Advances in biomarker sciences and technology最新文献

Food poisoning related to bacterial contamination is the most common disease and cause of death nowadays in developing countries. There are many plants that have made a revolution in the field of medicine. Zygophyllum simplex (Z. simplex) is a plant that is native to Oman and it has been used since ancient times as a cure for human infectious diseases. The purpose of this study is to prepare different polarities containing plant crude extracts and evaluate their antibacterial behavior using the agar gel diffusion technique. In order to arrange their extracts via the Soxhlet extraction technique and solvent-solvent fraction technique, multi-polar solvents were used. With minor modification, the antimicrobial behaviors of the multi-polar extracts taken out were calculated by the agar gel diffusion technique. The antimicrobial action as a zone of inhibition of six different extracts at four concentrations was completed against two Gram-negative: Escherichia coli (E. coli, Code No. 683) and Klebsiella Pneumonia (K. pneumonia, Code No. 684), and three Gram-positive bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus, Code No. 659), Streptococcus pseudopneumonia (S. pseudopneumonia, Code No. 685), Bacillus pumilus (B. pumilus, Code No. 690). Different crude extracts showed antimicrobial activity against Gram (+ and -) bacteria at different concentrations. All extracts at different concentrations showed moderate to substantial activity against the bacterial strains of Grams (+and-) except methanol against B. pumilus. All various polarities crude extracts, ethyl acetate, DCM (dichloromethane), and water extracts at different concentrations showed the maximum activity against E coli within the range of 8–13.5 mm. The highest inhibition zone was found in DCM extract and the lowest antimicrobial activity was found in the hexane extract against different bacterial strains. So the order of DCM > butanol > water > methanol > hexane extracts preceded it. To isolate pure compounds by using column chromatography, the highest antibacterial activity DCM crude extract was chosen. The eluents were collected in a series of test tubes and a total of eight fractions were prepared based on the thin layer chromatography behavior. Similarly, the isolated eight fractions from the column were used to determine their antibacterial activity by the same agar diffusion method. The results showed that fractions number 2 and 4 gave the highest activity among the other fractions. In conclusion, the DCM extract as well as fraction numbers 2 and 4 exhibited promising activities against Gram-negative bacterial strains; therefore, the DCM extract, fraction 2, and fraction 4 could be used for the treatment of various human infectious diseases as natural antibiotics.

Breast cancer, the most predominant type of cancer reported in females, is a heterogeneous disease classified into various subcategories depending on the presence of hormone receptors. Epidemiological studies show a strong correlation between reduced 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) levels, the active component of vitamin D, and increased breast cancer risk in diverse populations. In a ligand-dependent manner, vitamin D receptor (VDR) transcriptionally modulates its target genes belonging to cell proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis pathways, thus imparting protective function against cancer growth and progression. The coding and regulatory regions of the VDR gene contain several polymorphisms (BsmI, Fok1, Taq1, Apa1, Cdx2, poly (A), etc.) that modulate its transcription, translation, and mRNA stability. Despite this, research in this area has not yet led to many conclusions. In this review, we analyzed in a systematic way that the association of VDR allelic variants with breast cancer risk among patients from various populations. This analysis has revealed that Fok1, Bsm1, Apa1were to some extent associated with breast cancer risk, Taq1 shows no association, and Cdx2, poly(A), Tru91 gene polymorphisms may be susceptible for breast cancer development. We have highlighted the new insights of the current understanding of molecular mechanisms of the VDR gene polymorphisms related to breast cancer risk and also examined the interaction between VDR polymorphisms and steroid hormone (estrogen, progesterone, and androgen) receptors and their modifying effects on breast cancer risk, cancer severity, progression rate, and disease outcome. Therefore, with a lack of studies and inconsistent results, we recommend that further studies focus on genetic variations of the VDR gene that should be integrated with the assessment of steroid hormone receptor status in breast cancer.

Objective

Oman is a diverse habitat for various rare medicinal plants. Hyoscyamus gallagheri (H. gallagheri), locally known as Zgaf, is one of those rare plants. It is traditionally used for different ailments. This study aims to evaluate the antibacterial, antioxidant, antiulcer and antidiabetic potential of the leaves extracts of H. gallagheri.

Methods

Five extracts (hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol, and water) were prepared and investigated for: their antibacterial potential against isolated gram (+ and -) bacteria, total antioxidant activity against DPPH (2,2 Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) and enzymatic inhibition of α-glucosidase and urease enzymes. Based on their biological potential, the chloroform and butanol extracts were fractionated by column chromatography using different polarities and proportions of organic solvents. This yielded a total of 9 chloroform and butanol fractions; their antibacterial and antioxidant potentials were investigated using the same methods.

Results

The results showed that all extracts exhibited excellent antibacterial potential against all tested bacterial strains as well as antioxidant potential, at different concentrations. The butanol extract showed the highest antibacterial, antioxidant and enzymatic activities, while the hexane and water extracts showed the least. The chloroform extract did not show any potential against urease and α-glucosidase enzymes. The butanol extract showed weak inhibitory action against α-glucosidase (^IC₅₀ = 585.76 ± 47.5 μg/ml) but the action against the urease enzyme was very good with an (IC50 = 90.3 ± 1.259 μg/ml)^.

Conclusions

Based on the obtained results, the active extract of H. gallagheri could be a valuable source of antioxidants, antibacterial, and urease inhibitory compounds.

Different biomarkers for SARS-CoV-2 have been linked to detection, diagnosis, treatment, disease progression, and development of new drugs and vaccines. The objective of this research was to evaluate various hematological, biochemicals, immunological, radiological and spirometric parameters in 20 adult patients convalescing from COVID-19 and their possible relationship with the clinical course of the disease. The frequencies of categorical variables were compared using the chi-square and Fisher's exact test. The levels of statistical significance were denoted in each figure legend. Two-dimensional clustering analysis was performed using MeV software from TIGR. The tests with P value of ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Most of the patients studied presented alterations in dissimilar laboratory, radiological and spirometric parameters, which were related to the clinical evolution of the disease. The results obtained show that certain hematological, biochemical, immunological and radiological parameters can be considered as biomarkers of sequela in adult COVID-19 patients, which allows their stratification, according to the degree of involvement or sequela, into three groups: I (mild degree of involvement or sequela), without lung lesions on computerized axial tomography (CT scan) and high values of IgG, C3 and hemoglobin, II (moderate degree of involvement or sequel), without lung lesions on CT scan, characterized by high levels of CD3+/CD4+ T lymphocytes and the rest of the variables with low values and III (severe degree of involvement or sequela), with lung lesions on CT scan and high values of erythrocyte sedimentation rate, monocytes and neutrophils, associated with lymphopenia and decreased concentrations of IgG and C3.

Isolation of chitin from shrimp shell waste using chemical process is a well-adopted industrial practice due to its short process time and efficiency in removing both minerals and proteins from the shell. This study aims to compare the physicochemical, functional, and structural characteristics of chitin obtained from Deep-sea mud shrimp shells using two chemical process sequences: (i) initial deproteinization followed by demineralization (DPM) and (ii) initial demineralization followed by deproteinization (DMP). Characteristics of the extracted chitin, namely degree of acetylation, whiteness index, purity, crystallinity index and surface morphology were evaluated and compared with those of commercial chitin. The high levels of deproteinization and demineralization observed for both DPM and DMP processes suggest the effectiveness of the processes. The Mw of 436.59 ± 1.00 kDa, DA of 81.56 ± 1.10% and WI of 71.39 ± 0.72 for chitin prepared by DMP were higher than those of chitin prepared by DPM, which had Mw of 429.34 ± 1.21 kDa, DA of 75.91 ± 0.99% and WI of 45.03 ± 1.39. The CrI values for DPM and DMP chitins were 68.7% and 72%, respectively. SEM analysis revealed a microfibrillar structure with porosity for the isolated chitin.

The primary role of plants and its products in the treatment of illness is demonstrated by their employment in all the major health care systems of medicine irrespective of the original philosophical evidence. The particular plant species is used in Oman for the treatment of several diseases including eye drops to treat cataracts. The present study is to isolate the essential oil from the selected plant Cleome austroarabica (C. austroarabica) which is grown in Oman and characterize the biomarkers by using Gas chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The essential oil was isolated by hydro-distillation method which was collected from Birkat Al Mouz and Tanuf. The percentage of major biomarkers was analyzed by GC-MS and they are as follows: diterpenes 53.1%, sesquiterpenes 41.8% and monoterpenes 5.1%, respectively. Among them, the major biomarkers were thunbergol (51.1%), elemol (9.4%), γ-eudesmol (6.1%), β-eudesmol (6.1%), α-eudesmol (4.3%), 6-epi-shyobunol (2.7%), 3-(z) cembrene (2.0%), β-bisabolene (1.8%), δ-cadinene (+)- (1.8%), ledol (1.4%), eremophilene (1.2%), sabinen (1.2%), caryophellene (1.0%) and guaiol (1.0%). The antibacterial potential of the plant essential oil (125–1000 μg/ml) was examined against six bacterial strains including Gram (+and –) by using disc diffusion method. All the tested Gram (+and –) bacterial strains displayed slight to moderate antibacterial potential (6–7 mm) against all concentrations of essential oil. The cytotoxic potential of the plant essential oil at different concentrations does not display any mortality against the brine shrimp larvae. In conclusion, based on the biomarkers and antibacterial potential of the isolated essential oil from the species it could be used as medicine to treat infectious diseases.

Globally, researchers are investigated and recommend that about two-thirds of the plant and marine species available have significant antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Plant reduce oxidative stress in cells and infections therefore they are useful to treat most common diseases eg., cancer, cardiovascular, inflammatory and various infectious diseases. The focus of this study is to prepare various extracts of Adenium obesum (A. obesum) that was collected from Oman National Botanical Garden, Muscat and evaluate antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the extracts using a modified established method. The different polarities leave crude extracts were prepared from dry leaf powder of A. obesum and fractioned with increasing solvent polarities starting from non-polar hexane solvent. The extracts from leaves with various polarities were used to estimate their antioxidant and antibacterial activities through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and asgar disc bioassays. The maximum antioxidant and antibacterial activities were detected in ethyl acetate extracts with an inhibition of 88.27% and 25 mm and the chloroform extract showed the smallest activity with an inhibition of 2.57% and 5 mm. Based on experimental results, systematic order of antioxidant activity was ethyl acetate > butanol > water > hexane > methanol > chloroform extract and the order of antibacterial activity was ethyl acetate > methanol > butanol > water > hexane > chloroform extract. The findings demonstrated that the maximum activity plant leaves extract could form a good source for the isolation of diseases guided chemical compounds and further evaluation of their biological and pharmacological activities.

Due to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by COVID-19, our first contribution to the newly launching journal, Advances in Biomarker Sciences and Technology, has abruptly diverted to focus on the current pandemic. As the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise steadily around the world, the common goal of healthcare providers, scientists, and government officials worldwide has been to identify the best way to detect the novel coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2, and to treat the viral infection – COVID-19. Accurate detection, timely diagnosis, effective treatment, and future prevention are the vital keys to management of COVID-19, and can help curb the viral spread. Traditionally, biomarkers play a pivotal role in the early detection of disease etiology, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. To assist myriad ongoing investigations and innovations, we developed this current article to overview known and emerging biomarkers for SARS-CoV-2 detection, COVID-19 diagnostics, treatment and prognosis, and ongoing work to identify and develop more biomarkers for new drugs and vaccines. Moreover, biomarkers of socio-psychological stress, the high-technology quest for new virtual drug screening, and digital applications are described.

Centella asiatica is a herbal plant that is widely used as medicine due to the benefit of its bioactive compounds such as rutin, kaempferol, quercetin, gallic acid, luteolin and catechin. Typically, the amount of these bioactive compounds are varies depending on the solvent used. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the chemical fingerprint of six Centella asiatica’s bioactive compounds (kaempferol, quercetin, luteolin, gallic acid, rutin and catechin) in the ethanolic and aqueous ethanol extracts. Water, ethanol, and 50% aqueous ethanol were used as extracting solvents via maceration (solid-liquid) technique to extract bioactive compounds from C.asiatica. Rotary evaporator procedure was performed to concentrate the extracts before these crudes were analysed using HPLC instrument. The percentage yield of crude extract (% w/w) was calculated, and its mathematical model was reported in this study. The exponential equation model was also applied to predict the percentage yield of the C.asiatica extract. From the equation, satisfactory results have been obtained, which gave less than 12.21% error with 0.9967 of R² value. Besides, the percentage yield of bioactive compounds resulting from HPLC analysis was also explained. HPLC result showed that kaempferol was the highest bioactive compound with 373.2 mg/g dry powder using 100% ethanol as extract solvent. Therefore, the development of this study can be extended to assess this plant potential in the formulation of pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.