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Autophagy and mitophagy pose unresolved challenges in understanding the pathology of diabetic heart condition (DHC), which encompasses a complex range of cardiovascular issues linked to diabetes and associated cardiomyopathies. Despite significant progress in reducing mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), heart failure remains a major cause of increased morbidity among diabetic patients. These cellular processes are essential for maintaining cellular balance and removing damaged or dysfunctional components, and their involvement in the development of diabetic heart disease makes them attractive targets for diagnosis and treatment. While a variety of conventional diagnostic and therapeutic strategies are available, DHC continues to present a significant challenge. Point-of-care diagnostics, supported by nanobiosensing techniques, offer a promising alternative for these complex scenarios. Although conventional medications have been widely used in DHC patients, they raise several concerns regarding various physiological aspects. Modern medicine places great emphasis on the application of nanotechnology to target autophagy and mitophagy in DHC, offering a promising approach to deliver drugs beyond the limitations of traditional therapies. This article aims to explore the potential connections between autophagy, mitophagy and DHC, while also discussing the promise of nanotechnology-based theranostic interventions that specifically target these molecular pathways.

The effect of Ca2+ ions doping on the structure, magnetic properties, and surface morphology of Sr1-xCaxFe12O19 (x = 0.0 to 0.5 with step size 0.1) hexaferrite nanoparticles synthesized using the sol–gel auto-combustion technique was investigated in the current study. The phase purity of synthesized samples is confirmed by XRD data plots up to x = 0.2, after which α-Fe2O3 was observed as a secondary phase in all concentrations. The micrographs from FESEM show that with the increase in the concentration of Ca2+ dopant, the average grain size increases from ≈125 nm to ≈240 nm. The intensity of secondary phase Raman peaks increases with increasing dopant ion concentration beyond x = 0.2. The coercivity value varies between 5292 and 5828 Oe as the Ca2+ dopant increases. A maximum (72.63 emu/g) value of saturation magnetization (Ms) have been obtained in samples at x = 0.2. Such substances can be utilized for making permanent magnets applications.

Inhalation of aerosolized products generated by different electronic devices is called vaping. E-cigarettes or Vaping product use Associated Lung Injury (EVALI) outbreak peaked in August–September 2019 and gradually declined. EVALI remains a diagnosis of exclusion which presents as an acute lung injury in the vaping population. Vitamin E acetate and its products are implicated as one of the cytotoxic agents causing airway centered pneumonitis. Lipid laden macrophages are found in samples of BAL fluid but their role in cytopathology of the disease remains unclear. We present a 57 years old man who came to the emergency department at Monmouth Medical Center, New Jersey in fall, 2019. Reportedly he has been vaping THC about 100g every day for past three days. At initial presentation, he had fever, shortness of breath and hypoxia requiring supplemental oxygen. He was empirically treated with levofloxacin 500 mg for five days without a significant improvement in his symptoms. Non-contrast chest CT scan showed bilateral ground-glass opacities, indicative of diffuse alveolar damage. He underwent flexible bronchoscopy to rule out infective pneumonia followed by auto-immune work-up that was non-conclusive. He was given 1 mg/kg methylprednisolone with a quick taper of oral steroids leading to the resolution of symptoms. At six months follow-up, imaging showed near resolution of ground-glass opacities.

In this work, we propose fullerene molecule C20 as an anchor to fabricate a robust aromatic molecular junction. The electron transport properties of this fullerene terminated aromatic molecular device at zero bias and finite bias voltage are investigated by using non-equilibrium Green's function combined with density functional theory. Device density of states, transmission spectrum, molecular projected self-consistent Hamiltonian (MPSH) eigen states, mulliken population, IV and G–V characteristics conclude the electron transport through inelastic tunneling due to shifting of molecular orbitals (MOs) with bias voltage. This transition of MOs leads to variation in the injection gap and HOMO–LUMO gap, which modifies the current and conductance spectrum. The studied MPSH states emphasise the role of fullerene anchors in binding anthracene molecule with gold electrodes. These simulated results are in good agreement with the experimental results, demonstrating the suitability of C20 fullerenes as anchoring groups. Keywords: DFT, NEGF, HOMO, LUMO, Mulliken, Rectification

The fullerene-based molecular junction in a device configured for sensor applications in medical diagnostics has been evaluated in this study. The presence of highly carcinogenic agents such as lead is detected using this molecular device, which is configured and investigated using extended Hückel theory (EHT) and the non-equilibrium Green’s function. The electrical parameters that we calculated can be employed to determine the concentration of lead impurities by evaluating its transmission coefficients and molecular orbitals. Our results suggest that the alignment of current increases with increasing impurity level (i.e., of 6, 12, and 18 lead atoms), thus indicating sensor characteristics.

Major advances in the molecular diagnostics of screening tissue and blood samples have fueled the search for biomarkers and diagnostic nanosensors that can detect abnormalities early in their development cycles. In this paper, we propose an aromatic molecular junction-based biomarker that can trace the concentration of lead in any live sample. A nanomolecular device based on an anthracenedithiol molecule was modeled. Its electrical transport attributes were computed using a semi-empirical extended Huckel theory combined with non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism. We observed that the current and conductance assay had prominent changes when the molecular junction device was exposed to variant concentrations of lead. Based on our results, we propose aromatic molecular junction-based biomarkers that can detect even minor adulterations of lead when plied at operating voltage range.

The effect of cyclization and inclusion of double bond in ring on structure, proton affinities, acidities and NH bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) of carbamate molecules NH2C(=X)YR (X, Y = O, S, Se; R = -C2H5, -CH=CH2) has been investigated in the present study. The S-conformer is more stable than A-conformer in acyclic carbamate molecule. The higher stability of S-conformer can be anticipated due to the decreased repulsive interactions of the lone pairs present on Y with the π cloud of CX bond as compared to the A-conformer. The cyclization increases the acidities as compared to the S-conformer due to unfavorable A conformation that the carbamate group is forced to adopt in cyclic carbamate molecule and stability of anion being more than that of acyclic analog. However, when compared with A-conformer of acyclic analogs acidities are slightly lower. The change in NH BDEs and proton affinities on cyclization is small but inclusion of double bond in the ring reduces NH BDEs to a large extent.

Dendritic cells perform critical functions in bridging innate and adaptive immunity. Their ability to sense adjuvant signals in their environment, migrate on maturation, and cross-present cell-associated antigens enables these cells to carry antigen from tissue sites to lymph nodes, and thereby prime naïve T cells that cannot enter tissues. Despite being an infrequent cell type in tumors, we discuss how dendritic cells impact the immune environment of tumors and their response to cancer therapies. We review how radiation therapy of tumors can impact dendritic cells, through transfer of cell associated antigens to dendritic cells and the release of endogenous adjuvants, resulting in increased antigen presentation in the tumor-draining lymph nodes. We explore how tumor specific factors can result in negative regulation of dendritic cell function in the tumor, and the impact of direct radiation exposure to dendritic cells in the treatment field. These data suggest an important role for dendritic cell subpopulations in activating new T cell responses and boosting existing T cell responses to tumor associated antigens in tumor draining lymph nodes following radiation therapy. It further justifies a focus on the needs of the lymph node T cells to improve systemic anti-immunity following radiation therapy., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)