An LC-MS/MS assay for simultaneous determination of 13 steroid hormones and two synthetic steroids in saliva: potential utility for paediatric population and beyond.

Saliva samples offer the possibility to obtain stress-free non-invasive samples, also for home-testing, especially useful when blood collection is either undesirable or difficult. The aim of this work was to develop an LC-MS/MS method to determine clinically relevant steroid hormones cortisol, cortisone, 11-deoxycortisol, 21-deoxycortisol, 17OH-progesterone, aldosterone, corticosterone, deoxycorticosterone, testosterone, androstenedione, DHEAS, DHEA, 17OH-pregnenolone, betamethasone and dexamethasone. A special effort was made to adapt the method to neonatal population with respect to choice of saliva as matrix, low sample volumes, selection of analytes and multiplexing.

Large method differences for free thyroid hormone assays in the hyperthyroid range can affect assessment of hyperthyroid status: Comparison of Abbott Alinity to Roche Cobas, Siemens Centaur and equilibrium dialysis LC-MS/MS.

Background: Free T4 (FT4) determination is one of the most commonly performed biochemical tests in endocrinology. Treatment of thyroid dysfunctions is adjusted based on the severity of symptoms and biochemical test results. For Graves' hyperthyroidism, clinical guidelines recommend using FT4 as a (rough) guide to dose antithyroid drugs, together with other clinical information.

The association between infant salivary cortisol and parental presence in the neonatal intensive care unit during and after COVID-19 visitation restrictions: A cross-sectional study.

Objectives: Parent-infant interaction in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) promotes health and reduces infant stress. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, NICUs restricted parent-infant interaction to reduce viral transmission. This study examined the potential relationship between pandemic visitation restrictions, parental presence and infant stress as measured by salivary cortisol.

2-Amino-Pyrrole-Carboxylate Attenuates Homology-Mediated DNA Repair and Sensitizes Cancer Cells to Doxorubicin.

Despite a high efficacy of chemotherapy in cancer treatment, acquired resistance of tumors to certain chemotherapeutic agents and frequent side effects remain the major factors of unfavorable prognosis in most cancer patients with unresectable, metastatic and recurrent forms of the disease. The discovery of novel molecular targets in tumors and development of new therapeutic approaches to enhance the efficiency of chemotherapeutic agents remain the biggest challenges in current oncology. Here we examined the ability of pyrrole-based heterocyclic compound 2-APC to sensitize tumor cells to the topoisomerase II inhibitor doxorubicin.

Computational-Based Discovery of the Anti-Cancer Activities of Pyrrole-Based Compounds Targeting the Colchicine-Binding Site of Tubulin.

Despite the tubulin-binding agents (TBAs) that are widely used in the clinic for cancer therapy, tumor resistance to TBAs (both inherited and acquired) significantly impairs their effectiveness, thereby decreasing overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates, especially for the patients with metastatic, recurrent, and unresectable forms of the disease. Therefore, the development of novel effective drugs interfering with the microtubules' dynamic state remains a big challenge in current oncology. We report here about the novel ethyl 2-amino-1-(furan-2-carboxamido)-5-(2-aryl/tert-butyl-2-oxoethylidene)-4-oxo-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrrole-3-carboxylates (EAPCs) exhibiting potent anti-cancer activities against the breast and lung cancer cell lines in vitro.