How natural therapies can combat neoplastic disease by targeting key survival mechanisms and signaling pathways

Plant extracts are increasingly becoming an answer to expensive, high-dose, synthesized chemotherapy, with milder side effects and easier accessibility. Many botanical plants contain active ingredients, such as terpenoids and alkaloids, which may combat cancer; however, studies need to be performed to test whether they are solely effective enough and whether the extracted compounds are selective for the tumor itself. Many chemotherapy drugs were initially of botanical origin, such as vincristine from Catharanthus roseus and paclitaxel from the Taxus baccata tree. The objective of this review is to assess the mechanisms of herbal therapeutics in their role against malignancy. Ajwa, curcumin, ginseng, lycopene, and ursolic acid were all respectively evaluated in the paper for their prevalent properties, their method of extraction, notable usage in medicine, which pathways they activate, and whether the transductions can disrupt cancer formation or proliferation. The findings from the review demonstrated that all the therapeutics exhibited pro-apoptotic behavior, Ajwa and curcumin exerted cell cycle arrest upon neoplasms, and Ajwa, curcumin, and lycopene showed anti-metastatic behavior. Most extracts were tested on colorectal cancer, and the pathways most commonly applied were through BAX/Bcl2 and endoproteases, such as caspase-3 and caspase-9, indicating predominantly mitochondrial apoptosis. In addition, cell cycle arrest was noted to occur during the G2/M phase via Wnt/β-catenin in both curcumin and ginseng, independently of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in Ajwa constituents, reducing cell viability. All of these studies were demonstrated in vitro within varieties of single cell cultures, which did not take into account bioavailability nor properly demonstrate the tumor microenvironment, which may not yield the same results in vivo. Clinical trials need to be undergone to appropriately test effective dosages, as if a compound is strongly pro-apoptotic, it may not be selective just to tumor cells but also to healthy cells, which may impair their functions

Cutaneous cryosurgery in dermatology : evolving principles and clinical applications for benign, premalignant, and malignant lesions

Skin and subcutaneous diseases represent a significant public health burden, profoundly impacting quality of life, social interactions, mental health, and daily activities–raising concerns worldwide. In modern cryogenics, cryosurgery is among the therapeutic approaches employed by healthcare professionals to address this broad and complex range of diseases. Over the past four decades, cryosurgery has evolved into a valuable treatment option, used alone or as an adjunct therapy, and is adaptable to the needs of various special populations. This approach offers distinct advantages over established treatments due to its safety, efficiency, feasibility, and cost-effectiveness. However, a comprehensive, up-to-date review of cryosurgery’s applications is lacking, which limits research dissemination and recognition among dermatologists. This review aims to provide an overview of cryosurgery principles and its current clinical practice in dermatology, covering a broad range of benign, premalignant, and malignant cutaneous conditions, and highlighting its potential as an essential approach in global healthcare

Improved Neisseria gonorrhoeae culture media without atmospheric CO2

Bacterial culture on solid media is the crucial step in diagnosing Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections and is the gold standard for determining their antimicrobial resistance profile. However, culture of Neisseria spp. can be challenging in resource poor areas, relying on specialist incubators or other methods of supplying 5% CO2 for growth of the bacteria. Even when such incubators are available, the CO2 to run them may be scarce; there were CO2 shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example. Although culture jars with gas packs or candles can be used, these are inefficient in terms of use of incubator space and researcher time. To achieve simplicity in culturing of N. gonorrhoeae, the standard Oxoid GC agar base medium, made with the Kellogg’s glucose and iron supplements was improved with the addition of 0.75 g/l sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), which is inexpensive and readily available. This improved media in a standard incubator performed as well as standard Oxoid GC agar media with supplements in a 5% CO2 incubator. Chocolate agar and Thayer-Martin agar with sodium bicarbonate were also developed, with all showing good growth of N. gonorrhoeae without the need for atmospheric CO2

11 topics among 7,591 employability research abstracts (1942–2024) : a structural topic model and call for interdisciplinary perspectives

The goal of this research was to empirically evaluate what topics can be discerned in employability scholarship. We sought to illustrate the diverse specialised expert knowledge across the full multidisciplinary breadth of employability literature, not only in the two predominant fields of graduate employability and career development. Recent calls for greater integration between graduate employability and career development scholarships are warranted. But this study demonstrates that employability is studied in a much broader range of disciplines than just those two areas. This research argues that future scholarship should foster the advancement and application of research insights across the full breadth of disciplines, education and training systems and socio-cultural contexts. By doing so, the often-noted fragmentation and fuzziness in the employability literature will begin to be addressed

6G and healthcare paradigm : hope & hype

Recently, new paradigms have been created in multiple fields due to 5G becoming globally commercial. This has compelled the researchers across the globe to start paving the roadmap of 6G by including complex concepts like, telepresence, AI based robots to cobots and medical cyber physical systems (MCPS) etc. This evolution has sparked significant change in the thinking, perception, and behavioral attributes of healthcare professionals and patients in terms of healthcare services across the globe. Online services have changed the perception of people by offering real-time remote access to the healthcare professional, saving time and money and most of all reducing mental fatigue of patients by bypassing the core hurdles in the conventional healthcare system. If just ease in online access, which is a tiny fraction of what 6G can promise, has such a positive impact on the behavior of patients and professionals, then one can imagine what impact it may have on the perception of healthcare sector. This work focuses on providing paradigm changes in healthcare sector due to the evolution of 6G in perspective of telehealth advancement, e-Health, and m-Health (e/m-healthcare). The paper will further provide the opportunities, challenges and the hope & hype in healthcare advancement associated with the progression in 6G technology

The co-expression and cellular location of HER family members, EGFRvIII, putative cancer stem cell biomarkers CD44 and CD109 in patients with glioblastoma, and their impacts on prognosis

Glioblastoma multiform is the most aggressive type of brain tumour. The expression of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and its mutated form EGRRvIII has been reported in patients with a brain tumour, but none of their inhibitors has been approved for the treatment of patients with a brain tumour. This study examined whether the expression of EGFRvIII is accompanied by the co-expression with other members of the HER family and putative cancer stem cell biomarkers CD44 and CD109. The results have shown that co-expression of these biomarkers occurs in patients with glioblastoma. Further investigation should determine whether the co-expression of such biomarkers can be of predictive value for the response to the therapy with various types of HER inhibitors and their potential as therapeutic targets for co-targeted therapy

Porous carbon nanospheres in situ doped KxFeyOz as novel magnetic nanocatalyst for biodiesel production

Waste frying oils (WFO) are cheap and can be used as feedstocks for biodiesel production. Researchers are striving to develop a cost-effective and green heterogeneous catalyst for the transesterification of WFO to produce biodiesel. In this work, a new magnetic carbon nanospheres catalyst doped with KxFeyOz (K30PMCNS700) was synthesized via template-free hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of glucose followed by in situ functionalization with Fe3O4 NPs, potassium activation, and calcination. The operating conditions for the transesterification process were optimized by response surface methodology RSM-CCD. It was found that the prepared K30PMCNS700 was thermally stable, possessed a specific surface area of 95.8 m2 g−1, was superparamagnetic with a saturation magnetization of 26.2 emu g−1, and featured a total basicity of 3584 µmol g−1. The new nanocatalyst was used to catalyse the transesterification reaction of WFO to produce biodiesel fuel. The results indicated that K30PMCNS700 converted 98.3 % of WFO into biodiesel in 80 min at 60 °C with a 9:1 MeOH:WFO ratio. The catalyst durability tests confirmed excellent reusability under optimum conditions, achieving 93.4 % WFO conversion and negligible rates of potassium leaching into the biodiesel (i.e. 3.5 µg L-1) at the 5th cycle. The biodiesel production reaction followed pseudo-first order kinetics (k = 0.1044 min−1), with an activation energy and Gibbs free energy of 70.46 and 255.14 kJ mol−1, respectively. A diesel engine running on BD25 blend (25 % biodiesel and 75 % petroleum diesel) consumed less fuel, generated more brake thermal energy, and produced lower gas emissions

Tensile and flexural behaviour of synthetic and hybrid natural fiber composites for lightweight applications

The growing demand for lightweight and sustainable materials has driven research into hybrid composites that combine synthetic and natural fibers. This study aims to investigate the tensile and flexural behavior of carbon fiber (CF) and glass fiber (GF) composites, alongside hybrid composites incorporating flax and hemp fibers. The composites were fabricated using the vacuum bagging technique, ensuring uniform fiber distribution and optimized mechanical properties. Experimental results revealed that CF composites exhibited the highest ultimate tensile strength (~550 MPa), with failure dominated by matrix cracking and fiber breakage due to their inherent brittleness. GF composites, while having a lower tensile strength (~450 MPa), demonstrated greater ductility, attributed to fiber pull-out and matrix cracking. Hybrid composites (H1), combining CF and GF, showed intermediate tensile strength (~500 MPa), reflecting mixed failure modes. In contrast, natural fiber composites (FH and H2) displayed significantly lower strengths (~150–200 MPa) due to weaker fiber-matrix interactions and moisture sensitivity. Despite their lower strength, hybrid composites provided a balance between mechanical performance and sustainability, making them a promising alternative for lightweight structural applications in automotive, aerospace, and eco-friendly engineering. These findings highlight the potential of hybrid composites in reducing environmental impact while maintaining structural integrity, offering a viable solution for next-generation sustainable materials