Recognition and detection technology for microplastic, its source and health effects.

Microplastic (MP) is ubiquitous in the environment which appeared as an immense intimidation to human and animal health. The plastic fragments significantly polluted the ocean, fresh water, food chain, and other food items. Inadequate maintenance, less knowledge of adverse influence along with inappropriate usage in addition throwing away of plastics items revolves present planet in to plastics planet. The present study aims to focus on the recognition and advance detection technologies for MPs and the adverse effects of micro- and nanoplastics on human health. MPs have rigorous adverse effect on human health that leads to condensed growth rates, lessened reproductive capability, ulcer, scrape, and oxidative nervous anxiety, in addition, also disturb circulatory and respiratory mechanism. The detection of MP particles has also placed emphasis on identification technologies such as scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, optical detection, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermo-analytical techniques, flow cytometry, holography, and hyperspectral imaging. It suggests that further research should be explored to understand the source, distribution, and health impacts and evaluate numerous detection methodologies for the MPs along with purification techniques.

Cigarette smoking and air pollution exposure and their effects on cardiovascular diseases.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has no socioeconomic, topographical, or sex limitations as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). The significant drivers of CVD are cardio-metabolic, behavioral, environmental, and social risk factors. However, some significant risk factors for CVD (e.g., a pitiable diet, tobacco smoking, and a lack of physical activities), have also been linked to an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease. Lifestyles and environmental factors are known key variables in cardiovascular disease. The familiarity with smoke goes along with the contact with the environment: air pollution is considered a source of toxins that contribute to the CVD burden. The incidence of myocardial infarction increases in males and females and may lead to fatal coronary artery disease, as confirmed by epidemiological studies. Lipid modification, inflammation, and vasomotor dysfunction are integral components of atherosclerosis development and advancement. These aspects are essential for the identification of atherosclerosis in clinical investigations. This article aims to show the findings on the influence of CVD on the health of individuals and human populations, as well as possible pathology and their involvement in smoking-related cardiovascular diseases. This review also explains lifestyle and environmental factors that are known to contribute to CVD, with indications suggesting an affiliation between cigarette smoking, air pollution, and CVD.

Association of obesity and cardiovascular disease and progress in pharmacotherapy: what is next for obesity?

Obesity has recently emerged as one of the most severe health concerns. Obesity is a key autonomous risk factor for heart failure and contributes to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic abnormalities. Obesity is caused by a metabolic imbalance, which occurs when calories burnt are fewer than the number of calories consumed. There are several pathways accountable for the adverse impacts of obesity on the cardiovascular system. Inflammatory cell infiltration develops in the adipose tissue, the pancreas, and other issues similar to the progression of obesity. Inflammation is triggered by immune cells that invade dysfunctional adipose tissue. The atherosclerotic inflammation phase, related to obesity, induces coronary calcification. Obesity is linked to elevated levels of leptin and high blood pressure. Leptin causes systemic vasoconstriction, sodium retention, and increased blood pressure by influencing the synthesis of nitric oxide and activating the sympathetic nervous system. Obesity is a well-known risk factor for CVD and is one of the leading causes of the greater risk of diseases, including dyslipidemia, hypertension, depression, metabolic syndrome, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure in adults and children. When used with dietary improvements, antiobesity drugs improve the probability of experiencing clinically healthy (5%) weight loss. This review aimed to address the consequences of obesity on cardiac structure and function, risk factors, the impact of the obesity paradox, pharmacological treatment strategies for managing and recommended exercise and diet.

Macrophage membrane coated nanoparticles: a biomimetic approach for enhanced and targeted delivery.

The enhanced and targeted drug delivery with low systemic toxicity and subsequent release of drugs is a major concern among researchers and pharmaceutics. In spite of greater advancement and discoveries in nanotherapeutics, the application of synthetic nanomaterials in clinics is still a challenging task due to immune barriers, limited blood circulation time, biodistribution and toxicity. In order to overcome these issues, cell membrane coated nanoparticles are widely employed for effective and targeted delivery. The macrophages have the ability to cross the physiological barriers and escape immune recognition and intracellular trafficking and have the ability to release potent pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin 6 (IL-6), and therefore macrophage membrane coated nanoparticles have been exploited in the development of various therapeutics. In the present review, we have summarized the role of macrophage membranes as a coating material for the delivery of drugs to the targeted tissue in order to cure different diseases such as cancers, microbial infections, atherosclerosis and various inflammations. The review has critically analysed the latest approaches, and how to develop the macrophage membrane coated nanocarriers and their role in the improvement of the therapeutic index.

Hepatoprotective Angelica sinensis silver nanoformulation against multidrug resistant bacteria and the integration of a multicomponent logic gate system.

The rampant usage of antibiotics has led to the emergence of toxicity, especially hepatotoxicity and the emergence of microbial drug resistance. Hence, a series of novel hepatoprotective, biocompatible, antibacterial silver nanoformulations (AS-AgNPs) were developed by using the important Chinese medicinal plant Angelica sinensis. The different size of AS-AgNPs were characterized by UV-Visible spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The size-dependent antibacterial properties of AS-AgNPs were investigated against Gram-positive, Gram-negative and multi-drug resistant bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of AS-AgNPs with different size against six bacteria was found to be in the range of 5-100 µg mL-1 with no resistance till 12 cycles. TEM and SEM results of bacteria after the treatment suggested that AS-AgNPs disrupted the cell membrane by creating pores. The cytocompatibility and cytoprotective effect of AS-AgNPs were evaluated against HepG2 cell lines, which showed that 85% of cells were viable up to 100 µg mL-1 of the concentration with almost no change in AST and ALT levels. Further, a logic combinatorial library, including basic logic gates (AND, OR, NOR, INHIBIT, IMPLICATION, and YES), three input logic gates (OR, and NOR) and combinatorial gates (INH-OR, INH-YES, INH-INH, AND-NOR, and NOT-AND-NOR) were designed by integrating multi-components based on the interaction between AS-AgNP1 and bacteria, where DiSC3(5) was used as the signal reporter. This system clearly demonstrates the ability of simple logic circuits to perform sophisticated analysis for the detection of multiple bacteria.

Nanoclay-based drug delivery systems and their therapeutic potentials.

Safe, therapeutically effective, and patient-compliant drug delivery systems are needed to design novel tools and strategies to combat the deadliest of diseases such as cancer, SARS, H7N9 avian influenza, and dengue infection. The major challenges in drug delivery are cytotoxicity, poor biodistribution, insufficient functionality, ineffective drug incorporation in delivery devices, and subsequent drug release. Clay minerals are a class of nanolayered silicates that have good biocompatibility, high specific surface area, chemical inertness, colloid, and thixotropy, and are attractive practical and potential nanomaterials in medicine. These properties enable the usage of nanoclays as drug carriers for the delivery of antibiotics, antihypertensive drugs, anti-psychotic, and anticancer drugs. The review examines the latest advances in nanoclay-based drug delivery systems and related applications in gene therapy and tissue engineering. Clay minerals, particularly montmorillonite, kaolinite, and halloysite are used to delay and/or target drug release or even improve drug dissolution due to their surface charge. Chemical modification of clay minerals such as intercalation of ions into the interlayer space of clay minerals or surface modification of clay minerals is a strategy to tune the properties of nanoclays for the loading and release of a drug. The modified nanoclay can take up drugs by encapsulation, immobilization, ion exchange reaction, or electrostatic interactions. Controlled drug release from the drug-clay originates from the incorporation and interactions between the drug and inorganic layers, including electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding. Montmorillonite has proven non-toxic through hematological, biochemical, and histopathological analyses in rat. Montmorillonite can also act as a potent detoxifier. Halloysite nanotubes can bind synthetic and biological components such as chitosan, gelatin, and alginate innate nanocarriers for the improved loading and controlled release of drugs, proteins, and DNA. The peculiar properties of clay nanoparticles lead to promising applications in drug delivery, gene delivery, tissue engineering, cancer and stem cell isolation, and bioimaging.

Ampicillin Silver Nanoformulations against Multidrug resistant bacteria.

The present study reported a single step synthesis of silver nanoparticles using ampicillin (Amp-AgNps), a second-generation ß lactam antibiotic to get nanoformulation having dual properties that of antibiotic and silver. The Amp-AgNps was characterized by UV-VIS spectroscopy, TEM, XRD, FTIR and TGA. FTIR and TGA results suggested that amine group of Ampicllin reduce the metalic silver into nano form. These results were further validated by computational molecular dynamics simulation. The antibacterial potential of Amp-AgNps was investigated against sensitive and drug resistant bacteria. MIC of Amp-AgNps against 6 different bacterial strains were in the range of 3-28 µg/ml which is much lower than the MIC of ampicillin (12-720 µg/ml) and chemically synthesized silver nanoparticles (280-640 µg/ml). The repeated exposure to drugs may lead to development of resistance mechanism in bacteria against that drug, so the efficacy of Amp-AgNps after repeated exposure to bacterial strains were also studied. The results indicate that bacterial strains do not show any resistance to these Amp-AgNps even after exposure up to 15 successive cycles. The biocompatibility of these Amp-AgNps was checked against cell lines by using Keratinocytes cell lines (HaCaT).

Removal of toxic contaminants from water by sustainable green synthesised non-toxic silver nanoparticles.

The study describes the synthesis of silver nanoparticles using 21 different plant extracts having medicinal properties. Molecular ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy shows that the λmax of nanoparticles synthesised by different plant extracts varied and ranged between 400 and 468 nm. The ultraviolet results revealed that although synthesis of nanoparticles occurred by all plant extracts successfully, their size varies, this was further confirmed by differential light scattering. The synthesised nanoparticles were investigated for their antimicrobial properties. The most promising silver nanoparticles Ocimum sanctum and Artemisia annua assisted were further characterised using transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). EDX data confirms that synthesised nanoparticles are highly pure. Further these two plant assisted nanoparticles were studied for chemocatalytic and adsorptive properties. The silver nanoparticles from Ocimum sanctum can catalyse the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (63%) within 20 min in the presence of NaBH4, whereas Artemisia annua assisted silver nanoparticles did not show significant chemocatalytic activity. Both the promising nanoparticles can efficiently adsorb textile dyes from aqueous solutions. These synthesised nanoparticles were also exploited to remove microbial and other contaminants from Yamuna River water. The nanoparticles show excellent antimicrobial properties and can be reused repeatedly.