Eco-Friendly CuO/Fe3O4 Nanocomposite synthesis, characterization, and cytotoxicity study

The current study report a convenient, simple, and low cost approach for the biogenic synthesis of CuO/Fe3O4 nanocomposites (NCs) from pumpkin seeds extract and their vitro cytotoxicity. The characterization of finally obtained CuO/Fe3O4 nanocomposites (NCs) performed using UV-Visible, FT-IR, XRD, XPS, GC-MS, SEM-EDX and TEM analysis. The formation and elemental analysis were determined using the energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) microanalysis technique. The formation of rod-like monoclinic and spherical, having size range 5 nm-20 nm confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) respectively. Finally, the MTT assay of the synthesized composites was evaluated for toxicity against cancerous cell lines HCT-116 (Colon cancer cell) and A549 (human lung adenocarcinoma cell). The synthesized composite material showed moderate (IC50 = 199 μg/mL) to low (IC50 = 445 μg/mL) activity against HCT-116 and A549 cell lines, respectively.

Biogenic Synthesis of Copper-Based Nanomaterials Using Plant Extracts and Their Applications: Current and Future Directions

Plants have been used for multiple purposes over thousands of years in various applications such as traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. More recently, the special properties of phytochemicals within plant extracts have spurred researchers to pursue interdisciplinary studies uniting nanotechnology and biotechnology. Plant-mediated green synthesis of nanomaterials utilises the phytochemicals in plant extracts to produce nanomaterials. Previous publications have demonstrated that diverse types of nanomaterials can be produced from extracts of numerous plant components. This review aims to cover in detail the use of plant extracts to produce copper (Cu)-based nanomaterials, along with their robust applications. The working principles of plant-mediated Cu-based nanomaterials in biomedical and environmental applications are also addressed. In addition, it discusses potential biotechnological solutions and new applications and research directions concerning plant-mediated Cu-based nanomaterials that are yet to be discovered so as to realise the full potential of the plant-mediated green synthesis of nanomaterials in industrial-scale production and wider applications. This review provides readers with comprehensive information, guidance, and future research directions concerning: (1) plant extraction, (2) plant-mediated synthesis of Cu-based nanomaterials, (3) the applications of plant-mediated Cu-based nanomaterials in biomedical and environmental remediation, and (4) future research directions in this area.

The hybrid globalizations of traditional Chinese medicine. An ethnographic analysis of practitioners in Milan

According to the World Health Organization, nowadays, more than 300,000 practitioners in about 100,000 Chinese medicine clinics in over one hundred countries worldwide practice traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Beyond its flourishing application, TCM attracts the growing attention of anthropologists. If International scholars have shown how, in China, the Western biomedical model highly influence both the academic teaching and the practice of TCM, specific studies within Europe, especially in Italy, are still lacking today. Based on an analysis of how TCM is practiced in the city of Milan, my aim is to scrutinize the relation between TCM and biomedicine and, broadly, between modernity and tradition. Through an ethnography conducted in Milan between November 2020 and May 2021, I explore the diverse ways of translating the knowledges and interpreting the practices by local TCM doctors. By means of interviews and observations of medical practices of ten different practitioners, my research led me to identify three dissimilar categories in relation to TCM practitioners in Milan: the “Purists”, the “Integrators” and the “Hybridizers”. Within this contribution, I focus on their similarities and differences, showing how TCM assumes the shape of a hybrid and localized practice.

Origin and future of medicine

Based on the comprehensive observation of medicine, we made a diachronic summarization and synchronic comparison on medicine, including traditional medicine and modern medicine as well as Chinese traditional medicine (CTM) and Western traditional medicine. We focused on the connotation of several predominant medicines, the evolution of medical civilization, the problems and challenges of medicine at present, the prospect and framework of medicine in the future, and finally put forward the new system of CTM together with the integration of traditional medicine and modern medicine so as to contribute to the thinking, research and construction of medicine for mankind, which will add to its positive development and scientific practice.