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Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis) is a plant that belongs to Liliaceae family. The name Aloe derives from the Arabic word "Alloeh" meaning shining bitter substance while "vera" in Latin means true. It contains various minerals and vitamins. It has got various properties such as immunomodulatory, antiviral and antiinflammatory in nature. A. vera can play a significant role in dentistry in treatment of lichen planus, oral submucous fibrosis, recurrent aphthous stomatitis, alveolar osteitis, periodontitis, etc.

Radiography can play an important part in forensic odontology, mainly to establish identification. This may take the precise form of comparison between antemortem and postmortem radiographs. Radiographs may also be taken to determine the age of a minor victim and even help in the assessment of the sex and ethnic group. Comparable radiographs are an essential factor to confirm identification in a mass disaster.

In this report, we have developed highly water soluble and stable silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) utilizing N-Cholyl Mercapto Histidine (NCMH) as a reducing and stabilizing agent with near the primary critical micellar concentration (CMC) under ambient sunlight irradiation. Moreover, The NCMH was firstly synthesized by demonstrating the reaction between cholic acid and 2- Mercapto Histidine through a simple acid amine coupling approach. The primary and secondary CMC of NCMH surfactant was measured by pyrene (1 × 10 -6  M) as a fluorescent probe, and values were found to be 3.2 and 13.1 mM respectively. The synthesized Ag NPs showed at neutral pH and highly stable for more than one year without any noticeable aggregation. The TEM analysis displays the synthesized Ag NPs having a spherical shape and average size of 9.6 ± 0.5 nm. The synthesis of stabilized Ag NPs was used for ultra-sensitive and selective detection of Hg 2+ ions in aqueous medium were monitored by Uv-visible spectrometer and naked eyes with a lowest limit of detection (LOD) 7 nM. The photo-catalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) by utilizing Ag NPs as nano-catalyst exhibits a potential degradation within a study period of 180 min. Concluding that, facile and cost effective green synthesis of NCMH capped Ag NPs possess excellent reducing ability towards the selective detection of Hg 2+ ions along with photo-catalytic degradation of MO dye. These true findings detached an innovative pathway of Ag NPs towards the reactivity against the catalytic activity of dye degradation and selective sensing of Hg 2+ ions. Thus it paves the way for extensive range of novel potential applications of Ag NPs in various environment friendly approaches of sensitive and analytical protocol in the future., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Acanthamoeba keratitis is an aggressive and rapidly progressing ocular pathology whose main risk factor is the use of contact lenses. An early and differential diagnosis is considered the main factor to prevent the progression and improve the prognosis of the pathology. However, current diagnosis techniques require time, complex and costly materials making an early diagnosis challenging. Thus, there is a need for fast, accessible, and accurate methods for Acanthamoeba detection by practitioners for timely and suitable treatment and even for contact lens user as preventive diagnosis. Here, we developed a dual-mode colorimetric-based method for fast, visual, and accurate detection of Acanthamoeba using gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). For this strategy, AuNPs were functionalized with thiolated probes and the presence of target Acanthamoeba genomic sequences, produce a colorimetric change from red to purple. This approach allows the detection of 0.02 and 0.009 μM of the unamplified Acanthamoeba genome by the naked eye in less than 20 min and by color analysis using a smartphone. Additionally, real samples were successfully analyzed showing the potential of the technology considering the lack of point-of-care tools that are mostly needed.

The continuous spread of invasive alien species, as zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), is a major global concern and it is urgent to stop it. Early stages of an invasion are crucial and challenging; however, detection tools based on environmental DNA analysis are promising alternatives. We present an alternative DNA target amplification strategy for signal enhancement followed by dual-mode colorimetric naked eye and optical smartphone analysis for the early detection of zebra mussel environmental DNA. Target amplification was designed based on the nicking endonuclease probe cleavage upon probe and complementary target hybridization. The cleaved/intact probe interacts with DNA-modified nanoparticles for colorimetric detection. We have demonstrated that enzyme amplification strategy enhanced 12-fold the sensitivity by naked eye detection, achieving a detection limit of ~8 nM (4.48×10 10 copies) in controlled conditions, whereas target in complex environmental samples allowed the detection of 22.5 nM (1.26×10 11 copies). Competitive assays also showed that the system can discriminate specific zebra mussel DNA sequences from other DNA sequences. Additionally, smartphone analysis for DNA quantification further improved the sensitivity of its detection by 130-fold, more than 2 orders of magnitude, when applied to environmental samples. The limit of detection to 0.17 nM (9.52×10 8 copies) is based on RGB coordinates, which is especially relevant to monitor early aggregation stages, being more accurate and reducing naked eye detection subjectivity. DNA extracted from zebra mussel meat, zebra mussel contaminated river water, and non-contaminated river water samples were successfully tested. Dual-mode colorimetric detection is useful in field analysis without the need for expensive laboratory equipment., (© 2021. Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Red-light-emitting silver nanoclusters (AgNCs) are recently emerged as a promising nanoprobe in the field of biomedical applications, because of their attractive properties, including brightness, luminescence stability, and better biocompatibility. In this report, we have developed highly water-soluble red-light-emitting AgNCs by using N -cholyl d-penicilamine (NCPA) as a biosurfactant at above the critical micelle concentration (CMC) at room temperature. Moreover, the NCPA was initially synthesized by demonstrating the reaction between cholic acid and d-penicilamine via a simple coupling reaction strategy. The primary and secondary critical micellar concentration (CMC) of NCPA surfactant was measured using pyrene (1 × 10 -6 M) as a fluorescent probe, and the values were found to be 3.18 and 10.6 mM, respectively. Steady-state fluorescence measurements reveal that the prepared AgNCs shows the excitation and emission maxima at 365 and 672 nm, respectively, with a large Stokes shift (307 nm). The average lifetime measurements and quantum yield of the AgNCs were calculated to be 143.43 ns and 16.34%, respectively. Also, the red luminescent NCPA-templated AgNCs was synthesized in various protic and aprotic polar solvents, among which DMF and DMSO exhibit bright emission at longer wavelength as synthesized in aqueous medium. At higher concentration of AgNO 3 , bright luminescent and highly stable solid AgNCs was obtained with excitation and emission maxima at 607 and 711 nm, respectively. Furthermore, the synthesized AgNCs has been successfully utilized as a fluorescent probe for selective and sensitive detection of S 2- ions at nanomolar level in water samples, showing its potential applicability for the detection of S 2- ions in drinking, river, and tap water samples. Finally, toxicity and bioimaging studies of NCPA-templated AgNCs was demonstrated using zebrafish as in vivo model, showing no significant toxicity up to 200 μL/mL. The AgNCs-stained embryos exhibited red fluorescence with high intensity, which shows that AgNCs are stable in a living system.

Objectives: The present study aimed to develop and validate a discriminative dissolution method for tetrahydrocurcumin (THC), a Biopharmaceutical Classification System class II drug, by a simple ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometric analysis. The final dissolution medium composition was selected based on the solubility and stability criteria of the drug., Materials and Methods: As a prerequisite for this, the solubility of the drug was assessed in media of different pH (1.2-7.4), and surfactant concentrations of 0.5-1.5% (w/v) sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) in water, and pH 7.4 phosphate buffer. The dissolved drug concentration in each medium was quantified by UV analysis at 280 nm wavelength., Results: The drug solubility was found to be high at a pH of 1.2 and 7.4. The media with surfactant enhanced solubility of the drug by approximately 17-fold and exhibited better sink conditions. The discriminative power of the developed dissolution medium (i.e., 1% w/v SLS in pH 7.4) was determined by performing in vitro dissolution studies of the prepared THC tablets and comparing their release profiles using fit factors (f1 and f2). The results of the fit factor comparisons made between the dissolution profiles of THC tablets proved the discriminative ability of the medium. The validation of the developed dissolution method was performed by international guidelines and the method showed specificity, linearity, accuracy, and precision within the acceptable range., Conclusion: The proposed dissolution method was found to be adequate for the routine quality control analysis of THC, as there is no specified dissolution method for the drug in the pharmacopoeia.

Aims: To utilize in silico-based approach for investigating the ability of PEGylated rapamycin as a competitive inhibitor to Galectin-3 for curing various diseases or that may provide an attractive strategy for treatment of a wide variety of tumors., Background: Galectin-3 (Gal-3) signaling protein is a unique member of lectin family present at the cell surface, intracellularly in both the nucleus and cytoplasm and extracellularly in the general circulation. Circulating Gal-3 is present in both normal and cancer cells. High levels of circulating Gal-3 have been proven to be associated with inflammation and fibrosis in several acute and chronic conditions, which include neurological degeneration, inflammatory and immune responses, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, heart failure, atherosclerosis, response to infection, wound healing, liver, lung, and kidney disease. Gal-3 is known to regulate many biological activities including cell adhesion, angiogenesis, growth, apoptosis, migration, and metastasis. Rapamycin has been examined alone or in combination with other drugs for treatment of various cancers in clinical studies. Although it has shown promising therapeutic effects, its clinical development was interrupted by poor aqueous solubility and limited preferential distribution. To overcome these limitations, RA has been chemically modified to hydrophilic analogues, such as everolimus (EV). However, all these approaches can only partially increase the solubility, but has little effect on the blood distribution and pharmacokinetics. Therefore, it is necessary to explore other RA conjugates to improve aqueous solubility and tissue distribution profile. Recently we reported that RP-MPEG inhibits the growth of various cancer cell lines by acting on mammalian target of RP (mTOR) receptor site and it can be used for gastric cancer., Objective: To construct various molecular weight RP-MPEG by replacing MPEG chain in 40-O-(2- hydroxyethyl) position of the EV and analyze their binding affinity to Gal-3., Methods: The chemical structures of various molecular weight RP-MPEG were built using ChemSketch software. The molecular docking study was performed to find the best probable structure of RP-MPEG for competitive inhibition of the CRD, based on the interaction score. For that purpose, the 3D structures of RP and EV were obtained from NCBI PubChem compound database, where the structural protein-co-crystallized ligand complex of Gal-3 (TD2, as a native ligand) was retrieved from RCSB Protein Data Bank. All structures of the selected compounds, served as molecules for molecular modeling, were optimized through MOE.2014 software before docking. Hydrogen atoms and partial charges were added to the protein. Protein minimization was performed in gas solvation with the side chains, keeping it rigid and the ligand flexible. The selected site was isolated and minimized, followed by protonating the protein. The 3D ligands were minimized using MMFF94x with cutoffs of 10 to 12 Å. The hydrogens and charges were fixed, and the RMS gradient was set to 0.001 kcal/mol. The docking results were analyzed to identify and assess the binding affinity of these compounds to CRD using drug discovery software., Results: Our results indicated that RP-MPEG with MW 1178.51 g/mol has a logP value of 3.79 and has possessed the strongest binding affinity toward CRD of Gal-3 with a docking score of -6.87. Compared with TD2, there were additional close contacts for RP-MPEG (MW 1178.51 g/mol), coming from three hydrogen bonds with Asp148, Arg162, and Arg144 which suggest that this ligand is a strong competitive inhibitor among the other molecules for Gal-3., Conclusion: RP-MPEG with the MW 1178.51 g/mol could be a promising blocker for various biological action of Gal-3 includes profibrotic activity, modulation of immune responses and inflammatory responses to cancer that contributes to neoplastic transformation, angiogenesis and metastasis. Other: The 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of the binding affinity (according to their mean and standard errors) were estimated with 2.5 and 97.5 percentile as the lower and upper bounds., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Recombinant Keratinocyte Growth Factor (rHuKGF) is a therapeutic protein used widely in oral mucositis after chemotherapy in various cancers, stimulating lung morphogenesis and gastrointestinal tract cell proliferation. In this research study, chitosan-rHuKGF polymeric complex was implemented to improve the stability of rHuKGF and used as rejuvenation therapy for the treatment of oral mucositis in cancer patients., Objective: Complexation of rHuKGF with mucoadhesive low molecular weight chitosan to protect rHuKGF from proteolysis and investigate the effect of chitosan-rHuKGF complex on the proliferation rate of FHs 74 Int cells., Methods: The interaction between chitosan and rHuKGF was studied by molecular docking. Malvern ZetaSizer Nano Zs and Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) tests were carried out to characterize the chitosan-rHuKGF complex. In addition, SDS-PAGE was performed to investigate the interaction between chitosan-rHuKGF complex and pepsin. The effect of chitosan-rHuKGF complex on the proliferation rate of FHs 74 Int cells was studied by MTT assay., Results: Chitosan-rHuKGF complex was formed through the hydrogen bonding proven by the docking studies. A stable chitosan-rHuKGF complex was formed at pH 4.5 and was protected from proteolysis and assessed by SDS PAGE. According to the MTT assay results, chitosan-rHuKGF complex increased the cell proliferation rate of FHs 74 Int cells., Conclusion: The developed complex improved the stability and the biological function of rHuKGF., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Background: Recombinant human keratinocyte growth factor (rHuKGF) has gained considerable attention by researchers as epithelial cells proliferating agent. Moreover, intravenous truncated rHuKGF (palifermin) has been approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat and prevent chemotherapy-induced oral mucositis and small intestine ulceration. The labile structure and short circulation time of rHuKGF in-vivo are the main obstacles that reduce the oral bioactivity and dosage of such proteins at the target site., Objective: Formulation of methacrylic acid-methyl methacrylate copolymer-coated capsules filled with chitosan nanoparticles loaded with rHuKGF for oral delivery., Methods: We report on chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) with diameter < 200 nm, prepared by ionic gelation, loaded with rHuKGF and filled in methacrylic acid-methyl methacrylate copolymercoated capsules for oral delivery. The pharmacokinetic parameters were determined based on the serum levels of rHuKGF, following a single intravenous (IV) or oral dosages using a rabbit model. Furthermore, fluorescent microscope imaging was conducted to investigate the cellular uptake of the rhodamine-labelled rHuKGF-loaded nanoparticles. The proliferation effect of the formulation on FHs 74 Int cells was studied as well by MTT assay., Results: The mucoadhesive and absorption enhancement properties of chitosan and the protective effect of methacrylic acid-methyl methacrylate copolymer against rHuKGF release at the stomach, low pH, were combined to promote and ensure rHuKGF intestinal delivery and increase serum levels of rHuKGF. In addition, in-vitro studies revealed the protein bioactivity since rHuKGFloaded CNPs significantly increased the proliferation of FHs 74 Int cells., Conclusion: The study revealed that oral administration of rHuKGF-loaded CNPs in methacrylic acid-methyl methacrylate copolymer-coated capsules is practically alternative to the IV administration since the absolute bioavailability of the orally administered rHuKGF-loaded CNPs, using the rabbit as animal model, was 69%. Fluorescent microscope imaging revealed that rhodaminelabelled rHuKGF-loaded CNPs were taken up by FHs 74 Int cells, after 6 hours' incubation time, followed by increase in the proliferation rate., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis) is a plant that belongs to Liliaceae family. The name Aloe derives from the Arabic word "Alloeh" meaning shining bitter substance while "vera" in Latin means true. It contains various minerals and vitamins. It has got various properties such as immunomodulatory, antiviral and antiinflammatory in nature. A. vera can play a significant role in dentistry in treatment of lichen planus, oral submucous fibrosis, recurrent aphthous stomatitis, alveolar osteitis, periodontitis, etc.

Radiography can play an important part in forensic odontology, mainly to establish identification. This may take the precise form of comparison between antemortem and postmortem radiographs. Radiographs may also be taken to determine the age of a minor victim and even help in the assessment of the sex and ethnic group. Comparable radiographs are an essential factor to confirm identification in a mass disaster.