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Today, nanotechnology is becoming increasingly important among researchers around the world by helping them diagnose and treat various diseases that can threaten human life. Bismuth nanoparticles are among the numerous metal nanoparticles widely used due to their potential therapeutic applications. Variety of studies displayed the high potentials of bismuth nanoparticles in extraordinary antibacterial, antibiofilm, anticancer, and antioxidant effects, and it seems that these potentials can be used to address the challenges in the treatment of many diseases. They are among the metal nanoparticles biosynthesized by the green synthesis method in many studies. The use of green synthesis of nanoparticles has attracted the interest of many investigators because of its environmental friendliness, non-toxicity, and high stability. Microorganisms like bacteria, fungi, yeasts, actinomycetes, viruses, marine algae, and plants have been found to have the inherent potential to create metal nanoparticles intracellularly or extracellularly and are recognized as viable biofactories for the green synthesis of nanoparticles. The goal of this review article was to assess synthesized bismuth nanoparticles based on their green synthesis methods; properties in terms of shape, size, synthesis origin, and structure; and biological applications, including their antibacterial, antibiofilm, antioxidant, and cytotoxic uses., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Bedsores impose an important challenge to the healthcare system. Se-baring probiotics are considered effective agents in wound healing and inflammation reduction via several pathways. The present study focused on the administration of a Se-enriched probiotic, originally obtained from a traditional dairy product for bedsore healing. Daily doses of the probiotic were administered to 20 ICU patients for 14 days and the wound healing criteria were compared with those of the same group of ICU patients as control, both groups suffering from stages I and II bedsore (a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial). The administered Se-enriched probiotic decreased the bedsore healing period significantly (on average by 2.4 days, P-value: 0.039), as well as bedsore size (on average by 7 mm 2 , nonsignificant) and bedsore grade (10%, nonsignificant) in the treatment group more efficiently than the control group. Some key laboratory parameters associated with inflammation were also improved in patients receiving the Se-supplemented probiotic. The limitations of this study include the low number of patients meeting inclusion criteria within the timeframe of the study, and the impossibility of following up patients after discharge from the ICU. In summary, this study revealed the effectiveness of the Se-enriched probiotic in bedsore improvement, suggesting consideration of the enriched probiotic as an auxiliary agent in bedsore management., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The hydroxyapatite/glycyrrhizin/lithium-based metal-organic framework (HA/GL/Li-MOF) nanocomposites were synthesized via the hydrothermal method in the presence of lecithin and glycyrrhizin. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) were applied for characterization of the fabricated nanocomposites. The HA/GL/Li-MOF and Li-MOF nanocomposites were employed as support for immobilization of Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase (TLL). The Plackett-Burman and Box-Behnken designs were used for screening and optimizing of variables affecting the immobilization conditions, respectively. The optimum specific activity of immobilized TLL on HA/GL/Li-MOF and Li-MOF nanocomposites (41.8 ± 1.2 U/mg and 39.4 ± 3.1 U/mg, respectively) was predictably determined at support concentration of 0.5 mg/mL, glutaraldehyde concentration of 5 mM, and enzyme activity of 20 U/mg, while the specific activities of TLL@ HA/GL/Li-MOF and TLL@Li-MOF were experimentally found to be 39.5 ± 3.7 U/mg and 38.5 ± 2.3 U/mg, respectively. The stability results showed that the TLL@ HA/GL/Li-MOF has suitable stability against pH and thermal denaturation. However, the immobilized TLL on Li-MOF represented lower stability compared with that of the HA/GL/Li-MOF. The immobilized TLL on HA/GL/Li-MOF maintained near 70% of its original activity after 15 days' storage and during 5 runs of application. In addition, TLL@HA/GL/Li-MOF exhibited higher enzyme-substrate affinity (K m , 10.1 mM) compared to that of TLL@Li-MOF (K m , 23.4 mM). Therefore, these findings demonstrated the potential use of HA/GL/Li-MOF nanocomposites for enzyme immobilization., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Biosurfactants are microbial-derived compounds with surface and emulsifying activities. Environmental and industrial applications make glycolipid biosurfactants particularly interesting among the several categories of biosurfactants. A potential glycolipid biosurfactant resource, Shewanella algae, was isolated from marine samples at the Persian Gulf. The glycolipid biosurfactant caused a reduction in water surface tension from 72 to 43 mN/m with a 0.25 mg/mL critical micelle concentration (CMC). Two-level factorial design was then applied for optimization of biosurfactant production, where a maximal reduction of culture broth surface tension (31 mN/m) acquired in the presence of crude oil (0.5%, v/v), NaNO 3 (0.2 g/L), NH 4 Cl (0.7 g/L), and peptone (0.5 g/L). GC-MS analysis of the culture broth showed when crude oil was used as the sole carbon source, S. algae was able to degrade most of its alkane components. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed the glycolipid structure of biosurfactant. The glycolipid biosurfactant exhibited considerable growth inhibition of clinical bacterial pathogens and disrupted the preformed biofilms of Bacillus cereus (83%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (53%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (92%), Escherichia coli (64%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (87%), and Acinetobacter sp. (72%). In conclusion, the glycolipid biosurfactant secreted by S. algae exhibited a wide range of functional properties and was evidenced as a promising candidate for biomedical application., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

We report here a simple microwave irradiation method (850 W, 3 min) for the synthesis of palladium nanoparticles (Pd NPs) using ascorbic acid (as reducing agent) and sodium alginate (as stabilizer agent). The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), UV-Visible spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) techniques. Antioxidant properties and cytotoxic effects of as-synthesized Pd NPs and Pd (II) acetate were also assessed. UV-Vis study showed the formation of Pd NPs with maximum absorption at 345 nm. From TEM analysis, it was observed that the Pd NPs had spherical shape with particle size distribution of 13-33 nm. Based on DPPH radical scavenging activity and reducing power assay, the antioxidant activities of Pd NPs were significantly higher than the Pd (II) acetate (p < 0.05). At the same concentration of 640 μg/mL, the scavenging activities were 32.9 ± 3.2% (Pd (II) acetate) and 27.2 ± 2.1% (Pd NPs). For A549 cells treated 48 h with Pd NPs, Pd (II) acetate, and cisplatin, the measured concentration necessary causing 50% cell death (IC 50 ) was 7.2 ± 1.7 μg/mL, 32.1 ± 2.1 μg/mL, and 206.2 ± 3.5 μg/mL, respectively. On HSkMC cells, the IC 50 of the Pd NPs (320 μg/mL) was higher compared to Pd (II) acetate (228.7 ± 3.6 μg/mL), which confirmed lower cytotoxicity of the Pd NPs.

Synthesis of (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES)-functionalized graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets, statistical optimization of conditions for immobilization of Bacillus atrophaeus lipase (BaL) on as-synthesized support, and application of the immobilized BaL for esterification of valeric acid were carried out in this investigation. The optimum specific activity of the immobilized BaL (81.60 ± 0.28 U mg -1 ) was achieved at 3 mg mL -1 of GO-NH 2 , 50 mM of phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, 60 min sonication time, 100 mM glutaraldehyde, 25 U mL -1 of enzyme, and 8 h immobilization time at 4 °C. The immobilized BaL retained about 90% of its initial activity after 10 days of storage. Moreover, about 70% of the initial activity of the immobilized BaL was retained after 10 cycles of application. The results of esterification studies exhibited that maximum pentyl valerate synthesis using the free BaL (34.5%) and the immobilized BaL (92.7%) occurred in the organic solvent medium (xylene) after 48 h of incubation at 60 °C.