Search

Religion and its practices have been duly implicated in treating not only problems related to medical health, rather, intervening and preventing such problems as well. In the present article, the authors have reviewed significance of the Islamic prayers (Salah/Namaaz) in healthcare in general and mental health in particular. The nature, procedures, practices and the benefits of Salah have been comprehensively described and discussed. In addition, an attempt to combine yoga and its practices with Salah has been made for intervening and preventing the problems of mental health as an expeditious tool. In upshot, the clinicians in the field of mental health care have been suggested to incorporate these two viewpoints in their intervention program, at least, for the Muslim patients for a more desirable outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chitosan-based hydrogels have gained considerable attention in biomedical research due to their inherent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxicity. When combined with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), the resulting hydrogels exhibit superior mechanical strength, elasticity, and swelling capacity, making them highly suitable for a range of applications, including wound healing, tissue engineering, and controlled drug delivery. In this study, we synthesized and characterized a novel PVA/gelatin/chitosan (PVA/G/C) hydrogel composite using a series of analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). The morphological, structural, and compositional analyses confirmed the successful formation of a homogenous, porous network conducive to cell proliferation and nutrient diffusion. In this study, polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin/chitosan-based hydrogels were prepared to study the potential for micro-tissue formation and wound healing application using Danio rerio gill (DrG) and Danio rerio fin (DrF) cell lines, respectively. Overall, the findings indicated the potential use of PVA/G/C hydrogel films as wound dressings. The idea of creating physically cross-linked hydrogels of PVA and chitosan without using any harmful organic chemicals or solvents is the novelty of this work. This study highlights the versatility and potential of PVA/G/C hydrogels, not only as a promising material for wound healing and drug delivery but also as an effective scaffold for tissue engineering applications., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval: Ethical approval was not required for this research. Consent to participate: All participants gave their consent to participate. Consent for publication: The manuscript has never been published in other journals. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Society for In Vitro Biology.)

In Canada and across the globe, access to PSMA PET/CT is limited and expensive. For patients with biochemical recurrence (BCR) after treatment for prostate cancer, novel strategies are needed to better stratify patients who may or may not benefit from a PSMA PET scan. The role of the free-to-total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ratio (FPSAR) in posttreatment prostate cancer, specifically in the PSMA PET/CT era, remains unknown. Our aim in this study was to determine the association of FPSAR in patients referred for 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT in the BCR setting and assess the correlation between FPSAR and 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT positivity (local recurrence or distant metastases). Methods: This prospective study included 137 patients who were referred for 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT and had BCR with a total PSA of less than 1 ng/mL after radical prostatectomy (RP) (including adjuvant or salvage radiotherapy). Blood samples were collected on the day of 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT. FPSAR was categorized as less than 0.10 or as 0.10 or more. A positive 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT scan was defined by a PROMISE classification lesion score of 2 or 3, irrespective of the site of increased tracer uptake (e.g., prostate, pelvic nodes, bone, or viscera). Results: Overall, 137 blood samples of patients with BCR after RP were analyzed to calculate FPSAR. The median age at 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT was 68.6 y (interquartile range, 63.0-72.4 y), and the median PSA at 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT was 0.3 ng/mL (interquartile range, 0.3-0.6 ng/mL). Eighty-six patients (62.8%) had an FPSAR of less than 0.10, whereas 51 patients (37.2%) had an FPSAR of 0.10 or more. An FPSAR of 0.10 or more was identified as an independent predictor of a positive 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT scan, with an odds ratio of 6.99 (95% CI, 2.96-16.51; P < 0.001). Conclusion: An FPSAR of 0.10 or more after RP independently correlated with increased odds of a positive 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT scan among BCR post-RP patients. These findings may offer an inexpensive method by which to triage access to 18 F-DCFPyL PSMA PET/CT in jurisdictions where availability is not replete., (© 2024 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.)

In this work, silver nanoparticles have been synthesized with an average particle size of 35 nm, within 90s, using microwave and Sapindus mukorossi extract as a stabilizing agent. The AgNps were surface immobilized on eggshells (ES) to obtain Ag@ES, which was characterized by UV-Vis, UV-DRS, FT-IR, ICP-OES, TGA-DSC, SEM-EDX, XRD and XPS. Its applicability as an environmental catalyst was evaluated by Cr (VI) adsorption, photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange, eriochrome black-T, methylene blue, rhodamine-B as model dyes and microbial inhibition against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. The results revealed that Ag@ES exhibited maximum adsorption capacity of 93 mg/g for Cr (VI) ion and degradation efficiency of ~90-98% for removing anionic and cationic dyes. Further, it showed a minimum inhibitory concentration of 15.6, 7.8 and 31.2 μg/mL for S. aureus, E. coli and C. albicans respectively. Moreover, the Ag@ES being a heterogeneous catalyst can be regenerated and reused without significant loss in its efficiency., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Nanostructure materials are of interest in last few decades due to their unique size-dependent physio-chemical properties. In this paper, zinc oxide (ZnO) and barium doped ZnO nanodisks (NDs) were synthesized using sonochemical method and characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), UV-vis absorption and dielectric measurements. The XRD and FTIR studies confirm the crystalline nature of ZnO NDs, and the average crystallite size was found to be ~25 nm for pure ZnO and ~22 nm for Ba doped ZnO NDs. SEM study confirmed the spherical shaped ZnO NDs with average sizes in the range of 20-30 nm. The maximum absorbance was obtained in the 200-500 nm regions with a prominent peak absorbance were observed by UV-vis spectra. The corresponding band gap for ZnO NDs and Ba doped ZnO NDs were calculated using Tauc's plot and was found to be 3.12 and 3.04, respectively. The conductivity and dielectric measurements as a function of frequency have been studied.

In the present work, we have utilized a simple, no-cost, unmodified eggshell powder as a naked-eye colorimetric detector, which on simple dispersion in aqueous solution of metal ions exhibited characteristic color change from white to pale green, pale blue, yellow, pale yellow, dark yellow, pale pink, blue, and brown for metal ions V 4+ , Cr 3+ , Cr 6+ , Fe 2+ , Fe 3+ , Co 2+ , Cu 2+ , and Ag + , respectively. The effects of various parameters like concentration of metal ions, pH, temperature, and adsorbent dosage were investigated by batch sorption experiments. Also, Freundlich and Langmuir models were used to describe the adsorption isotherm. The eggshell powder before and after adsorption was characterized qualitatively by the naked-eye and quantitatively by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy-UV, Fourier transform infrared, atomic absorption spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, zeta potential, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. In addition, the competitive adsorption of metal ions in mixtures and the recycle experiments were carried out to prove the sustainability of the material. Further, the red, green, and blue alterations were extracted from the colorimetric array and subjected to hierarchical clustering analysis using the Ward method by calculating the Euclidean distance, which displayed facile discrimination of 10 heavy metal ions at 1 mM level. Thus, the unmodified eggshell powder has been proven to be an impressive value-added sustainable material for synergistic metal adsorption and colorimetric naked-eye detection of a series of metal ions with detection limits of 10 -4 M for Fe 3+ , Fe 2+ , and Cu 2+ ; 10 -3 M for Cr 3+ , Cr 6+ , Ag + , and Co 2+ ; and 5 × 10 -3 M for V 4+ .

Quantum dots have now become the most important candidates and widely exploited as promising architectures for use as diagnostic and imaging agents in biomedicine and as semiconductors in the electronics industry. This article emphasizes on the aqueous synthesis of water soluble CdSe/CdS/ZnS core/shell/shell quantum dots with L-cysteine and mercaptopropionic acid as capping agent and their observed properties have been compared. The biocompatibility of the assynthesized quantum dots have also been analyzed through the cytotoxicity study using MTT assay. The structural, morphological and optical properties of these quantum dots have been examined through X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis) and Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). The capping of L-cysteine and mercaptopropionic acid on the quantum dots has been confirmed from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). XRD results demonstrated the formation of hexagonal wurtzite structure for L-cysteine and cubic zinc blende structure for mercaptopropionic acid capped CdSe/CdS/ZnS quantum dots. From the optical measurements, it is observed that there is a considerable increase in the photoluminescence intensity of L-cysteine capped quantum dots than MPA. The HRTEM images revealed the narrow size distribution and in addition, L-cysteine capped quantum dots were found to be more biocompatible than mercaptopropionic acid capped quantum dots which would provide new opportunities for applications in bioimaging and biolabelling.

A series of heteroleptic metal(II) complexes of formulation [M(Tm)(diimine)](ClO 4 ) (1-8), [Tm = hydrotris(methimazolyl)borate, diimine = 2,2'-bipyridyl or 1,10-phenanthroline and M = Mn(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) or Zn(II)] have been synthesized and characterized by spectroscopic methods. The geometric parameters of the complexes were determined using UV-Vis spectroscopy and DFT calculations. The analyses of HOMO and LUMO have been used to explain the charge transfer within the molecule. Antimicrobial activity of the synthesized heteroleptic complexes were evaluated against two Gram (-ve) (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae) and two Gram (+ve) (Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus) bacterial, and three fungal (Candida albicans, Candida glabrata and Candida krusei) strains with respect to the standard drugs erythromycin and amphotericin-B. The copper(II) complex 6 showed better scavenging activity against DPPH when compared to other complexes. The cytotoxic activity of copper(II) complexes 5 and 6 against MCF-7 cell line was assessed by MTT assay, which showed exponential responses toward increasing concentration of complexes. In the molecular docking studies, the complexes showed π-π, σ-π, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals and electrostatic interactions with FGFR kinase receptor., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Phytofabricated green synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles using different plant extracts of Azadirachta indica, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Murraya koenigii, Moringa oleifera, and Tamarindus indica for biological applications has been reported. ZnO nanoparticles were also synthesized by chemical method to compare the efficiency of the green synthesized nanoparticles. FT-IR spectra confirmed the functional groups involved in the green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles and the powder XRD patterns of the ZnO nanoparticles revealed pure wurtzite structure with preferred orientation at (100) reflection plane. SEM and TEM analysis revealed the spherical shape of the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles with the particle size between 54 and 27 nm. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by five different free radical scavenging assays. The present study also intends to screen α-amylase and α-glucosidase activity of ZnO nanoparticles synthesized using natural sources, which may minimize the toxicity and side effects of the inhibitors used to control diabetes. The ZnO nanoparticles synthesized using T. indica extract displayed remarkable antioxidant and antidiabetic activities.

Copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles were synthesized by green chemistry approach using different plant extracts obtained from the leaves of Azadirachta indica, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, Murraya koenigii, Moringa oleifera and Tamarindus indica. In order to compare their efficiency, the same copper oxide nanoparticles was also synthesized by chemical method. Phytochemical screening of the leaf extracts showed the presence of carbohydrates, flavonoids, glycosides, phenolic compounds, saponins, tannins, proteins and amino acids. FT IR spectra confirmed the possible biomolecules responsible for the formation of copper oxide nanoparticles. The surface plasmon resonance absorption band at 220-235nm in the UV-vis spectra also supports the formation of copper oxide nanoparticles. XRD patterns revealed the monoclinic phase of the synthesized copper oxide nanoparticles. The average size, shape and the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles were determined by SEM, TEM and SAED analysis. EDX analysis confirmed the presence of elements in the synthesized nanoparticles. The antioxidant activity was evaluated by three different free radical scavenging assays. The cytotoxicity of copper oxide nanoparticles was evaluated against four cancer cell lines such as human breast (MCF-7), cervical (HeLa), epithelioma (Hep-2) and lung (A549), and one normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF) cell line. The morphological changes were evaluated using Hoechst 33258 staining assay. Copper oxide nanoparticles synthesized by green method exhibited high antioxidant and cytotoxicity than that synthesized by chemical method., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Biodegradable polymeric hydrogels are a unique class of macromolecular networks that can hold a large fraction of an aqueous solvent within their structures. They are particularly suitable for biomedical applications including controlled drug delivery, because of their ability to stimulate biological tissues. Many hydrogel-based networks have been designed and fabricated to meet the needs of pharmaceutical and medical fields. The investigation deals with the environment friendly synthesis of biodegradable semi interpenetrating hydrogel networks based on cross-linked poly(acrylamide) through an optimized rapid redox solution polymerization with N, N'Methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) in presence of Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC).The silver nanoparticles within hydrogel networks as nano reactors have been prepared by green synthesis via insitu reduction of silver nitrate (AgNO 3 ) using Azadirachta Indica (Neem) plant extract under atmospheric conditions. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterised by FTIR spectroscopy, UV-Visible Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. The thermal properties of the nanocomposite was analyzed by Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA). The pH response and drug release profile of the synthesised biodegradable Silver-Hydrogel nanocomposite was investigated. Further, it was observed that physicochemical interaction between the polymeric nanocomposites and drug influences the degree of matrix swelling and therefore, its porosity and diffusion release process., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Methacrylonitrile (MeAN) is a plastic monomer. Its effect on membrane bound enzymes like Na+K+ -ATPase, Ca2+ -ATPase, Mg2+ -ATPase, NADH dehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and various elements like sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), and calcium (Ca2+) in rat brain were studied. Administration of 50 mg/kg body weight/day (0.25 LD50) and 100 mg/kg body weight/day (0.5 LD50) by gavage to rats for 7 days resulted in a significant decrease in activities of Na+K+ -ATPase, Ca2+ -ATPase, Mg2+ -ATPase, and NADH dehydrogenase. A significant reduction in calcium content, potassium content and a significant increase in sodium content and alkaline phosphatase activity in MeAN treated animals were observed. Inhibition of membrane bound enzymes occurred due to either direct effect of MeAN or indirect effect of changes in ionic homeostasis in MeAN treated animals.