Search

Anca Chiriac,1–3 Piotr Brzezinski,4 Cosmin Moldovan,5 Cristian Podoleanu,6 Marius Florin Coros,7 Simona Stolnicu8 1Department of Dermatology, Nicolina Medical Center, Iasi, 2Department of Dermatology, Apollonia University, Iasi, 3Department of Dermatology, P. Poni Research Institute, Romanian Academy Iasi, Romania; 4Department of Dermatology, 6th Military Support Unit, Utska, Poland; 5Department of Histology, 6Department of Cardiology, 7Department of Surgery, 8Department of Pathology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Targu‑Mures, Targu-Mures, Romania Background: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common form of skin cancer, affecting millions of people worldwide. The treatment concept for BCCs is the surgical one, but it is costly, as such, searching for alternative medical therapeutics is justified. Aim: To highlight the efficacy of high concentration (70%) trichloroacetic acid (TCA) as a choice therapy for low-risk BCC. Method and patient: Authors present, for the first time, the use of a high concentration TCA applied once a week for 2 consecutive weeks with a toothpick, on a patient with BCC on the right preauricular area. Results: On examination 4 weeks later, the lesion was not clinically and dermatoscopically evidenced. Conclusion: High concentration TCA could be an effective and safe, non-invasive choice of therapy for low-risk BCC, easy to perform, not expensive, with good cosmetic results, especially for patients who are not likely to undergo invasive or expensive treatments. Keywords: basal cell carcinoma, therapy, trichloroacetic acid, dermatology

Florina Pogacean,1 Alexandru R Biris,2 Maria Coros,1 Mihaela Diana Lazar,1 Fumiya Watanabe,3 Ganesh K Kannarpady,3 Said A Farha Al Said,4 Alexandru S Biris,3 Stela Pruneanu1 1Department of Isotopic Physics and Technology, 2Department of Mass Spectrometry, Chromatography, and Applied Physics, National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, Cluj-Napoca, Romania; 3Center for Integrative Nanotechnology Sciences, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA; 4Department of Physics, College of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Abstract: In this paper, we present a novel approach for the electrochemical detection of S-captopril based on graphene AuAg nanostructures used to modify an Au electrode. Multi-layer graphene (Gr) sheets decorated with embedded bimetallic AuAg nanoparticles were successfully synthesized catalytically with methane as the carbon source. The two catalytic systems contained 1.0 wt% Ag and 1.0 wt% Au, while the second had a larger concentration of metals (1.5 wt% Ag and 1.5 wt% Au) and was used for the synthesis of the Gr-AuAg-1 and Gr-AuAg-1.5 multicomponent samples. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy analysis indicated the presence of graphene flakes that had regular shapes (square or rectangular) and dimensions in the tens to hundreds of nanometers. We found that the size of the embedded AuAg nanoparticles varied between 5 and 100 nm, with the majority being smaller than 20 nm. Advanced scanning transmission electron microscopy studies indicated a bimetallic characteristic of the metallic clusters. The resulting Gr-AuAg-1 and Gr-AuAg-1.5 samples were used to modify the surface of commonly used Au substrates and subsequently employed for the direct electrochemical oxidation of S-captopril. By comparing the differential pulse voltammograms recorded with the two modified electrodes at various concentrations of captopril, the peak current was determined to be well-defined, even at relatively low concentration (10-5 M), for the Au/Gr-AuAg-1.5 electrode. In contrast, the signals recorded with the Au/Gr-AuAg-1 electrode were poorly defined within a 5×10-6 to 5×10-3 M concentration range, and many of them overlapped with the background. Such composite materials could find significant applications in nanotechnology, sensing, or nanomedicine. Keywords: bimetallic AuAg nanoparticles, electrochemical detection, multi-layer graphene