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Abstract Background Lung cancer ranks as one of the most rapidly growing malignancies. Which is characterized by its poor prognosis and a low survival rate due to late diagnosis and limited efficacy of conventional treatments. In recent years nanotechnology has emerged as a promising frontier in the management of lung cancer, presenting novel strategies to enhance drug administration, improve therapeutic efficiency, and mitigate side effects. This research comprehensively evaluates the current state and research trends concerning the application of nanomaterials in lung cancer through bibliometric analysis. Materials and methods We employed a systematic approach by retrieving studies from the Scopus database that focused on nanomaterials and lung cancer between 2003 and 2023. Subsequently, we carefully selected relevant articles based on predetermined inclusion criteria. The selected publications were then subjected to bibliometric and visual analysis using softwares such as VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. Results A total of 3523 studies that meet inclusion criteria were selected for bibliometric analysis. We observed a progressive increase in the number of annual publications from 2003 to 2023, indicating the growing interest in this field. According to our analysis, China is the primary contributor to publication output among the countries. The “Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China” was the most influential institution. Among the authors, "Dr. Jack A. Roth” and “Dr. Huang Leaf” had the highest number of publications and cited publications, respectively. The “International Journal of Nanomedicine” was found to be the most prolific journal in this field. Additionally, “Biomaterials” emerged as the most cited journal. Through keyword analysis, we identified five main research themes and future research directions; nono-immunotherapy and green synthesis are the hot topics in this research field. Conclusion Our study summarized the key characteristics of publications in this field and identified the most influential countries, institutions, authors, journals, hot topics, and trends related to the application of nanomaterials in lung cancer. These findings contribute to the existing body of knowledge and serve as a foundation for future research endeavors in this area. More effective efforts are needed in this field to reduce the burden of lung cancer and help achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Abstract Carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and international emissions trading are both widely represented in climate change mitigation scenarios, but the interplay among them has not been closely examined. By systematically varying key policy and technology assumptions in a global energy-economic model, we find that CDR and international emissions trading are mutually reinforcing in deep decarbonization scenarios. This occurs because CDR potential is not evenly distributed geographically, allowing trade to unlock this potential, and because trading in a net-zero emissions world requires negative emissions, allowing CDR to enable trade. Since carbon prices change in the opposite direction as the quantity of permits traded and CDR deployed, we find that the total amount spent on emissions trading and the revenue received by CDR producers do not vary strongly with constraints on emissions trading or CDR. However, spending is more efficient and GDP is higher when both CDR and trading are available.

Abstract Background Dental pathogens play a crucial role in oral health issues, including tooth decay, gum disease, and oral infections, and recent research suggests a link between these pathogens and oral cancer initiation and progression. Innovative therapeutic approaches are needed due to antibiotic resistance concerns and treatment limitations. Methods We synthesized and analyzed piperine-coated zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-PIP NPs) using UV spectroscopy, SEM, XRD, FTIR, and EDAX. Antioxidant and antimicrobial effectiveness were evaluated through DPPH, ABTS, and MIC assays, while the anticancer properties were assessed on KB oral squamous carcinoma cells. Results ZnO-PIP NPs exhibited significant antioxidant activity and a MIC of 50 µg/mL against dental pathogens, indicating strong antimicrobial properties. Interaction analysis revealed high binding affinity with dental pathogens. ZnO-PIP NPs showed dose-dependent anticancer activity on KB cells, upregulating apoptotic genes BCL2, BAX, and P53. Conclusions This approach offers a multifaceted solution to combatting both oral infections and cancer, showcasing their potential for significant advancement in oral healthcare. It is essential to acknowledge potential limitations and challenges associated with the use of ZnO NPs in clinical applications. These may include concerns regarding nanoparticle toxicity, biocompatibility, and long-term safety. Further research and rigorous testing are warranted to address these issues and ensure the safe and effective translation of ZnO-PIP NPs into clinical practice.

This study seeks to explore the correlation between cortical activation and the Infinity Walk pattern, examining how the influence of foot overpronation and footwear may impact motor control. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a portable and user-friendly neuroimaging technique, was used to measure hemodynamical changes in six individuals with non-critical pronation degrees. Participants perform the Infinity Walk under various footwear conditions while wearing an fNIRS portable imaging device. Results indicate a consistent hemodynamic pattern in both hemispheres during the Infinity Walk, with no significant differences observed across subjects and footwear conditions in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), pre-motor area, the supplementary motor cortex (PMA & SMC), the primary motor cortex (PMC), and Wernicke’s area (WA). The impact of pronation and footwear on motor control remains inconclusive due to inconsistent hemodynamic patterns. Notably, the activation patterns in Broca’s area (BA) and the temporal gyrus (TG) differ significantly from other brain regions. The balanced hemodynamic responses in the bilateral hemispheres may be attributed to the Infinity Walk’s inherent walking pattern. These findings indicate a need for further investigation into the Infinity Walk to examine the similarities and distinctions in activation patterns within specific brain regions. Additionally, the impact of pronation necessitates more substantial experimental research to establish a correlation between pronation and cortical hemodynamics.

Background: Vigna unguiculata, belonging to the Fabaceae family, commonly known as cowpea is an important edible legume, distributed mainly across the African and Asian countries. Traditionally, the plant has an outstanding background for the management of multiple diseases, animal feeding and human consumption. Objective: This review aims to mainly focus on the traditional applications, pharmacological activities, phytochemistry as well as nutritious composition of the V. unguiculata. Methods: Data present in the literature on the V. unguiculata, were collected from major scientific databases including Science Direct, SpringerLink, Google Scholar, Medline Plus, Web of Science, PubMed and Elsevier. Results: Number of compounds have been isolated including flavonoids, steroids, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, saponins, fatty acids, tannins, carbohydrates, vitamins, amino acids, carotenoids and fibers from various parts of plant. These compounds exhibit widespread pharmacological potentials both in-vitro and in-vivo including anthelmintic, antibacterial, antinociceptive, thrombolytic, antidiabetic, hypocholestrolemic and antiatherogenic effect, antimicrobial, anti-sickling, antioxidant, anti-covid activity, anticancer and neurobehavioral activities. These compounds have strong pharmacological background and might be responsible for the traditional uses of this plant that are not investigated. Conclusion: It is concluded that V. unguiculata possessed strong pharmacological, nutritious and phytochemical potential, therefore, it is strongly recommended for additional comprehensive investigations in order to determine its clinical utility.

Inflammatory responses and oxidative stress damage the integrity of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which is a primary pathological modulator of neurodegenerative diseases. Brain endothelial cells are crucial components of BBB. In the present study, the effect of oxyresveratrol on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced brain endothelial (bEnd.3) cells was assessed. Our results showed that oxyresveratrol diminished protein expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and adhesion molecules including intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), nitric oxide (NO) production, and proinflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) in LPS-elicited bEnd.3 cells. These anti-inflammatory effects were mediated through suppressing nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways. In addition, we found that oxyresveratrol reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. To conclude, the current results demonstrated the protective role of oxyresveratrol against LPS-induced inflammation and oxidative stress in bEnd.3 cells, suggesting its potential effect for mitigating neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases.

IntroductionHigh-risk percutaneous coronary interventions (HRPCI) are a potential treatment option for patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and coronary artery disease. The extent to which such intervention is coupled with improvement in LVEF and associated with favorable outcomes is unknown.MethodsWe aimed to characterize the incidence and correlates of LVEF improvement after Impella-guided HRPCI, and compare clinical outcomes in patients with versus without LVEF improvement. Data on consecutive patients undergoing Impella-guided HRPCI from a single center registry were analyzed. LVEF-improvement was defined as an absolute increase of LVEF of ≥10% measured at ≥30‐days after intervention. The primary outcome was a composite of all‐cause death, myocardial infarction or target vessel revascularization within 1-year.ResultsOut of 161 consecutive patients undergoing Impella-guided HRPCI from June 2008 to December 2017, 43% (n = 70) demonstrated LVEF-improvement (baseline LVEF of 25.09 ± 6.19 to 33.30 ± 11.98 post intervention). Patients without LVEF-improvement had higher frequency of previous MI (61.5% vs. 37.1%, p = 0.0021), Q-waves on ECG (17.6% vs. 5.7%, p = 0.024) and higher SYNTAX scores (30.8 ± 17.6 vs. 25.2 ± 12.2; p = 0.043). After correction of these confounders by multivariable analysis, no significant differences were found regarding the composite endpoint in patients with versus without LVEF-improvement (34.9% vs. 38.3%; p = 0.48).DiscussionIn this single-center retrospective analysis, we report the following findings. First, LVEF improvement of at least 10% was documented in over 40% of patients undergoing Impella supported high-risk PCI. Second, a history of MI, Q-waves on admission ECG, and higher baseline SYNTAX scores were independent correlates of no LVEF improvement. Third, one year rates of adverse CV events were substantial and did not vary by the presence or absence of LVEF improvement Prospective studies with longer follow-up are needed to elucidate the impact of LVEF improvement on clinical outcomes.

Heparin is a negatively charged polysaccharide with various chain lengths and a hydrophilic backbone. Due to its fascinating chemical and physical properties, nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability, heparin has been extensively used in different fields of medicine, such as cardiovascular and hematology. This review highlights recent and future advancements in designing materials based on heparin for various biomedical applications. The physicochemical and mechanical properties, biocompatibility, toxicity, and biodegradability of heparin are discussed. In addition, the applications of heparin-based materials in various biomedical fields, such as drug/gene delivery, tissue engineering, cancer therapy, and biosensors, are reviewed. Finally, challenges, opportunities, and future perspectives in preparing heparin-based materials are summarized.

The process of developing of new drugs is greatly hampered by their inadequate physicochemical, pharmacokinetic, and intrinsic characteristics. In this regard, the selected chloro indolinone, (Z)-6-chloro-3-(2-chlorobenzylidene)indolin-2-one (C1), and nitro indolinone, (Z)-6-chloro-3-(2-nitrobenzylidene)indolin-2-one (C2), were subjected to SwissADME and density function theory (DFT) analysis. For compounds C1 and C2, the BOILED-Egg pharmacokinetic model predicted intestinal absorption, blood–brain barrier (BBB) penetration, and p-glycoprotein interaction. According to the physicochemical analysis, C1 has exceptional drug-like characteristics suitable for oral absorption. Despite only being substrates for some of the major CYP 450 isoforms, compounds C1 and C2 were anticipated to have strong plasma protein binding and efficient distribution and block these isoforms. The DFT study using the B3LYP/6-311G(d,p) approach with implicit water effects was performed to assess the structural features, electronic properties, and global reactivity parameters (GRP) of C1 and C2. The DFT results provided further support for other studies, implying that C2 is more water-soluble than C1 and that both compounds can form hydrogen bonds and (weak) dispersion interactions with other molecules, such as solvents and biomolecules. Furthermore, the GRP study suggested that C1 should be more stable and less reactive than C2. A concentration-dependent 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radical scavenging activity was shown by both C1 and C2. In brief, this finding has provided a strong foundation to explore further the therapeutic potential of these molecules against a variety of human disorders.

In this study, we explore the potential of using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) signals in conjunction with modern machine-learning techniques to classify specific anatomical movements to increase the number of control commands for a possible fNIRS-based brain-computer interface (BCI) applications. The study focuses on novel individual finger-tapping, a well-known task in fNIRS and fMRI studies, but limited to left/right or few fingers. Twenty-four right-handed participants performed the individual finger-tapping task. Data were recorded by using sixteen sources and detectors placed over the motor cortex according to the 10-10 international system. The event's average oxygenated Δ HbO and deoxygenated Δ HbR hemoglobin data were utilized as features to assess the performance of diverse machine learning (ML) models in a challenging multi-class classification setting. These methods include LDA, QDA, MNLR, XGBoost, and RF. A new DL-based model named “Hemo-Net” has been proposed which consists of multiple parallel convolution layers with different filters to extract the features. This paper aims to explore the efficacy of using fNRIS along with ML/DL methods in a multi-class classification task. Complex models like RF, XGBoost, and Hemo-Net produce relatively higher test set accuracy when compared to LDA, MNLR, and QDA. Hemo-Net has depicted a superior performance achieving the highest test set accuracy of 76%, however, in this work, we do not aim at improving the accuracies of models rather we are interested in exploring if fNIRS has the neural signatures to help modern ML/DL methods in multi-class classification which can lead to applications like brain-computer interfaces. Multi-class classification of fine anatomical movements, such as individual finger movements, is difficult to classify with fNIRS data. Traditional ML models like MNLR and LDA show inferior performance compared to the ensemble-based methods of RF and XGBoost. DL-based method Hemo-Net outperforms all methods evaluated in this study and demonstrates a promising future for fNIRS-based BCI applications.

Climate change (CC) is the menace of the hour impacting every facet of human existence. Regional CC and its impact studies are crucial in that they contribute to global change. The current study aims to investigate the prevalence of CC in Charsadda, Pakistan and its impact on vegetation and hydrology of the region to understand microclimate variability contribution to global CC. Utilizing local climate data for 20 years (2001–2020), Modified Mann-Kendall and Sen’s Slope statistics were employed to determine monthly and seasonal trends in climate variables. Significant changing climate variables were regressed on Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite dataset viz. normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Due to the prominent climate factor impacting vegetation, NDVI was further correlated to MODIS land surface temperature (LST). Floods being the conspicuous climate calamity were mapped for 2005 and 2010 using satellites Landsat 5 and 7 dataset viz. normalized difference water index (NDWI) with flood risk assessment by watershed delineation. The findings revealed significant (p < 0.05) variability in climate variables (average monthly and summer maximum temperature, and average monthly and summer precipitation) that are driving CC and impacting vegetation and hydrology in the region. Temperature and solar radiation affect NDVI adversely while precipitation and relative humidity has positive impact on vegetation. NDVI varied greatly spatiotemporally, often increasing but worsening in some areas (Shabqadar, Abazai, Palai and Charsadda city with NDVI = 0.1–0.3) of the study region as a result of extreme weather events. Temporally, NDVI improved with an overall positive trend with a stage (2007–2016) of noticeable zigzag fluctuation. Spatial grids with higher LST (>40°C) were either devoid of or with sparse NDVI (

Sciatica characterized by irritation, inflammation, and compression of the lower back nerve, is considered one of the most common back ailments globally. Currently, the therapeutic regimens for sciatica are experiencing a paradigm shift from the conventional pharmacological approach toward exploring potent phytochemicals from medicinal plants. There is a dire need to identify novel phytochemicals with anti-neuropathic potential. This review aimed to identify the potent phytochemicals from diverse medicinal plants capable of alleviating neuropathic pain associated with sciatica. This review describes the pathophysiology of sciatic nerve pain, its cellular mechanisms, and the pharmacological potential of various plants and phytochemicals using animal-based models of sciatic nerve injury-induced pain. Extensive searches across databases such as Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar were conducted. The findings highlights 39 families including Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Apocyanaceae and Cucurbitaceae, effectively treating sciatic nerve injury-induced pain. Flavonoids made up 53% constituents, phenols and terpenoids made up 15%, alkaloids made up 13%, and glycosides made up 6% to be used in neuorpathic pain. Phytochemicals derived from various medicinal plants can serve as potential therapeutic targets for both acute and chronic sciatic injury-induced neuropathic pain.