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Multifaceted Pharmacological Potentials of Curcumin, Genistein, and Tanshinone IIA through Proteomic Approaches: An In-Depth Review
Get PDFPhytochemicals possess various intriguing pharmacological properties against diverse pathological conditions. Extensive studies are on-going to understand the structural/functional properties of phytochemicals as well as the molecular mechanisms of their therapeutic function against various disease conditions. Phytochemicals such as curcumin (Cur), genistein (Gen), and tanshinone-IIA (Tan IIA) have multifaceted therapeutic potentials and various efforts are in progress to understand the molecular dynamics of their function with different tools and technologies. Cur is an active lipophilic polyphenol with pleiotropic function, and it has been shown to possess various intriguing properties including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anticancer, and anti-genotoxic properties besides others beneficial properties. Similarly, Gen (an isoflavone) exhibits a wide range of vital functions including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, pro-apoptotic, anti-proliferative, anti-angiogenic activities etc. In addition, Tan IIA, a lipophilic compound, possesses antioxidant, anti-angiogenic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer activities, and so on. Over the last few decades, the field of proteomics has garnered great momentum mainly attributed to the recent advancement in mass spectrometry (MS) techniques. It is envisaged that the proteomics technology has considerably contributed to the biomedical research endeavors lately. Interestingly, they have also been explored as a reliable approach to understand the molecular intricacies related to phytochemical-based therapeutic interventions. The present review provides an overview of the proteomics studies performed to unravel the underlying molecular intricacies of various phytochemicals such as Cur, Gen, and Tan IIA. This in-depth study will help the researchers in better understanding of the pharmacological potential of the phytochemicals at the proteomics level. Certainly, this review will be highly instrumental in catalyzing the translational shift from phytochemical-based biomedical research to clinical practice in the near future
Investigating the Correlation between Electrolyte Concentration and Electrochemical Properties of Ionogels
Get PDFIonogels are hybrid materials comprising an ionic liquid confined within a polymer matrix. They have garnered significant interest due to their unique properties, such as high ionic conductivity, mechanical stability, and wide electrochemical stability. These properties make ionogels suitable for various applications, including energy storage devices, sensors, and solar cells. However, optimizing the electrochemical performance of ionogels remains a challenge, as the relationship between specific capacitance, ionic conductivity, and electrolyte solution concentration is yet to be fully understood. In this study, we investigate the impact of electrolyte solution concentration on the electrochemical properties of ionogels to identify the correlation for enhanced performance. Our findings demonstrate a clear relationship between the specific capacitance and ionic conductivity of ionogels, which depends on the availability of mobile ions. The reduced number of ions at low electrolyte solution concentrations leads to decreased ionic conductivity and specific capacitance due to the scarcity of a double layer, constraining charge storage capacity. However, at a 31 vol% electrolyte solution concentration, an ample quantity of ions becomes accessible, resulting in increased ionic conductivity and specific capacitance, reaching maximum values of 58 ± 1.48 μS/cm and 45.74 F/g, respectively. Furthermore, the synthesized ionogel demonstrates a wide electrochemical stability of 3.5 V, enabling diverse practical applications. This study provides valuable insights into determining the optimal electrolyte solution concentration for enhancing ionogel electrochemical performance for energy applications. It highlights the impact of ion pairs and aggregates on ion mobility within ionogels, subsequently affecting their resultant electrochemical properties
Effects of COVID-19 on Patient Safety Culture among Staff at a Teaching Hospital in Malaysia
No full textSafety culture has been defined as "the product of individual and collective beliefs, values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior of an organization's commitment to quality and patient safety by the Join Commission, 2017. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, was subsequently declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization led to unprecedented disruption to health-care systems worldwide. Shortages in supplies of personal protective equipment, particularly at the beginning of the pandemic have in fact led to health-care workers (HCWs) feeling unsupported and exposed to unnecessary dangers due to supply chain and raw material issues. The International Council of Nurses reported in 2020 that more than 260 nurses worldwide succumbed to COVID-19, raising the crucial issue of HCWs risking their lives to save the lives of others. This study was conducted to determine the potential changes in patient safety culture during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with the prepandemic levels at a tertiary hospital in a middle-income country in Southeast Asia
Analysis of factors affecting fear and mental health awareness of coronavirus disease infection
Get PDFIntroduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global health challenge that persists in causing both health emergencies and mental health crises around the world. This study aimed to analyze the factors contributing to COVID-19 infection and their impact on mental health crises on Java Island.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between June and July 2020 on Java Island, Indonesia, involving 1,218 respondents selected through convenience sampling. The independent variables included demographic, individual internal, and psychological factors, while the dependent variable was mental health crisis occurrence. Data were collected through demographic information, knowledge and attitude questionnaires, depression anxiety stress scores, the brief-COPE inventory, as well as surveys addressing encountered problems and mental health emergencies. The collected data underwent analysis using chi-square and multivariate logistic regression.
Results: Significance was observed in the relationship between demographic, individual internal, and psychological factors, and their impact on mental health crises (p < 0.05). Following adjustment with logistic regression, psychological factors exhibited a more pronounced relationship, with the highest association observed in stress levels (p = 0.000, 95% CI: 1.064-2.131).
Conclusions: Individual stress levels emerged as the foremost contributing factor to mental health crises. Psychological elements, encompassing anxiety levels, stress, coping mechanisms, and encountered challenges, played substantial roles in disrupting psychological well-being and mental health
Social support as a mediator in the relationship between perceived stress and nomophobia: An Investigation among Malaysian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic
No full textThis study examined the mediating role of social support in the relationship between perceived stress and nomophobia among Malaysian university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted with N = 547 university students. Participants answered a self-administered questionnaire measuring nomophobia, social support, and perceived stress. Exploratory analyses were conducted using partial least square structural equation modelling. We found that perceived stress was positively associated with nomophobia during the COVID-19 pandemic, whilst social support partially mediated the relationship between perceived stress and nomophobia. The results of this study indicated that stress may be buffered by social support in individuals with higher levels of nomophobia
Can Amphotericin B-mediated effects be limited using intranasal versus intravenous route?
No full textAim: CNS infections due to parasites often prove fatal. In part, this is due to inefficacy of drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier. Methods: Here, we tested intranasal and intravenous route and compared adverse effects of Amphotericin B administration, through blood biochemistry, liver, kidney and brain histopathological evidence of toxicities in vivo post-administration. Results: It was observed that intranasal route limits the adverse side effects of Amphotericin B, in contrast to intravenous route. Conclusion: As parasites such as Naegleria fowleri exhibit unequivocal affinity toward the olfactory bulb and frontal lobe in the central nervous system, intranasal administration would directly reach amoebae bypassing the blood-brain barrier selectivity and achieve the minimum inhibitory concentration at the target site
Functional Polymorphisms of the Arachidonic Acid Pathway Associate with Risks and Clinical Outcomes of Allergic Diseases
Get PDFIntroduction: The arachidonic acid (AA) pathway plays a crucial role in allergic inflammatory diseases; however, the functional roles of allergy-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in this pathway remain incompletely illustrated.
Methods: This study belongs to a part of an ongoing Singapore/Malaysia cross-sectional genetics and epidemiological study (SMCSGES). We performed population genotyping on n = 2,880 individuals from the SMCSGES cohort to assess the associations of SNPs in the AA pathway genes with asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR). Spirometry assessments were performed to identify associations between SNPs and lung function among n = 74 pediatric asthmatic patients from the same cohort. Allergy-associated SNPs were functionally characterized using in vitro promoter luciferase assay, along with DNA methylome and transcriptome data of n = 237 peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples collected from a subset of the SMCSGES cohort.
Results: Genetic association analysis showed 5 tag-SNPs from 4 AA pathway genes were significantly associated with asthma (rs689466 at COX2, rs35744894 at hematopoietic PGD2 synthase (HPGDS), rs11097414 at HPGDS, rs7167 at CRTH2, and rs5758 at TBXA2R, p < 0.05), whereas 3 tag-SNPs from HPGDS (rs35744894, rs11097414, and rs11097411) and 2 tag-SNPs from PTGDR (rs8019916 and rs41312470) were significantly associated with AR (p < 0.05). The asthma-associated rs689466 regulates COX2 promoter activity and associates with COX2 mRNA expression in PBMC. The allergy-associated rs1344612 was significantly associated with poorer lung function, increased risks of asthma and AR, and increased HPGDS promoter activity. The allergy-associated rs8019916 regulates PTGDR promoter activity and DNA methylation levels of cg23022053 and cg18369034 in PBMC. The asthma-associated rs7167 affects CRTH2 expression by regulating the methylation level of cg19192256 in PBMC.
Conclusions: The present study identified multiple allergy-associated SNPs that modulate the transcript expressions of key genes in the AA pathway. The development of a "personalized medicine" approach with consideration of genetic influences on the AA pathway may hopefully result in efficacious strategies to manage and treat allergic diseases
Mental health of hemodialysis patients in the Philippines amid COVID-19 crisis: A call for action
No full textChronic kidney disease is the seventh leading cause of death in the Philippines,1 with the most number of deaths due to renal failure in Southeast Asia.2 If left untreated, people with this disease require hemodialysis (i.e. a procedure to clean a person's blood through a machine) or a renal transplant.1 The current COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the already life-threatening and expensive situation of hemodialysis patients as they are immunocompromised and therefore highly vulnerable. For instance, a recent study conducted during the early phase of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Philippines (between 1 April to 31 July 2020 at a tertiary hospital in Manila) revealed that 25% death rate among hemodialysis patients admitted with COVID-19.3 Hemodialysis patients manifesting COVID-19 symptoms needed to pay for the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests, nurses’ personal protective equipment (PPE), and hazard pay4 on top of their already costly hemodialysis session fees. Such a financial obstacle and the lack of dialysis clinics that can accommodate COVID-infected dialysis patients have led to missed dialysis sessions, eventually leading to death due to complications (e.g. pulmonary complications).
Racial microaggressions: Identifying factors affecting perceived severity and exploring strategies to reduce harm
No full textMicroaggressions are speech or actions constituting indirect, subtle, or unintentional acts of discrimination, and awareness of their harmful effects has grown in recent years. Increased awareness could improve inter-group interactions, but also poses challenges. Fear of misspeaking, or fear of being subject to microaggressions can stifle interactions. We investigated how people from different racial and ethnic groups and political orientations judge the severity of various forms of racial microaggressions, and we tested a specific strategy to mitigate the harm of racial microaggressions. Specifically, in Experiment 1, White participants (WP) and participants of colour (POC) rated the severity of various microaggressions (depicted in vignettes). Participants also reported their political orientation and strength of racial/ethnic identity. Regardless of racial/ethnic group, left-leaning political orientation was associated with higher perceived severity of racial microaggressions. Furthermore, severity ratings from POC were higher for those who identified more strongly with their ethnic/racial group. In Experiment 2, we again obtained severity ratings, but we used microaggression vignettes that were manipulated to reveal the source s mindset as either reparatory and open-minded (ROM), or not. Critically, severity ratings were significantly lower for vignettes in which ROM was messaged. The importance of these results is twofold. First, they reveal that political orientation can override other factors like racial group membership when judging the severity of racial microaggressions, and second, they show that augmenting problematic speech with information about mindset, can mitigate perceived harm. Overall, this work contributes to a richer understanding of microaggressions, and has implications for theory and practice
Antioxidant, antimicrobial, and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of saponin extracts from walnut (Juglans regia L.) leaves
No full textObjective:
To investigate the relationship between triterpenoid saponin content and antioxidant, antimicrobial, and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of 70% ethanolic, butanolic, aqueous, supernate and precipitate extracts of Juglans regia leaves.
Methods:
Triterpenoid saponins of different Juglans regia leaf extracts were measured by the vanillin method. Antioxidant activity was evaluated against DPPH and ABTS free radicals. We also assessed α-glucosidase inhibitory and antimicrobial activities of the leaf extracts. Pearson's correlation coefficient was evaluated to determine the correlation between the saponin content and biological activities.
Results:
The butanolic extract was most effective against DPPH with an IC50 of 6.63 μg/mL, while the aqueous extract showed the highest scavenging activity against ABTS free radical with an IC50 of 42.27 μg/mL. Pearson's correlation analysis indicated a strong negative correlation (r = -0.956) between DPPH radical scavenging activity (IC50) and the saponin content in the samples examined. In addition, the aqueous extract showed the best α-glucosidase inhibitory activity compared with other extracts. All the extracts had fair antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae except for the aqueous extract.
Conclusions:
Juglans regia extracts show potent antioxidant, antimicrobial, and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. There is a correlation between saponin levels in Juglans regia leaf extracts and the studied activities. However, additional research is required to establish these relationships by identifying the specific saponin molecules responsible for these activities and elucidating their mechanisms of action