers has been impossible.

Antibacterial Activities of Homemade Matrices Miming Essential Oils Compared to Commercial Ones.

The increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a worldwide concern. Essential oils are known to possess remarkable antibacterial properties, but their high chemical variability complicates their development into new antibacterial agents. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to standardize their chemical composition.

Priming of mesenchymal stem cells with a hydrosoluble form of curcumin allows keeping their mesenchymal properties for cell-based therapy development.

Mesenchymal stem cells are increasingly studied for their use as drug-carrier in addition to their intrinsic potential for regenerative medicine. They could be used to transport molecules with a poor bioavailability such as curcumin in order to improve their clinical usage. This natural polyphenol, well-known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, has a poor solubility that limits its clinical potential.

Photoproduction of the f_{2}(1270) Meson Using the CLAS Detector.

The quark structure of the f_{2}(1270) meson has, for many years, been assumed to be a pure quark-antiquark (qq[over ¯]) resonance with quantum numbers J^{PC}=2^{++}. Recently, it was proposed that the f_{2}(1270) is a molecular state made from the attractive interaction of two ρ mesons. Such a state would be expected to decay strongly to final states with charged pions due to the dominant decay ρ→π^{+}π^{-}, whereas decay to two neutral pions would likely be suppressed.

Antibacterial and Cytotoxic Activities of Ten Commercially Available Essential Oils.

There is a huge concern in the medical field concerning the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. Essential oils are a source of antibacterial compounds that can overcome this problem. Ten essential oils that are commercially available were investigated in the present study: ajowan, basil, German chamomile, Chinese cinnamon, coriander, clove, lemongrass, Spanish lavender, oregano and palmarosa.

Deciphering the chemical instability of sphaeropsidin A under physiological conditions - degradation studies and structural elucidation of the major metabolite.

The fungal metabolite sphaeropsidin A (SphA) has been recognised for its promising cytotoxicity, particularly towards apoptosis- and multidrug-resistant cancers. Owing to its intriguing activity, the development of SphA as a potential anticancer agent has been pursued. However, this endeavour is compromised since SphA exhibits poor physicochemical stability under physiological conditions.

Using ultrasound to characterize the tongue-food interface: An in vitro study examining the impact of surface roughness and lubrication.

We measured the apparent reflection coefficient of a 1-MHz ultrasound compressional wave at the interface between rough and lubricated tongue mimicking surfaces and various food gels, composed of agar or gelatin. For the smoothest mimicking surface, when a lubricating layer was present, the apparent reflection coefficient was fairly similar for the different food gels (33.6% on average).

Halogenated Diterpenes with In Vitro Antitumor Activity from the Red Alga .

Eight new (-) structurally diverse diterpenes featuring five different carbocycles were isolated from the organic extracts of the red alga collected from the coastline of the Ionian Sea in Greece. The structures of the new natural products, seven of which were halogenated, and the relative configuration of their stereocenters were determined on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic analyses, including NMR and HRMS data. Compounds and were found to possess in vitro antitumor activity against one murine and five human cancer cell lines with mean IC values 15 and 16 μM, respectively.

Interpretation of the LHCb P_{c}(4312)^{+} Signal.

We study the nature of the new signal reported by LHCb in the J/ψp spectrum. Based on the S-matrix principles, we perform a minimum-bias analysis of the underlying reaction amplitude, focusing on the analytic properties that can be related to the microscopic origin of the P_{c}(4312)^{+} peak. By exploring several amplitude parametrizations, we find evidence for the attractive effect of the Σ_{c}^{+}D[over ¯]^{0} channel, which is not strong enough, however, to form a bound state.