Search

This study presented a new method to design a MIP-based electrochemical sensor that could improve the selective and sensitive detection of ipratropium bromide (IPR). The polymeric film was designed using 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as the basic monomer, 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropiophenone as the initiator, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the crosslinking agent, and N-methacryloyl-L-aspartic acid (MAAsp) as the functional monomer. The presence of MAAsp results in the functional groups in imprinting binding sites, while the presence of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) allows the generation of porous materials not only for sensitive sensing but also for avoiding electron transport limitations. Electrochemical characterizations of the changes at each stage of the MIP preparation process were confirmed using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In addition, morphological characterizations of the developed sensor were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and contact angle measurements. Theoretical calculations were also performed to explain/confirm the experimental results better. It was found that the results of the calculations using the DFT approach agreed with the experimental data. The MAAsp-IPR@MIP/GCE sensor was developed using the photopolymerization method, and the sensor surface was obtained by exposure to UV lamp radiation at 365 nm. The improved MIP-based electrochemical sensor demonstrated the ability to measure IPR for standard solutions in the linear operating range of 1.0 × 10 -12 -1.0 × 10 -11 M under optimized conditions. For standard solutions, the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were obtained as 2.78 × 10 -13 and 9.27 × 10 -13 M, respectively. The IPR recovery values for the inhalation form were calculated as 101.70 % and 100.34 %, and the mean relative standard deviations (RSD) were less than 0.76 % in both cases. In addition, the proposed modified sensor demonstrated remarkable sensitivity and selectivity for rapid assessment of IPR in inhalation forms. The sensor's unique selectivity is demonstrated by its successful performance even in the presence of IPR impurities., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Herein, we proposed a new approach to design a MIP-based electrochemical sensor with carbon nanofiber (CNF), which could improve its conductivities as well as electrode sensitivity and successful detection of dasatinib (DAS). CNFs are capable of forming high porosity with significant interconnected porous networks. The poly(2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate-N-methacryloyl-L-tyrosine) (PHEMA-MATyr) copolymer was synthesized in the presence of both CNF and DAS by photopolymerization. After optimization of the parameters, the modified MIP-based electrochemical sensor demonstrated the ability to determine the DAS in the linear working range of 1.0 × 10 -14 -1.0 × 10 -13 M for the standard solution and commercial serum samples with a LOD of 1.76 × 10 -15 and 2.46 × 10 -15 , respectively. Good linearity for DAS was observed with correlation coefficients (r) of 0.996 and 0.997 for the standard solution and commercial serum samples, respectively. The recoveries of the DAS ranged from 99.45 % to 99.53 % for the tablet dosage form and commercial serum samples, with average relative standard deviations below 1.96 % in both cases. The proposed modified sensor demonstrated significant sensitivity and selectivity for the rapid determination of DAS in commercial serum samples and tablet form., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, an electrochemical chemosensor that utilizes a conductive polymer-based molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) surface for rapid and reliable determination of CA125 was devised. A novel method has been applied to fabricate CA125 imprinted polypyrrole nanotubes (MI-PPy NT) via vapor deposition polymerization (VDP) as a recognition element for highly selective and sensitive determination of CA125. The chemosensor was prepared by immobilizing MI-PPy NT onto screen-printed gold electrodes (Au-SPE) and the performance of the sensor was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) in terms of selectivity, sensitivity, linear dynamic concentration range (LDR) and limit of detection (LOD). The MI-PPy NT@Au-SPE sensor exhibited high sensitivity (68.57 μA per decade) to the CA125 concentration ranging from 0.1 U mL -1 to 100 U mL -1 at an LOD of 0.4 U mL -1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9922. The developed chemosensors with their novel design combined with a facile fabrication method, prove to be promising as future state-of-the-art biosensors., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Quercetin (QUE) is a powerful antioxidant and one of the common phenolic compounds found in plants, vegetables, and fruits, which has shown many pharmacological activities. The complex nature of the matrix in which QUE is found and its importance and potential uses in diverse applications force the researchers to develop selective and sensitive sensors. In the present work, a novel molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based electrochemical sensor was fabricated for the selective and sensitive determination of the QUE in plant extracts and food supplements. Tryptophan methacrylate (TrpMA) was chosen as the functional monomer, whereas the photopolymerization (PP) method was applied using a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Electrochemical and morphological characterizations of the developed sensor (TrpMA@QUE/MIP-GCE) were performed using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The linear range of the developed sensor was determined to be in the range of 1.0-25 pM, while the limit of detection (LOD) was calculated to be 0.235 pM. In conclusion, The TrpMA@QUE/MIP-GCE sensor might be classified as a promising platform for selective and sensitive determination of QUE not only in plant extracts but also in commercial food supplements because of its reliability, reproducibility, repeatability, stability, and fast response time., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A comparative analysis of molecularly imprinted polymers based on different synthesis techniques was performed for the recognition of molnupiravir (MOL). The polymerizations were performed with 3-thienyl boronic acid (3-TBA) as a functional monomer by electropolymerization (EP) and with guanine methacrylate (GuaM) as a functional monomer by photopolymerization (PP). Morphological and electrochemical characterizations of the developed sensors were investigated to verify the constructed sensors. Moreover, quantum chemical calculations were used to evaluate changes on the electrode surface at the molecular and electronic levels. The dynamic linear range of both designed sensors under optimized experimental conditions was found to be 7.5 × 10 -12 -2.5 × 10 -10  M and 7.5 × 10 -13 -2.5 × 10 -11  M for EP and PP, respectively. The effect of various interfering agents on MOL peak current was assessed for the selectivity of the study. In the presence of 100 times more interfering agents, the RSD and recovery values were determined. The RSD values of GuaM/MOL@MIP/GCE and poly(Py-co-3-PBA)/MOL@MIP/GCE sensors were found to be 1.99% and 1.72%, respectively. Furthermore, the recovery values of the MIP-based sensors were 98.18-102.69% and 98.05-103.72%, respectively. In addition, the relative selectivity coefficient (k') of the proposed sensor was evaluated, and it exhibited good selectivity for MOL with respect to the NIP sensor. The prepared sensor was successfully applied to determine MOL in commercial serum samples and capsule form. In conclusion, the developed sensors provided excellent reproducibility, repeatability, high sensitivity, and selectivity against the MOL molecule., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Rutin (RUT), a natural flavonoid with various beneficial pharmacological actions such as cardioprotective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, etc. , is found in the content of many plants that are consumed daily. Due to the healthful effects, RUT is also included in the composition of various herbal supplement samples. Therefore, it is highly important to develop a sensor with high selectivity and sensitivity to determine RUT in complex samples. In this study, it was aimed to take advantage of the cheap, easy, and sensitive nature of electrochemistry and, in addition, to improve the selectivity. For this purpose, the functional monomer selected in the fabricated molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was N -methacryloyl-L-aspartic acid (MA-Asp) while photopolymerization (PP) was applied as the polymerization route. After completing critical optimization steps, the developed sensor (MA-Asp@RUT/MIP-GCE) was characterized electrochemically and morphologically. As a result of analytical performance evaluation in standard solution, the linear response of the sensor was found in the concentration range between 1 and 10 pM with a detection limit of 0.269 pM. The recovery studies from plant extract and commercial herbal supplement samples emphasized accuracy and applicability. In imprinting factor studies figuring out quite good selectivity, molecules with a structure similar to RUT were selected as competitors to prove the affinity of the sensor against RUT. Consequently, the MA-Asp@RUT/MIP-GCE sensor offers a more sensitive and selective method thanks to its indirect analysis approach and also stands out with the diversity of its real sample application compared to other available studies.

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are widely used in preventing fertilization as contracepting devices. In market, they are produced as T-shaped polyethylene (or propylene) and metal (especially copper) composites. Although the metal component is utilized to provide antibacterial efficacy, prolonged implantation and the presence of a wide range of bacteria flora in the intrauterine environment make IUDs susceptible to bacterial contamination, biofilm formation, and unpleasant infection. In the presented study, the propolis, a natural anti-bacterial/-viral product used for different biomedical applications, coating strategy was applied comparatively in three different ways: coating directly on metal components, coating on polymeric material, and using carrying polymer. In addition, antibacterial activity against Gram-positive ( Staphylococcus aureus, S. aureus ) and Gram-negative ( Escherichia coli, E. coli ) bacterial strains were investigated by both dynamic bacterial culture (bacterial inhibition activity) and biofilm (biofilm formation resistance) tests. As a result of 48 h of dynamic bacterial culture; it was determined that the antibacterial inhibition efficiency depending on propolis concentration increased up to 99.5% and 98.5% for E. coli and S. aureus , respectively. In addition, the carrying polymer allows IUDs to cover surfaces more homogeneously, as well as improve antibacterial activity. Similarly; it was determined that biofilm formation resistance was improved by 44.33% for E. coli and by 45.99% for S. aureus with both the propolis concentration and the use of carrying polymer. As a result, it has been revealed that propolis will be classified as an alternative, promising, and effective coating agent for improving antibacterial properties and biofilm formation resistance of IUDs.

Regorafenib (REG) is a diphenylurea derivative oral multikinase inhibitor. It plays an important role in the treatment of colorectal cancer, metastatic gastrointestinal stromal tumors, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) based glassy carbon electrodes (GCE) were fabricated using photopolymerization (PP) and thermal polymerization (TP) methods. The characterizations of the proposed sensors were investigated by electrochemical techniques, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Several parameters were studied in detail for the optimum conditions of MIP-based sensors, such as dropping volume, photopolymerization and thermal polymerization durations, removal medium and time, and rebinding time. Both sensors' analytical validation and electroanalytical performance comparison were made in different REG concentrations ranging between 0.1 nM and 2.5 nM in standard solution and commercial human serum samples. The limit of detection (LOD) of PP-REG@MIP/GCE and TP-REG@MIP/GCE were 9.13 × 10 -12 M and 1.44 × 10 -11 M in standard solutions and 2.04 × 10 -11 M and 2.02 × 10 -11 M in serum samples, respectively. The applicability of the proposed sensors was tested using commercial human serum samples and pharmaceutical form of REG with high recovery values (PP-REG@MIP/GCE and TP REG@MIP/GCE sensors, 99.56-101.59%, respectively). The selectivity of the sensor for REG was investigated in the presence of similar molecules: Sorafenib, Sunitinib, Nilotinib, and Imatinib. The developed techniques and sensors checked the possible biological compounds and ions' effects and storage stability., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

This study represents nanoparticle-based well-oriented recognition sites via interface imprinting, followed by selective and sensitive determination of fluoxetine (FLX). Herein, FLX was firstly immobilized onto ZnO NPs, and then polymerization was carried out with MAPA, HEMA, and EGDMA on the glassy carbon electrode via photopolymerization. After the etching of ZnO with and 10 mM HCI solution, a porous structure with recognition sites for FLX was constructed onto surface. The characterization of the electrochemical sensor was accomplished by utilizing CV, EIS, ATR-FTIR AFM, and SEM analysis. The DPV was used to determine FLX in standard solution, serum sample, and tap water. The effect of FLX concentration variation was studied using the DPV in the range of 1.0 × 10 -11 M to 1.0 × 10 -10 M with a detection limit of 2.67 × 10 -12 M. This sensor showed specific recognition toward template, and more than 90% of its original response was retained after being stored in the desiccator at R.T. for 5 days. This technique has proven to be a powerful, highly selective, and sensitive tool for the rapid detection of FLX in tap water and spike serum samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Engine numbers, which involve information regarding the engine type, production number, and year and place of manufacture, are used for identification purposes. Comprising of unique alphanumeric characters, the engine numbers are fully or partially obliterated especially in auto theft and smuggling cases to conceal the origin, identity, and owner of vehicles. The limitations of the current restoration techniques such as the difficulty of using chemical liquid etching in vertical sites, the restrictions of magnetic and optical methods, and the applicability of several techniques like electron backscatter diffraction only in the laboratory environment prompt the development of new techniques. In view of these limitations and the importance of restoring engine numbers in criminal investigations, this unique study aimed to develop an etching paste that would restore the effaced characters on a real aluminum alloy engine block. The characters which were cold-stamped on the engine block were milled at varying depths and restoration attempts were conducted using etching pastes formed with different chemicals and materials. The analyses indicate that the etching paste formed with 200 mg of perlite, 400 mg of iron powder, and 450 μL of 20 M NaOH provided restoration to a good extent. The prevention of over-etching through the controlling of the chemical reaction and the cost-effectiveness appears to be the advantages of this technique. The success of recovery on the real engine block, the facilitation of restoration on curved surfaces, and the chance of on-site usage will likely make the etching paste a widely used tool in serial number restoration., (© 2023 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)

The stamp markings on wooden surfaces, which are placed on trees and products including antiques, indicate the status of trees and involve identifying data regarding the products. Such markings are obliterated either to facilitate illegal logging or to conceal product information. Despite the wide literature on the restoration of obliterated characters on metal and polymer surfaces, the recovery of defaced characters on wooden surfaces appears to be understudied. Several reference texts in the forensic marks' examination literature suggest that water, water vapor, and alkaline solutions are useful in restoring the abraded markings on the wood. Since there does not seem to be any experimental study proving such success, this study aimed to fill this gap. This study conducted experimental research by using water, ethanol, ammonia, and chloroform to recover the scraped characters on samples obtained from walnut, beech, spruce, oak, and cedar trees. The cold-stamped characters, which were defaced at varying depths, were restored using vapor and liquid phases of four solvents. While the vapor phases of water, ethanol, and ammonia yielded good outcomes on all types of wooden surfaces, the liquid phases did not seem to be useful in the revisualization process. The response of the vapors, which varied between 62 and 220 s, depended on the type of wood. The restoration technique developed in this research offers the possibility of on-site usage, easy application, utilization of low-cost solvents, rapid recovery, and effectiveness on various wooden surfaces. Overall, the restoration methodology used in this research appears to be fruitful in retrieving identifying information on wooden samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Lab-on-a-chip (LOC) as an alternative biosensing approach concerning cost efficiency, parallelization, ergonomics, diagnostic speed, and sensitivity integrates the techniques of various laboratory operations such as biochemical analysis, chemical synthesis, or DNA sequencing, etc. on miniaturized microfluidic single chips. Meanwhile, LOC tools based on molecularly imprinted biosensing approach permit their applications in various fields such as medical diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, etc., which are user-, and eco-friendly sensing platforms for not only alternative to the commercial competitor but also on-site detection like point-of-care measurements. In this review, we focused our attention on compiling recent pioneer studies that utilized those intriguing methodologies, the microfluidic Lab-on-a-chip and molecularly imprinting approach, and their biomedical applications., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this study, a nanoparticle-based sandwich-like immunoassay was designed in dispersion medium to precisely detect apoptosis over caspase antibodies in order to overcome the disadvantages of traditional apoptosis determination methods such as high cost, large sampling requirement, and appropriate laboratory and equipment conditions. For this purpose, a complementary particulate system including magnetic (MNPs) and upconversion silica (UC-SiNPs) nanoparticles while immobilizing antibodies (primary antibody to MNPs, secondary antibody to UC-SiNPs) were synthesized and characterized. Optimization and selectivity studies of the complex formed by primary antibody immobilized MNPs with standard caspase proteins were examined by the HPLC system. Within the scope of optimization studies, protein concentrations, optimal duration, and temperature parameters were evaluated. Optimal conditions were determined for pH, initial concentration, time, and temperature as 7.4, 5.6 μg/mL, 45 min, and room temperature, respectively. Furthermore, the adsorption of competitive proteins was investigated in selectivity studies as well. Moreover, the primary antibody immobilized MNPs were treated with standard caspase proteins under optimal conditions; subsequently, they were interacted with secondary antibody immobilized UC-SiNPs to demonstrate the supracomplex formation meanwhile zeta potential/size measurements and fluorescence emission spectrometry analyses were performed. As a result of these analyses, it was observed that the sandwich-like supracomplexes were successfully formed that significantly varied upconversion emission intensities of UC-SiNPs in dependence on the amounts of caspase proteins. Because this approach enabled a quantitative result, the nanoparticle-based sandwich-like immunoassay should be classified as an easy-to-handled, fast, and promising alternative to benchmark apoptosis assays., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this work, pyrrole-histidine has been designed, synthesized and, used as a novel functional monomer to fabricate a molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor for the selective and sensitive detection of teriflunomide (TER). The molecularly imprinted thin film of electrochemical sensor was constructed by directly electropolymerization of co-polymer of pyrrole-histidine (PyHis) with pyrrole in the presence of a template, TER, on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). After electropolymerization, the structure and morphology of the fabricated MIP sensor were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and its electrochemical parameters such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The poly (pyrrole-co-pyrrole-histidine) [Poly (Py-co-PyHis)]@MIP/GCE sensor have a linear TER concentration in the of 0.1-1.0 pM with a low detection limit of 11.38 fM. The present strategy for electrochemical sensor have been also showed excellent recovery in synthetic serum samples and tablet dosage form with the recoveries 97.56% and 100.35%, respectively. The developed [Poly (Py-co-PyHis)]@MIP/GCE sensor exhibited an excellent electrochemical response for TER due to the synergistic effect of conducting polymer and molecularly imprinting techniques., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Tiotropium bromide (TIO) is a long-acting bronchodilator used in the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. Specifically, it is used to prevent patients from worsening breathing difficulties. In this study, a new TIO-imprinted electrochemical sensor was designed to detect TIO in serum and pharmaceutical samples. Methacryloyl-L-histidine-cobalt(II) [MAH-Co(II)] has been used as a metal-chelating monomer for synthesizing selective molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP). MIP film has been developed on glassy carbon electrodes using MAH-Co(II) as the functional monomer, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as the basic monomer, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as the cross-linker in the photopolymerization method. The surface characterization of the developed MAH-Co(II)@MIP/GCE electrochemical sensor was done using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Also, the electrochemical behavior of the sensor was provided by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques. Under optimized experimental conditions, the linearity range was in the range of 10-100 fM, and the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) values were calculated as 2.73 fM and 9.75 fM, respectively. The MAH-Co(II)@MIP/GCE sensor was used to precisely determine TIO in capsule and commercial serum samples. The results demonstrated that the MIP could specifically recognize TIO compared to structurally related drugs and could be reliably applied to the direct determination of drugs from real samples., (© 2022. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Nanocomposites containing clay nanoparticles often present favorable properties such as good mechanical and thermal properties. They frequently have been studied for tissue engineering (TE) and regenerative medicine applications. On the other hand, poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS), a revolutionary bioelastomer, has exhibited substantial potential as a promising candidate for biomedical application. Here, we present a facile approach to synthesizing stiff, elastomeric nanocomposites from sodium-montmorillonite nano-clay (MMT) in the commercial name of Cloisite Na + and poly(glycerol sebacate urethane) (PGSU). The strong physical interaction between the intercalated Cloisite Na + platelets and PGSU chains resulted in desirable property combinations for TE application to follow. The addition of 5% MMT nano-clay resulted in an over two-fold increase in the tensile modulus, increased the onset thermal decomposition temperature of PGSU matrix by 18°C, and noticeably improved storage modulus of the prepared scaffolds, compared with pure PGSU. As well, Cloisite Na + enhanced the hydrophilicity and water uptake ability of the samples and accelerated the in-vitro biodegradation rate. Finally, in-vitro cell viability assay using L929 mouse fibroblast cells indicated that incorporating Cloisite Na + nanoparticles into the PGSU network could improve the cell attachment and proliferation, rendering the synthesized bioelastomers potentially suitable for TE and regenerative medicine applications., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

A new electrochemical sensor based on molecularly imprinted tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS)-based porous interface was developed for selective recognition of bisphenol F (BPF) in this study. The sensor was prepared by depositing the solution containing TEOS and L-tryptophan (L-Trp) in the presence of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a pore-maker via hydrolysis/condensation reaction on the glassy carbon electrode (GCE). While the surface morphology and structure characterization were carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electrochemical characterization was performed through electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The resulted MIP(TEOS:L-Trp)@GCE achieved a wide linear range of 1 × 10 -15 -1 × 10 -14  M for BPF detection with an excellent detection limit of 0.291 fM. Furthermore, the recovery of BPF from spiked bottled water and serum samples varied between 98.83 and 101.03%. These results demonstrate that MIP(TEOS:L-Trp)@GCE was found to be a simple, sensitive, and selective smart interface to detect trace pollution even from complicated samples., (© 2022. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

In this study, poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) [p(HEMA)] based hydrogels responsive to the pH, temperature and magnetic field were synthesized. The surface properties of p(HEMA) were improved by designing the stimuli-responsive hydrogels made of MAGA, NIPAAm and methacrylate-decorated magnetite nanoparticles as a function of pH-, thermo- and magnetic responsive cell culture surfaces. These materials were then modified an abundant extracellular matrix component, type I collagen, which has been considered as a biorecognition element to increase the applicability of hydrogels to cell viability. Based on results from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), stimuli-responsive hydrogel demonstrated improved non-porous structures and thermal stability with a high degree of cross-linking. Mechanical analyses of the hydrogels also showed that stimuli-responsive hydrogels are more elastomeric due to the polymeric chains and heterogeneous amorphous segments compared to plain hydrogels. Furthermore, surface modification of hydrogels with collagen provided better biocompatibility, which was confirmed with L929 fibroblast cell adhesion. Produced stimuli-responsive hydrogels modulated cellular viability by changing pH and magnetic field., (© 2022 IOP Publishing Ltd.)

Objective: Some studies have suggested that the human immunodeficiency virus causes dizziness and other balance problems; however, the exact effects on the vestibular system in acute and chronic phases of the disease are not clear. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of the human immunodeficiency virus on semicircular canals using a video head impulse test., Materials and Methods: Seventy-two cases were included in the study. Twenty-six of the cases had positive human immunodeficiency virus RNA (group A) and 22 had negative human immunodeficiency virus RNA with positive anti-human immunodeficiency virus (group B) laboratory results. Twenty-four of the cases were healthy individuals (group C). The vestibular system was evaluated with a video head impulse test in all cases., Results: In the evaluation of overt/covert saccades, a statistically significant difference was detected for the left posterior semicircular canal between group B and the other 2 groups. However, this was considered an incidental finding and not a clinically significant result. There was no other significant difference in the catch- up saccades for other canals. In addition, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups for the vestibulo-ocular reflex gain., Conclusion: Although the human immunodeficiency virus has been reported to be vestibulotoxic in previ- ous studies, we found that the video head impulse test findings were not affected in our patient groups. Because the video head impulse test is considered a high-frequency test of vestibulo-ocular reflex, it is pos- sible that vestibular effects of the human immunodeficiency virus can be confined to low frequencies. It is also possible that HIV affects the central structures while sparing the peripheral vestibular pathways.

A simple, selective, and accurate electrochemical chiral sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) has been developed for sensitive and selective detection of esomeprazole (ESOM). For this purpose, the porous MIP sensor was prepared using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in the presence of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) as a chiral recognizing element on a glassy carbon electrode (GCE). The changes in the MIP-layer related to removal and rebinding of the target ESOM were performed via differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) by using [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3-/4- as the redox probe. The structures of the developed sensor surface were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was also utilized for a complementary electrochemical characterization. The calibration curve was obtained in the range 1.0 × 10 -14 -2.0 × 10 -13  M with a limit of detection (LOD) of 1.9 × 10 -15  M. The developed method has improved the accessibility of binding sites by producing the porous material via hydrolysis/condensation reaction of TEOS in presence of CTAB. The selectivity tests of the developed SiO 2 -β-CD@MIP/GCE sensor indicated a high specificity towards ESOM compared with structurally related competitor molecules such as R-omeprazole (R-OM), R-lansoprazole, and S-lansoprazole. The developed sensor was successfully used to determine ESOM in tablets and commercial human serum samples with satisfactory recoveries (100.25 to 100.60%) and precision (RSD 0.46 to 0.66%)., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.)

Molecularly imprinted polymer based nanofilms specific to melamine were synthesized on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) electrode surface. Contact angle measurements, atomic force microscopy, ellipsometry and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterizations process. Some of the findings of the study are as follows: pH 6.0 was found as optimal working pH for melamine detection. Prepared MIP QCM electrode showed a linearity of 99.53% in the concentration range of 50-1000 ng/mL. Langmuir-Freundlich hybrid model was the best fitted isotherm for whole concentration range. The performance of MIP QCM electrode was also confirmed by determining of melamine in melamine spiked milk samples. As a conclusion, the results figured out that not only QCM nanosensor for specific melamine detection but also polymerization strategy were classified as an intriguing alternative for developing new melamine sensing platforms. Limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were calculated as 2.3 ng/mL and 7.8 ng/mL, respectively., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In this study, a novel biopolymer based on poly(glycerol sebacic)-urethane (PGS-U) and its nanocomposites containing Cloisite@30B were synthesized by facile approach in which the crosslinking was created by aliphatic hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) at room temperature and 80 °C. Moreover, metronidazole and tetracycline drugs were selected as target drugs and loaded into PGSU based nanocomposites. A uniform and continuous microstructure with smooth surface is observed in the case of pristine PGS-U sample. The continuity of microstructure is observed in the case of all bionanocomposites. XRD result confirmed an intercalated morphology for PGSU containing 5 wt% of clay nanoparticles with a d-spacing 3.4 nm. The increment of nanoclay content up to 5%, the ultimate tensile stress and elastic modulus were obtained nearly 0.32 and 0.83 MPa, which the latter was more than eight-fold than that of pristine PGS-U. A sustained release for both dugs was observed by 200 h. The slowest and controlled drug release rate was determined in the case of PGSU containing 5 wt% clay and cured at 80 °C. A non-Fickian diffusion can be concluded in the case of tetracycline release via PGS-U/nanoclay bionanocomposites, while a Fickian process was detected in the case of metronidazole release by PGS-U/nanoclay bionanocomposites. As a result, the designed scaffold showed high flexibility, which makes it an appropriate option for utilization in the treatment of periodontal disease.

In this study, a porous molecularly imprinted electrochemical sensor was successfully fabricated for the selective assay of bisphenol S (BPS) by introducing N-methacryloyl-L tyrosine functional monomer. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based sensor (MA-Tyr@MIP/GCE) was prepared via photopolymerization on the glassy carbon electrode and subsequently characterized by using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The analytical performance of the sensor was evaluated via CV and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurements. Under the optimized conditions, the rebinding experiment demonstrated that the peak current of the porous MIP-based sensor obviously decreased with the increase of BPS concentration in the concentration range of 1-10 fM. Therefore, the detection limit was determined as 0.171 fM. It should be underlined that MA-Tyr@MIP/GCE exhibited high sensitivity and excellent selectivity because MA-TyrMA-Tyr@MIP/GCE sensor has a higher imprinting factor (IF) toward BPS in respect to competitive analogs, i.e., bisphenol A, bisphenol B, and bisphenol F. The practical application of the sensor also showed good reproducibility and stability for the detection of BPS in human serum and water samples. These results showed MA-Tyr@MIP/GCE successfully applied for the selective recognition of BPS in biological and water samples with high sensitivity and excellent selectivity., (© 2022. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Water pollution, which has become a global problem in parallel with environmental pollution, is a problem that needs to be solved urgently, considering the gradual depletion of water resources. The inadequacy of the water treatment methods and the materials used somehow directed the researchers to look for dual character structures such as biocompatible and biodegradable β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). β-CD, which is normally insoluble in water, is used in demanding wastewater applications by being modified with the help of different agents to be water soluble or transformed into polymeric adsorbents as a result of co-polymerization via cross-linkers. In this way, in addition to the host-guest interactions offered by β-CD, secondary forces arising from these interactions provide advantages in terms of regeneration and reusability. However, the adsorption efficiency and synthesis steps need to be improved. Based on the current studies presented in this review, in which cross-linkers and modification methods are also mentioned, suggestions for novel synthesis methods of new-generation β-CD-based materials, criticisms, and recent methods of removal of micropollutants such as heavy metals, industrial dyes, harmful biomolecules, and pharmaceutics wastes are mentioned., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

A novel methodology has been applied to generate a porous molecularly imprinted material for highly selective and sensitive recognition of Janus kinase inhibitor ruxolitinib (RUX). The porous material-based nucleobase-derivative functional monomer was developed by a photopolymerization method. The thymine methacrylate (ThyM) as a functional monomer was synthesized and copolymerized with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in the presence of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) onto the glassy carbon electrode [glassy carbon electrode/molecularly imprinted polymer@poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-thymine methacrylate), (GCE/MIP@PHEMA-ThyM)] for the first time. The presence of ThyM results in the functional groups in imprinting binding sites, while the presence of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) allows to generate porous materials for sensitive sensing. The characterization of GCE/MIP@PHEMA-ThyM was investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and impedance spectroscopy technique. Then, the porous MIP modified glassy carbon electrode was optimized with effecting parameters including removal agent, removal time, and incubation time to get a better response for RUX. Under well-controlled optimum conditions, the GCE/MIP@PHEMA-ThyM linearly responded to the RUX concentration up to 0.01 pM at the limit of detection (LOD) of 0.00191 pM. The non-imprinted polymer (NIP) was also prepared to serve as a control in the same way but without the template. The proposed method improves the accessibility of binding sites by generating the porous material resulting in highly selective and sensitive recognition of drugs in the pharmaceutical dosage form and synthetic human serum samples., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Apoptosis is a type of cell death caused by the occurrence of both pathological and physiological conditions triggered by ligation of death receptors outside the cell or triggered by DNA damage and/or cytoskeleton disruption. Timely monitoring of apoptosis can effectively help early diagnosis of related diseases and continuous assessment of the effectiveness of drugs. Detecting caspases, a protease family closely related to cellular apoptosis, and its identification as markers of apoptosis is a popular procedure. Biosensors are used for early diagnosis and play a very important role in preventing disease progression in various body sections. Recently, there has been a widespread increase in the desire to use materials made of paper (e.g. nitrocellulose membrane) for Point-of-Care (POC) testing systems since paper and paper-like materials are cheap, abundant and degradable. Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (μPADs) are highly promising as they are cost-effective, easy to use, fast, precise and sustainable over time and under different environmental conditions. In this review, we focused our efforts on compiling the different approaches on identifying apoptosis pathway while giving brief information about apoptosis and biosensors. This review includes recent advantages in biosensing techniques to simply determine what happened in the cell life and which direction it would continue. As a conclusion, we believed that the review may help to researchers to compare/update the knowledge about diagnosis of the apoptosis pathway while reminding the basic definitions about the apoptosis and biosensor technologies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Serial numbers have forensic value as they help to identify firearms. While the serial numbers are mostly stamped on the metal parts of firearms, the characters on polymer parts involve non-serial number information such as caliber, brand, model, or proof marks, which also serve for identification purposes. The forensic evidence indicates that the polymer frames of firearms bearing non-serial number information are obliterated through heating and scraping. Although the destructive restoration techniques for polymers are well-documented, there is little theoretical and practical knowledge regarding the non-destructive restoration techniques applied on polymers. In view of this gap, this study aims to devise a non-destructive spectral technique to recover the obliterated characters on Polyamide 6. Considering its wide use on polymers, the numbering is carried out by hot stamping and the numbers are defaced through heating, scraping, and hammering both superficially and deeply at varying depths. Herein, we focused on imitating the manual obliteration techniques used by criminals instead of the deepness-controlled techniques preferred by previous studies. The samples are then viewed under the UV and IR lights in the Video Spectral Comparator 8000 for the first time. The results suggest that spectral imaging provided restoration to a good extent after heating and scraping which made the characters invisible at a relatively low depth of deformation compared to hammering. The recovery of characters with this novel technique brings a new perspective forensic marks examination literature by producing quick, successful and reliable results and facilitating reexamination by not harming the sample., (© 2021 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.)

The science of toxicology dates back almost to the beginning of human history. Toxic chemicals, which are encountered in different forms, are always among the chemicals that should be investigated in criminal field, environmental application, pharmaceutic, and even industry, where many researches have been carried out studies for years. Almost all of not only drugs but also industrial dyes have toxic side and direct effects. Environmental micropollutants accumulate in the tissues of all living things, especially plants, and show short- or long-term toxic symptoms. Chemicals in forensic science can be known by detecting the effect they cause to the body with the similar mechanism. It is clear that the best tracking tool among analysis methods is molecularly printed polymer-based analytical setups. Different polymeric combinations of molecularly imprinted polymers allow further study on detection or extraction using chromatographic and spectroscopic instruments. In particular, methods used in forensic medicine can detect trace amounts of poison or biological residues on the scene. Molecularly imprinted polymers are still in their infancy and have many variables that need to be developed. In this review, we summarized how molecular imprinted polymers and toxicology intersect and what has been done about molecular imprinted polymers in toxicology by looking at the studies conducted in the last 5 years., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), called as bone cement, has been used in implant surgery, initially in dental practices, then in arthroplasty surgery for decades. Bone cement is a highly preferred chemical in the field of orthopedics due to its bone-like hardness and mechanical strength. Meanwhile, antibiotic-loaded cements are used in joints and similar surgeries are generally due to the risk of infection. In this study, we aimed to demonstrate the effects of borate mineral loading into bone cement on enhancing the antibacterial resistivity and cell integration as well as retaining mechanical properties. Moreover, the incorporation of minerals into bone cements makes them much more cost-friendly biomaterials for surgical operations. Herein, antibacterial properties were evaluated by using vancomycin- and gentamycin-susceptible strains of Enterococcus faecalis and Staphylococcus aureus whereas cell viability tests were performed by osteoblast cell lines. Three sets of the bone cements, plain, calcium borate-, and sodium borate-loaded, were prepared through commercial procedures and subjected to mechanical, antibacterial and cell viability tests. Percentage deformation determined by compression tests under 0.100 MPa pressure was determined in the range of 12.58%-10.67% in respect to the amount of sodium borate mineral loaded whereas that was determined in the range of 12.54%-9.87% in respect to the amount of calcium borate mineral loaded. Micro-CT results also supported good mineral integration and structural features of the composite bone cements. Furthermore, mineral incorporation enhanced the cell viability, in other words, cellular integrity, up to 101.28% for sodium borate-loaded (NB75, 7.5 g mineral) and 72.04% for calcium borate-loaded (CB75, 7.5 g mineral) bone cement according to the negative control group, fresh culture medium. As a conclusion, both of these minerals could be classified as promising alternatives for developing bone cements with better antibacterial resistivity and cellular integration properties.

Cardiomyocytes, differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), have the potential to produce patient- and disease-specific pharmacological and toxicological platforms, in addition to their cardiac cell therapy applications. However, the lack of both a robust and a simple procedure for scalable cell substrate production is one of the major limitations in this area. Mimicking the natural healthy myocardium extracellular matrix (ECM) properties by altering the cell substrate properties, such as stiffness and chemical/biochemical composition, can significantly affect cell substrate interfacial characteristics and potentially influence cellular behavior and differentiation of iPSCs to cardiomyocytes. Here, we propose a systematic and biomimetic approach, based on the preparation of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrates having the similar stiffness as healthy heart tissue and a well-defined surface chemistry obtained by conventional [(3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES) and octadecyltrimethoxysilane (OTS)] and amino acid (histidine and leucine)-conjugated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). Among a wide range of different concentrations, the 50:1 prepolymer cross-linker ratio of PDMS allowed adaptation of the myocardium stiffness with a Young's modulus of 23.79 ± 0.61 kPa. Compared with conventional SAM modification, amino acid-conjugated SAMs greatly improved iPSC adhesion, viability, and cardiac marker expression by increasing surface biomimetic properties, whereas all SAMs enhanced cell behavior, with respect to native PDMS. Furthermore, leucine-conjugated SAM modification provided the best environment for cardiac differentiation of iPSCs. This optimized approach can be easily adapted for cardiac differentiation of iPSCs in vitro , rendering a very promising tool for microfluidics, drug screening, and organ-on-chip platforms.

Background: The malignancy potential of the laryngeal lesions are one of the major concerns of the surgeons about choosing the treatment options, forming surgical margins, deciding the follow-up periods. Finding a biomarker to overcome these concerns are ongoing challenges and recently microRNAs (miRNAs) are attributed as possible candidates since they can regulate gene expressions in the human genome. The objective of our study was to investigate their capability as a transformation biomarker for malignant laryngeal lesions., Materials and Methods: We investigated mature miRNA expressions in paraffin-embedded surgical specimens of human laryngeal tissues grouped as benign, premalignant or malignant (n = 10 in each). miRNA profiling was carried out by quantitative Real-Time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and data were analyzed according to fold regulation., Results: Our results demonstrated that 9 miRNAs were upregulated as the lesions become more malignant. Among them Hs_miR-183_5p, Hs_miR-155_5p, and Hs_miR-106b_3p expressions were significantly 4.16 (p = 0.032), 2.72 (p = 0.028) and 3.01 (p = 0.022) fold upregulated respectively in premalignant lesions compared to the benign lesions. Moreover, their expressions were approximately 2.76 fold higher in the malignant group than in the premalignant group compared to the benign group. Besides them, significant 7.57 (p = 0.036), 4.45 (p = 0.045) and 5.98 (p = 0.023) fold upregulations of Hs_miR-21_5p, Hs_miR-218_3p, and Hs_miR-210_3p were noticed in the malignant group but not in the premalignant group when compared to the benign group, respectively., Conclusion: MiRNAs might have important value to help the clinicians for their concerns about the malignancy potentials of the laryngeal lesions. Hs_miR-183_5p, Hs_miR-155_5p, and Hs_miR-106b_3p might be followed as transformation marker, whereas Hs_miR-21_5p, Hs_miR-218_3p, and Hs_miR-210_3p might be a biomarker prone to malignancy.

In this study, we introduced a new strategy to design interface imprinted polymers for a novel aspect of molecular imprinting technique, utilization of sacrificial metal oxide particles. In the first step, bovine hemoglobin (BHb) was adsorbed on zinc oxide (ZnO) particles, which were then used to synthesize polyacrylic acid-based molecular imprinting membrane by bulk polymerization in the presence of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as a cross-linking agent. After polymerization terminated, BHb-ZnO particles were removed to leave effective imprint sites onto the bulk polymeric network which is responsible for the formation of template orientation. The characterization of membranes was investigated by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy (RS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), surface area measurements (BET analyses) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The interface molecularly imprinted membranes (iMIMs) have a relatively high specific rebinding capacity of 65.98 mg/g and excellent selectivity towards BHb with a separation factor of 6.78. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms fitted well to Langmuir isotherms (R 2 = 0.9944) and the value of adsorption capability (Q max ) and equilibrium constant (b) were estimated to be 73.53 mg/g and 1.36 mg/mL for the iMIM, respectively. The kinetics of adsorption fitted best to pseudo-second order (R 2 = 0.9912). The ZnO particles were used not only to ensure the preservation of the imprint cavities in the polymer network but also to lead to high template removal and better rebinding kinetics. This novel design with multiple recognition sites is quite simple and suitable for the separation of biomacromolecules., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a biocompatible synthetic polymer and used in various applications due to its low toxicity and tunable surface properties. However, PDMS does not have any chemical cues for cell binding. Plasma treatment, protein coating or surface modification with various molecules have been used to improve its surface characteristics. Still, these techniques are either last for a very limited time or have very complicated experimental procedures. In the present study, simple and one-step surface modification of PDMS is successfully accomplished by the preparation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acid conjugated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for enhanced interactions at the cell-substrate interface. Synthesis of histidine and leucine conjugated (3-aminopropyl)-triethoxysilane (His-APTES and Leu-APTES) were confirmed with proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H NMR) and optimum conditions for the modification of PDMS with SAMs were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, combined with water contact angle (WCA) measurements. Results indicated that both SAMs enhanced cellular behavior in vitro. Furthermore, hydrophilic His-APTES modification provides a superior environment for the osteoblast maturation with higher alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralization. As histidine, leucine, and functional groups of these SAMs are naturally found in biological systems, modification of PDMS with them increases its cell-substrate surface biomimetic properties. This study establishes a successful modification of PDMS for in vitro cell studies, offering a biomimetic and easy procedure for potential applications in microfluidics, cell-based therapies, or drug investigations., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The continuous bed bioreactor systems have been used for the production of protein therapeutics, such as IgG, using immobilized enzyme in biopharmaceutical applications. We developed macroporous poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-glycidyl methacrylate) cryogel-based bioreactor matrix using sodium dodecyl sulfate as surfactans in the presence of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross linking agent by bulk polymerization. The developed polyGMA immobilized bioreactor with papain enzyme was used for specific fragmentation of immunoglobulin G. The catalysis efficiency for immobilized enzyme were investigated in comparison with free enzyme. The immobilized papain displayed broad catalytic activity over a variety of conditions, with maximal activity around pH 7.0 and 70 °C. The Michaelis-Menten kinetic constant (K m ), the maximum reaction velocity (V max ), and the catalytic efficiency (k cat ) for free enzyme were 0.1097 mg/mL, 29.9 mg/mL/min, and 92.01 1/min, respectively, whereas for immobilized enzyme, K m , V max , and k cat values were 0.1078 mg/mL, 30.53 mg/mL/min, and 94.3 1/min, respectively. In a further step, after digestion, remarkable digestion products of bioreactor, Fab and Fc fragments, produced with immobilized papain bioreactors were analyzed in two ways by SDS-PAGE and reversed-phase HPLC; it was demonstrated that papain immobilized bioreactor successfully used for the digestion of human IgG with high activity. Therefore, the polyGMA cryogel immobilized with papain exhibited a very effective matrix for the bioreactor which can be considered as an alternative bioreactor matrix with great promise in biopharmaceutical applications., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Today, antibiotic resistance is increasing and evolving into an important health problem. Therefore, it is important to research on alternative therapies to antibiotics. This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of four garlic derivatives on microorganisms commonly isolated in ear infections., Methods: The antimicrobial activities of allicin, s-allyl cysteine (SAC), diallyl disulfide (DADS), and s-allyl mercaptocysteine (SAMC) were investigated on standard strains of commonly isolated microorganisms using the broth microdilution method. The test strains were selected among the microorganisms responsible for chronic suppurative otitis media and otitis externa. These microorganisms were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium, Candida albicans , and Candida tropicalis ., Results: Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of allicin and SAC ranged from 0.125 to 20 μg/mL for fermentative bacteria ( E. coli and K. pneumoniae ), 20 to 80 μg/mL for non-fermentative bacteria ( P. aeruginosa and A. baumannii ), 5 to 10 μg/mL for gram-positive cocci ( S. aureus and E. faecium ), and 40 to 80 μg/mL for yeasts ( C. albicans and C. tropicalis ). MIC values of DADS ranged from 40 to 80 μg/mL for fermentative bacteria, 40 to 160 μg/mL for non-fermentative bacteria, 40 to 80 μg/mL for gram-positive cocci, and 20 to 40 μg/mL for yeasts. The MICs of SAMC were >640 μg/mL for the tested bacteria and yeasts., Conclusion: Both allicin and SAC showed antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms, even at low concentrations. These two derivatives may be used to treat infections in the future., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (© Copyright 2019 by Official Journal of the Turkish Society of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery.)

Pesticides are highly hazardous chemicals for the environment and human health and their use in agriculture is constantly increasing. Although 1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-bis(4-chlorophenyl) ethane 4,4'-DDT was banned at developed countries, it is still one of the most dangerous of chemical due to accumulation in the environment. It is known that the toxicity of DDT affects some enzyme systems biochemically. The main motivation of this study is to develop an effective adsorbate for the removal DDT, which was chosen as a model hydrophobic pesticide, out of aqueous systems. For this purpose, the bare diatomite particles were magnetically modified and a hydrophobic ligand attached to enhance its adsorptive and physio-chemical features. Under optimal conditions, a high adsorption capacity, around 120 mg/g with the hydrophobic and magnetic diatomite particles, modification of the diatomite particles reduced average pores diameter whereas surface area and total pore volume increased (around 15-folds). After five consecutive adsorption-desorption cycles, no significant decrease in adsorption capability was observed. The adsorption isotherms (Langmuir, Freundlich, and Flory-Huggins) applied to the data indicated that the adsorption process occurred via monolayer adsorption in an entropy-driven manner. The kinetic data also revealed the quick adsorption process without any diffusion limitations. Graphical Abstract.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial efficacy of Nigella sativa (NS) seed oil against the most frequently isolated infectious bacteria of the middle and external ear., Materials and Methods: The in vitro antibacterial activity of NS oil was evaluated against 34 clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae , 32 clinical isolates of Moraxella catarrhalis , 32 clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae , and 32 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa . Staphylococcus aureus , Escherichia coli , and P. aeruginosa were also evaluated for their sensitivity to the NS oil. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the NS oil was determined via a broth dilution technique. Serial solutions were prepared in a Mueller Hinton-F broth to achieve an ultimate concentration of NS oil within the microplate wells ranging from 256 μg/mL to 0.25 μg/mL. The growth control wells and medium were used for each bacterial strain, and the microplates were incubated at 35°C for 24 h. Those wells having no visible growth and the lowest concentration of NS oil were accepted as showing the MIC., Results: In this study, a comparison was made between NS oil and the various antibiotics known to be effective against the bacterial strains mentioned above. The NS was shown to have bactericidal activity against H. influenzae, M. catarrhalis , and S. pneumoniae . However, the NS was not found to be effective against P. aeruginosa at any concentration., Conclusion: The results of this laboratory-based study support the use of NS oil as an alternative treatment for ear infections. However, it is necessary to conduct clinical studies to evaluate the antibacterial efficacy of NS oil on patients with ear infections., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (©Copyright 2019 by the Atatürk University School of Medicine - Available online at www.eurasianjmed.com.)

Purpose: This prospective study was designed to identify risk factors for lingual nerve injury as a complication of suspension laryngoscopy., Methods: Fifty-six adult patients (19 females and 37 males) who underwent microlaryngeal surgery (MLS) using the suspension laryngoscopy procedure under general anesthesia at our otorhinolaryngology department between January 2016 and January 2018 were enrolled in this study. All operations were performed using only a cold-steel microlaryngeal surgical set, and operations using laser and radiofrequency energy were not included. Unilateral or bilateral paresthesia, numbness of the tongue, and/or a change in taste sensation (dysgeusia) were considered to indicate lingual nerve injury., Results: Operation time and difficulties during intraoperative intubation and/or suspension of the larynx were major risk factors for lingual nerve injury following suspension laryngoscopy ( P = .015 and P = .011, respectively). Difficulties in preoperative flexible fiberoptic examination and intraoperative laryngeal compression were not found as risk factors, and the associations were not significant. Additionally, females showed a higher complication rate of lingual nerve injury following suspension laryngoscopy than males., Conclusion: From a medical-legal standpoint, although lingual nerve injury is not a life-threatening complication, it is important to inform patients, especially those expected to undergo long-duration surgery.

Noble metals comprise any of several metallic chemical elements that are outstandingly resistant to corrosion and oxidation, even at elevated temperatures. This group is not strictly defined, but the tentative list includes ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, osmium, iridium, platinum and gold, in order of atomic number. The emerging properties of noble metal nanoparticles are attracting huge interest from the translational scientific community and have led to an unprecedented expansion of research and exploration of applications in biotechnology and biomedicine. Noble metal nanomaterials can be synthesised both by top-down and bottom up approaches, as well as via organism-assisted routes, and subsequently modified appropriately for the field of use. Nanoscale analogues of gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in particular, have gained primary importance owing to their excellent intrinsic properties and diversity of applications; they offer unique functional attributes, which are quite unlike the bulk material. Modulation of noble metal nanoparticles in terms of size, shape and surface functionalisation has endowed them with unusual capabilities and manipulation at the chemical level, which can lead to changes in their electrical, chemical, optical, spectral and other intrinsic properties. Such flexibility in multi-functionalisation delivers 'Ockham's razor' to applied biomedical science. In this feature article, we highlight recent advances in the adaptation of noble metal nanomaterials and their biomedical applications in therapeutics, diagnostics and sensing.

Objective: Cartilage is a rigid material that is highly resistant to infection and retraction and is tolerated well by the middle ear. The purpose of this study was to review retrospectively the results of cases of mastoid cavity obliteration with cartilage performed after canal wall down (CWD) mastoidectomy and to discuss the literature., Method: Of 983 patients who underwent surgery for chronic otitis media between January 2000 and June 2012, 54 patients who underwent CWD mastoidectomy plus mastoid cavity obliteration with cartilage and who were followed up regularly were selected from the database and invited for re-evaluation. All patients who came for a follow up after the invitation were examined and their data were evaluated retrospectively., Results: Thirty-five of the patients who accepted the invitation were included in the study. All of the patients in the study underwent mastoid cavity obliteration with conchal and/or tragal cartilage grafts. The duration of follow up ranged from 21 to 41 months (average, 27.3 months). Epithelization occurred in all patients with dry cavity, except one who had residual cholesteatoma and underwent revision surgery., Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that cartilage can be preferred for obliteration of mastoid cavity after CWD mastoidectomy., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: One of the authors of this article is an Editorial Board Member of this journal and was excluded from all evaluation steps. The other authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculty of Medicine.)

Automated on-line two-dimensional high-performance liquid chromatography method (2D-HPLC) is proposed to determine Ochratoxin A (OTA) in food samples as an alternative to OTA immunoaffinity column (IAC). An on-line 2D-HPLC system is designed for the analysis of OTA using an affinity-based monolithic column in the first dimension and reversed-phase C18 column in the second dimension. Initially, optimal OTA separation efficiency is determined through traditional HPLC system consisting of a P(HEMAPA) monolithic column coupled with HPLC system. Secondly, after providing optimum conditions, OTA determination was investigated through the 2D-HPLC system. According to results, 2D-HPLC system showed good linearity in the range 0.5 to 20 ng/mL with limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) values of 21.2 pg/mL and 64.3 pg/mL, respectively. The P(HEMAPA)-4 monolithic column displayed good recovery of OTA ranging from 104.34% to 107.33%. Relative standard deviations (RSD) varied in the range 0.21% to 1.31% thus indicating the efficiency of P(HEMAPA)-4 monolithic column developed for OTA., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A sandwich-type nanostructured immunosensor based on carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotube (CMWCNT)-embedded whiskered nanofibres (WNFs) was developed for detection of cardiac Troponin I (cTnI). WNFs were directly fabricated on glassy carbon electrodes (GCE) by removing the sacrificial component (polyethylene glycol, PEG) after electrospinning of polystyrene/CMWCNT/PEG nanocomposite nanofibres, and utilised as a transducer layer for enzyme-labeled amperometric immunoassay of cTnI. The whiskered segments of CMWCNTs were activated and utilised to immobilise anti-cTnT antibodies. It was observed that the anchored CMWCNTs within the nanofibres were suitably stabilised with excellent electrochemical repeatability. A sandwich-type immuno-complex was formed between cTnI and horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-cTnI (HRP-anti-cTnI). The amperometric responses of the immunosensor were studied using cyclic voltammetry (CV) through an enzymatic reaction between hydrogen peroxide and HRP conjugated to the secondary antibody. The nanostructured immunosensor delivered a wide detection range for cTnI from the clinical borderline for a normal person (0.5-2ngmL -1 ) to the concentration present in myocardial infarction patients (> 20ngmL -1 ), with a detection limit of ~ 0.04ngmL -1 . It also showed good reproducibility and repeatability for three different cTnI concentration (1, 10 and 25ngmL -1 ) with satisfactory relative standard deviations (RSD). Hence, the proposed nanostructured immunosensor shows potential for point-of-care testing., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Molecularly imprinted polymers which have been extensively investigated as selective adsorbents were constructed using a template molecule during the polymerization to gain template-specific cavities. In this study, we prepared cholesterol imprinted poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-methacryloyamidotryptophan) (PHEMA-MTrp) particles embedded composite membranes. These membranes were characterized through elemental analysis, FTIR, SEM, swelling tests, and surface area measurements. Adsorption experiments were performed in a batch experimental set-up, and the adsorption medium was either a methanol or intestinal-mimicking solution. Stigmasterol and estradiol were used as competing molecules in selectivity tests. Some results are as follows: the specific surface areas of MIP particle-embedded membranes, NIP particle-embedded membranes, and membranes without particles were 36.5, 29.2 and 13.7 m 2 /g, respectively. The imprinted membranes were 1.96 and 2.13 times more selective for cholesterol when compared to stigmasterol and estradiol used as competitor agents, respectively. Cholesterol adsorption capacity increased up to 23.43 mg/g with increasing cholesterol concentration of 2 mg/mL. The MIP particle-embedded composite membranes showed a negligible loss in cholesterol adsorption capacity after ten consecutive adsorption cycles using the same adsorbent., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cryogels are used quite a lot nowadays for adsorption studies as synthetic adsorbents. In this study, lipase enzyme (obtained from Candida cylindracea) adsorption capacity of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-N-methacryloyl-L-tryptophan), poly(HEMA-MATrp), and Cu(II) ions immobilized poly(HEMA-MATrp), poly(HEMA-MATrp)-Cu(II), cryogel membranes were synthesized to determine and compare the adsorption behavior of lipase enzyme. In this regard, the effect of pH, interaction time, lipase initial concentration, temperature and ionic strength on the adsorption capacity of these membranes was investigated. Maximum lipase enzyme adsorption capacities of poly(HEMA-MATrp) and poly(HEMA-MATrp)-Cu(II) cryogel membranes were determined as 166.4 mg/g and 196.4 mg/g, respectively.

Herein, we focused on developing a new generation of monolithic columns for extracting aflatoxin from real food samples by combining the superior features of molecularly imprinted polymers and cryogels. To accomplish this, we designed multiclonal plastic antibodies through simultaneous imprinting of aflatoxin subtypes B1, B2, G1, and G2. We applied Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and spectrofluorimetry to characterize the materials, and conducted selectivity studies using ochratoxin A and aflatoxin M1 (a metabolite of aflatoxin B1), as well as other aflatoxins, under competitive conditions. We determined optimal aflatoxin extraction conditions in terms of concentration, flow rate, temperature, and embedded particle amount as up to 25ng/mL for each species, 0.43mL/min, 7.0, 30°C, and 200mg, respectively. These multiclonal plastic antibodies showed imprinting efficiencies against ochratoxin A and aflatoxin M1 of 1.84 and 26.39, respectively, even under competitive conditions. Finally, we tested reusability, repeatability, reproducibility, and robustness of columns throughout inter- and intra-column variation studies., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Producing molecular imprinting-based materials has received increasing attention due to recognition selectivity, stability, cast effectiveness, and ease of production in various forms for a wide range of applications. The molecular imprinting technique has a variety of applications in the areas of the food industry, environmental monitoring, and medicine for diverse purposes like sample pretreatment, sensing, and separation/purification. A versatile usage, stability and recognition capabilities also make them perfect candidates for use in forensic sciences. Forensic science is a demanding area and there is a growing interest in molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) in this field. In this review, recent molecular imprinting applications in the related areas of forensic sciences are discussed while considering the literature of last two decades. Not only direct forensic applications but also studies of possible forensic value were taken into account like illicit drugs, banned sport drugs, effective toxins and chemical warfare agents in a review of over 100 articles. The literature was classified according to targets, material shapes, production strategies, detection method, and instrumentation. We aimed to summarize the current applications of MIPs in forensic science and put forth a projection of their potential uses as promising alternatives for benchmark competitors.

Two-dimensional (2D) bioelectronics is an emerging field of research which fuses the advantages of 2D nanomaterials with those of nanobiotechnology. Due to the various physical and chemical properties present in layered counterparts of 2D materials, including high charge density, large surface area, remarkable electron mobility, ready electron transport, sizeable band gaps and ease of hybridisation, they are set to become a versatile tool to fabricate sensitive and selective novel biodevices, which might offer an unique advantages to tackle key energy, medical and environmental issues. Current 2D bioelectronics research is focused on the design of simple-to-use and cheaper biodevices, while improving their selectivity, sensitivity and stability. However, current designs generally suffer from a lack of efficiency, relatively low sensitivity, slow electron transfer kinetics, high background charging current and low current density arising from poor mass transport. Here, we report a nanoparticle-structured MoS 2 nanosheet as an ideal semiconductor interface, which is able to form a homogenous layer on the electrode surface for the assembly of gold nanoparticles. This not only enhances electrocatalytic reactions, but also provides excellent electrochemical properties such as high faradic-to-capacitive current ratios, high current density and electron mobility, and faster mass transport, due to the dominance of radial diffusion. The MoS 2 /Au NPs/GOx bioelectrode exhibits a linear response to glucose from 0.25 to 13.2mM, with a detection limit of 0.042µM (S/N=3) and sensitivity of 13.80µA/µM/cm 2 ., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)