Live donor liver transplantation for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma offers increased survival vs. deceased donation

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High preoperative bilirubin values protect against reperfusion injury after live donor liver transplantation

Heme Oxygenase‐1 and its product biliverdin/bilirubin have been demonstrated to protect against ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). We investigated whether increased preoperative bilirubin values of transplant recipients decrease IRI. Preoperative bilirubin levels of live donor liver recipients were correlated to postoperative liver transaminase as a marker of IRI. Additionally, two recipient groups with pretransplant bilirubin levels >24 μmol/l (n = 348) and ≤24 μmol/l (n = 118) were compared. Post‐transplant liver function, complications, length of hospital stay, and patient and graft survival were assessed. Preoperative bilirubin levels were negatively correlated to the postoperative increase in transaminases suggesting a protective effect against IRI. The maximal rise of ALT after transplantation in high versus low bilirubin patients was 288 (?210–2457) U/l vs. 375 (?11–2102) U/l, P = 0.006. Bilirubin remained a significant determining factor in a multivariate linear regression analysis. The MELD score and its individual components as a marker of severity of chronic liver disease were significantly higher in the high versus low bilirubin group (P < 0.001). Despite this, overall complication rate (21.0% vs. 21.2%, P = 0.88), hospital stay [13 (4–260) vs. 14 (6–313) days, P = 0.93), and 1‐year graft survival (90.8% vs. 89.0%, P = 0.62) were similar in both groups. High bilirubin levels of liver recipients before live donor transplantation is associated with decreased postoperative IRI.     

A chitosan gold nanoparticles molecularly imprinted polymer based ciprofloxacin sensor

In this work, we present a novel study on the development of an electrochemical biomimetic sensor to detect the ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotic. A chitosan gold nanoparticles decorated molecularly imprinted polymer (Ch-AuMIP) was used to modify the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) for preparation of the sensor. The Ch-AuMIP was characterized to understand various properties like chemical composition, morphology, roughness, and conduction using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) respectively. Several experimental conditions affecting the Ch-AuMIP/GCE sensor such as the CIP removal agent, the extraction time, the volume of Ch-AuMIP drop-cast onto GCE and the rebinding time were studied and optimized. The Ch-AuMIP sensor sensitivity was studied in the concentration range of 1–100 μmol L⁻¹ exhibiting a limit of detection of 210 nmol L⁻¹. The synergistic combination of Au nanoparticles and Ch-MIP helps detect the CIP antibiotic with good sensitivity and selectivity, respectively. We investigated the selectivity aspect by using some possible interfering species and the developed sensing system showed good selectivity for CIP with a 66% response compared to the other compounds (≤45% response). The proposed sensing strategy showed its applicability for successful detection of CIP in real samples like tap water, mineral water, milk, and pharmaceutical formulation. The developed sensor showed good selectivity towards CIP even among the analogue molecules of Norfloxacin (NFX) and Ofloxacin (OFX). The developed sensor was successfully applied to determine the CIP in different samples with a satisfactory recovery in the range of 94 to 106%.

In this work, we present a novel study on the development of an electrochemical biomimetic sensor to detect the ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotic.     

Identification of novel bacterial urease inhibitors through molecular shape and structure based virtual screening approaches

The enzyme urease is an essential colonizing factor of the notorious carcinogenic pathogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), conferring acid resistance to the bacterium. Recently, antibiotic resistant strains have emerged globally with little to no alternative treatment available. In this study we propose novel urease inhibitors capable of controlling infection by H. pylori and other pathogenic bacteria. We employed hierarchal computational approaches to screen new urease inhibitors from commercial chemical databases followed by in vitro anti-urease assays. Initially ROCS shape-based screening was performed using o-chloro-hippurohydroxamic acid followed by molecular docking studies. Out of 1.83 million compounds, 1700 compounds were retrieved based on having a ROCS Tanimoto combo score in the range of values from 1.216 to 1.679. These compounds were further screened using molecular docking simulations and the 100 top ranked compounds were selected based on their Glide score. After structural classification of the top ranked compounds, eight compounds were selected and purchased for biological assays. The plausible binding modes of the most active compounds were also confirmed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Compounds 1, 2 and 3 demonstrated good urease inhibitory properties (IC₅₀ = 0.32, 0.68 and 0.42 μM) compared to the other compounds. Enzyme kinetic studies revealed that compounds 1 and 3 are competitive inhibitors while 2 is a mixed type inhibitor of the urease enzyme. Cell based urease inhibition and MTT assay showed that these compounds blocked H. pylori urease activity, affecting bacterial growth and acid tolerance.

The enzyme urease is an essential colonizing factor of the notorious carcinogenic pathogen Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), conferring acid resistance to the bacterium.     

Facile green synthesis and applications of silver nanoparticles: a state-of-the-art review

In the field of nanotechnology, the development of reliable and eco-friendly methods for the synthesis of NPs is crucial. The conventional methods for the synthesis of NPs are costly, toxic, and not ecofriendly. To overcome these issues, natural sources such as plant, bacteria, fungi, and biopolymers have been used to synthesize AgNPs. These natural sources act as reducing and capping agents. The shape, size, and applications of AgNPs are prominently affected by the reaction parameters under which they are synthesized. Accessible distributed data on the synthesis of AgNPs include the impact of different parameters (temperature and pH), characterization techniques (DLS, UV-vis, FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM and EDX), properties and their applications. This review paper discusses all the natural sources such as plants, bacteria, fungi, and biopolymers that have been used for the synthesis of AgNPs in the last ten years. AgNPs synthesized by green methods have found potential applications in a wide spectrum of areas including drug delivery, DNA analysis and gene therapy, cancer treatment, antimicrobial agents, biosensors, catalysis, SERS and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The current limitations and future prospects for the synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles by green methods are also discussed herein.

In order to overcome the challenges of conventional synthesis of NPs, natural sources such as plants, bacteria, fungi, biopolymers are used for the synthesis of AgNPs.     

A comparative clinical survey of the prevalence of refractive errors and eye diseases in urban and rural school children

Objective: To assess the prevalence of refractive error and common ocular diseases in school-aged children in urban and rural populations in and around Hyderabad, India.Design: Population-based, cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 3314 school children, 1789 from urban areas and 1525 from rural areas.Methods: The examination included visual acuity measurements, retinoscopy and autorefraction under cycloplegia, examination of the anterior segment and external eye, and ocular motility evaluation.Results: In the urban group the prevalence of uncorrected presenting and best-corrected visual impairment (≤20/40 in the better eye) was 9.8%, which dropped to 7.1% with presenting vision and was further reduced to 1.1% with best-corrected visual acuity. Uncorrected visual acuity in the rural group was 6.6%, which dropped to 3.3% with presenting vision and was further reduced to 2.5% with best-corrected visual acuity. The prevalence of refractive error was greater (25.2%) in the urban than the rural group (8%). Myopia measured with autorefraction was observed in 51.4% of urban children and 16.7% in rural children. Increased literacy rate, duration of study hours, and older age of the child were found to have contributed more to the prevalence of myopia in the urban group. Hyperopia with autorefraction was found to be 3.3% in the urban and 3.1% in the rural group. Hyperopia was associated with younger age in the study group. Trachoma was the leading cause of ocular morbidity in the rural group (3.5%) compared with the urban group (0.16%). Night blindness was reported in 3.2% of children in the rural group and 0.33% in the urban group. Vitamin A deficiency, low socio-economic status, and poor personal and environmental hygienic practice were found to have a positive correlation with ocular morbidity among rural group children.Conclusions: Provision of health education, periodic visual screening programs, and primary eye care by trained health care personnel in the elementary schools will prevent the prevalence of refractive errors and common ocular diseases in school children.