Prospects of Curcumin Nanoformulations in Cancer Management

There is increasing interest in the use of natural compounds with beneficial pharmacological effects for managing diseases. Curcumin (CUR) is a phytochemical that is reportedly effective against some cancers through its ability to regulate signaling pathways and protein expression in cancer development and progression. Unfortunately, its use is limited due to its hydrophobicity, low bioavailability, chemical instability, photodegradation, and fast metabolism. Nanoparticles (NPs) are drug delivery systems that can increase the bioavailability of hydrophobic drugs and improve drug targeting to cancer cells via different mechanisms and formulation techniques. In this review, we have discussed various CUR-NPs that have been evaluated for their potential use in treating cancers. Formulations reviewed include lipid, gold, zinc oxide, magnetic, polymeric, and silica NPs, as well as micelles, dendrimers, nanogels, cyclodextrin complexes, and liposomes, with an emphasis on their formulation and characteristics. CUR incorporation into the NPs enhanced its pharmaceutical and therapeutic significance with respect to solubility, absorption, bioavailability, stability, plasma half-life, targeted delivery, and anticancer effect. Our review shows that several CUR-NPs have promising anticancer activity; however, clinical reports on them are limited. We believe that clinical trials must be conducted on CUR-NPs to ensure their effective translation into clinical applications.

Translating Buzzati: Domesticating and Foreignising Strategies

<p>Methodologies within Modern Translation Studies are often broadly defined by two seemingly polarised ideologies: foreignisation and domestication. Current theory tends to favour foreignising translations which has led to a marginalisation of domestication as a viable and valid approach. This thesis is an examination of domestication as a still-legitimate approach in the field of translation. The project consists of original translations of four short stories by noted Italian author Dino Buzzati, which together with commentaries provide a practical platform on which to analyse the characteristics and advantages of the approach. Additionally, building on these examples is a more general discussion of these two approaches, an examination of their respective strengths and weaknesses and an evaluation of domestication as a methodology that can still offer advantages in effective translation.</p>

Mesenchymal stromal cell apoptosis is required for their therapeutic function

Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) ameliorate a wide range of diseases in preclinical models, but the lack of clarity around their mechanisms of action has impeded their clinical utility. The therapeutic effects of MSCs are often attributed to bioactive molecules secreted by viable MSCs. However, we found that MSCs underwent apoptosis in the lung after intravenous administration, even in the absence of host cytotoxic or alloreactive cells. Deletion of the apoptotic effectors BAK and BAX prevented MSC death and attenuated their immunosuppressive effects in disease models used to define MSC potency. Mechanistically, apoptosis of MSCs and their efferocytosis induced changes in metabolic and inflammatory pathways in alveolar macrophages to effect immunosuppression and reduce disease severity. Our data reveal a mode of action whereby the host response to dying MSCs is key to their therapeutic effects; findings that have broad implications for the effective translation of cell-based therapies.

Translating Buzzati: Domesticating and Foreignising Strategies

<p>Methodologies within Modern Translation Studies are often broadly defined by two seemingly polarised ideologies: foreignisation and domestication. Current theory tends to favour foreignising translations which has led to a marginalisation of domestication as a viable and valid approach. This thesis is an examination of domestication as a still-legitimate approach in the field of translation. The project consists of original translations of four short stories by noted Italian author Dino Buzzati, which together with commentaries provide a practical platform on which to analyse the characteristics and advantages of the approach. Additionally, building on these examples is a more general discussion of these two approaches, an examination of their respective strengths and weaknesses and an evaluation of domestication as a methodology that can still offer advantages in effective translation.</p>

Translating official documents from French to English in Uganda

Although underexplored in Africa, the translation of official documents presents a revelatory context for examining translation practice and theory. Through a sociolinguistic and pragmatic lens, this study explores how translating official documents by focusing on linguistic equivalences without taking into account national institutional systems can be misleading. The argument is made that sociolinguistic variables and Grice’s pragmatic maxims are essential in enhancing translation effectiveness. A sample of 151 pairs of source and target documents dating from 2011–2017 was purposively selected. This corpus from nineteen Francophone countries covers three broad categories: Education, Legal, and General Administrative Correspondence. Nineteen translators and fourteen end-users were also interviewed regarding the translation effectiveness of corpus examples. Data is analyzed using sociolinguistic and pragmatic criteria. Finally, the analysis is positioned within the broader scholarship on translation studies to demonstrate how this approach expands our knowledge regarding effective translation.

Genomics and public health

The discipline of ‘public health genomics’ emerged as a need to provide ‘responsible and effective translation of genome-based knowledge and technologies for the benefit of the population’. It is becoming increasingly accepted that the one size fits all approach is going to be outdated soon. Targeted personalized medicines, therapies, and interventions approach will be the preferred form of treatment in the not too distant future. The fields of public health genomics, precision medicine, and precision public health have proven important aspects in improving population health. However, despite the advancements made, there are still improvements that need to be implemented to significantly improve health, especially within the developing countries. In this chapter we discuss the advancements made within the field and highlight challengers or future directions.

“Integrating China in the International Consortium for Personalized Medicine”: The Coordination and Support Action to Foster Collaboration in Personalized Medicine Development between Europe and China

“Integrating China in the International Consortium for Personalized Medicine” (IC2PerMed) is a coordination and support action funded within the Horizon 2020 work program. Following the guidance of the International Consortium for Personalized Medicine (ICPerMed), the project’s overarching aim is to align the European Union and China’s research agendas in the field of personalized medicine (PM) to enable a swift development of PM approaches in the EU with strong leverage upon EU-Chinese collaboration. Living in the CO­VID-19 era, we are witnessing how the challenges imposed by the pandemic all around the globe have been acting as a catalyst for collaborations and knowledge sharing among national health systems worldwide. Given the strong interest on behalf of both Europe and China in the advancement of PM approaches, now more than ever, a cross-border collaboration between the 2 powers can accelerate the effective translation of such innovation to healthcare systems, advance research, and ensure that such change follows the directions toward the path of sustainability. IC2PerMed developments will be led by European and Chinese experts equally assembled into 3 Working Groups: (1) people and organization, (2) innovation and market, and (3) research and clinical studies in PM. This complex and dynamic network of actions thrives on dialog, cooperation, and alignment of research at national and global levels; work in the direction taken by IC2PerMed shall pave the way toward the realization of PM’s full potential, prevent it from becoming a burden for healthcare systems, and, rather, prove that it provides an essential and irreplaceable contribution to their effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability.

Role of structural specificity of ZnO particles in preserving functionality of proteins in their corona

Reconfiguration of protein conformation in a micro and nano particle (MNP) protein corona due to interaction is an often-overlooked aspect in drug design and nano-medicine. Mostly, MNP-Protein corona studies focus on the toxicity of nano particles (NPs) in a biological environment to analyze biocompatibility. However, preserving functional specificity of proteins in an NP corona becomes critical for effective translation of nano-medicine. This paper investigates the non-classical interaction between insulin and ZnO MNPs using a classical electrical characterization technique at GHz frequency with an objective to understand the effect of the micro particle (MP) and nanoparticle (NP) morphology on the electrical characteristics of the MNP-Protein corona and therefore the conformation and functional specificity of protein. The MNP-Protein corona was subjected to thermal and enzymatic (papain) perturbation to study the denaturation of the protein. Experimental results demonstrate that the morphology of ZnO particles plays an important role in preserving the electrical characteristics of insulin.

The Danger of a Single Study

This chapter outlines how taking a more systematic approach to developing responsive evidence bases that can inform research, policy, and practice on community health worker (CHW) training in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) supports the provision of more effective and equitable CHW programmes. It also explores methodologies and tools to develop such evidence bases and how these can and have been used to inform decision-making. We argue that by focusing on single primary studies rather than the combined body of evidence, research and practice on the training of CHWs in LMICs is overlooking systemic patterns in the evidence base. Decisions on which types of training programmes to implement in LMICs are often based on single evaluations of programmes conducted out of context or informed by general principles for workplace-based learning. Better matching research and practice needs with the available evidence base will facilitate a more effective translation of knowledge on the training of CHWs into practice and policy decisions.

Federico García Lorca’s Theatre in Italy A New Edition of La casa de Bernarda Alba

Taking as a departing point the great tradition of Lorca studies and the vast number of versions of his poetry and theatre in Italy, this article analyses the most recent bilingual edition (prepared by Enrico Di Pastena, Pisa, ETS, 2019) of Lorca’s last tragedy, La casa de Bernarda Alba, written in 1936 and staged for the first time on March 8th, 1945 in Buenos Aires. This work is Lorca’s dramatic masterpiece and the most translated and staged among his plays, even in Italy, where Amedeo Recanati translated it for the first time in 1946. Di Pastena’s edition is considered as regards its effective translation, the study of its main topics and the accurate description of a good number of its European performances (particularly in Spain and Italy) from the forties onwards.