In Vitro Anticancer Activity of Methanolic Extract of Justicia adhatoda Leaves with Special Emphasis on Human Breast Cancer Cell Line

Natural products are being targeted as alternative anticancer agents due to their non-toxic and safe nature. The present study was conducted to explore the in vitro anticancer potential of Justicia adhatoda (J. adhatoda) leaf extract. The methanolic leaf extract was prepared, and the phytochemicals and antioxidant potential were determined by LCMS analysis and DPPH radical scavenging assay, respectively. A docking study performed with five major alkaloidal phytoconstituents showed that they had a good binding affinity towards the active site of NF-κB. Cell viability assay was carried out in five different cell lines, and the extract exhibited the highest cytotoxicity in MCF-7, a breast cancer cell line. Extract-treated cells showed a significant increase in nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species production. Cell cycle analysis showed an arrest in cell growth at the Sub-G0 phase. The extract successfully inhibited cell migration and colony formation and altered mitochondrial membrane potential. The activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione were also found to decrease in a dose-dependent manner. The percentage of apoptotic cells was found to increase in a dose-dependent manner in MCF-7 cells. The expressions of caspase-3, Bax, and cleaved-PARP were increased in extract-treated cells. An increase in the expression of NF-κB was found in the cytoplasm in extract-treated cells. J. adhatoda leaf extract showed a potential anticancer effect in MCF-7 cells.     

Chemical Profiles and Pharmacological Properties with in Silico Studies on Elatostema papillosum Wedd

The current study attempted, for the first time, to qualitatively and quantitatively determine the phytochemical components of Elatostema papillosum methanol extract and their biological activities. The present study represents an effort to correlate our previously reported biological activities with a computational study, including molecular docking, and ADME/T (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion/toxicity) analyses, to identify the phytochemicals that are potentially responsible for the antioxidant, antidepressant, anxiolytic, analgesic, and anti-inflammatory activities of this plant. In the gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy analysis, a total of 24 compounds were identified, seven of which were documented as being bioactive based on their binding affinities. These seven were subjected to molecular docking studies that were correlated with the pharmacological outcomes. Additionally, the ADME/T properties of these compounds were evaluated to determine their drug-like properties and toxicity levels. The seven selected, isolated compounds displayed favorable binding affinities to potassium channels, human serotonin receptor, cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), COX-2, nuclear factor (NF)-κB, and human peroxiredoxin 5 receptor proteins. Phytol acetate, and terpene compounds identified in E. papillosum displayed strong predictive binding affinities towards the human serotonin receptor. Furthermore, 3-trifluoroacetoxypentadecane showed a significant binding affinity for the KcsA potassium channel. Eicosanal showed the highest predicted binding affinity towards the human peroxiredoxin 5 receptor. All of these findings support the observed in vivo antidepressant and anxiolytic effects and the in vitro antioxidant effects observed for this extract. The identified compounds from E. papillosum showed the lowest binding affinities towards COX-1, COX-2, and NF-κB receptors, which indicated the inconsequential impacts of this extract against the activities of these three proteins. Overall, E. papillosum appears to be bioactive and could represent a potential source for the development of alternative medicines; however, further analytical experiments remain necessary.     

Accessing C2-Functionalized 1,3-(Benz)azoles through Transition Metal-Catalyzed C−H Activation

The skeletal presence of 1,3-azoles in a variety of bioactive natural products, pharmacophores, and organic materials demands the derivatization of such heteroarenes regioselectively. Plenty of cross-coupling as well as cyclocondensation reactions have been performed to build up these skeletons but remained commercially unrealizable. A couple of severe drawbacks are faced by these traditional protocols that require a more straightforward strategy to obviate them. Transition metal-catalyzed C−H functionalization has emerged as a superior alternative in that context. 1,3-Azoles and their benzo counterparts have been extensively functionalized exploiting both noble and earth-abundant transition metals. Lately, C-2 functionalization have gained much traction due to the ease of attaining high regioselectivity and installation of synthetically manipulative functionalities. This critical review presents a bird‘s eye view of all major C-2 functionalization of (benz)azoles catalyzed by a diverse set of metals performed over the past 15 years.     

Electrochemical parameters of aluminum oxide film in situ during anodization of aluminum by white light-optical interferometry

Optical Review - Both Fabry–Pérot interferometry and the DC electrochemical method have been simultaneously used for the first time to measure in situ the anodic current density (J) of...     

Tertiary phosphine-appended transition metal ferrocenyl dithiocarbamates: Syntheses,Hirshfeld surface,and electrochemical analyses

Five new heteroleptic complexes of Cu(I), Ag(I), and Ni(II) having formulae [Cu₃(dtc)₂(dppf)₂]PF₆ ( Cu-I ), [Cu₃(dtc)₂(dppe)₂]PF₆ ( Cu-II ), [Cu(PPh₃)₂(dtc)] ( Cu-III ), [Ag₃(dtc)₂(PPh₃)₂]NO₃ ( Ag-I ), and [Ni(dtc)(dppf)]PF₆ ( Ni-I ) (dtc = N-ethanol-N-methylferrocenyl-dithiocarbamate; dppf = 1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene; dppe = 1,1′-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane; PPh₃ = tripheylphosphine) have been synthesized and characterized using elemental analysis, Fourier-transform infrared, multinuclear nuclear magnetic resonance, UV–Vis spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies indicate that Ag-I forms a rare trinuclear cluster in which the geometry around the two silver centers Ag1 and Ag3 is distorted tetrahedral, whereas the third silver center Ag2 shows a distorted trigonal planar geometry. The Ni-I complex has a distorted square-planar geometry around the Ni center. In addition, a side product [Ag₂{S₂(dppf)₂}] ( Ag-II ) was obtained during an attempt to synthesize [Ag(dppf)(dtc)], where the two Ag centers are bridged by two sulfido centers and coordinated with two phosphorus centers of the dppf ligand to give rise to a distorted tetrahedral geometry. The solid-state structures of Ag-I , Ni-I , and Ag-II are stabilized by a variety of weak interactions. The nature of these interactions has been addressed with the help of Hirshfeld surface analyses. In addition, the weak argentophilic interaction in Ag-I and Ag-II have been studied using quantum theory of atoms in molecules and natural bond orbital calculations. The electrochemical properties of the complexes have been investigated using cyclic voltammetry, where Cu-I and Cu-II exhibited two quasi-reversible waves, whereas Cu-III , Ag-I , Ag-II , and Ni-I exhibited only one quasi-reversible peak.     

Improvements in lipid suppression for 1H NMR-based metabolomics: Applications to solution-state and HR-MAS NMR in natural and in vivo samples

Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of intact biological samples often show strong contributions from lipids, which overlap with signals of interest from small metabolites. Pioneering work by Diserens et al. demonstrated that the relative differences in diffusivity and relaxation of lipids versus small metabolites could be exploited to suppress lipid signals, in high-resolution magic angle spinning (HR-MAS) NMR spectroscopy. In solution-state NMR, suspended samples can exhibit very broad water signals, which are challenging to suppress. Here, improved water suppression is incorporated into the sequence, and the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill sequence (CPMG) train is replaced with a low-power adiabatic spinlock that reduces heating and spectral artefacts seen with longer CPMG filters. The result is a robust sequence that works well in both HR-MAS as well as static solution-state samples. Applications are also extended to include in vivo organisms. For solution-state NMR, samples containing significant amount of fats such as milk and hemp hearts seeds are used to demonstrate the technique. For HR-MAS, living earthworms (Eisenia fetida) and freshwater shrimp (Hyalella azteca) are used for in vivo applications. Lipid suppression techniques are essential for non-invasive NMR-based analysis of biological samples with a high-lipid content and adds to the suite of experiments advantageous for in vivo environmental metabolomics.     

Charge-Conversion Strategies for Nucleic Acid Delivery

Nucleic acids are considered as one of the most potent therapeutic modalities, as their roles go beyond storing genetic information and chemical energy or as signal transducers. Attenuation or expression of desired genes through nucleic acids have profound implications in gene therapy, gene editing, and even in vaccine development. Although nucleic acid therapeutics bring in overwhelming possibilities toward the development of molecular medicines, there are significant loopholes in their effective clinical translation. One of the major pitfalls lies in the traditional design concepts of nucleic acid drug carriers, namely, cationic charge induced cytotoxicity. Targeting this bottleneck, several innovative carrier designs have been proposed accommodating charge-conversion approaches, whereby built-in functionalities convert from cationic to neutral or anionic, or even from anionic to cationic enabling the carrier to overcome several critical barriers for therapeutics delivery, such as serum deactivation, instability in circulation, low transfection, and poor endosomal escape. This review will critically analyze various molecular designs of charge-converting nanocarriers in a classified approach for the successful delivery of nucleic acids. Accompanied by the narrative on recent clinical nucleic acid candidates, the review concludes with a discussion on the pitfalls and scope of these emerging approaches.     

JUSense: A Unified Framework for Participatory-based Urban Sensing System

Mobile Networks and Applications - Participatory sensing has become an effective way of sensing urban dynamics due to the widespread availability of smartphones among citizens. Traditionally,...     

Matrix approach for the coefficients of maximally flat FIR filter transfer functions expressed in powers of cos w

A matrix approach is proposed for determining the coefficients of maximally flat FIR filter transfer functions expressed in powers of cos w. It is shown that the transformation matrix is a product of the well known Q-matrix and a diagonal matrix. Also, a property relating two Q-matrices of successive orders, N and N + 1, is pointed out.     

Bit-error-rate saturation due to mode-partition noise induced by optical feedback in 1.5-µm single longitudinal-mode C3and DFB semiconductor lasers

We report first measurements of the effect of optical feedback on the bit error rate (BER) as a function of received power of single longitudinal mode cleaved-coupled cavity (C³) and distributed-feedback (DFB) semiconductor lasers. Mode-partition noise, induced by the optical feedback, can cause a bit error-rate floor for large optical feedbacks, but it is shown that high-performance C³lasers and especially DFB lasers can withstand very large optical feedbacks without system degradation.