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This study developed a new dual delivery system of naringenin (NRG), a polyphenol, and doxofylline (DOX), a xanthine derivative, as an inhaled microsphere system. In this system, NRG has been first loaded into glyceryl tristearate-based solid lipid nanoparticles (NRG SLN), which were further loaded with DOX into swellable chitosan-tripolyphosphate-based microspheres (NRG SLN DOX sMS). The system was characterized based on particle size, PDI, zeta potential, surface morphology (SEM, AFM, and TEM), solid-state and chemical properties (XRD, IR, and NMR), aerodynamic parameters, drug loading, entrapment efficiency and in vitro drug release study. The optimized NRG SLN DOX sMS exhibited particle size, zeta potential, and PDI of 2.1 µm, 31.2 mV, and 0.310, respectively; a drug entrapment efficiency > 79 %; a drug loading efficiency > 13 %; cumulative drug releases of about 78 % for DOX and 72 % for NRG after 6 and 12 h, respectively; good swelling and desirable aerodynamic properties. In addition, in vivo studies conducted in mice, a murine model of asthma showed significant reductions in serum bicarbonate and eosinophil counts and improvement in respiratory flow rate, tidal volume, and bronchial wall lining compared with the asthmatic control group. Overall, this novel inhalable dual-delivery system may represent a good alternative for the effective treatment of asthma., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Cancer is the leading cause of human disease and death worldwide, accounting for 7.6 million deaths per year and projected to reach 13.1 million by 2030. Many phytochemicals included in traditional medicine have been utilized in the management of cancer. Conventional chemotherapy is generally known to be the most effective treatment of metastatic cancer but these cancerous cells might grow resistant to numerous anticancer drugs over time that resulting in treatment failure. This review tried to portray the advancement in the anticancer and chemopreventive effects of several phytochemicals and some of its members encapsulated in the nano-based delivery system of the drug. It comprises the issue associated with limited use of each phytoconstituents in human cancer treatment are discussed, and the benefits of entrapment into nanocarriers are evaluated in terms of drug loading efficiency, nanocarrier size, release profile of the drug, and in vitro and/or in vivo research and treatment testing, such as cytotoxicity assays and cell inhibition/viability., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Kidney stones are becoming more prevalent worldwide in adults and children. The most common type of kidney stone is comprised of calcium oxalate (CaOx) crystals. Crystalluria occurs when urine becomes supersaturated with minerals (e.g., calcium, oxalate, phosphate) and precedes kidney stone formation. Standard methods to assess crystalluria in stone formers include microscopy, filtration, and centrifugation. However, these methods primarily detect microcrystals and not nanocrystals. Nanocrystals have been suggested to be more harmful to kidney epithelial cells than microcrystals in vitro. Here, we describe the ability of Nanoparticle Tracking analysis (NTA) to detect human urinary nanocrystals. Healthy adults were fed a controlled oxalate diet prior to drinking an oxalate load to stimulate urinary nanocrystals. Urine was collected for 24 hours before and after the oxalate load. Samples were processed and washed with ethanol to purify samples. Urinary nanocrystals were stained with the calcium binding fluorophore, Fluo-4 AM. After staining, the size and count of nanocrystals were determined using NTA. The findings from this study show NTA can efficiently detect nanocrystalluria in healthy adults. These findings suggest NTA could be a valuable early detection method of nanocrystalluria in patients with kidney stone disease.

Amphotericin B is a gold standard drug used in various fungal and parasitic infection treatment. Most of the marketed formulations are administered intravenously, but show dose-dependent adverse effects i.e., nephrotoxicity and hemolysis. Oral route eliminates the toxic concern but exhibits poor bioavailability. Therefore, ethylcellulose nanoparticles (EC-NPs) have been used for magnified oral delivery of AmB, where EC provides gastrointestinal stability. These nanoparticles were synthesized by high-pressure emulsification solvent evaporation (HPESE) method and evaluated for in vitro and in vivo studies. This method yields small, monodisperse AmB-EC-NPs along with smooth surface morphology and improved encapsulation efficiency. The developed formulation showed a sustained release pattern following Higuchi diffusion kinetics along with gastric and storage stability. Aggregation study revealed that AmB was present in its monomeric form inside the biocompatible EC matrix. The antifungal result demonstrated that the MIC of AmB-EC-NPs was reduced ∼1/3rd than AmB and Fungizone® at 24 h whereas it was observed ∼1/8th at 48 h. in vivo pharmacokinetic analysis demonstrated 1.3-fold higher AUC than Fungizone® even at a 4.5-time lesser dose via the oral route and a ∼15-fold rise in the bioavailability in contrast to the native AmB. The hemolytic study revealed that the developed formulation exhibited 8-fold lesser hemolysis than Fungizone®. Furthermore, the biosafety profile of AmB-EC-NPs was ensured by the significantly lesser level of blood urea nitrogen and plasma creatinine along with the normal pattern of renal tubules in comparison to AmB and Fungizone®. In conclusion, the results stipulated that the AmB-EC-NPs could be effective, viable and a better alternative to currently existing iv formulations, for magnified oral delivery of AmB in the treatment of fungal infection without associated adverse effects., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.)

In this paper, electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was applied to investigate the stability of oil-in-water (O/W) Pickering emulsions prepared with negatively charged silica nanoparticles in combination with a trace amount of redox switchable fluorescent molecules, ferrocene azine (FcA). Electrical impedance values of emulsions obtained at different emulsification speeds were estimated according to the frequency response data with frequencies ranging from 1 MHz to 1 Hz. The equivalent circuit model of toluene-in-water emulsion was established by the resistor (R O/W ) and capacitor (C O/W ) in parallel connection. Nyquist diagrams for the emulsions prepared by toluene and water were characterized by the formation of one semi-circle. The droplet size distribution is one of the important factors that affect the stability of the emulsion, except for the volume fraction of water and oil, the size of stabilizing particles, etc. The average particle size of the emulsion droplets decreased as the emulsification speed increased, indicating the higher stability of the emulsion. It was found that the fitted impedance value R O/W of the emulsion decreased with decreasing particle size prepared at different emulsification speeds and storage time by performing real-time EIS detection techniques. The results suggested that EIS could be used to characterize the stability of a toluene-in-water emulsion stabilized by FcA modified silica nanoparticles. Moreover, based on the good electrochemical activity of the FcA molecule, the stability of the Pickering emulsion can be modulated by adding oxidant and reductant and detected by EIS in real-time.

Increasing recognition of the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of many clinical conditions and the existence of defined redox potential in healthy tissues has led to extensive research in the development of redox-responsive materials for biomedical applications. Especially, considerable growth has been seen in the fabrication of polymeric nanogel-based drug delivery carriers utilizing redox-responsive cross-linkers bearing a variety of functional groups via various synthetic strategies. Redox-responsive polymeric nanogels provide an advantage of facile chemical modification post synthesis and exhibit a remarkable response to biological redox stimuli. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the subject, a more profound combined conceptual knowledge from a chemical and biological point of view is imperative for the rational design of redox-responsive nanogels. The present review provides an insight into the design and fabrication of redox-responsive nanogels with particular emphasis on synthetic strategies utilized for the development of redox-responsive cross-linkers, polymerization techniques being followed for nanogel development and biomedical applications. Cooperative effect of redox trigger with other stimuli such as pH and temperature in the evolution of dual and triple stimuli-responsive nanogels is also discussed., (© 2019 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Polymeric self-assemblies formed by non-covalent interactions such as hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking, host-guest and electrostatic interactions have been utilised widely and exhibit controlled release of encapsulated drug. Beside carrier-carrier interactions, small molecule amphiphiles exhibiting carrier-drug interactions have recently been an area of interest for cancer drug delivery, as most of the hydrophobic anti-tumour drugs are aromatic and exhibit π-π conjugated structure. In the present study PEG-coumarin (PC) conjugates forming self-assembled nanoaggregates were synthesised with PEG (polyethylene glycol) as hydrophilic block and coumarin as small molecule lipophilic segment. Curcumin (CUR) as model conjugated aromatic drug was loaded in to the nanoaggregates via dual hydrophobic and π-π stacking interactions. The interactions between the conjugates and CUR, drug release profile and in vitro anti-tumour efficacy were investigated in detail. CUR-loaded nanoaggregate self-assembly was driven by π-π interactions and a maximum loading level of about 18 wt.% (~60 % encapsulation efficiency) was achieved. The average hydrodynamic diameter (D av ) was in the range of 120-160 nm and a spherical morphology was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A sustained release of CUR was observed for 90 h. Cytotoxicity evaluation of CUR-loaded nanoaggregates on pancreatic cancer cell lines indicated higher efficacy, IC 50 ~11 and ~15 μM as compared to free CUR, IC 50 ~14 and ~20 μM on human pancreatic carcinoma (MIA PaCa-2) and human pancreatic duct epithelioid carcinoma (PANC-1) cell lines respectively. PC conjugates provided a new strategy of fabricating nanoparticles for drug delivery and may form the basis for the development of advanced biomaterials in near future.

Treatment regimens for cancer patients using single chemotherapeutic agents often lead to undesirable toxicity, drug resistance, reduced uptake etc. Combination of two or more drugs is therefore becoming an imperative strategy to overcome these limitations. A step forward can be taken through delivery of the drugs used in combination via nanoparticles. Co-administration of chemotherapeutic drugs encapsulated in nanoparticles has been shown to result in synergistic effects and enhanced therapeutic efficacy. In present study, we explored the combination treatment of histone deacetylase inhibitor vorinostat (VOR) and topoisomerase II inhibitor etoposide (ETOP). The concurrent combination treatment of VOR and ETOP resulted in synergistic effect on human cervical HeLa cancer cells. VOR and ETOP were encapsulated into poly(ethylene glycol) monomethacrylate (POEOMA)-based disulfide cross-linked nanogels. The nanogels were synthesized using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) via cyclohexane/water inverse mini-emulsion and were degradable in presence of intracellular glutathione (GSH) concentration. Both the drugs were loaded into the nanogels by physical encapsulation method and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Both VOR- and ETOP-loaded nanogels showed sustained release profile. Furthermore, combination treatment drugs encapsulated of POEOMA nanogel demonstrated enhanced synergistic cytotoxic effect compared with combination of free drugs. Enhanced synergistic cell killing efficiency of drug-loaded POEOMA nanogels was due to increased apoptosis via caspase 3/7 activation. Therefore, combination of VOR- and ETOP-loaded PEG-based biodegradable nanogels may provide a promising therapy with enhanced anticancer effect.

Aim: The aim of the novel study was to check the efficacy of a locally applied 2%w/w nanoemulgel (NEG) of Ketoprofen (KP) in preventing the periodontitis, and was also checked NEG without KP to ensure the effect of eugenol in NEG as an oil phase., Design: For experimentally induced periodontitis, sterile silk ligatures (3/0) were placed around the crevices of the first left lower molar teeth of the male Wistar rats. During 8 weeks, all rats were fed with 10%w/v sucrose solution. The experimental assessment was carried out at 11 d after treatment of experimental periodontal disease (EPD) rats by various clinical parameters like gingival index (GI), tooth mobility (TM), alveolar bone loss (ABL), histological analysis, detection of TNF-α, and IL-1β in gingival tissue by ELISA and the roughness were measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) in tapping modes., Results: After treatment, comparison studies with EPD were performed. NEG loaded with KP prevents significantly (p < 0.05) various parameters (GI, TM, and ABL), which were responsible for periodontitis. The histopathology of the periodontium showed that Group 3 (NEG loaded with KP) had a more significant reduction in inflammatory cell infiltration, alveolar bones resorption, and cementum (p < 0.05). In the topographical images, significant reduction in roughness of NEG loaded with KP was observed in comparison with EPD without treatment., Conclusion: The study revealed the great synergistic potential of the combined NEG of an anti-inflammatory drug KP along with eugenol as the oil phase, which have potential antibacterial, analgesic, and anesthetic properties to combat periodontal disease.

Medicinal chemistry and synthetic organic chemistry rely primarily on C-N bonds for their structures because a variety of biologically active compounds, including natural products and synthetic molecules, contain N-heterocyclic as subunits, and they have been assigned a privileged position in drug development due to their improved solubility and ability to form salts, both of which contribute to oral absorption and bio-availability. In recent years, the copper-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions have progressed rapidly with inexpensive, readily available, insensitive to air, and low-toxicity copper catalysts. The copper-catalyzed coupling strategy has been used to make N-heterocycles, and a wide range of applications have been investigated with excellent functional group tolerance. The current review explores the direct C-N bond formation and cyclization approaches used to fabricate triazole, tetrazole, and various other N-heterocyclic derivatives that are catalyzed by magnetically retrievable copper (II)-impregnated silica-coated iron oxide nanocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract An improved amperometric sarcosine biosensor was constructed based on covalent immobilization of sarcosine oxidase nanoparticles (SOxNPs) onto gold electrode (AuE). The SOxNPs/AuE was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) at different stages of its construction. The biosensor worked optimally within 2 s at a potential of 1.0 V, against Ag/AgCl, pH 6.5 and 35 °C. A linear relationship was observed between sarcosine concentration range, 0.1–100 μM and the biosensor response i.e. current in mA under optimum conditions. The biosensor offered a low detection limit of 0.01 μM and gratifying storage stability. The SOxNPs/AuE was unaffected by a number of serum substances at their physiological concentrations. The biosensor measured sarcosine level in sera collected from persons suffering from prostate cancer (mean13.5 μM, n = 8), which was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than those in apparently healthy persons (mean 2.2 μM, n = 8). The SOxNPs/Au electrode was reused 300- times during the span of 180 days, with only 10% loss in its initial activity while being stored dry at 4 °C. Highlights • Prepared and characterized sarcosine oxidase nanoparticles (SOxNPs). • Constructed an improved amperometric sarcosine biosensor (SOxNPs/AuE) for detection of prostate cancer. • The limit of detection and response time of biosensor was 0.01 μM and 2 s respectively. • The biosensor was evaluated and applied for the determination of blood/serum sarcosine. • SOxNPs/Au electrode lost only 10% of its initial activity after 180 days storage at 4 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Polymeric self-assemblies formed by non-covalent interactions such as hydrophobic interactions, hydrogen bonding, π–π stacking, host-guest and electrostatic interactions have been utilised widely and exhibit controlled release of encapsulated drug. Beside carrier-carrier interactions, small molecule amphiphiles exhibiting carrier-drug interactions have recently been an area of interest for cancer drug delivery, as most of the hydrophobic anti-tumour drugs are aromatic and exhibit π–π conjugated structure. In the present study PEG-coumarin (PC) conjugates forming self-assembled nanoaggregates were synthesised with PEG (polyethylene glycol) as hydrophilic block and coumarin as small molecule lipophilic segment. Curcumin (CUR) as model conjugated aromatic drug was loaded in to the nanoaggregates via dual hydrophobic and π–π stacking interactions. The interactions between the conjugates and CUR, drug release profile andin vitroanti-tumour efficacy were investigated in detail. CUR-loaded nanoaggregate self-assembly was driven by π–π interactions and a maximum loading level of about 18 wt.% (~60 % encapsulation efficiency) was achieved. The average hydrodynamic diameter (Dav) was in the range of 120–160 nm and a spherical morphology was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A sustained release of CUR was observed for 90 h. Cytotoxicity evaluation of CUR-loaded nanoaggregates on pancreatic cancer cell lines indicated higher efficacy, IC50~11 and ~15 μM as compared to free CUR, IC50~14 and ~20 μM on human pancreatic carcinoma (MIA PaCa-2) and human pancreatic duct epithelioid carcinoma (PANC-1) cell lines respectively. PC conjugates provided a new strategy of fabricating nanoparticles for drug delivery and may form the basis for the development of advanced biomaterials in near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Role of copper oxide nanoparticles as catalyst in organic transformations. • C–N coupling reactions catalysed by CuO nanoparticles. • Year wise comprehensive overview of the CuO- catalyzed C–N coupling reactions from 2016 to present. Molecules that contain nitrogen are very important because of their tremendous role in the synthesis of heterocycles, medicinal chemistry, natural products, ligands, and catalyst synthesis. In synthetic chemistry research, Cu-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions that create C–N bonds have become a significant method for the fabrication of anilines and aniline derivatives as well as the most important class of nitrogen-containing compounds. The demand for nitrogen-containing molecules increases day by day in material chemistry and chemical biology. The C–N bond formation is crucial because it allows the entrance of nitrogen into the organic compounds, and it is extremely vital in aromatic compounds and has proven difficult for synthetic chemists. Nanomaterials catalyzed C–N coupling have attracted researchers very much due to their greener approach. The present review depicts a comprehensive overview of the copper oxide nanoparticles catalyzed C–N bond formation (2016-Present). This would be very useful for the researcher working with Cu-containing nanoparticles in catalysis, cross-coupling reactions, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Ferrite–PANI nano-composites were prepared by in-situ polymerization technique. • The average crystallite size was estimated in 20–30 nm range using Rietveld refinement. • Highest magnetization has been observed in Ni 0.7 Zn 0.3 Fe 2 O 4 sample. • Ni 0.7 Zn 0.3 Fe 2 O 4 -PANI nano-composite shows highest Shielding Effectiveness of 60 dB. • Ferrite-PANI deposited fabrics show promising results for EMI shielding applications. ga1 Ferrite–PANI composites were prepared via in-situ polymerization. Nano particles of Ni 1−x Zn x Fe 2 O 4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.4) have been prepared by the sol-gel technique. Composites were made by in-situ polymerization of aniline monomer in the presence of ferrite nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction analysis of ferrite nanoparticles confirmed the existence of spinel nature with phase formation at very low annealing temperature. The presence of both the phases in composites was confirmed by XRD analysis. The average crystallite size was estimated in 20–30 nm range using Rietveld refinement. Magnetic hysteresis loops recorded at room temperature for ferrites as well as their composites showed that the magnetization first increased up to Zn = 0.3 and then started decreasing with increasing Zn concentration. The electromagnetic interference shielding behavior has been investigated for composite samples in the X-band frequency region. With the amalgamation of ferrite nanoparticles (50 wt%) in the PANI, a very high shielding effectiveness of 60 dB has been attained which indicates more than 99.9% of incident EM radiation get attenuated by the composites having high permeability and magnetic/electric losses. Magnetic and dielectric coated fabrics were prepared during in-situ polymerization of the composites. Ferrite-PANI coated fabrics of thickness 0.30 mm demonstrated high shielding effectiveness of 40–48 dB. Hence, high performance electromagnetic interference shielding ferrite-polyaniline nano composites and coated fabrics have been synthesized successfully for applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The functionalized molecules with specific molecular sites appear to be a promising approach for detection of cation in UV–visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. The synthesized receptor 4-((5-methylfuran-2-yl)methylene)hydrazono)methyl)phenol MFMHMP was found selective for La 3+ among Ag + , K + , Na + , Be 2+ , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , Eu 3+ , Al 3+ , La 3+ , Zr 4+ , Th 4+ , UO 2 2+ , Fe 3+ , Fe 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Cu 2+ , Zn 2+ , Cd 2+ and Hg 2+ metal ions used as their nitrates by UV–visible spectroscopy and fluorescence spectroscopy. The binding nature of MFMHMP with La 3+ ion was analyzed by UV–visible, fluorescence, IR, mass spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetric studies. The stoichiometry was established to be 1:1 by Benesi-Hildebrand, mole-ratio method and method of continuous variation (Job's method) with good association affinity K = 6.245 × 10 4  M −1 . Computational studies and Density functional theory (DFT) calculation gives the proof of electron transfer during excitation and emission. Binding energy of complex through Density Function Theory −62.387 kcal/mol has also indication of strong binding. The electron transfer energy of Higher occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) to Lower unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) is about 4.662 eV for MFMHMP+La 3+ Complex. Among that all transitions HOMO → LUMO + 8 and HOMO → LUMO + 9 play a key role for the blue shift transition during complexation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recycling of spent domestic batteries has gained a great environmental significance. In the present research, we propose a new and simple technique for the recovery of high-purity zinc oxide nanoparticles from the electrode waste of spent alkaline Zn–MnO 2 batteries. The electrode material was collected by the manual dismantling and mixed with 5 M HCl for reaction with a phosphine oxide reagent Cyanex 923® at 250 °C for 30 min. The desired ZnO nanoparticles were restored from the Zn-Cyanex 923 complex through an ethanolic precipitation step. The recovered particle product with about 5 nm diameter exhibited fluorescent properties (emission peak at 400 nm) when excited by UV radiation (excitation energy of 300 nm). Thus, the proposed technique offered a simple and efficient route for recovering high purity ZnO nanoparticles from spent alkaline batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platinum nanoparticle (NP)-functionalized flower-like mesoporous SnO 2 with a high specific surface area (31.6 m2g–1) and large pore diameter (32.5 nm) was synthesized using a double-template technique. The presence of Pt NPs was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Pt NPs with a size distribution of 2–4 nm were anchored on mesopores of the pre-synthesized three-dimensional SnO 2 nanoflowers upon physical mixing. The resulting Pt NP-decorated three-dimensional SnO 2 mesoporous nanoflowers were incorporated into a gas sensor to detect H 2 S. The Pt–SnO 2 sensor exhibited enhanced gas sensing properties toward H 2 S, with a 100 ppb detection limit, fast response, low working temperature, excellent stability, and good selectivity. The 0.3 wt% Pt–SnO 2 sensor exhibited a high response and excellent selectivity to H 2 S at room temperature (response value to 5 ppm H 2 S at 30 °C was 160). The significant improvements in gas sensing properties were attributed to the synergistic effect of the mesoporous nanostructure induced by the double-template method and the catalytic sensitization of the Pt NPs. These findings offer guidance for designing mesoporous materials and low-temperature H 2 S sensors. Image 1 • A new synthesis strategy of 3D hierarchical mesoporous SnO 2 nanoflowers via double-template technique was firstly reported. • Small Pt nanoparticles (2∼4 nm) were prepared and anchored onto the mesopores of the 3D SnO 2 nanoflowers by physical mixing. • The mesoporous Pt-SnO 2 sensor fabricated exhibits good selectivity towards H 2 S gas at room temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]