Integrating Pharmacological and Computational Approaches for the Phytochemical Analysis of Syzygium cumini and Its Anti-Diabetic Potential

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease caused by improper insulin secretion leading to hyperglycemia. Syzygium cumini has excellent therapeutic properties due to its high levels of phytochemicals. The current research aimed to evaluate the anti-diabetic potential of S. cumini plant’s seeds and the top two phytochemicals (kaempferol and gallic acid) were selected for further analysis. These phytochemicals were selected via computational tools and evaluated for α-Glucosidase inhibitory activity via enzymatic assay. Gallic acid (IC₅₀ 0.37 µM) and kaempferol (IC₅₀ 0.87 µM) have shown a stronger α-glucosidase inhibitory capacity than acarbose (5.26 µM). In addition, these phytochemicals demonstrated the highest binding energy, hydrogen bonding, protein–ligand interaction and the best MD simulation results at 100 ns compared to acarbose. Furthermore, the ADMET properties of gallic acid and kaempferol also fulfilled the safety criteria. Thus, it was concluded that S. cumini could potentially be used to treat DM. The potential bioactive molecules identified in this study (kaempferol and gallic acid) may be used as lead drugs against diabetes.     

Unsteady heat transfer in colloidal suspension containing hybrid nanostructures

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Theoretical investigation about the role of hybrid nanoparticles to enhance the effective thermal conductivity of working micropolar fluid over a...     

Biodegradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons by Drechslera spicifera Isolated from Contaminated Soil in Riyadh,Saudi Arabia

Currently, the bioremediation of petroleum hydrocarbons employs microbial biosurfactants because of their public acceptability, biological safety, and low cost. These organisms can degrade or detoxify organic-contaminated areas, such as marine ecosystems. The current study aimed to test the oil-biodegradation ability of the fungus Drechslera spicifera, which was isolated from contaminated soil samples in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We used hydrocarbon tolerance, scanning electron microscopy, DCPIP, drop-collapse, emulsification activity, recovery of biosurfactants, and germination assays to assess the biodegradation characteristics of the D. spicifera against kerosene, crude, diesel, used, and mixed oils. The results of DCPIP show that the highest oxidation (0.736 a.u.) was induced by crude oil on the 15th day. In contrast, kerosene and used oil had the highest measurements in emulsification activity and drop-collapse assays, respectively. Meanwhile, crude and used oils produced the highest amounts of biosurfactants through acid precipitation and solvent extraction assays. Furthermore, the biosurfactants stimulated the germination of tomato seeds by more than 50% compared to the control. These findings highlight the biodegradation ability of D. spicifera, which has been proven in the use of petroleum oils as the sole source of carbon. That might encourage further research to demonstrate its application in the cleaning of large, contaminated areas.     

Therapeutic Importance of Kaempferol in the Treatment of Cancer through the Modulation of Cell Signalling Pathways

Plant-derived flavonoids are considered natural nontoxic chemo-preventers and have been widely studied for cancer treatment in recent decades. Mostly all flavonoid compounds show significant anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antioxidant properties. Kaempferol (Kmp) is a well-studied compound and exhibits remarkable anticancer and antioxidant potential. Kmp can regulate various cancer-related processes and activities such as cell cycle, oxidative stress, apoptosis, proliferation, metastasis, and angiogenesis. The anti-cancer properties of Kmp primarily occur via modulation of apoptosis, MAPK/ERK1/2, P13K/Akt/mTOR, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signalling pathways. The anti-cancer property of Kmp has been recognized in several in-vivo and in-vitro studies which also includes numerous cell lines and animal models. This flavonoid possesses toxic activities against only cancer cells and have restricted toxicity on healthy cells. In this review, we present extensive research investigations about the therapeutic potential of Kmp in the management of different types of cancers. The anti-cancer properties of Kmp are discussed by concentration on its capability to target molecular-signalling pathway such as VEGF, STAT, p53, NF-κB and PI3K-AKT signalling pathways. The anti-cancer property of Kmf has gained a lot of attention, but the accurate action mechanism remains unclear. However, this natural compound has a great pharmacological capability and is now considered to be an alternative cancer treatment.     

Liquid crystal dimers containing Cholesteryl and Triazole-containing mesogenic units

ABSTRACT

New liquid crystals categorised as cholesteryl dimers have been successfully synthesised through the reaction between cholesteryl 4-(prop-2-ynyloxy)benzoate moieties with n-azido(cholesteryloxy-carbonyl)alkane. All the dimers display enantiotropic mesophases. Whilst the odd-numbered dimers exhibit chiral nematic (N*), twisted grain boundary (TGB) and chiral smectic C (SmC*) phases, the even-numbered members from the same series show chiral smectic A and C. A detailed inspection on mesophase reveals that the chiral centres and the bent conformation of the odd-numbered members are essential for the induction of TGB phase. However, upon decreasing the temperature, the ratio of the transition temperatures (T_SmC*-SmA*/T_SmA*-I) is found to be 0.95, which indicate the second order transition according to the McMillan’s molecular theory. In addition, the X-ray diffraction study supports the presence of the smectic A phase on the even members rather than the N* by the appearance of the Bragg diffraction peaks at 190°C. A comparison study with the other analogues in which the cholesterol entity is substituted by azobenzene or biphenyl tails has been carried out to assess the relationship between the molecular structure and mesomorphic behaviour.     

Simple ranking method using reference profiles: incremental elicitation of the preference parameters

4OR - The Simple Ranking Method using Reference Profiles (or SRMP) is a Multi-Criteria Decision Aiding technique based on the outranking paradigm, which allows to rank decision alternatives...     

Synthesis of ultra-small platinum,palladium and gold nanoparticles by Shewanella loihica PV-4 electrochemically active biofilms and their enhanced catalytic activities

Ultra-small nanoparticles (USNPs) of noble metals have a great potential in a variety of applications due to their high surface areas and high reactivity. This work employed electrochemically active biofilms (EABs) composed of a single bacterium strain of Shewanella loihica PV-4 and successfully synthesized USNPs of noble metal Au, Pd, and Pt. The synthesized USNPs had a size range between 2 and 7?nm and exhibited excellent catalytic performance in dye decomposition. The results of this work shine light on the use of EABs in nanoparticle synthesis.     

Quasi-Projections of Surfaces with Boundaries

We classify simple singularities of projections to a plane of surfaces embedded into threespace and equipped with a boundary up to a special equivalence relation that is more rough than the standard one. Relations to other classifications are described as well.