Syrupy herbal formulation of green bean pod extract of Phaseolus vulgaris L.: Formulation optimization by central composite design, and evaluation for anti-urolithiatic activity.

The green bean pods of Phaseolus vulgaris L. are traditionally used as a folk remedy for treating calcium oxalate kidney stones. The current research aimed to develop a syrup formulation containing green bean pod extract for anti-urolithiatic activity. The syrup was prepared using a simple blending method and optimized through a central composite design (CCD) with two independent variables: the ratio of pod juice (PJ) to sugar solution (SS) ranging from 1:0.5 to 1:1.5, and the percentage of CMC from 0.2% to 0.4% w/v. These variables were analyzed for their impact on viscosity (CP) and sedimentation percentage, helping to identify the best formulation out of 13 variants. The finalized formulation (F-opt) underwent assessment for physicochemical characteristics such as organoleptic properties, viscosity, density, sedimentation rate, and stability. Additionally, a microbiological assessment was performed utilizing the spread plate method. Further, it was evaluated for in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo anti-urolithiatic activity in rat models for 28 days and compared with that of the reference standard (Cystone syrup). Additionally, acute toxicity was assessed in albino Swiss mice. Histopathological evaluations were then conducted on the kidneys of the Wistar rats that had been used for the in vivo studies, providing insight into the treatment effects on kidney tissue structure. The optimized formulation (F-opt) was a green, viscous, clear syrup with a pH of 5.8, a viscosity of 256.38 CP, a density of 1.31 g/ml, and a sedimentation rate of 0.69%. The optimized formulation was found to be stable, showing no significant changes in physicochemical and microbiological properties. The results of the in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo anti-urolithiatic studies indicated that the optimized formulation effectively inhibited the aggregation of calcium oxalate. The acute toxicity studies revealed no mortality or adverse effects for both the optimized formulation and pure bean pod juice at a dose of 2000 mg/kg body weight. Histopathological examination revealed that rats treated with the optimized formulation exhibited a significant reduction in both the number and size of calcium oxalate deposits within various parts of the renal tubules. It can be concluded that the syrupy formulation of Phaseolus vulgaris L. green bean pod extract demonstrated significant anti-urolithiatic activity. This activity could be due to its diuretic properties and its ability to inhibit the formation of calcium oxalate crystals. However, limitations of the study included a lack of elucidation of the mechanism and limited generalizability of the findings.

Recent Developments in the Study of the Microenvironment of Cancer and Drug Delivery.

Cancer is characterized by disrupted molecular variables caused by cells that deviate from regular signal transduction. The uncontrolled segment of such cancerous cells annihilates most of the tissues that contact them. Gene therapy, immunotherapy, and nanotechnology advancements have resulted in novel strategies for anticancer drug delivery. Furthermore, diverse dispersion of nanoparticles in normal stroma cells adversely affects the healthy cells and disrupts the crosstalk of tumour stroma. It can contribute to cancer cell progression inhibition and, conversely, to acquired resistance, enabling cancer cell metastasis and proliferation. The tumour's microenvironment is critical in controlling the dispersion and physiological activities of nano-chemotherapeutics which is one of the targeted drug therapy. As it is one of the methods of treating cancer that involves the use of medications or other substances to specifically target and kill off certain subsets of malignant cells. A targeted therapy may be administered alone or in addition to more conventional methods of care like surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation treatment. The tumour microenvironment, stromatogenesis, barriers and advancement in the drug delivery system across tumour tissue are summarised in this review.

In search of ethical pandemic technology.

The duration of the pandemic over the last two years has witnessed the steering of multiple technological interventions by governments. These interventions - ranging from contact tracing applications to vaccine certificates - have been developed in the specific context of the pandemic, and were meant to address its unique requirements. This family of technological interventions may be termed "pandemic technology" - having diverse uses such as preventing the transmission of Covid-19, and aiding the relaxation of pandemic-induced restrictions. We propose a four-rung ethical paradigm for the deployment of such technology. We call it the STEP model and its four pillars consist of (i) sunset clauses, (ii) trust, (iii) equity, and (iv) privacy preservation.

Role of Various Gene Expressions in Etiopathogenesis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.

CONTEXT: Diabetes is a metabolic disease, with high mortality, and is characterized by increased glucose levels in the blood occurring due to poor pancreatic insulin secretion or development of insulin resistance in the body. Type 2 DM (T2DM) represents 90% of diabetic cases, and its pathogenesis involves a genetic correlation with insulin resistance, ß-cell dysfunction, lifestyle, and environmental factors. OBJECTIVE: The current study intended to examine the pathophysiology of T2DM, including factors influencing insulin resistance and beta (ß)-cell dysfunction as well as the genetic factors that indicate susceptibility to T2DM. DESIGN: The research team performed a narrative review by searching the Mendeley, Science Direct, Medline, PubMed, Google Scholar, and Springer databases. The search used the keywords Diabetes, insulin secretion and environmental factor. SETTING: This study was take place in School of Pharmacy, Suresh Gyan Vihar University, Jaipur, India. RESULTS: The paraoxonase-1 gene Q192R and the L55M, INS-VNTR, and IL-38 gene alterations can result in insulin resistance while PAM variants and miR-132 and miR-18 expression can lead to ß-cell dysfunction. Palmitate-like FFA expression of mRNA MafA, and IRS-2 can lead to impairment of insulin secretion. CONCLUSIONS: T2DM is the most common metabolic disorder of the twenty-first century, and its incidence, complications, and morbidity increase every day. The examination of T2DM's pathophysiology and the literature review have revealed that it has a strong correlation with genetic defects.

Emerging cases of mucormycosis under COVID-19 pandemic in India: Misuse of antibiotics.

COVID-19's second wave had a significant impact on India, on May 7, 2021, the largest daily recorded case count was a little more than 4 million, and it has since fallen. Although the number of new cases reported has dropped, during the third week of May 2021, India accounted for about 45% of new cases identified globally and around 34% of deaths. As India maintains its present level of stability, a new urgent threat has emerged in the form of coronavirus-associated mucormycosis. Mucormycosis, an acute and deadly fungal infection caused by Mucorales-related fungal species, is a fungal emergency with a particularly aggressive propensity for contiguous spread, associated with a poor prognosis if not properly and immediately identified, and treated. Mucormycosis, sometimes referred to as the "black fungus," has increased more rapidly in India during the second wave of COVID-19 than during the first wave, with at least 14,872 cases as of May 28, 2021. Uncontrolled diabetic mellitus (DM) and other immunosuppressive diseases such as neutropenia and corticosteroid treatment have traditionally been identified as risk factors for mucormycosis. Therefore, the use of glucocorticoids or high doses of glucocorticoids in mild COVID-19 cases (without hypoxemia) should be avoided. In addition, drugs that target the immune pathway, such as tocilizumab, are not recommended without clear benefits.

Biosensors based on Bloch surface waves in one-dimensional photonic crystal with graphene nanolayers.

In biosensors research, much effort has been made to achieve high sensitivity to detect lower concentrations of analyte in a solution by testing different kinds of materials. In this paper, we present a biosensor based on Bloch surface waves made of photonic crystal (PhC) including graphene nanolayers under the Kretschmann configuration. The band structures, surface modes, reflectivity, and sensitivity of the PhC biosensor are calculated by the transfer matrix method and results are compared with those of the structure without graphene layers. Our investigations show that the angular sensitivity of the biosensor considerably increases in the presence of the graphene layers. Moreover, we study the effect of the number of the graphene layers placed on the surface of the biosensor on the performance of our proposed biosensor. The results reveal that the sensitivity of the biosensor is enhanced by increasing the number of graphene layers on the surface due to the π-stacking interactions between graphene's honeycomb cells and the carbon rings in biomolecules. Furthermore, our results show that the phase sensitivity is higher than the angular sensitivity, which can promote the accuracy of the calculations.