Metal-Free CO Prodrugs Activated by Molecular Oxygen Protect against Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiomyopathy in Mice.

Carbon monoxide has been extensively studied for its various therapeutic activities in cell cultures and animal models. Great efforts have been made to develop noninhalational approaches for easy and controlled CO delivery. Herein, we introduce a novel metal-free CO prodrug approach that releases CO under near-physiological conditions.

Auriferous nanozymes: advances in diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

Nanozymes are a group of nanomaterials that garnered significant attention due to their enzyme-mimicking properties and their catalytic activities comparable to those of natural enzymes. The ability of nanozymes to emulate crucial biological processes which can conquer the drawbacks of natural enzymes, such as their restricted thermostability as well as substrate range. Auriferous (gold) nanozymes possess remarkable enzyme-like properties, such as reductase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, oxidase, and catalase.

Improving Antibiotic Use for Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Through Diagnostic Stewardship: A Proof-of-Concept Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Overtreatment of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in the intensive care unit is driven by positive respiratory tract cultures in the absence of a clinical picture of pneumonia. We evaluated the potential for diagnostic stewardship at the respiratory culture reporting step.

Methods: In this mixed methods study, we conducted a baseline evaluation of lower respiratory tract (LRT) culture appropriateness and antibiotic prescribing, followed by a nonrandomized intervention in 2 adult intensive care units.

Exploring the potential of for crop productivity and sustainable solution for combating rice false smut disease.

Rice false smut, which is caused by the soil-borne fungal pathogen (), is one of the most threatening diseases in most of the rice-growing countries including India that causes 0.5-75% yield loss, low seed germination, and a reduction in seed quality. The assessment of yield loss helps to understand the relevance of disease severity and facilitates the implementation of appropriate management strategies.

Click chemistry in the development of PROTACs.

Proteolysis-targeting chimeras or PROTACs are hetero-bifunctional molecules designed to mediate the disposal of a target protein recruitment of the ubiquitination-proteasome degradation machinery. Because of the chimeric nature of such molecules, their synthesis requires a key step of "assembling" whether in the lab or . Furthermore, targeted PROTACs often are hetero-trifunctional and require a second "assembling" step.

Review on interactions between nanomaterials and phytohormones: Novel perspectives and opportunities for mitigating environmental challenges.

Nanotechnology offers the potential to provide innovative solutions for sustainable crop production as plants are exposed to a combination of climate change factors (CO, temperature, UV radiation, ozone), abiotic (heavy metals, salinity, drought), and biotic (virus, bacteria, fungi, nematode, and insects) stresses. The application of particular sizes, shapes, and concentration of nanomaterials (NMs) potentially mitigate the negative impacts in plants by modulation of photosynthetic rate, redox homeostasis, hormonal balance, and nutrient assimilation through upregulation of anti-stress metabolites, antioxidant defense pathways, and genes and genes network. The present review inculcates recent advances in uptake, translocation, and accumulation mechanisms of NMs in plants.

Nanozymes: A comprehensive review on emerging applications in cancer diagnosis and therapeutics.

Nanozymes, a new class of nanomaterials-based artificial enzymes, have gained huge attraction due to their high operational stability, working efficiency in extreme conditions, and resistance towards protease digestion. Nowadays, they are effectively substituted for natural enzymes for catalysis by closely resembling the active sites found in natural enzymes. Nanozymes can compensate for natural enzymes' drawbacks, such as high cost, poor stability, low yield, and storage challenges.

Biotin conjugates in targeted drug delivery: is it mediated by a biotin transporter, a yet to be identified receptor, or (an)other unknown mechanism(s)?

Conjugation of drugs with biotin is a widely studied strategy for targeted drug delivery. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies through H-biotin competition experiments conclude with the presence of a free carboxylic acid being essential for its uptake via the sodium-dependent multivitamin transporter (SMVT, the major biotin transporter). However, biotin conjugation with a payload requires modification of the carboxylic acid to an amide or ester group.

Recent progress in biomarker-based diagnostics of , gastric cancer-causing bacteria.

The progression of any disease and its outcomes depend on the complicated interaction between pathogens, host and environmental factors. Thus, complete knowledge of bacterial toxins involved in pathogenesis is necessary to develop diagnostic methods and alternative therapies, including vaccines. This review summarizes recently employed biomarkers to diagnose the presence of bacteria.

Developing a diagnosis calculator to estimate the probability of bacterial pneumonia.

Misdiagnosis of bacterial pneumonia increases risk of exposure to inappropriate antibiotics and adverse events. We developed a diagnosis calculator (https://calculator.testingwisely.

The UTH-UMB Global Health Education Collaboration: Building a Bidirectional Exchange Based on Equity and Reciprocity.

The global health exchange program between the University Teaching Hospitals (UTH) of Lusaka, Zambia and the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has been operating since 2015. As trainees and facilitators of this exchange program, we describe our experiences working in Lusaka and Baltimore, and strengths and challenges of the partnership. Since 2015, we have facilitated rotations for 71 UMB trainees, who spent four weeks on the Infectious Disease (ID) team at UTH.

Resistance strategies for defense against Albugo candida causing white rust disease.

Albugo candida, the causal organism of white rust, is an oomycete obligate pathogen infecting crops of Brassicaceae family occurred on aerial part, including vegetable and oilseed crops at all growth stages. The disease expression is characterized by local infection appearing on the abaxial region developing white or creamy yellow blister (sori) on leaves and systemic infections cause hypertrophy and hyperplasia leading to stag-head of reproductive organ. To overcome this problem, several disease management strategies like fungicide treatments were used in the field and disease-resistant varieties have also been developed using conventional and molecular breeding.

Toward "CO in a Pill": Silica-Immobilized Organic CO Prodrugs for Studying the Feasibility of Systemic Delivery of CO via Gastrointestinal CO Release.

Carbon monoxide (CO), an endogenous signaling molecule, is known to exert a range of pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammation, organ protection, and antimetastasis in various animal models. We have previously shown the ability of organic prodrugs to deliver CO systemically through oral administration. As part of our efforts for the further development of these prodrugs, we are interested in minimizing the potential negative impact of the "carrier" portion of the prodrug.

De Novo Construction of Fluorophores via CO Insertion-Initiated Lactamization: A Chemical Strategy toward Highly Sensitive and Highly Selective Turn-On Fluorescent Probes for Carbon Monoxide.

Extensive studies in the last few decades have led to the establishment of CO as an endogenous signaling molecule and subsequently to the exploration of CO's therapeutic roles. In the current state, there is a critical conundrum in CO-related research: the extensive knowledge of CO's biological effects and yet an insufficient understanding of the quantitative correlations between the CO concentration and biological responses of various natures. This conundrum is partially due to the difficulty in examining precise concentration-response relationships of a gaseous molecule.

Ultrasensitive and selective colorimetric detection of uric acid using peroxidase mimetic activity of biogenic palladium nanoparticles.

Uric acid (2,6,8-trihydroxypurine) is a metabolic product of purine, which is one of the important markers of human health. The development of a rapid, facile, highly sensitive, and selective method for uric acid detection is critical for the diagnosis of related diseases and is still a strategic challenge. In this study, we developed a highly sensitive and selective colorimetric assay for the detection of uric acid using biogenic palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs).

Angle-resolved polarimetry of hybrid perovskite emission for photonic technologies.

Coupling between light and matter strongly depends on the polarization of the electromagnetic field and the nature of excitations in a material. As hybrid perovskites emerge as a promising class of materials for light-based technologies such as LEDs, LASERs, and photodetectors, it is critical to understand how their microstructure changes the intrinsic properties of the photon emission process. While the majority of optical studies have focused on the spectral content, quantum efficiency and lifetimes of emission in various hybrid perovskite thin films and nanostructures, few studies have investigated other properties of the emitted photons such as polarization and emission angle.

Anisotropic third-harmonic generation of exfoliated AsS thin flakes.

Van der Waals (vdW) materials have recently attracted significant interest in the context of orientation-dependent linear and nonlinear optical properties. Recently, arsenic trisulfide (AsS) or orpiment is identified as a new vdW layered material having anisotropic vibrational and optomechanical responses due to the reduced in-plane crystal symmetry, but its nonlinear optical response is still not well understood yet. Herein, the anisotropic third-harmonic generation (THG) response of mechanically exfoliated AsS thin flakes is reported.

Natural layered mercury antimony sulfosalt livingstonite with anisotropic optical properties.

Naturally occurring layered mineral livingstonite is identified as a new type of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure based 2D material, consisting of two commensurately modulated alternating layers of HgSbS and SbS. The heterostructures of livingstonite crystal are prepared as thin flakes via mechanical exfoliation method. The prepared livingstonite crystals are further investigated in the context of vibrational, linear, and nonlinear optical properties, including anisotropic Raman scattering, wavelength-dependent linear dichroism (LD) transition effect, birefringence, and anisotropic third-harmonic generation (THG).

Upregulation of p53 through induction of MDM2 degradation: improved potency through the introduction of an alkylketone sidechain on the anthraquinone core.

Overexpression of ubiquitin ligase MDM2 causes depletion of the p53 tumour-suppressor and thus leads to cancer progression. In recent years, anthraquinone analogs have received significant attention due to their ability to downregulate MDM2, thereby promoting p53-induced apoptosis. Previously, we have developed potent anthraquinone compounds having the ability to upregulate p53 inhibition of MDM2 in both cell culture and animal models of acute lymphocytic leukaemia.

Light-Activated CO Donor as a Universal CO Surrogate for Pd-Catalyzed and Light-Mediated Carbonylation.

A low-molecular-weight, solid CO surrogate that only requires a low-power LED for activation to release 2 equiv of CO is reported. The surrogate can be universally implemented in various palladium-catalyzed carbonylative transformations. It is also compatible with protocols that employ blue-light to activate conventionally inaccessible substrates such as nonactivated alkyl halides.

Polymeric micelles and cancer therapy: an ingenious multimodal tumor-targeted drug delivery system.

Since the beginning of pharmaceutical research, drug delivery methods have been an integral part of it. Polymeric micelles (PMs) have emerged as multifunctional nanoparticles in the current technological era of nanocarriers, and they have shown promise in a range of scientific fields. They can alter the release profile of integrated pharmacological substances and concentrate them in the target zone due to their improved permeability and retention, making them more suitable for poorly soluble medicines.

Polarization-sensitive optical responses from natural layered hydrated sodium sulfosalt gerstleyite.

Multi-element layered materials have gained substantial attention in the context of achieving the customized light-matter interactions at subwavelength scale via stoichiometric engineering, which is crucial for the realization of miniaturized polarization-sensitive optoelectronic and nanophotonic devices. Herein, naturally occurring hydrated sodium sulfosalt gerstleyite is introduced as one new multi-element van der Waals (vdW) layered material. The mechanically exfoliated thin gerstleyite flakes are demonstrated to exhibit polarization-sensitive anisotropic linear and nonlinear optical responses including angle-resolved Raman scattering, anomalous wavelength-dependent linear dichroism transition, birefringence effect, and polarization-dependent third-harmonic generation (THG).

Carbon Monoxide as a Therapeutic for Airway Diseases: Contrast and Comparison of Various CO Delivery Modalities.

The quest to find novel strategies to tackle respiratory illnesses has led to the exploration of the potential therapeutic effects of carbon monoxide (CO) as an endogenous signaling molecule and a cytoprotective agent. Further, several studies have demonstrated the pharmacological efficacy of CO in animal models of respiratory disorders, such as acute lung injury and pulmonary hypertension. Because of the gaseous nature of CO and its affinity for multiple targets, its controlled delivery has been a challenge.

Anisotropic optical responses of layered thallium arsenic sulfosalt gillulyite.

Multi-element two-dimensional (2D) materials hold great promise in the context of tailoring the physical and chemical properties of the materials via stoichiometric engineering. However, the rational and controllable synthesis of complex 2D materials remains a challenge. Herein, we demonstrate the preparation of large-area thin quaternary 2D material flakes via mechanical exfoliation from a naturally occurring bulk crystal named gillulyite.

Polarization-dependent optical responses in natural 2D layered mineral teallite.

Multi-element layered materials enable the use of stoichiometric variation to engineer their optical responses at subwavelength scale. In this regard, naturally occurring van der Waals minerals allow us to harness a wide range of chemical compositions, crystal structures and lattice symmetries for layered materials under atomically thin limit. Recently, one type of naturally occurring sulfide mineral, ternary teallite has attained significant interest in the context of thermoelectric, optoelectronic, and photovoltaic applications, but understanding of light-matter interactions in such ternary teallite crystals is scarcely available.