Evaluation of Functional Properties and the Lipase Inhibitory Activity of Proteins from Amaranthus cruentus Seeds.

Aims/background: Obesity is characterized by excessive body fat and is a chronic and complex disease. The medications used to date for the treatment of obesity have exhibited various side effects. Thus, new substances must be sought from alternative sources as anti-obesity drugs.

Differing relationships between parenting stress, parenting practices and externalising behaviours in autistic children.

There is much research on parenting stress and child behaviours of autistic children. However, researchers have rarely explored whether how parents raise their children (called 'parenting practices') links to parenting stress and child behaviours. This is important, as if we know which parenting practices lead to better outcomes, parents can be supported to use parenting practices that are most helpful to them and/or their child.

Recent advancements of betulinic acid-based drug delivery systems for cancer therapy (2002-2023).

Betulinic acid, a compound classified as a pentacyclic triterpenoid, is found in abundance in a variety of medicinal plants and natural substances. Its broad spectrum of biological and medicinal properties, particularly its potent antitumor activity, has gained significant attention in recent years. The anticancer properties of betulinic acid are governed by mitochondrial signalling pathways and it exhibit selectivity for cancerous tissue, leaving non-cancerous cells and normal tissue unharmed.

Use of telerehabilitation platforms for delivering patient education among patients with asthma: a scoping review.

Objective: Use of tele-technology for monitoring symptoms, functional parameters, and quality-of-life of people with asthma is essential. Delivering this information among patients is mandated for a better outcome and made possible patient education (PE). This review aims to summarize the types of telerehabilitation modalities, dosage, and outcome measures used to assess the effectiveness of PE among people with asthma.

Parenting Practices and Externalizing Behaviors in Autistic Children: A Systematic Literature Review.

There is limited recent research on the association between parenting practices and externalizing behaviors in autistic children. To address this gap, the current systematic review examined the associations between parenting practices and externalizing behaviors in autistic children, along with the mediating and moderating effects of parent and child variables (PROSPERO registration number CRD42022268667). Study inclusion criteria were (1) Peer-reviewed journals, (2) Participants included parents of autistic children and their children, (3) Quantitative measures of both parenting practices or behaviors/style and child externalizing behaviors, (4) Cross-sectional or longitudinal studies only, and (5) Studies published in English.

Recent Advances in Biomedical Applications of Mannans and Xylans.

Plant-based phytochemicals, including flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, saponins, and other metabolites, have attracted considerable attention due to their central role in synthesizing nanomaterials with various biomedical applications. Hemicelluloses are the second most abundant among naturally occurring heteropolymers, accounting for one-third of all plant constituents. In particular, xylans, mannans, and arabinoxylans are structured polysaccharides derived from hemicellulose.

Novel Vesicular Bilosomal Delivery Systems for Dermal/Transdermal Applications.

The application of therapeutically active molecules through the dermal/transdermal route into the skin has evolved as an attractive formulation strategy in comparison to oral delivery systems for the treatment of various disease conditions. However, the delivery of drugs across the skin is limited due to poor permeability. Dermal/transdermal delivery is associated with ease of accessibility, enhanced safety, better patient compliance, and reduced variability in plasma drug concentrations.

Ivermectin: A Critical Review on Characteristics, Properties, and Analytical Methods.

Background: Ivermectin is one of the first, safe, broad-spectrum avermectin class of antiparasitic agent, widely used to control parasitic growth in livestock. Ivermectin being highly lipophilic accumulates in fat tissues, causing its long-term existence in the body. Accordingly, ivermectin residues are observed in various animal products such as milk and meat presenting several health hazards.

Comparative clinical efficacy and safety of insulin glargine 300 U/ml (Toujeo) versus insulin glargine 100 U/ml in type 2 diabetes and type 1 diabetes: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis.

Aim: To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of glargine-U100 (Lantus/Gla-100) with glargine-U300 (Toujeo/Gla-300) in adult patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Materials And Methods: A literature search on Gla-300/Gla-100 in diabetes management was conducted using the MEDLINE/Embase/Cochrane databases from inception to 10 January 2021. Eligible studies considered for inclusion were parallel-design, randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

A Review on Recent Advances in Mannose-Functionalized Targeted Nanocarrier Delivery Systems in Cancer and Infective Therapeutics.

Unmodified nanocarriers used in the chemotherapy of cancers and various infectious diseases exhibit prolonged blood circulation time, prevent enzymatic degradation and increase chemical stability of encapsulated therapeutics. However, off-target effect and lack of specificity associated with unmodified nanoparticles (NPs) limit their applications in the health care system. Mannose (Man) receptors with significant overexpression on antigen-presenting cells and macrophages are among the most admired targets for cancer and anti-infective therapeutics.

miRNA and antisense oligonucleotide-based α-synuclein targeting as disease-modifying therapeutics in Parkinson's disease.

α-synuclein is the synaptic protein majorly involved in neuronal dysfunction and death and it is well known for the last two decades as a hallmark of Parkinson's disease. Alpha-synuclein is involved in neurodegeneration mediated through various neurotoxic pathways, majorly including autophagy or lysosomal dysregulation, mitochondrial disruption, synaptic dysfunction, and oxidative stress. Moreover, the alpha-synuclein aggregation has been associated with the development of several neurodegenerative conditions such as various forms of Parkinson's disease.

Biosimilars and interchangeable biosimilars: facts every prescriber, payor, and patient should know. Insulins perspective.

Introduction: For many of the 537 million adults living now with diabetes, the cost of insulin is becoming prohibitive as the insulin prices have tripled between 2002-2013. Globally, the direct annual cost of healthcare expenditure due to diabetes will soon be US$1 Trillion. Biosimilars provide access to high-quality, affordable biologic therapy that is otherwise inaccessible due to the high costs of original biologics.

Current Overview of Cyclodextrin Inclusion Complexes of Volatile Oils and their Constituents.

Background: Volatile oils and their constituents have been considered major bioactive natural compounds due to their wide therapeutic and biological activities in pharmaceuticals in human healthcare. However, due to their poor solubility, their applications are limited. The inclusion complexation of volatile oils and their volatile constituents with cyclodextrins has emerged as a promising approach for the improvement of aqueous solubility, bioavailability, and stability.

Antimicrobial Nanomaterials for Food Packaging.

Food packaging plays a key role in offering safe and quality food products to consumers by providing protection and extending shelf life. Food packaging is a multifaceted field based on food science and engineering, microbiology, and chemistry, all of which have contributed significantly to maintaining physicochemical attributes such as color, flavor, moisture content, and texture of foods and their raw materials, in addition to ensuring freedom from oxidation and microbial deterioration. Antimicrobial food packaging systems, in addition to their function as conventional food packaging, are designed to arrest microbial growth on food surfaces, thereby enhancing food stability and quality.

Complexation of phytochemicals with cyclodextrins and their derivatives- an update.

Bioactive phytochemicals from natural source have gained tremendous interest over several decades due to their wide and diverse therapeutic activities playing key role as functional food supplements, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. Nevertheless, their application as therapeutically active moieties and formulation into novel drug delivery systems are hindered due to major drawbacks such as poor solubility, bioavailability and dissolution rate and instability contributing to reduction in bioactivity. These drawbacks can be effectively overcome by their complexation with different cyclodextrins.

Nanoparticles-Attractive Carriers of Antimicrobial Essential Oils.

Microbial pathogens are the most prevalent cause of chronic infections and fatalities around the world. Antimicrobial agents including antibiotics have been frequently utilized in the treatment of infections due to their exceptional outcomes. However, their widespread use has resulted in the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites.

Role of KSP Inhibitors as Anti-cancer Therapeutics: An Update.

Regardless of the growing discovery of anticancer treatments targeting cancer-specific pathways, cytotoxic therapy still maintained its abundant clinical significance because tumours harbor a greater population of actively dividing cells than normal tissues. Conventional anti-mitotic agents or microtubule poisons acting on the major mitotic spindle protein tubulin have been effectively used in clinical settings for cancer chemotherapy over the last three decades. However, the use of these drugs is associated with limited clinical utility due to serious side effects such as debilitating and dose-limiting peripheral neuropathy, myelosuppression, drug resistance, and allergic reactions.

Fatty Acid Biosynthesis: An Updated Review on KAS Inhibitors.

Since the early twentieth century, with the isolation of penicillin and streptomycin in the 1940s, the modern era of anti-infective drug development has gained momentum. Due to the enormous success of early drug discovery, many infectious diseases were successfully prevented and eradicated. However, this initial hope was wrongheaded, and pathogens evolved as a significant threat to human health.

An insight into cytotoxic activity of flavonoids and sesquiterpenoids from selected plants of Asteraceae species.

Cancer continues to be a disease that is difficult to cure and the current therapeutic regimen is associated with severe side effects and the issue of emerging drug resistance. According to the World Health Organization fact sheet 2017, cancer is the second major cause of morbidity and death and a 70% rise in new cases is expected over the next 20 years. The quest for new anticancer chemical entities is a thrust area identified by many government agencies and industry research and development groups.

Expert Opinion on Usage of Pidotimod in Adult Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Indian Perspective.

India has a disproportionately high burden of acute and chronic pulmonary diseases. In India, 65 million suffer from non-communicable respiratory diseases. The outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had worsened the situation.

Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors: A cardiovascular outcome trial analysis.

Cardiovascular outcome trials (CVOTs) have to be done by sponsors who wish to launch new antidiabetic drugs in the US, since the December 2008 US Food and Drug Administration ruling, which was subsequently accepted by the European Medicines (Evaluation) Agency (EMA) in 2012. However, the medical community asks the question, "So What?" as they are not convinced of the clinical relevance of CVOTs. The patients selected in CVOTs are necessarily high risk, so that they develop major adverse cardiovascular events quickly, but then, the results are extrapolatable to only a certain percentage of patients seen in the clinical practice.

Role of natural products in alleviation of rheumatoid arthritis-A review.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RHA) is one of the most prevalent complex, chronic, inflammatory diseases, manifested by elevated oxidative stress and inflammatory biomarkers. Prolonged administration of NSAIDs, steroids, and DMARDs, used in the treatment of RHA, is associated with deleterious side effects. This necessitates the urge of new and safe approaches for RHA management, based on the complementary and alternative system of medicine.

Current insights on clinical efficacy of roflumilast for treatment of COPD, asthma and ACOS.

Phosphodiesterase-4 inhibitors (PDE4) are of great interest for the treatment of airway inflammatory diseases due to its broad anti-inflammatory effects. Roflumilast is a selective PDE4 inhibitor that inhibits pulmonary and systemic inflammation and rallies symptoms in airway diseases. Asthma and COPD are common chronic airway inflammatory diseases having incompletely illustrious pathophysiology and clinical manifestations.

A Status Update on Pharmaceutical Analytical Methods of Aminoglycoside Antibiotic: Amikacin.

Amikacin (AMK) is one of the commonly used aminoglycoside antibiotics, introduced for clinical use in patients suffering from bacterial infections especially life-threatening gram-negative infections. Due to lack of chromophore in the molecule, the detection of AMK during analysis is a challenge. Thus, pre and post-column derivatization techniques are generally used for AMK estimation.