Novel thiazolidine derivatives as potent selective pro-apoptotic agents.

A series of 2-arylthiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid amide derivatives were synthesized and their cytotoxic activity against three cancer cell lines (PC-3, SKOV3 and MDA-MB231) was evaluated. Various structural modifications were tried including modifications of the length of the amide chain and modifications of the 2-aryl part using disubstituted phenyl and thiophene derivatives. The structure activity relationship was evaluated based on the in vitro biological evaluation against the above mentioned three cancer cell lines.

Novel nano-engineered environmental sensor based on polymelamine/graphitic-carbon nitride nanohybrid material for sensitive and simultaneous monitoring of toxic heavy metals.

Heavy metal ions (HMIs) pollution is always a serious issue worldwide. Therefore, monitoring HMIs in environmental water is an important and challenging step to ensure environmental health and human safety. In this study, we spotlight an effortless, single-step in-situ electrochemical polymerization deposition technique to fabricate a novel, low-cost, efficient, nano-engineered poly(melamine)/graphitic-carbon nitride nanonetwork (PM/g-CN) modified screen-printed carbon electrode (SPE) for sensitive, selective, and simultaneous electrochemical monitoring of toxic HMIs in environmental waters.

Competitive Real-Time Near Infrared (NIR) Vein Finder Imaging Device to Improve Peripheral Subcutaneous Vein Selection in Venipuncture for Clinical Laboratory Testing.

Unlabelled: In this study, near-infrared (NIR) technology was utilized to develop a low-cost real-time near infrared (NIR) guiding device for cannulation. A portable device that can be used by medical practitioners and also by students for their skills development training in performing cannulation.

Methods: First, is the development of a reflectance type optical vein finder using three (3) light emitting diode (LED) lights with 960 nm wavelength, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-infrared (CMOS-IR) sensor camera with 1920 × 1080 UXGA (1080P), IR filter set for the given wavelength, and an open-source image processing software.

Fabrication and Analysis of Near-Field Electrospun PVDF Fibers with Sol-Gel Coating for Lithium-Ion Battery Separator.

Environmental and economic concerns are driving the demand for electric vehicles. However, their development for mass transportation hinges largely on improvements in the separators in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the preferred energy source. In this study, innovative separators for LIBs were fabricated by near-field electrospinning (NFES) and the sol-gel method.

Rapid determination of remdesivir (SARS-CoV-2 drug) in human plasma for therapeutic drug monitoring in COVID-19-Patients.

To tackle the harmful consequences of the widespread COVID-19 pandemic, a broad-spectrum anti-viral drug remdesivir (RDV) has gained the utmost attention recently due to its promising application in treating COVID-19 patients. However, a fast and sensitive analytical methodology is important to monitor RDV drug profile in human plasma for pharmacokinetics (PK) and therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). In this study, we demonstrate an improved vortex-assisted salt-induced liquid-liquid microextraction (VA-SI-LLME) technique coupled with UHPLC-PDA and UHPLC-MS/MS for rapid determination of RDV in human plasma.

Low-cost disposable Poly(ethyleneimine)-Functionalized Carbon Nanofibers Coated Cellulose Paper as efficient solid phase extraction sorbent material for the extraction of Parahydroxybenzoates from environmental waters.

Parahydroxybenzoates (parabens) are considered as emerging environmental contaminants because of their extensive usage in our daily life products, causing parabens contamination into environmental water systems and lead to toxic effects on environmental health. This study describes a greener extraction method using a new cationic polymer poly (ethyleneimine) functionalized acid-treated carbon nanofibers (PEI-CNFs) coated cellulose paper (CP) as solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbent material for the extraction of parabens from environmental water samples. The fabrication of PEI-CNFs modified CP was confirmed using field-emission scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscopy, and fourier-transformer infrared spectroscopy techniques.

13-Acetoxysarcocrassolide Exhibits Cytotoxic Activity Against Oral Cancer Cells Through the Interruption of the Keap1/Nrf2/p62/SQSTM1 Pathway: The Need to Move Beyond Classical Concepts.

13-Acetoxysarcocrassolide (13-AC), a marine cytotoxic product isolated from the alcyonacean coral , exhibited potent antitumor and immunostimulant effects as reported in previous studies. However, the 13-AC antitumor mechanism of action against oral cancer cells remains unclear. The activity of 13-AC against Ca9-22 cancer cells was determined using MTT assay, flow cytometric analysis, immunofluorescence, immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, and siRNA.

Vein Pattern Locating Technology for Cannulation: A Review of the Low-Cost Vein Finder Prototypes Utilizing near Infrared (NIR) Light to Improve Peripheral Subcutaneous Vein Selection for Phlebotomy.

One of the most common means for diagnosis is through medical laboratory testing, which primarily uses venous blood as a sample. This requires an invasive method by cannulation that needs proper vein selection. The use of a vein finder would help the phlebotomist to easily locate the vein, preventing possible pre-analytical error in the specimen collection and even more discomfort and pain to the patient.

Flexible Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor with Metal-Insulator-Metal Nanodisks on PDMS Substrate.

The small sized, flexible, high-performed and bio-compatible sensing devices are the critical elements to realize the bio-related detection or on-site health monitoring systems. In this work, the flexible localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) bio-sensors were demonstrated by integrating the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) nanodisks with bio-compatible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The different geometries of MIM nanodisk sensors were investigated and optimized to enhance the spatial overlap of the LSPR waves with the environment, which lead to a high sensitivity of 1500 nm/RIU.

Circular Dichroism Control of Tungsten Diselenide (WSe) Atomic Layers with Plasmonic Metamolecules.

Controlling circularly polarized (CP) states of light is critical to the development of functional devices for key and emerging applications such as display technology and quantum communication, and the compact circular polarization-tunable photon source is one critical element to realize the applications in the chip-scale integrated system. The atomic layers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) exhibit intrinsic CP emissions and are potential chiroptical materials for ultrathin CP photon sources. In this work, we demonstrated CP photon sources of TMDCs with device thicknesses approximately 50 nm.

Aquaculture Soft Coral Lobophytum crassum as a Producer of Anti-Proliferative Cembranoids.

Our continuous search for marine bioactive secondary metabolites led to the screening of crude extracts from a variety of aquaculture soft corals. The ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract of showed a distinctive chemical profile that was different from the wild type. It demonstrated significant anti-proliferative activity against Molt 4 leukemia cell with an IC value of 1 μg/mL after 24 h.

Anti-Inflammatory Dembranoids from the Soft Coral Lobophytum crassum.

Cembrane-type diterpenoids are among the most frequently encountered natural products from the soft corals of the genus . In the course of our investigation to identify anti-inflammatory constituents from a wild-type soft coral , two new cembranoids, lobophyolide A () and B (), along with five known compounds (-), were isolated. The structures of these natural products were identified using NMR and MS spectroscopic analyses.

Violet Laser Diode Enables Lighting Communication.

Violet laser diode (VLD) based white-light source with high color rendering index (CRI) for lighting communication is implemented by covering with YAlO:Ce (YAG:Ce) or LuAlO:Ce/CaAlSiN:Eu (LuAG:Ce/CASN:Eu) phosphorous diffuser plates. After passing the beam of VLD biased at 70 mA (~2I ) through the YAG:Ce phosphorous diffuser, a daylight with a correlated color temperature (CCT) of 5068 K and a CRI of 65 is acquired to provide a forward error correction (FEC) certified data rate of 4.4 Gbit/s.

Optimized Spiral Metal-Gallium-Nitride Nanowire Cavity for Ultra-High Circular Dichroism Ultraviolet Lasing at Room Temperature.

Circularly polarized laser sources with small footprints and high efficiencies can possess advanced functionalities in optical communication and biophotonic integrated systems. However, the conventional lasers with additional circular-polarization converters are bulky and hardly compatible with nanophotonic circuits, and most active chiral plasmonic nanostructures nowadays exhibit broadband emission and low circular dichroism. In this work, with spirals of gallium nitride (GaN) nanowires (NWRs) covered by a metal layer, we demonstrated an ultrasmall semiconductor laser capable of emitting circularly-polarized photons.