Enzymatic Synthesis of Austroeupatol Esters with Enhanced Antiprotozoal Activity.

Austroeupatol, the principal diterpene isolated from the invasive shrub Austroeupatorium inulifolium, holds promise for structural diversification and biological assessment of its derivatives due to its abundant availability and high yield isolation. We propose an efficient enzymatic synthesis of a series of austroeupatol esters derived from aliphatic and heterocyclic carboxylic acids. Systematic optimization of reaction parameters, including enzyme type and quantity, acylating agent amount, solvent, and temperature, was conducted. Thermomyces lanuginosus lipase in cyclohexane at 55 °C, yielded esters with favorable conversion rates. Through enzymatic catalysis, mono- and diacylated derivatives were obtained, with a diacylation-monoacylation ratio influenced by temperature and acylating agent amount. The antiprotozoal activity of austroeupatol and all synthesized derivatives was evaluated, observing that acylation improved it. The 19-valeroyl, 19-indolylpropyl, and 19-octyl derivatives were the most potent compounds against Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania infantum, highlighting this approach as a valuable method for synthesizing austroeupatol derivatives as potential antiparasitic agents.

Optimization of the 2-arylquinazoline-4(3H)one scaffold for a selective and potent antitrypanosomal agent: modulation of the mechanism of action through chemical functionalization.

We sought to identify a potent and selective antitrypanosomal agent through modulation of the mechanism of action of a 2-arylquinazoline scaffold as an antitrypanosomal agent via chemical functionalization at the 4-position. We wished to use the: (i) susceptibility of trypanosomatids towards nitric oxide (NO) and reactive oxygen species (ROS); (ii) capacity of the 4-substituted quinazoline system to act as an antifolate agent. Three quinazolin-based moieties that differed from each other by having at the 4-position key pharmacophores targeting the induction of NO and ROS production were evaluated in vitro against Leishmania infantum and Trypanosoma cruzi parasites and their modes of action were explored. Replacement of an oxygen moiety at the 4-position of the antifolate 2-arylquinazolin-4(3H)one by hydrazinyl and 5-nitrofuryl-hydrazinyl pharmacophores enhanced antitrypanosomatid activity significantly due to promotion of an additional mechanism beyond the antifolate response such as NO or ROS production, respectively. Among the three types of chemical functionalization, the 5-nitrofuryl-hydrazinyl moiety generated the most potent compounds. Compound 3b was a potential candidate thanks to its sub-micromolar response against the promastigotes/amastigotes of L. infantum and epimastigote of T. cruzi, moderate toxicity on macrophages (J774.1), good selectivity index (∼15.1-17.6) and, importantly, non-mutagenic effects. 2-Arylquinazoline could be an attractive platform to design new anti-trypanosomatid agents with the use of key pharmacophores.

Genetic Algorithm-Based Grouping Strategy for IEEE 802.11ah Networks.

The IEEE 802.11ah standard is intended to adapt the specifications of IEEE 802.11 to the Internet of Things (IoT) scenario. One of the main features of IEEE 802.11ah consists of the Restricted Access Window (RAW) mechanism, designed for scheduling transmissions of groups of stations within certain periods of time or windows. With an appropriate configuration, the RAW feature reduces contention and improves energy efficiency. However, the standard specification does not provide mechanisms for the optimal setting of RAW parameters. In this way, this paper presents a grouping strategy based on a genetic algorithm (GA) for IEEE 802.11ah networks operating under the RAW mechanism and considering heterogeneous stations, that is, stations using different modulation and coding schemes (MCS). We define a fitness function from the combination of the predicted system throughput and fairness, and provide the tuning of the GA parameters to obtain the best result in a short time. The paper also includes a comparison of different alternatives with regard to the stages of the GA, i.e., parent selection, crossover, and mutation methods. As a proof of concept, the proposed GA-based RAW grouping is tested on a more constrained device, a Raspberry Pi 3B+, where the grouping method converges in around 5 s. The evaluation concludes with a comparison of the GA-based grouping strategy with other grouping approaches, thus showing that the proposed mechanism provides a good trade-off between throughput and fairness performance.

Non-tumoral metastatic lesions as a debut of primary biliary cholangitis and concomitant sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis is included within the multisystemic granulomatous diseases with autoimmune character. The case of a 51-year-old man with hemoptysis, cholestasis and bone lesions is presented. After ruling out infectious, inflammatory and neoplastic entities, a diagnosis of sarcoidosis and autoimmune hepatitis with primary biliary cholangitis was established.

Synthesis and Antitrypanosomal and Mechanistic Studies of a Series of 2-Arylquinazolin-4-hydrazines: A Hydrazine Moiety as a Selective, Safe, and Specific Pharmacophore to Design Antitrypanosomal Agents Targeting NO Release.

Nitric oxide (NO) represents a valuable target to design antitrypanosomal agents by its high toxicity against trypanosomatids and minimal side effects on host macrophages. The progress of NO-donors as antitrypanosomal has been restricted by the high toxicity of their agents, which usually is based on NO-heterocycles and metallic NO-complexes. Herein, we carried out the design of a new class of NO-donors based on the susceptibility of the hydrazine moiety connected to an electron-deficient ring to be reduced to the amine moiety with release of NO. Then, a series of novel 2-arylquinazolin-4-hydrazine, with the potential ability to disrupt the parasite folate metabolism, were synthesized. Their in vitro evaluation against Leishmania and Trypanosoma cruzi parasites and mechanistic aspects were investigated. The compounds displayed significant leishmanicidal activity, identifying three potential candidates, that is, 3b, 3c, and 3f, for further assays by their good antiamastigote activities against Leishmania braziliensis, low toxicity, non-mutagenicity, and good ADME profile. Against T. cruzi parasites, derivatives 3b, 3c, and 3e displayed interesting levels of activities and selectivities. Mechanistic studies revealed that the 2-arylquinazolin-4-hydrazines act as either antifolate or NO-donor agents. NMR, fluorescence, and theoretical studies supported the fact that the quinazolin-hydrazine decomposed easily in an oxidative environment via cleavage of the N-N bond to release the corresponding heterocyclic-amine and NO. Generation of NO from axenic parasites was confirmed by the Griess test. All the evidence showed the potential of hydrazine connected to the electron-deficient ring to design effective and safe NO-donors against trypanosomatids.

Preclinical Studies and Drug Combination of Low-Cost Molecules for Chagas Disease.

Chagas disease is caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). It remains the major parasitic disease in Latin America and is spreading worldwide, affecting over 10 million people. Hundreds of new compounds with trypanosomicidal action have been identified from different sources such as synthetic or natural molecules, but they have been deficient in several stages of drug development (toxicology, scaling-up, and pharmacokinetics). Previously, we described a series of compounds with simple structures, low cost, and environmentally friendly production with potent trypanosomicidal activity in vitro and in vivo. These molecules are from three different families: thiazolidenehydrazines, diarylideneketones, and steroids. From this collection, we explored their capacity to inhibit the triosephosphate isomerase and cruzipain of T. cruzi. Then, the mechanism of action was explored using NMR metabolomics and computational molecular dynamics. Moreover, the mechanism of death was studied by flow cytometry. Consequently, five compounds, 314, 793, 1018, 1019, and 1260, were pre-clinically studied and their pharmacologic profiles indicated low unspecific toxicity. Interestingly, synergetic effects of diarylideneketones 793 plus 1018 and 793 plus 1019 were evidenced in vitro and in vivo. In vivo, the combination of compounds 793 plus 1018 induced a reduction of more than 90% of the peak of parasitemia in the acute murine model of Chagas disease.

Bandwidth-Based Wake-Up Radio Solution through IEEE 802.11 Technology.

IEEE 802.11 consists of one of the most used wireless access technologies, which can be found in almost all consumer electronics devices available. Recently, Wake-up Radio (WuR) systems have emerged as a solution for energy-efficient communications. WuR mechanisms rely on using a secondary low-power radio interface that is always in the active operation mode and is in charge of switching the primary interface, used for main data exchange, from the power-saving state to the active mode. In this paper, we present a WuR solution based on IEEE 802.11 technology employing transmissions of legacy frames by an IEEE 802.11 standard-compliant transmitter during a Transmission Opportunity (TXOP) period. Unlike other proposals available in the literature, the WuR system presented in this paper exploits the PHY characteristics of modern IEEE 802.11 radios, where different signal bandwidths can be used on a per-packet basis. The proposal is validated through the Matlab software tool, and extensive simulation results are presented in a wide variety of scenario configurations. Moreover, insights are provided on the feasibility of the WuR proposal for its implementation in real hardware. Our approach allows the transmission of complex Wake-up Radio signals (i.e., including address field and other binary data) from legacy Wi-Fi devices (from IEEE 802.11n-2009 on), avoiding hardware or even firmware modifications intended to alter standard MAC/PHY behavior, and achieving a bit rate of up to 33 kbps.

Preclinical Studies in Anti-Trypanosomatidae Drug Development.

The trypanosomatid parasites Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania are the causative agents of human African trypanosomiasis, Chagas Disease and Leishmaniasis, respectively. These infections primarily affect poor, rural communities in the developing world, and are responsible for trapping sufferers and their families in a disease/poverty cycle. The development of new chemotherapies is a priority given that existing drug treatments are problematic. In our search for novel anti-trypanosomatid agents, we assess the growth-inhibitory properties of >450 compounds from in-house and/or "Pathogen Box" (PBox) libraries against L. infantum, L. amazonensis, L.braziliensis, T. cruzi and T. brucei and evaluate the toxicities of the most promising agents towards murine macrophages. Screens using the in-house series identified 17 structures with activity against and selective toward Leishmania: Compounds displayed 50% inhibitory concentrations between 0.09 and 25 µM and had selectivity index values >10. For the PBox library, ~20% of chemicals exhibited anti-parasitic properties including five structures whose activity against L. infantum had not been reported before. These five compounds displayed no toxicity towards murine macrophages over the range tested with three being active in an in vivo murine model of the cutaneous disease, with 100% survival of infected animals. Additionally, the oral combination of three of them in the in vivo Chagas disease murine model demonstrated full control of the parasitemia. Interestingly, phenotyping revealed that the reference strain responds differently to the five PBox-derived chemicals relative to parasites isolated from a dog. Together, our data identified one drug candidate that displays activity against Leishmania and other Trypanosomatidae in vitro and in vivo, while exhibiting low toxicity to cultured mammalian cells and low in vivo acute toxicity.

Pyrazol(in)e derivatives of curcumin analogs as a new class of anti-Trypanosoma cruzi agents.

Aim: We report the synthesis and biological evaluation of a small library of 15 functionalized 3-styryl-2-pyrazolines and pyrazoles, derived from curcuminoids, as trypanosomicidal agents. Methods & results: The compounds were prepared via a cyclization reaction between the corresponding curcuminoids and the appropriate hydrazines. All of the derivatives synthesized were investigated for their trypanosomicidal activities. Compounds 4a and 4e showed significant activity against epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi, with IC50 values of 5.0 and 4.2 µM, respectively, accompanied by no toxicity to noncancerous mammalian cells. Compound 6b was found to effectively inhibit T. cruzi triosephosphate isomerase. Conclusion: The up to 16-fold higher potency of these derivatives compared with their curcuminoid precursors makes them a promising new family of T. cruzi inhibitors.

Antiprotozoal Compounds from Urolepis hecatantha (Asteraceae).

The dewaxed dichloromethane extract of Urolepis hecatantha and the compounds isolated from it were tested for their in vitro activity on Trypanosoma cruzi epimastigotes and Leishmania infantum promastigotes. The extract of U. hecatantha showed activity against both parasites with IC50 values of 7 µg/mL and 31 µg/mL, respectively. Fractionation of the dichloromethane extract led to the isolation of euparin, jaceidin, santhemoidin C, and eucannabinolide. The sesquiterpene lactones eucannabinolide and santhemoidin C were active on T. cruzi with IC50 values of 10 ± 2 µM (4.2 µg/mL) and 18 ± 3 µM (7.6 µg/mL), respectively. Euparin and santhemoidin C were the most active on L. infantum with IC50 values of 18 ± 4 µM (3.9 µg/mL) and 19 ± 4 µM (8.0 µg/mL), respectively. Eucannabinolide has also shown drug-like pharmacokinetic and toxicity properties.

IEEE 802.11-Enabled Wake-Up Radio: Use Cases and Applications.

IEEE 802.11 is one of the most commonly used radio access technologies, being present in almost all handheld devices with networking capabilities. However, its energy-hungry communication modes are a challenge for the increased battery lifetime of such devices and are an obstacle for its use in battery-constrained devices such as the ones defined by many Internet of Things applications. Wake-up Radio (WuR) systems have appeared as a solution for increasing the energy efficiency of communication technologies by employing a secondary low-power radio interface, which is always in the active state and switches the primary transceiver (used for main data communication) from the energy-saving to the active operation mode. The high market penetration of IEEE 802.11 technology, together with the benefits that WuR systems can bring to this widespread technology, motivates this article's focus on IEEE 802.11-based WuR solutions. More specifically, we elaborate on the feasibility of such IEEE 802.11-based WuR solutions, and introduce the latest standardization efforts in this IEEE 802.11-based WuR domain, IEEE 802.11ba, which is a forthcoming IEEE 802.11 amendment, discussing its main features and potential use cases. As a use case consisting of green Wi-Fi application, we provide a proof-of-concept smart plug system implemented by a WuR that is activated remotely using IEEE 802.11 devices, evaluate its monetary and energy savings, and compare it with commercially available smart plug solutions. Finally, we discuss novel applications beyond the wake-up functionality that IEEE 802.11-enabled WuR devices can offer using a secondary radio, as well as applications that have not yet been considered by IEEE 802.11ba. As a result, we argue that the IEEE 802.11-based WuR solution will support a wide range of devices and deployments, for both low-rate and low-power communications, as well as high-rate transmissions.

A Nature-Inspired Design Yields a New Class of Steroids Against Trypanosomatids.

Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis are neglected endemic protozoan diseases recognized as public health problems by the World Health Organization. These diseases affect millions of people around the world however, efficient and low-cost treatments are not available. Different steroid molecules with antimicrobial and antiparasitic activity were isolated from diverse organisms (ticks, plants, fungi). These molecules have complex structures that make de novo synthesis extremely difficult. In this work, we designed new and simpler compounds with antiparasitic potential inspired in natural steroids and synthesized a series of nineteen steroidal arylideneketones and thiazolidenehydrazines. We explored their biological activity against Leishmania infantum, Leishmania amazonensis, and Trypanosoma cruzi in vitro and in vivo. We also assayed their genotoxicity and acute toxicity in vitro and in mice. The best compound, a steroidal thiosemicarbazone compound 8 (ID_1260) was active in vitro (IC50 200 nM) and in vivo (60% infection reduction at 50 mg/kg) in Leishmania and T. cruzi. It also has low toxicity in vitro and in vivo (LD50 >2000 mg/kg) and no genotoxic effects, being a promising compound for anti-trypanosomatid drug development.

Psychological disorders and quality of life in oral lichen planus patients and a control group.

OBJECTIVES: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a common disease whose aetiopathogenesis is linked to psychological disorders. This study aims to determine the influence of anxiety and depression in OLP patients, define the perception of quality of life in these patients and check for potential differences between atrophic/ ulcerative and reticular lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A group of 48 OLP patients and a control group of 40 patients were selected. In order to assess anxiety, depression and quality of life, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Oral Health Impact Profile 14 (OHIP-14) tests were completed. RESULTS: OLP patients showed higher scores on HADS (anxiety p < 0.01, depression p < 0.05) and OHIP-14 (physical pain p < 0.05, psychological discomfort p = 0.001). Patients with reticular lesions obtained higher scores in HADS (anxiety p = 0.001, depression p < 0.001), whereas patients with atrophic/ ulcerative lesions obtained higher scores in OHIP-14 (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Psychological disorders play an important role as a trigger for OLP and are responsible for many relapses. Psychological support would be advisable in order to improve their mental health, as this would have a positive impact on their quality of life and would lead to a better progression of the disease.

Caenorhabditis elegans Infrared-Based Motility Assay Identified New Hits for Nematicide Drug Development.

Nematode parasites have a profound impact on humankind, infecting nearly one-quarter of the world's population, as well as livestock. There is a pressing need for discovering nematicides due to the spread of resistance to currently used drugs. The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a formidable experimentally tractable model organism that offers key advantages in accelerating nematicide discovery. We report the screening of drug-like libraries using an overnight high-throughput C. elegans assay, based on an automated infrared motility reader. As a proof of concept, we screened the "Pathogen Box" library, and identical results to a previous screen using Haemonchus contortus were obtained. We then screened an in-house library containing a diversity of compound families. Most active compounds had a conjugation of an unsaturation with an electronegative atom (N, O, or S) and an aromatic ring. Importantly, we identified symmetric arylidene ketones and aryl hydrazine derivatives as novel nematicides. Furthermore, one of these compounds, (1E,2E)-1,2-bis(thiophen-3-ylmethylene)hydrazine, was active as a nematicide at 25 µm, but innocuous to the vertebrate model zebrafish at 50 µm. Our results identified novel nematicidal scaffolds and illustrate the value of C. elegans in accelerating nematicide discovery using a nonlabor-intensive automated assay that provides a simple overnight readout.

Polypharmacology in the Treatment of Chagas Disease.

The current treatment of Chagas disease is based on monopharmacology where the used drugs have limited efficacy and severe side effects. In order to overcome these limitations, some tools have been described including the development or isolation of new drugs, drug repositioning, and polypharmacology. Here, we review the polypharmacology strategy where compounds belonging to different structural chemotypes were combined in order to affect different biochemical pathways of T. cruzi parasite. Therefore ergosterol biosynthesis inhibitors, anti-inflammatory agents, cardiac dysfunction drugs, trypanothione reductase inhibitors, vitamins, between others, were combined looking for new anti-Chagas treatment. Natural products were also used in the application of this strategy.

Novel and Selective Rhipicephalus microplus Triosephosphate Isomerase Inhibitors with Acaricidal Activity.

The cattle tick Rhipicephalus microplus is one of the most important ectoparasites causing significant economic losses for the cattle industry. The major tool of control is reducing the number of ticks, applying acaricides in cattle. However, overuse has led to selection of resistant populations of R. microplus to most of these products, some even to more than one active principle. Thus, exploration for new molecules with acaricidal activity in R. microplus has become necessary. Triosephosphate isomerase (TIM) is an essential enzyme in R. microplus metabolism and could be an interesting target for the development of new methods for tick control. In this work, we screened 227 compounds, from our in-house chemo-library, against TIM from R. microplus. Four compounds (50, 98, 14, and 161) selectively inhibited this enzyme with IC50 values between 25 and 50 µM. They were also able to diminish cellular viability of BME26 embryonic cells by more than 50% at 50 µM. A molecular docking study showed that the compounds bind in different regions of the protein; compound 14 interacts with the dimer interface. Furthermore, compound 14 affected the survival of partially engorged females, fed artificially, using the capillary technique. This molecule is simple, easy to produce, and important biological data-including toxicological information-are available for it. Our results imply a promising role for compound 14 as a prototype for development of a new acaricidal involving selective TIM inhibition.