Growth Modulatory Role of Zinc in Prostate Cancer and Application to Cancer Therapeutics.

Zinc is a group IIB heavy metal. It is an important regulator of major cell signaling pathways in most mammalian cells, functions as an antioxidant and plays a role in maintaining genomic stability. Zinc deficiency leads to severe diseases in the brain, pancreas, liver, kidneys and reproductive organs.

: A Tropical Fruit with Multiple Health Benefits.

is a tropical fruit tree with multiple benefits to human health. possesses strong antioxidant properties either or . Extracts from the leaves, stem bark, fruits, peel, pulp, or seed of are promising candidates in traditional medicine for curing diabetes and fighting against bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.

Phospholipase A from krait venom induces human cancer cell death in vitro.

Background: Snake venoms are the complex mixtures of different compounds manifesting a wide array of biological activities. The venoms of kraits (genus Bungarus, family Elapidae) induce mainly neurological symptoms; however, these venoms show a cytotoxicity against cancer cells as well. This study was conducted to identify in venom an active compound(s) exerting cytotoxic effects toward MCF7 human breast cancer cells and A549 human lung cancer cells.

Selection of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) Antagonizing : The Pathogen of Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND) in Whiteleg Shrimp ().

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) has recently emerged as a serious disease of cultured shrimp. A total of 19 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from shrimp samples were characterized based on morphological characteristics, biochemical tests, sequencing analysis, and their ability to antagonize which causes AHPND in whiteleg shrimp. Results from the agar well diffusion method indicated that 3 out of 19 isolated LAB strains showed the highest antagonizing ability against AHPND strain with an inhibition zone diameter ranging from 18 to 20 mm.

Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its related factors among students at Tra Vinh University, Vietnam in 2018.

Objective: The study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and its related factors among students at Tra Vinh University, Vietnam.

Methods: The instrument used was a questionnaire of socioeconomic-demographic characteristics, educational characteristics, and the self-reported depression scale collected from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) originally published by Radloff in 1977. Scores of 16-21 were considered as mild to moderate symptoms of depression, and scores above 21 were considered as symptoms of major depression.

Encapsulation of Neurotoxins, Blockers of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors, in Nanomaterials Based on Sulfated Polysaccharides.

Three-finger snake neurotoxins are selective antagonists of some nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes and are widely used to study these receptors. The peptide neurotoxin azemiopsin, recently isolated from the venom of Azemipos feae, is a selective blocker of muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. In order to reduce their toxicity and increase resistance under physiological conditions, we have encapsulated these toxins into nanomaterials.

Nanoencapsulation Enhances Anticoagulant Activity of Adenosine and Dipeptide IleTrp.

It is well-known that drugs administered into an organism intravenously or through the gastrointestinal tract are degraded by enzymes of the body, reducing their therapeutic effect. One of the ways to decrease this undesirable process is through the inclusion of drugs in nanomaterials. Earlier strong anticoagulant activity was demonstrated for dipeptide IleTrp (IW) and adenosine (Ado).

Prevalence of goiter among children aged 8-10 in Binh Dinh province, Vietnam in 2016-2017.

Objective: The study was conducted to estimate the goiter prevalence, and the median urine iodine concentrations among schoolchildren aged 8-10 in Binh Dinh province, Vietnam.

Methods: A school-based cross-sectional survey was carried out from May 2016 to May 2017. A multistage, proportional-to-population-size sampling method with 30 clusters was used.

Adsorptive Removal of Iron Using SiO Nanoparticles Extracted from Rice Husk Ash.

In this work, SiO nanoparticles were prepared by the sol-gel method after sodium silicate was extracted from rice husk ash (RHA) under various experimental conditions such as types of acids, NaOH concentration, dissolved time, and temperature and used for removal of Fe ions from aqueous solutions. The extracted SiO was morphologically and chemically characterized and showed a surface area of 78 m/g and uniform pores of 2.71 nm, offering high adsorption capacity for Fe ions.

Synergic Activity Against MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell Growth of Nanocurcumin-Encapsulated and Cisplatin-Complexed Nanogels.

Nanogel-based systems loaded with single anticancer drugs display miscellaneous effectiveness in tumor remission, gradually circumventing mutation and resistance in chemotherapy. Hence, the existence of dual-drug delivered nano-sized systems has been contemporaneous with drug development and preceded the conventional-dose chemotherapy. Among outstanding synergistic drug nanoplatforms, thermosensitive copolymer heparin-Pluronic F127 (Hep-F127) co-delivering cisplatin (CDDP) and curcumins (Cur) (Hep-F127/CDDP/Cur) has emerged as a notable candidate for temperature-responsive drug delivery.

Injectable Nanocomposite Hydrogels and Electrosprayed Nano(Micro)Particles for Biomedical Applications.

Polymeric scaffolds have played important roles in biomedical applications due to their potentially practical performance such as delivery of bioactive components and/or regenerative cells. These materials were well-designed to encapsulate bioactive molecules or/and nanoparticles for enhancing their performance in tissue regeneration and drug delivery systems. In the study, several multifunctional nanocomposite hydrogel and polymeric nano(micro)particles-electrosprayed platforms were described from their fabrication methods and structural characterizations to potential applications in the mentioned fields.

Overexpression of RsMYB1 Enhances Anthocyanin Accumulation and Heavy Metal Stress Tolerance in Transgenic Petunia.

The RsMYB1 transcription factor (TF) controls the regulation of anthocyanin in radishes (), and its overexpression in tobacco and petunias strongly enhances anthocyanin production. However, there are no data on the involvement of RsMYB1 in the mechanisms underlying abiotic stress tolerance, despite strong sequence similarity with other MYBs that confer such tolerance. In this study, we used the anthocyanin-enriched transgenic petunia lines PM6 and PM2, which overexpress RsMYB1.

Overexpression of From Snapdragon Enhances Anthocyanin Accumulation and Abiotic Stress Tolerance in Transgenic Tobacco.

The co-expression of () and () regulates anthocyanin levels in snapdragon flowers, as well as in tomato, petunia, and tobacco. However, there is little information on how expression alone controls anthocyanin regulation and whether it is involved in the mechanism that leads to abiotic stress tolerance. In the present study, tobacco ( 'Xanthi') transgenic plants overexpressing (T-, T-, T-, and T-) promoted accumulation of anthocyanin in leaves and flowers by elevating the transcription of all key genes involved in the biosynthesis of this pigment.

Efficient Self-Assembly of mPEG End-Capped Porous Silica as a Redox-Sensitive Nanocarrier for Controlled Doxorubicin Delivery.

Porous nanosilica (PNS) has been regarded as a promising candidate for controlled delivery of anticancer drugs. Unmodified PNS-based nanocarriers, however, showed a burst release of encapsulated drugs, which may limit their clinical uses. In this report, PNS was surface conjugated with adamantylamine (ADA) via disulfide bridges (-SS-), PNS-SS-ADA, which was further modified with cyclodextrin-poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether conjugate (CD-mPEG) to form a core@shell structure PNS-SS-ADA@CD-mPEG for redox triggered delivery of doxorubicin (DOX), DOX/PNS-SS-ADA@CD-mPEG.

Involvement of Sodium Nitroprusside (SNP) in the Mechanism That Delays Stem Bending of Different Gerbera Cultivars.

Longevity of cut flowers of many gerbera cultivars () is typically short because of stem bending; hence, stem bending that occurs during the early vase life period is a major problem in gerbera. Here, we investigated the effects of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) on the delay of stem bending in the gerbera cultivars, Alliance, Rosalin, and Bintang, by examining relative fresh weight, bacterial density in the vase solution, transcriptional analysis of a lignin biosynthesis gene, antioxidant activity, and xylem blockage. All three gerbera cultivars responded to SNP by delaying stem bending, compared to the controls; however, the responses were dose- and cultivar-dependent.

Sucrose-induced anthocyanin accumulation in vegetative tissue of Petunia plants requires anthocyanin regulatory transcription factors.

The effects of three different sucrose concentrations on plant growth and anthocyanin accumulation were examined in non-transgenic (NT) and transgenic (T) specimens of the Petunia hybrida cultivar 'Mirage rose' that carried the anthocyanin regulatory transcription factors B-Peru+mPAP1 or RsMYB1. Anthocyanin accumulation was not observed in NT plants in any treatments, whereas a range of anthocyanin accumulation was observed in transgenic plants. The anthocyanin content detected in transgenic plants expressing the anthocyanin regulatory transcription factors (B-Peru+mPAP1 or RsMYB1) was higher than that in NT plants.

Holos: A collaborative environment for similarity-based holistic approaches.

Through this article, we aim to introduce Holos-a new collaborative environment that allows researchers to carry out experiments based on similarity assessments between stimuli, such as in projective-mapping and sorting tasks. An important feature of Holos is its capacity to assess real-time individual processes during the task. Within the Holos environment, researchers can design experiments on its platform, which can handle four kinds of stimuli: concepts, images, sounds, and videos.