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Chronic wounds (CW) present a significant healthcare challenge due to their prolonged healing time and associated complications. To effectively treat these wounds and prevent further deterioration, monitoring their healing progress is crucial. Traditional wound assessment methods relying on visual inspection and subjective evaluation are prone to inter-observer variability. Biomarkers play a critical role in objectively evaluating wound status and predicting healing outcomes, providing quantitative measures of wound healing progress, inflammation, infection, and tissue regeneration. Recent attention has been devoted to identifying and validating CW biomarkers. Various studies have investigated potential biomarkers, including growth factors, cytokines, proteases, and extracellular matrix components, shedding light on the complex molecular and cellular processes within CW. This knowledge enables a more targeted and personalized approach to wound management. Accurate and sensitive techniques are necessary for detecting CW biomarkers. Thus, this review compares and discusses the use of electrochemical and optical sensors for biomarker determination. The advantages and disadvantages of these sensors are highlighted. Differences in detection capabilities and characteristics such as non-invasiveness, portability, high sensitivity, specificity, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, compatibility with point-of-care applications, and real-time monitoring of wound biomarkers will be pointed out and compared. In summary, this work provides an overview of CW, explores the emerging field of CW biomarkers, and discusses methods for detecting these biomarkers, with a specific focus on optical and electrochemical sensors. The potential of further research and development in this field for advancing wound care and improving patient outcomes will also be noted., 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 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Antimicrobial resistance is a silent pandemic considered a public health concern worldwide. Strategic therapies are needed to replace antibacterials that are now ineffective. One approach entails the use of well-known antibacterials along with adjuvants that possess non-antibiotic properties but can extend the lifespan and enhance the effectiveness of the treatment, while also improving the suppression of resistance. In this regard, a group of uniform materials based on organic salts (GUMBOS) presents an alternative to this problem allowing the combination of antibacterials with adjuvants. Fluoroquinolones are a family of antibacterials used to treat respiratory and urinary tract infections with broad-spectrum activity. Ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin-based GUMBOS were synthesized via anion exchange reactions with lithium and sodium salts. Structural characterization, thermal stability and octanol/water partition ratios were evaluated. The antibacterial profiles of most GUMBOS were comparable to their cationic counterparts when tested against Gram-positive S. aureus and Gram-negative E. coli , except for deoxycholate anion, which demonstrated the least effective antibacterial activity. Additionally, some GUMBOS were less cytotoxic to L929 fibroblast cells and non-hemolytic to red blood cells. Therefore, these agents exhibit promise as an alternative approach to combining drugs for treating infections caused by resistant bacteria.

The aim of this study is the development of an automated method for myeloperoxidase activity evaluation and its application in testing the inhibitory action of different plant extracts on the activity of the enzyme. This enzyme has its concentration increased in inflammatory and infectious processes, so it is a possible target to limit these processes. Therefore, an automatic sequential in-jection analysis (SIA) system was optimized and demonstrated that it is possible to obtain results with satisfactory accuracy and precision. With the developed method, plant extracts were studied, as promising candidates for MPO inhibition. In the group of selected plant extracts, IC50 values from 0.029 ± 0.002 mg/mL to 35.4 ± 3.5 mg/mL were obtained. Arbutus unedo L. proved to be the most inhibitory extract for MPO based on its phenolic compound content. The coupling of an automatic SIA method to MPO inhibition assays is a good alternative to other conventional methods, due to its simplicity and speed. This work also supports the pharmacological use of these species that inhibit MPO, and exhibit activity that may be related to the treatment of infection and inflammation.

A miniaturized microsequential injection/lab-on-valve (µSIA-LOV) system was developed and shown to be a useful alternative to perform inhibitory studies on acetylcholinesterase. These studies are essential for the evaluation of the potential therapeutic effect of drugs commonly used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Donepezil, galantamine, and rivastigmine were tested, in addition to compounds based on the xanthone scaffold. Four of these xanthone derivatives were identified as having EC 50 values between 676 and 4466 µmol/l, showing a potential inhibitory effect higher than the clinical agent rivastigmine. The developed automatic system added advantages of reduction of reagents and sample consumption (around 55 µl per analysis), lower cost per analysis, and the generation of less waste (around 1.2 ml per analysis). The µSIA-LOV system is also a robust, rapid, reliable, and simple system to use. Docking studies suggested a possible mode of interaction with the target acetylcholinesterase protein., (© 2021 Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft.)

In this work, two solid-phases based on imidazolium-based ionic liquids were obtained and characterized for solid-phase extraction of fluoroquinolones. The process of immobilization was performed replacing a toxic reagent by UV-irradiation to get a harmless process. The obtained solid-phases were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Each solid-phase was packed in a cartridge and was used in solid-phase extraction processes for norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin, after the optimization of some parameters such as the elution solvent, the eluent volume and, the sample volume to be used during the loading step. The developed solid-phases with immobilized ionic liquids were successfully implemented for the studied compounds and indicate high probabilities to be useful in solid-phase extractions of other fluoroquinolones.

Two automatic methodologies were developed to perform the loading and release assays of drugs from porous silicon (PSi) nanoparticles. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) was selected as a model drug, and different functionalized PSi nanoparticles were used. While for drug loading studies the reproducible characteristics of flow systems were explored regarding mixture and volumes taken, in the drug release flow methodology versatility in accommodating different devices around the valve were tested. Fluorescent properties of 5-FU were used with detection limit of 9 × 10 -4 mg L -1 and a linear response up to 5 mg L -1 The drug loading and release procedures were optimized in sequential injection analysis (SIA) systems obtaining a huge economy regarding the time spent (4 min towards 2 h). Batch and SIA methods were tested and compared for the different behaviours of the PSi nanoparticles towards both methodologies and no noteworthy differences were obtained with Student's t-test for loading with a calculated t value of 2.04 showing the absence of statistical differences. All the results present a RSD less than 10%. So, the developed automatic methodologies are a viable alternative to load drugs and to study the release profiles from PSi nanoparticles., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Antipsychotic (AP) drugs are becoming accumulated in terrestrial and aqueous resources due to their actual consumption. Thus, the search of methods for assessing the contamination load of these drugs is mandatory. The COD is a key parameter used for monitoring water quality upon the assessment of the effect of polluting agents on the oxygen level. Thus, the present work aims to assess the chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels of several typical and atypical antipsychotic drugs in order to obtain structure-activity relationships. It was implemented the titrimetric method with potassium dichromate as oxidant and a digestion step of 2h, followed by the measurement of remained unreduced dichromate by titration. After that, an automated sequential injection analysis (SIA) method was, also, used aiming to overcome some drawbacks of the titrimetric method. The results obtained showed a relationship between the chemical structures of antipsychotic drugs and their COD values, where the presence of aromatic rings and oxidable groups give higher COD values. It was obtained a good compliance between the results of the reference batch procedure and the SIA system, and the APs were clustered in two groups, with the values ratio between the methodologies, of 2 or 4, in the case of lower or higher COD values, respectively. The SIA methodology is capable of operating as a screening method, in any stage of a synthetic process, being also more environmentally friendly, and cost-effective. Besides, the studies presented open promising perspectives for the improvement of the effectiveness of pharmaceutical removal from the waste effluents, by assessing COD values., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

An automatic assay was developed that is intended to be a generic tool for evaluation of a horseradish peroxidase activity in different ionic liquids (ILs). Ionic liquids with different characteristics were used and their effects on the enzymatic reaction, were compared with those obtained with conventional organic solvents. In addition, ILs were tested as solvents for the enzyme substrate (bisphenol A (BPA)). ILs were shown to be a good alternative to conventional organic solvents from either the effect on enzymatic activity or the solubilization of bisphenol. Since bisphenol A is an endocrine disruptor frequently used in plastic industries, it was also applied the developed enzymatic methodology for quantification of this compound in real beverage samples. To increase the sensitivity (already increased by the use of an IL) and the selectivity of the methodology, a sample pre-treatment using a molecular recognition solid phase extraction was applied. Finally, the methodology presented detection and quantification limits of 7.73 × 10-4 and 1.29 × 10-3 mmol L-1 and a linear range up to 1.00 mmol L-1, allowing accurate and reliable quantifications of bisphenol in beer and cola drink samples. This work confirmed the potential of a sequential injection analysis (SIA) system as a simple, versatile, robust, and rapid analytical tool for automating enzymatic assays in ILs medium and, at the same time, showed it to be a relevant automatic alternative for routine determinations of bisphenol A in food samples.

A novel automated fluorimetric technique was developed for the assessment of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of ionic liquids (ILs) and combined with a photodegradation step to promote IL degradation. The method was implemented on a sequential injection analysis (SIA) system and is based on the reduction of cerium(IV) in the presence of irradiated ILs. Compounds incorporating the chloride anion were found to exhibit higher COD values and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([bmim] + [Cl] - ), 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium chloride ([bmpyr] + [Cl] - ), and1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([hmim] + [Cl] - ) also exhibited considerable photodegradability, whereas the cholinium cation and methanesulfonate and tetrafluoroborate anions showed resistance to photolysis. The developed methodology proved to be a simple, affordable, and robust method, showing good repeatability under the tested conditions (rsd <3.5 %, n=10). Therefore, it is expected that the developed approach can be used as a screening method for the preliminary evaluation of compounds' potential impact in the aquatic field. Additionally, the photolysis step presents an attractive option to promote degradation of ILs prior to their release into wastewater., (© 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Acylase I (ACY I) plays a role in the detoxication and bioactivation of xenobiotics as well in other physiological functions. In this context, an automated ACY I assay for the evaluation of ionic liquids' (ILs) toxicity was developed. The assay was implemented in a sequential injection analysis (SIA) system and was applied to eight commercially available ILs. The SIA methodology was based on the deacetylation of N-acetyl-l-methionine with production of l-methionine, which was determined using fluorescamine. ACY I inhibition in the presence of ILs was monitored by the decrease of fluorescence intensity. The obtained results confirmed the influence of ILs' structural elements on its toxicity and revealed that pyridinium and phosphonium cations, longer alkyl side chains and tetrafluoroborate anion displayed higher toxic effect on enzyme activity. The developed methodology proved to be robust and exhibited good repeatability (RSD < 1.3%, n = 10), leading also to a reduction of reagents consumption and effluents production. Thus, it is expected that the proposed assay can be used as a novel tool for ILs' toxicity screening., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)