Synthesis and Evaluation of Trypanocidal Activity of Chromane-Type Compounds and Acetophenones

American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) caused by the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite, is a severe health problem in different regions of Latin America and is currently reported to be spreading to Europe, North America, Japan, and Australia, due to the migration of populations from South and Central America. At present, there is no vaccine available and chemotherapeutic options are reduced to nifurtimox and benznidazole. Therefore, the discovery of new molecules is urgently needed to initiate the drug development process. Some acetophenones and chalcones, as well as chromane-type substances, such as chromones and flavones, are natural products that have been studied as trypanocides, but the relationships between structure and activity are not yet fully understood. In this work, 26 compounds were synthesized to determine the effect of hydroxyl and isoprenyl substituents on trypanocide activity. One of the compounds showed interesting activity against a resistant strain of T. cruzi, with a half effective concentration of 18.3 µM ± 1.1 and an index of selectivity > 10.9.

DETECTION OF FACE MASK USING DEEP LEARNING

As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic additionally referred to as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus sickness since 2019. This infectious disease was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019. Symptoms of COVID-19 are highly variable, ranging from none to severe health problem. The virus spreads chiefly through the air when individuals are close to one another. It transmits from an infected individual through the droplets as they breathe, cough, sneeze or speak and these droplets then enters another individual via their mouth, nose, or eyes. It might also spread via contaminated surfaces. Individuals stay infectious for up to 2 weeks and can spread the virus albeit they do not have symptoms. As of 1st November 2021, more than 200 million cases are confirmed, with more than 500 million deaths due to COVID-19. The pandemic has been the reason for global social and economic disruption, including the largest global recession since the Great Depression. The recommended preventive measures include social distancing, carrying a mask publicly, ventilation and air-filtering, hand washing, covering one‟s mouth when sneezing or coughing and self-isolation for individuals exposed. In present endeavour therefore, the author has attempted to make one thing associated with it, that's deciding whether a dividual is carrying a mask or not. The complete investigations area unit distributed in various chapters that embody the current thesis. The performance of our model will be evaluated in precision, accuracy, recall, specificity, and sensitivity that demonstrate the practical application of this model. The system performs with an accuracy of 99.88%, precision of 99.49%, sensitivity of 99.77%, and specificity of 99.6. Thus, this model tracks if people are using masks or not in real-time using a device camera. This model can be used with the current camera infrastructure to enable this tool which can be used in various public places such as markets or railway stations or offices etc. Keywords: Covid-19, Face Mask Detection, Convolutional Neural Network, MobileNetV2, Precaution.

Role of the Microenvironment in Mesenchymal Stem Cell-Based Strategies for Treating Human Liver Diseases

Liver disease is a severe health problem that endangers human health worldwide. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapy is a novel treatment for patients with different liver diseases due to its vast expansion potential and distinctive immunomodulatory properties. Despite several preclinical trials having confirmed the considerable efficacy of MSC therapy in liver diseases, the questionable safety and efficacy still limit its application. As a precursor cell, MSCs can adjust their characteristics in response to the surrounding microenvironment. The microenvironment provides physical and chemical factors essential for stem cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation. However, the mechanisms are still not completely understood. We, therefore, summarized the mechanisms underlying the MSC immune response, especially the interaction between MSCs and the liver microenvironment, discussing how to achieve better therapeutic effects.

Primer registro de Acanthoscelides obtectus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) en Senna multiglandulosa (Fabaceae) de la región andina central del Perú

Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say, 1831) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) es unescarabajo de distribución cosmopolita que ocasiona graves daños a diversas especies de la familia Fabaceae. Este trabajo es el primer reporte de su infestación en arbustos de Senna multiglandulosa (Jacq.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby, 1982 (Fabaceae) en la zona andina central del Perú. Se describe la morfología de los estados biológicos de A. obtectus y las perforaciones que realizaron en legumbres infestadas colectadas en tres lugares del Valle del Mantaro de enero a diciembre 2018. Se midió la longitud total (L) y ancho (A) de los huevos, larvas, pupas y adultos de A. obtectus, así como el diámetro (D) de las perforaciones en vainas y semilla de S. multiglandulosa. Los resultados mostraron diferencias significativas en los tamaños de cada uno de los estadios (p < 0,001) y sus perforaciones en las legumbres (p < 0,001), afectan especialmente las semillas de S. multiglandulosa, por lo cual se constituye en un problema sanitario muy severo en la planta estudiada. Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say, 1831) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) is a beetle with a cosmopolitan distribution that causes severe damages to diverse species of the Fabaceae family. This is the first report of its infestation on Senna multiglandulosa (Jacq.) H.S. Irwin & Barneby, 1982 (Fabaceae) bushes in the central Andean region of Peru. The morphology of the biological stages of A. obtectus and the perforations they made on infested legumes collected in three sites of Mantaro Valley from January to December 2018 are described. The total length (L) and width (W) of eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults of A. obtectus and the diameter (D) of the perforations on the pods and seeds of S. multiglandulosa were measured. The results showed significant differences in the size of each stage (p < 0.001) and their perforations on legumes (p < 0.001), affecting mainly the seeds of S. multiglandulosa, constituting a severe health problem for the studied plant.

Quantitative Evaluation of the Clinical Evolution of Traumatic Onycholysis after Laser Treatment

Nail disorders are the most frequent reason for visits to the podiatry clinic. Although they are not a severe health problem, these types of pathologies have a psychosocial impact on patients, affecting their self-esteem and leading to social and professional self-isolation that can cause anxiety and depression. Laser therapy is considered a potential treatment for nail disorders because it is a fast, easily applied treatment that avoids interaction with medication. However, the literature includes no definitive studies with scientific evidence about the efficacy of laser treatment in traumatic onycholysis, the most frequent clinical sign of nail disorders. Objective: We carried out an objective and quantitative study of the efficacy of laser in treating traumatic onycholysis to provide a new, non-invasive treatment for this pathology, and describe an objective method for its clinical evaluation and evolution. Methods: A strictly repetitive protocol of Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser (PinPointe FootLaser™, Spain) was applied to nails with idiopathic disorders, following the manufacturer’s instructions. The clinical evolution of nail dystrophy was quantitatively evaluated using the affected percentage of the longitudinal axis of the nail. Results: A significant improvement was obtained in nail appearance (dystrophy) in 100% of cases (p < 0.006) after treatment with Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser. Conclusion: Treating traumatic onycholysis with Nd:YAG 1064 nm laser can be a good alternative to conventional pharmacological treatments.

In Silico Targeting DENV2's Prefusion Envelope Protein by Several Natural Products' Bioactive Compounds

Dengue caused by the dengue virus (DENV) is a severe health problem in tropical regions such as Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia. Indonesian have used rhizome as traditional medicine for 1300 years. This study investigated the compounds from Kaempferia galanga, Curcuma longa, Zingiber officinale, Curcuma aeruginosa, Curcuma zanthorrhiza, Alpinia galanga, and Allium sativum as antivirals agents, explicitly targeting the DENV envelope protein to inhibit viral fusion. This study involved 121 bioactive compounds and DENV2's prefusion envelope protein. The virtual screening and molecular docking were done through occupied the Lipinski rule of five checker (http://www.scfbio-iitd.res.in/software/drugdesign/lipinski.jsp) and AutoDock Vina (https://pyrx.sourceforge.io/) respectively. The top nine compounds with the strongest binding affinity were galangin, kampferide, demetoxy curcumin, bisdemethoxycurcumin, β-selinene, 6-(hydroxymethyl)-1,4,4-trimethylbicyclo[3.1.0]hexan-2-ol, piperine, estra-1,3, 5(10)-trien-17β-ol, and curcumin. These compounds' affinity values were significantly lower, around 45-62%, than chloroquine. Most of them interact with the kl hairpin and hydrophobic pocket formed by residues Val130, Leu135, Phe193, Leu198, and Phe279of critical domains that can interfere with the conformational change and rearrangement of protein dimer in the post-fusion stage. This study suggested that the galangin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin are considered the most potential compounds to be developed as anti-prefusion E DENV2 low-affinity and intense interaction with those. Keywords: DENV2, envelope protein, in silico, viral fusion, viral infection

Extrahepatic alveolar echinococcus on multi-slice computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging

Alveolar echinococcus (AE) is a severe health problem in endemic areas. In recent years, the incidence of this disease in China has been increasing. The study was designed to illustrate the multi-slice computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features of extrahepatic AE. A cohort of 33 patients who suffered from extrahepatic AE was enrolled consecutively from January 2012 to December 2017. The MSCT and MRI features of extrahepatic AE were recorded and analyzed by experienced radiologists. All cases secondary to hepatic AE, except two primary extrahepatic AE, were found in this study. Locations of extrahepatic AE included 19 (57.6%) lung, 10 (30.3%) adrenal gland, 9 (27.3%) brain, 5 (15.2%) peritoneal cavity, 5 (15.2%) spleen, 4 (12.1%) diaphragm, 3 (9.1%) kidney, 3 (9.1%) retroperitoneal, and 2 (6.1%) vertebra; Involvement of 1 (3.0%) heart, 1 (3.0%) mediastinum, 1 (3.0%) muscle, and 1 (3.0%) pancreas was rare. AE of the lung usually appeared as irregular and scattered nodules with small vacuoles or cavities inside and peripheral distribution. Multiple cerebral nodules with calcification and surrounding edema were the most common features seen in brain AE. Adrenal gland AE presented as plaques containing different sizes of hypodense areas and different amounts of calcification. Injection of contrast medium showed no enhancement of lesions except in the brain. MSCT and MRI are reliable imaging methods for the diagnosis of extrahepatic AE. When one AE patient is clinically confirmed, MSCT scan from the chest to the abdomen should be performed to exclude other organs AE.

Responsiveness of Arab Women in Israel to Genetic Screening Tests Prior to/during Pregnancy

Hereditary morbidity is a severe health problem in the Muslim Arab society in Israel. There are populations where the prevalence of the Mendelian type hereditary diseases is 1 in 4 or 5 residents (Al Aqeel, 2007). One of the reasons for this is the high prevalence of relation marriage, which as of 2009 accounted for 24% of all marriages (Na’amnih et al., 2015). Despite this high prevalence, responsiveness to performing hereditary screening tests in Israel is very low among Arab women. For example, in performing Fragile X screening tests, only 9.1% of Arab women reported having performed the test, compared to 52% of Jewish women (Romano-Zlicha & Shochat, 2011).

Biogenic metal nanoparticles as a potential class of antileishmanial agents: mechanisms and molecular targets

Leishmaniasis, a category 1 disease, has remained neglected for decades, and therefore, has developed into a severe health problem worldwide. Unfortunately, the available antileishmanial drugs are limited, and the parasites have shown an inevitable resistance toward most of these drugs. All these factors pose a barrier to control the parasite at present. Hence, new strategies are needed to develop more effective and less toxic nanomedicines that could treat and manage the Leishmania parasite. One of these effective strategies is to construct nanometals with biologically active molecules that could possess dynamic antileishmanial activities with desirable biocompatibility. In this review paper, antileishmanial potencies of different metal nanoparticles, with particular emphasis on biogenic metal nanoparticles from 2011 to 2019, are summarized. The mechanisms by which metal-based nanomedicines kill Leishmania are also discussed.

Electrospun Fibre Composite for Controlled Drug Release

A drug delivery system with sustainable controlled drug release can improve the quality of life of a patient by reducing the side-effects and better absorption of the drug locally. However, the main disadvantageous of this delivery model is the burst release of the drug, which can result in severe health problem, such as toxicity. Here in this study, a new coaxial microfiber has been developed with encapsulated anti-inflammatory drug, ibuprofen, inside the core structure of the coaxial fibre. The core consisting of polyethylene oxide (PEO) carrying the drug was covered with the polylactic acid (PLA)/PEO and shell to prevent the burst release of the drug and provide sustainable release over a prolonged time. The release profiles showed that the burst release was reduced from 20% in control scaffold, core only, to 5% in core-shell structure after 6 hrs. The higher percentage of PLA in the shell composition provides a slower release of ibuprofen, due to the slower degradation of PLA in comparison with PEO. The result indicates the developed structure can be a potential system for the localized release of the various drug system, which leads to a more sustainable and controlled release of the drug over the more extended period and deliver a better outcome along with side-effect prevention.