The marker of cobalamin deficiency, plasma methylmalonic acid, may help identifying lysosomal iron trapping in patients. Its possible utility for heart failure.

Iron deficiency is known to aggravate the prognosis of patients with heart failure. Iron has functions in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. In patients with reduced mitochondrial respiration, the mitochondrial ratio between the level of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide and its reduced form decreases.

Genotyping of Multiple Clinical Samples with a Combined Direct PCR and Magnetic Lateral Flow Assay.

Developing a sensitive, low-cost, and easy-to-use point-of-care testing system for genotyping is important for informing treatment decisions and predicting the risk of underlying diseases. Conventional methods normally require complex operational procedures as well as expensive and sophisticated instruments. Here, we report a general approach that enables us to detect the genotype of multiple sample types directly without DNA purification.

Bowel movement frequency, oxidative stress and disease prevention.

The significance of diet for disease prevention has long been recognised. Dietary recommendations have therefore been integrated in health promotion messages. Gastrointestinal functioning is essential for the digestion of nutrients.

Synthesis and Characterization of Curcumin-Functionalized HP-β-CD-Modified GoldMag Nanoparticles as Drug Delivery Agents.

Curcumin, a polyphenol extracted from turmeric (Curcuma longa), has emerged as a potent multimodal cancer-preventing agent. It may attenuate the spread of cancer and render chemotherapy more effective. However, curcumin is neither well absorbed nor well retained in the blood, resulting in low efficacy.

Gold magnetic nanoparticle conjugate-based lateral flow assay for the detection of IgM class antibodies related to TORCH infections.

In this study, a lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (LFIA) system for the detection of immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibodies, related to TORCH [(T)oxoplasmosis, (O)ther agents, (R)ubella (also known as German Measles), (C)ytomegalovirus, and (H)erpes simplex virus infections], based on gold magnetic nanoparticles, was established. Following modification with poly(methacrylic acid), the gold magnetic nanoparticles conjugated with an anti‑human IgM antibody (μ‑chain specific) to construct a probe. A lateral flow assay device was constructed based on these conjugates.

Dextran-coated superparamagnetic nanoparticles as potential cancer drug carriers in vivo.

Dextran-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (DSPIONs) have gained considerable interest, because of their biocompatibility and biosafety in clinics. Doxorubicin (Dox), a widely used chemotherapeutic drug, always has limited applications in clinical therapy due to its serious side effects of dose-limiting irreversible cardiotoxicity and myelo suppression. Herein, DSPIONs were synthesized and developed as magnetic carriers for doxorubicin.

Polyphenols with indirect proprotein convertase inhibitory activity.

Polyphenols, a class of natural products, have been shown to exhibit cancer protective properties. Proprotein convertases form a family of mammalian subtilisin-like serine endoproteases. Increased expression of these enzymes has been associated with numerous pathologies including cancer.

Curcumin affects proprotein convertase activity: elucidation of the molecular and subcellular mechanism.

Proprotein convertases (PCs) form a group of serine endoproteases that are essential for the activation of proproteins into their active form. Some PCs have been proposed to be potential therapeutic targets for cancer intervention because elevated PC activity has been observed in many different cancer types and because many of the PC substrates, such as pro-IGF-1R, pro-TGF-beta, pro-VEGF, are involved in signaling pathways related to tumor development. Curcumin, reported to possess anticancer activity, also affects many of these pathways.

The pathophysiology of elevated vitamin B12 in clinical practice.

Hypercobalaminemia (high serum vitamin B12 levels) is a frequent and underestimated anomaly. Clinically, it can be paradoxically accompanied by signs of deficiency, reflecting a functional deficiency linked to qualitative abnormalities, which are related to defects in tissue uptake and action of vitamin B12. The aetiological profile of high serum cobalamin predominantly encompasses severe disease entities for which early diagnosis is critical for prognosis.

Polyphenols can inhibit furin in vitro as a result of the reactivity of their auto-oxidation products to proteins.

Unlabelled: Methods using fluorogenic peptide substrates have been proposed for screening of proprotein convertase (PC) inhibitors and they are attractive since they offer the advantage of being sensitive, cost-effective and susceptible to miniaturization. Several polyphenols, including epigallocatechin gallate ((-)EGCG), the main component of green tea, and quercetin, widely distributed in fruit and vegetables, however, led to false positive results when fluorogenic peptide substrates were used. Processing of genuine furin substrates was not inhibited by these polyphenols.

A novel magnetic nanoparticle drug carrier for enhanced cancer chemotherapy.

Background: Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) loaded with antitumor drugs in combination with an external magnetic field (EMF)-guided delivery can improve the efficacy of treatment and may decrease serious side effects. The purpose of this study was 1) to investigate application of PEG modified GMNPs (PGMNPs) as a drug carrier of the chemotherapy compound doxorubicin (DOX) in vitro; 2) to evaluate the therapeutic efficiency of DOX-conjugated PGMNPs (DOX-PGMNPs) using an EMF-guided delivery in vivo.

Methods: First, DOX-PGMNPs were synthesized and the cytotoxicity of DOX-PGMNPs was assessed in vitro.

Generation and characterization of non-competitive furin-inhibiting nanobodies.

The PC (proprotein convertase) furin cleaves a large variety of proproteins and hence plays a major role in many pathologies. Therefore furin inhibition might be a good strategy for therapeutic intervention, and several furin inhibitors have been generated, although none are entirely furin-specific. To reduce potential side effects caused by cross-reactivity with other proteases, dromedary heavy-chain-derived nanobodies against catalytically active furin were developed as specific furin inhibitors.

Limitations of inhibitory activities of polyphenols on furin-mediated substrate processing.

Recently, selected polyphenols were reported to exert proprotein convertase (PC) inhibitory activities on in vitro cleavage of a fluorogenic peptide substrate and it was concluded that this anti-protease activity might be responsible for the reported anti-cancer properties of these polyphenols. This prompted investigations to identify PC inhibiting polyphenols that could affect IGF-1R-mediated tumorigenesis since pro-IGF-1R is bioactivated by PCs like furin. Initial screening of polyphenols for their impact on in vitro cleavage of fluorogenic peptide substrate Pyr-RTKR-AMC by human furin (hfurin(573)) indeed revealed varying inhibitory effects.

Curcumin for monoclonal gammopathies. What can we hope for, what should we fear?

Over the last decades there has been an increasing interest in a possible role of curcumin on cancer. Although curcumin is considered safe for healthy people, conclusive evidence on the safety and efficacy of curcumin for patients with monoclonal gammopathies is, so far, lacking. The present paper reviews the literature on molecular, cellular and clinical effects of curcumin in an attempt to identify, reasons for optimism but also for concern.

Curcumin for the prevention of progression in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: A word of caution.

A recent pilot study found that curcumin, in certain patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), decreases the paraprotein load and the urinary N-telopeptide of type 1 collagen bone turnover marker. While this result is encouraging, the easy availability of the food component turmeric, containing curcumin, may lead to intake by MGUS patients without medical supervision. Curcumin is generally considered safe.

Corticosteroid or steroid allergy?

The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of the C11-OH substituent of the corticosteroid molecule in relation to contact allergy to corticosteroids. This group, which is essential for glucocorticoid activity, is not present in other steroid molecules, such as deoxycortisol, progestagens, testosterone, and estrogen. Skin tests with these substances in hydrocortisone-allergic patients revealed a division between patients for whom the C11-OH group was essential to induce the allergic reaction and patients for whom this group did not seem to be essential.