Synthesis of Yttria Nanoparticle-Loaded Electrospun Nanofibers for Enhanced Antimicrobial Activity, Biofilm Inhibition, and Alleviation of Diabetic Wounds.

Diabetes-related sores and ulcers are quite common around the world and can cause complicated disruptions to both patient compliance and socioeconomic structure. Diabetic wounds take longer to heal due to pathophysiological causes, persistent infections, and increasingly severe medical problems. Nanoparticles (NPs) derived from nanotechnology have drawn interest due to their revolutionary potential in understanding the biological milieu and offering therapeutic strategies for wound healing.

Photophysical and thermodynamic landscape of interaction of a styryl-based dye with DNA duplex: effect of medium ionic strength and live cell imaging.

A red-emitting excited-state intramolecular charge transfer pyridinium dye, [4-((1E,3E)-4-(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)buta-1,3-dien-1-yl)-1-methylpyridin-1-ium] (DAPBMP), was synthesized and characterized using NMR and ESIMS studies. Binding interaction between dye DAPBMP and genomic DNA were investigated using steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopic methods. The thermodynamics of the interaction process were characterized using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) which reveals the key role of the hydrophobic effect and electrostatic interaction between the positive charged dye and the negatively charged polyphosphate of DNA backbone.

Metal-directed hierarchical superhelices from hybrid peptide foldamers.

A superhelix is a three-dimensional arrangement of a helix in which the helix is coiled around a common axis. Here, we are reporting a short 12-helix of α,γ-hybrid peptides terminated by metal binding ligands, self-assembled into a right-handed superhelix around a common axis in the presence of Cd(II) ions. Furthermore, these superhelices are assembled into hierarchical superhelical β-sheet-type structural motifs in single crystals.

Leukocyte infiltration and cross-talk with cardiomyocytes exploit intracellular stress pathways in dilated cardiomyopathy of idiopathic origin.

Background And Objective: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a prevalent form of heart failure results in dilation and disruption of heart. Most strikingly a majority of the DCM cases do not have any identified etiology, hence known as idiopathic DCM (IDCM). Our study aimed to investigate the cross-talk between leukocytes and cardiomyocytes in terms of cardiac inflammation and stress response in IDCM.

Electrospun Cerium Oxide Nanoparticle/Aloe Vera Extract-Loaded Nanofibrous Poly(Ethylene Oxide)/Polyurethane Mats As Diabetic Wound Dressings.

Currently the prevalence of diabetic wounds brings a huge encumbrance onto patients, causing high disability and mortality rates and a major medical challenge for society. Therefore, in this study, we are targeting to fabricate aloe vera extract infused biocompatible nanofibrous patches to facilitate the process of diabetic wound healing. Additionally, clindamycin has been adsorbed onto the surface of in-house synthesized ceria nanoparticles and again used separately to design a nanofibrous web, as nanoceria can act as a good drug delivery vehicle and exhibit both antimicrobial and antidiabetic properties.

Benzofuran Iboga-Analogs Modulate Nociception and Inflammation in an Acute Mouse Pain Model.

Pain management following acute injury or post-operative procedures is highly necessary for proper recovery and quality of life. Opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) have been used for this purpose, but opioids cause addiction and withdrawal symptoms whereas NSAIDS have several systemic toxicities. Derivatives of the naturally occurring iboga alkaloids have previously shown promising behavior in anti-addiction of morphine by virtue of their interaction with opioid receptors.

Association of dopamine receptor D3 polymorphism with Levodopa-induced Dyskinesia: A study on Parkinson's disease patients from India.

Introduction: Levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) is a debilitating motor feature in a subset of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) after prolonged therapeutic administration of levodopa. Preliminary animal and human studies are suggestive of a key role of dopamine type 3 (D3) receptor polymorphism (Ser9Gly; rs6280) in LID. Its contribution to development of LID among Indian PD patients has remained relatively unexplored and merits further investigation.

Self-care practices and quality of life of filariasis patients in a gram panchayat of Paschim Burdwan district, West Bengal, India.

Background & Objectives: Self-care management is one of the important components in the goal of elimination of lymphatic filariasis (LF) and Quality of Life (QoL) has become an important deliverable in the present day health care system. The objective was to assess the self-care management of the affected limb and to find out the quality of life who were suffering from lymphoedema.

Methods: This was a community-based cross-sectional epidemiological study conducted during 2019-2020 in a Gourbazar gram panchayat area of Paschim Burdwan district of West Bengal, India.

Role of Influenza A virus protein NS1 in regulating host nuclear body ND10 complex formation and its involvement in establishment of viral pathogenesis.

Influenza viral infection is a seasonal infection which causes widespread acute respiratory issues among humans globally. This virus changes its surface receptor composition to escape the recognition process by the host's immune cells. Therefore, the present study focussed to identify some other important viral proteins which have a significant role in establishment of infection and having apparent conserved structural composition.

Design of Chiral β-Double Helices from γ-Peptide Foldamers.

Chirality is ubiquitous in nature, and homochirality is manifested in many biomolecules. Although β-double helices are rare in peptides and proteins, they consist of alternating L- and D-amino acids. No peptide double helices with homochiral amino acids have been observed.

Anion Tuned Structural Modulation and Nonlinear Optical Effects of Metal-Ion Directed 3 -Helix Networks.

Metals play an important role in the structure and functions of various proteins. The combination of metal ions and peptides have been emerging as an attractive field to create advanced structures and biomaterials. Here, we are reporting the anion-influenced, silver ion coordinated diverse networks of designed short tripeptide 3 -helices with terminal pyridyl groups.

Proteolytically Stable ααγ-Hybrid Peptides Inhibit the Aggregation and Cytotoxicity of Aβ.

The recent approval of antibody-based therapy for targeting the clearance of amyloid plaques fuels the research in designing small molecules and peptide inhibitors to target the aggregation of Aβ-peptides. Here, we report that the 15-residue ααγ-hybrid peptide not only inhibits the aggregation of soluble Aβ into fibrils but also disintegrates the aggregated Aβ fibrils into smaller assemblies. Further, the hybrid peptide completely rescues neuronal cells from the toxicity of Aβ at equimolar concentrations.

Vitamin D deficiency and genetic polymorphisms of vitamin D-associated genes in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) and vitamin D share a unique link as vitamin D deficiency (VDD) prevails in PD. Thus, an in-depth understanding of vitamin D biology in PD might be crucial for therapeutic strategies emphasising vitamin D. Specifically, explicating the effect of VDD and genetic polymorphisms of vitamin D-associated genes in PD, like VDR (vitamin D receptor) or GC (vitamin D binding protein) may aid the process along with polymorphisms of vitamin D metabolising genes (e.

Enhanced inflammasome-mediated inflammation and impaired autophagy in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease severity.

Aims: Identification of the progress of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is crucial for their effective treatment. Circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) could be a surrogate monitor instead of complicated and expensive biopsies. Changes in immuno-metabolic status in NAFLD patients may be reflected by an expression of different PBMC-specific molecular markers.

Foldamer Nanotubes Mediated Label-Free Detection of Protein-Small Molecule Interactions.

Development of miniaturized lab-on-chip devices for the detection of rapid and specific small molecule-protein binding interactions at very low concentrations holds significant importance in drug discovery and biomedical applications. Here, the label-free detection of small molecule-protein interactions is reported on the surface functionalizable nanotubes of α,γ-hybrid peptide helical foldamers using nanoscale capacitance and impedance spectroscopy. The 12-helix conformation of the α,γ-hybrid peptide observed in the single crystals, self-assembled into nanotubes in an aqueous environment with exposed cysteine thiols for small molecule conjugation.

Fluorescence detection of Al ion in aqueous medium and live cell imaging by ESIPT probe (E)-N'-(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-4-hydroxybenzohydrazide.

The molecule (E)-N'-(5-bromo-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-4-hydroxybenzohydrazide (BHHB) has been synthesized and its photophysical properties have been investigated by using steady state absorption, emission and time resolved emission spectroscopy. The molecule shows excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) process with characteristics large Stoke shifted emission. Fluorescence enhancement of BHHB only in presence of Al ion is used as selective aluminium ion sensor in the sub-nano molar scale in aqueous solution.

Oleic acid prevents erythrocyte death by preserving haemoglobin and erythrocyte membrane proteins.

Haemolysis of erythrocytes upon exposure to haemato-toxic phenylhydrazine (PHZ), makes it an experimental model of anaemia and a partial model of β-thalassaemia, where oxidative stress (OS) was identified as principal causative factor. Oleic acid (OA) was evidenced to ameliorate such stress with antioxidative potential. Erythrocytes were incubated in vitro using 1 mM PHZ, 0.

Stereoselective synthesis of backbone extended π-conjugated amino esters.

Utilization of the Wittig reaction to synthesize conjugative multiple double bonds is rare. We examined the utility of the Wittig reaction to construct conjugative two and three carbon-carbon double bonds on the N-protected amino acid backbone. The ethyl esters of -Boc amino acids with multiple carbon-carbon double bonds in the backbone were isolated in excellent yields with exceptional -selectivity of the double bonds.

Levodopa-induced Dyskinesia in Parkinson's Disease: Plausible Inflammatory and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers.

Background: Pathophysiology of levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID) remains obscure. Increased dopamine metabolism due to prolonged levodopa treatment can exacerbate oxidative damage and neuroinflammatory pathology in Parkinson's disease (PD). Association of novel peripheral markers with LID severity might provide insight into LID pathomechanisms.

Ameliorative effects of clindamycin - nanoceria conjugate: A ROS responsive smart drug delivery system for diabetic wound healing study.

Background: Increased incidence of antibiotic-resistant species calls for development of new types of nano-medicine that can be used for healing of bacteria-caused wounds, such as diabetic foot ulcer. As diabetic patients have inefficient defense mechanism against reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced in our body as a by-product of oxygen reduction, the process of wound healing takes longer epithelialisation period. Ceria nanoparticles (CNPs) are well-known for their antibacterial and ROS-scavenging nature.

Sequence dependent folding motifs of the secondary structures of Gly-Pro and Pro-Gly containing oligopeptides.

Folding motifs of the secondary structures of peptides and proteins are primarily based on the hydrogen bonding interactions in the backbone as well as the sequence of the amino acid residues present. For instance, the β-turn structure directed by the Pro-Gly sequence is the key to the β-hairpin structure of peptides/proteins as well as a selective site for the enzymatic hydroxylation of pro-collagen. Herein, we have investigated the sequence dependent folding motifs of end-protected Gly-Pro and Pro-Gly dipeptides using a combination of gas phase laser spectroscopy, quantum chemistry calculations, solution phase IR and NMR spectroscopy and single crystal X-Ray diffraction (XRD).

Novel inflammasome and oxidative modulators in Parkinson's disease: A prospective study.

Introduction: The etiopathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) is not clear. Yet, it seems likely that inflammation as well as oxidative stress plays a major role in the disease pathogenesis. Based on our previous findings, we aimed to investigate prospective changes in peripheral inflammasome and oxidative modulators in relation to the progression of motor symptoms and severity of PD.

Do peripheral immune and neurotrophic markers correlate with motor severity of Parkinson's disease?

Background: Inflammation along with oxidative stress alters neuroplasticity which might contribute to neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Objectives: We aimed to explore the correlation of inflammatory-oxidative and neurotrophic changes in PD and their association with clinical staging and motor severity.

Methods: Serum oxidative markers, pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines and BDNF levels were estimated by spectrophotometric and ELISA techniques.

Metal-Coordinated Supramolecular Polymers from the Minimalistic Hybrid Peptide Foldamers.

Availing the peptide folded architectures to design metal-coordinated frameworks and cages is restricted due to the scarcity of readily accessible short and stable secondary structures. The secondary structures, α-helix and β-sheets, play significant roles in stabilizing tertiary folds of proteins. Designing such helical structures from the short sequences of peptides without having any steric restrictions is exceptionally challenging.