Publications by authors named "Samir Haj Bloukh"

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses an emanating threat to humanity's future. The effectiveness of commonly used antibiotics against microbial infections is declining at an alarming rate. As a result, morbidity and mortality rates are soaring, particularly among immunocompromised populations.

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Article Synopsis
  • Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a critical issue, leading to increased illness and death rates, particularly in immunocompromised individuals, as common antibiotics are becoming less effective.
  • Researchers explored the potential of a natural antimicrobial formulation made from iodine, thyme, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), which showed strong effectiveness against various resistant pathogens.
  • The synthetic formulation (AV-PVP-Thyme-I) demonstrated exceptional antibacterial and antifungal properties, especially on materials like cotton bandages and masks, suggesting its use for treating wound infections and as a contact disinfectant.
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  • Nanoparticles (NPs) interact with proteins in complex ways, including forming a protein corona and altering protein structures, influenced by both NP properties and protein stability.
  • This review focuses on the biochemical and biophysical interactions between NPs and blood proteins, particularly transferrin, emphasizing its structure, stability, and iron release behavior.
  • Additionally, it explores transferrin's various biological functions and its potential in modifying NPs for drug delivery systems, especially in cancer therapy, aiming to enhance biomedical applications.
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Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) demonstrate unique properties and their use is exponentially increasing in various applications. The potential impact of Ag-NPs on human health is debatable in terms of toxicity. The present study deals with MTT(3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl-tetrazolium-bromide) assay on Ag-NPs.

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It has long been known that inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) can interact with biological macromolecules and show a wider range of biomedical characteristics, including antibacterial, anticancer and antioxidant effects, which cannot be mimicked by their bulky counterparts. It is of great importance in their biomedical applications to study DNA damage in bacterial and cancer cells to develop biocompatible therapeutic nano-platforms derived from inorganic NPs. Therefore, to determine how DNA interacts with inorganic NPs serving as therapeutic agents, thermodynamic and structural studies are essential for an understanding of those mechanisms, thereby allowing for their modulation and manipulation of nano-bio interface.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a pressing global issue, worsened by the misuse of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting a need for new antimicrobial agents.
  • - Researchers explored using a combination of iodine and copper with the crown ether 12-crown-4 to create a stable pentaiodide compound ([Cu(12-crown-4)]I) that exhibits strong antimicrobial activity against various pathogens.
  • - The unique V-shaped structure of [Cu(12-crown-4)]I enhances its effectiveness, with its microbial susceptibility linked to specific bonding interactions, showcasing the potential for novel drug design in combating resistant infections.
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The enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect in cancer treatment is one of the key mechanisms that enables drug accumulation at the tumor site. However, despite a plethora of virus/inorganic/organic-based nanocarriers designed to rely on the EPR effect to effectively target tumors, most have failed in the clinic. It seems that the non-compliance of research activities with clinical trials, goals unrelated to the EPR effect, and lack of awareness of the impact of solid tumor structure and interactions on the performance of drug nanocarriers have intensified this dissatisfaction.

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Nanoparticles (NPs) have been used in numerous applications as anticancer, antibacterial and antioxidant agents. Artificial engineering of protein interactions with NPs in biological systems is crucial to develop potential NPs for drug delivery and cancer nanotherapy. The protein corona (PC) on the NP surface, displays an interface between biomacromolecules and NPs, governing their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

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Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) display unique plasmonic and antimicrobial properties, enabling them to be helpful in various industrial and consumer products. However, previous studies showed that the commercially acquired silver nanoparticles exhibit toxicity even in small doses. Hence, it was imperative to determine suitable synthesis techniques that are the most economical and least toxic to the environment and biological entities.

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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a challenge for the survival of the human race. The steady rise of resistant microorganisms against the common antimicrobials results in increased morbidity and mortality rates. Iodine and a plethora of plant secondary metabolites inhibit microbial proliferation.

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Targeting microtubules (MTs), dynamic and stable proteins in cells, by different ligands have been reported to be a potential strategy to combat cancer cells. Inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used as anticancer, antibacterial and free radical scavenging agents, where they come in contact with biological macromolecules. The interaction between the NPs and biological macromolecules like MTs frequently occurs through different mechanisms.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of interaction between quercetin-3-O-sophoroside and different SARS-CoV-2's proteins which can bring some useful details about the control of different variants of coronavirus including the recent case, Delta. The chemical structure of the quercetin-3-O-sophoroside was first optimized. Docking studies were performed by CoV disease-2019 (COVID-19) Docking Server.

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Despite the promising medicinal properties, berberine (BBR), due to its relatively poor solubility in plasma, low bio-stability and limited bioavailability is not used broadly in clinical stages. Due to these drawbacks, drug delivery systems (DDSs) based on nanoscale natural polysaccharides, are applied to address these concerns. Natural polymers are biodegradable, non-immunogenic, biocompatible, and non-toxic agents that are capable of trapping large amounts of hydrophobic compounds in relatively small volumes.

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Antibiotic resistance toward commonly used medicinal drugs is a dangerously growing threat to our existence. Plants are naturally equipped with a spectrum of biomolecules and metabolites with important biological activities. These natural compounds constitute a treasure in the fight against multidrug-resistant microorganisms.

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The past few decades have witnessed significant progress in anticancer drug discovery. Small molecules containing heterocyclic moieties have attracted considerable interest for designing new antitumor agents. Of these, the pyrimidine ring system is found in multitude of drug structures, and being the building unit of DNA and RNA makes it an attractive scaffold for the design and development of anticancer drugs.

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Multi-drug resistant pathogens are a rising danger for the future of mankind. Iodine (I) is a centuries-old microbicide, but leads to skin discoloration, irritation, and uncontrolled iodine release. Plants rich in phytochemicals have a long history in basic health care.

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The non-toxic inorganic antimicrobial agents iodine (I) and copper (Cu) are interesting alternatives for biocidal applications. Iodine is broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent but its use is overshadowed by compound instability, uncontrolled iodine release and short-term effectiveness. These disadvantages can be reduced by forming complex-stabilized, polymeric polyiodides.

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The outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in 2019, have highlighted the concerns about the lack of potential vaccines or antivirals approved for inhibition of CoVs infection. SARS-CoV-2 RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) which is almost preserved across different viral species can be a potential target for development of antiviral drugs, including nucleoside analogues (NA). However, ExoN proofreading activity of CoVs leads to their protection from several NAs.

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Researchers have recently introduced some artificial enzymes based on nanomaterials that show significant catalytic activity relative to native enzymes called nanozyme. These nanozymes show superior performance than conventional catalysts and are considered as fascinating candidates for introducing the next generation of biomaterials in various industrial and biomedical fields. Recently, nanozymes have received a great deal of attention in biomedical applications due to their potential properties such as long-term stability, low cost, mass production capability, and controllable catalytic activity.

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The rapid outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) around the world is a tragic and shocking event that demonstrates the unpreparedness of humans to develop quick diagnostic platforms for novel infectious diseases. In fact, statistical reports of diagnostic tools show that their accuracy, specificity and sensitivity in the detection of COVID hampered by some challenges that can be eliminated by using nanoparticles (NPs). In this study, we aimed to present an overview on the most important ways to diagnose different kinds of viruses followed by the introduction of nanobiosensors.

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Thermoelectric (TE) materials are possible solutions of the current problems in the energy sector to overcome environmental pollution, increasing energy demand and the decline of natural resources. Thermoelectric materials are a promising alternative for the conversion of waste heat to electricity. Nanocrystalline PbTe powder was synthesized by a simple chemical method at room temperature and systematically investigated at various durations as samples A1-A5.

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Antibiotic resistance is an eminent threat for the survival of mankind. Nosocomial infections caused by multidrug resistant microorganisms are a reason for morbidity and mortality worldwide. Plant-based antimicrobial agents are based on synergistic mechanisms which prevent resistance and have been used for centuries against ailments.

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As the number of people infected with the newly identified 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) is continuously increasing every day, development of potential therapeutic platforms is vital. Based on the comparatively high similarity of receptor-binding domain (RBD) in SARS-CoV2 and SARS-CoV, it seems crucial to assay the cross-reactivity of anti-SARS-CoV monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with SARS-CoV2 spike (S)-protein. Indeed, developing mAbs targeting SARS-CoV2 S-protein RBD could show novel applications for rapid and sensitive development of potential epitope-specific vaccines (ESV).

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(1) Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began spreading across the globe in December and, as of 9 July 2020, had inflicted more than 550,000 deaths. Public health measures implemented to control the outbreak caused socio-economic havoc in many countries. The pandemic highlighted the quality of health care systems, responses of policymakers in harmony with the population, and socio-economic resilience factors.

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Researchers have reported some useful information about the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) leading to CoV disease 2019 (COVID-19). Several studies have been performed in order to develop antiviral drugs, from which a few have been prescribed to patients. Also, several diagnostic tests have been designed to accelerate the process of identifying and treating COVID-19.

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