Biosafe cerium oxide nanozymes protect human pluripotent stem cells and cardiomyocytes from oxidative stress

BACKGROUND

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have the highest mortality worldwide. Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) and their cardiomyocyte derivatives (hPSC-CMs) offer a valuable resource for disease modeling, pharmacological screening, and regenerative therapy. While most CVDs are linked to significant over-production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), the effects of current antioxidants targeting excessive ROS are limited. Nanotechnology is a powerful tool to develop antioxidants with improved selectivity, solubility, and bioavailability to prevent or treat various diseases related to oxidative stress. Cerium oxide nanozymes (CeONZs) can effectively scavenge excessive ROS by mimicking the activity of endogenous antioxidant enzymes. This study aimed to assess the nanotoxicity of CeONZs and their potential antioxidant benefits in stressed human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and their derived cardiomyocytes (hESC-CMs).

RESULTS

CeONZs demonstrated reliable nanosafety and biocompatibility in hESCs and hESC-CMs within a broad range of concentrations. CeONZs exhibited protective effects on the cell viability of hESCs and hESC-CMs by alleviating excessive ROS-induced oxidative stress. Moreover, CeONZs protected hESC-CMs from doxorubicin (DOX)-induced cardiotoxicity and partially ameliorated the insults from DOX in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs). Furthermore, during hESCs culture, CeONZs were found to reduce ROS, decrease apoptosis, and enhance cell survival without affecting their self-renewal and differentiation potential.

CONCLUSIONS

CeONZs displayed good safety and biocompatibility, as well as enhanced the cell viability of hESCs and hESC-CMs by shielding them from oxidative damage. These promising results suggest that CeONZs may be crucial, as a safe nanoantioxidant, to potentially improve the therapeutic efficacy of CVDs and be incorporated into regenerative medicine.

Assessment of the optimal level of basalt pozzolana blended cement replacement against concrete performance

Different additional cementitious materials can be used to partially replace cement in concrete. these are used in concrete as a partial replacement for cement to reduce the effect of environmental pollution, which can lead to serious health issues. Therefore, it is critical to use locally available pozzolanic materials as a partially replacement for cement because these materials are less expensive than Portland cement and are more environmentally friendly without sacrificing concrete quality. Pozzolana made from basalt natural material was tested for the best amount of weight percentage replacement as a blinding component in cements in this study. Various percentage of basalt as a partial replacement weight percentage of ordinary Portland cement by 7.5%, 15%, and 22.5% is carried out. effect of basalt on workability, setting time, compressive strength, modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, flexural strength, and water absorption were conducted. The parameters were studied and monitored by tested a fresh and hardened concrete samples at ages of 7 days, 28 days, 56 days, and 90 days. Based on the test results, it is concluded that the optimal content of basalt as replacement of ordinary Portland cement in concrete mix is 15%.

Nanobiotechnological advancements in agriculture and food industry: Applications, nanotoxicity, and future perspectives

The high demand for sufficient and safe food, and continuous damage of environment by conventional agriculture are major challenges facing the globe. The necessity of smart alternatives and more sustainable practices in food production is crucial to confront the steady increase in human population and careless depletion of global resources. Nanotechnology implementation in agriculture offers smart delivery systems of nutrients, pesticides, and genetic materials for enhanced soil fertility and protection, along with improved traits for better stress tolerance. Additionally, nano-based sensors are the ideal approach towards precision farming for monitoring all factors that impact on agricultural productivity. Furthermore, nanotechnology can play a significant role in post-harvest food processing and packaging to reduce food contamination and wastage. In this review, nanotechnology applications in the agriculture and food sector are reviewed. Implementations of nanotechnology in agriculture have included nano- remediation of wastewater for land irrigation, nanofertilizers, nanopesticides, and nanosensors, while the beneficial effects of nanomaterials (NMs) in promoting genetic traits, germination, and stress tolerance of plants are discussed. Furthermore, the article highlights the efficiency of nanoparticles (NPs) and nanozymes in food processing and packaging. To this end, the potential risks and impacts of NMs on soil, plants, and human tissues and organs are emphasized in order to unravel the complex bio-nano interactions. Finally, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of nanotechnology are evaluated and discussed to provide a broad and clear view of the nanotechnology potentials, as well as future directions for nano-based agri-food applications towards sustainability.

Efficacy of metal oxide nanoparticles as novel antimicrobial agents against multi-drug and multi-virulent Staphylococcus aureus isolates from retail raw chicken meat and giblets

Staphylococcus aureus is among the most common zoonotic pathogens originating from animals consumed as food, especially raw chicken meat (RCM). As far as we know, this might be the first report that explores the efficacy of metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs), such as zinc peroxide nanoparticles (ZnO₂-NPs), zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂-NPs) against multidrug resistant (MDR) and/or pandrug resistant (PDR) S. aureus strains with a strong biofilm-producing ability isolated from RCM and giblets. The overall prevalence of coagulase-positive staphylococci was 21%, with a contamination level range between 10² and 10⁴ CFU/g. The incidence of virulence genes See (21/36), pvl (16/36), clfA (15/36), sec (12/36), tst (12/36), and sea (11/36) among S. aureus strains were relatively higher those of seb, sed, fnbA, and fnbB. For antimicrobial resistance gene distribution, most strains harbored the blaZ gene (25/36), aacA-aphD gene (24/36), mecA gene (22/36), vanA gene (20/36), and apmA gene (20/36) confirmed the prevalence of MDR among S. aureus of RCM products. However, cfr (11/36), spc (9/36), and aadE (7/36) showed a relatively lower existence. The data of antibiogram resistance profiles was noticeably heterogeneous (25 patterns) with 32 MDR and four PDR S. aureus strains. All tested strains had a very high MAR index value (>0.2) except the P11 pattern (GEN, MXF, PMB), which showed a MAR index of 0.19. Among the strong biofilm-producing ability (BPA), 14 (70%) strains were isolated from wet markets, while only six strong BPA strains were isolated from supermarkets. The mean values of BPA ranged from 2.613 ± 0.04 to 11.013 ± 0.05. Clearly, ZnO₂-NPs show significant inhibitory activity against S. aureus strains compared with those produced by the action of ZnO-NPs and TiO₂-NPs. The results of anti-inflammatory activity suggest ZnO₂-NPs as a lead compound for designing an alternative antimicrobial agent against drug-resistant and strong biofilm-producing S. aureus isolates from retail RCM and giblets.

Evaluation of ERIC-PCR as genotyping method for Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis isolates

The aim of this study was to evaluate the Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus (ERIC-PCR) as a tool for molecular typing of C. pseudotuberculosis isolates from eight different hosts in twelve countries. Ninety-nine C. pseudotuberculosis field strains, one type strain (ATCC 19410^T) and one vaccine strain (1002) were fingerprinted using the ERIC-1R and ERIC-2 primers, and the ERIC-1R+ERIC-2 primer pair. Twenty-nine different genotypes were generated by ERIC 1-PCR, 28 by ERIC 2-PCR and 35 by ERIC 1+2-PCR. The discriminatory index calculated for ERIC 1, ERIC 2, and ERIC 1+2-PCR was 0.89, 0.86, and 0.92, respectively. Epidemiological concordance was established for all ERIC-PCR assays. ERIC 1+2-PCR was defined as the best method based on suitability of the amplification patterns and discriminatory index. Minimal spanning tree for ERIC 1+2-PCR revealed three major clonal complexes and clustering around nitrate-positive (biovar Equi) and nitrate-negative (biovar Ovis) strains. Therefore, ERIC 1+2-PCR proved to be the best technique evaluated in this study for genotyping C. pseudotuberculosis strains, due to its usefulness for molecular epidemiology investigations.

A randomized EPOCH vs. CHOP front-line therapy for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients: long-term results

BACKGROUND

The value of continuous-infusion chemotherapy (EPOCH) vs. the standard CHOP combination was evaluated in 78 patients with previously untreated aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in a randomized phase III clinical trial.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The EPOCH regimen given to 38 patients consisted of the drugs etoposide (50 mg/m2), vincristine (0.4 mg/m2), and doxorubicin (10 mg/m2), all given in a continuous infusion on days 1-4. Cyclophosphamide (750 mg/m2) was administered on day 6 as i.v. bolus, while prednisone was given orally 60 mg/m2 on days 1-6. Courses were repeated every three weeks. CHOP was given to 40 patients as routinely prescribed.

RESULTS

Forty-eight patients were males and thirty were females. Their ages ranged from 19-75 years (median 45 years). Forty-three (55%) had grade 2 and thirty-five (45%) had grade 3 pathologic subtype. Nine patients (12%) presented with stage I, fourteen (18%) with stage II, forty (51%) with stage III, and fifteen (19%) with stage IV disease. The different clinico-pathologic characteristics, including international index categories, were comparable in the two groups. The number of courses given ranged between 3 and 9 (median 6) for both the EPOCH and CHOP regimens. Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 19 (50%), and 27 (67%) of the 38 and 40 patients for both the EPOCH and CHOP combinations, respectively. After a median observation time of 27 months, the four-year overall and failure-free survival rates were 42% and 30% for the EPOCH and 71% and 54% for the CHOP regimen (P = 0.006 and 0.1 for the overall and FFS rates, respectively). Toxicities were comparable and were mostly of grades 1 and 2, except for hair loss, hematologic toxicities, and infectious episodes which were more common in the EPOCH group. In the EPOCH group, overall survival rates were 55% vs. 22% (P < 0.04) at four years for the low-risk (2 prognostic factors) and high-risk (> 2 factors) groups, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Thus, it may be concluded that continuous-infusion (EPOCH) chemotherapy did not improve treatment outcome over that of the CHOP regimen for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients.