Facile one-pot synthesis of amoxicillin-coated gold nanoparticles and their antimicrobial activity

Nanomaterials have been the object of intense study due to promising applications in a number of different disciplines. In particular, medicine and biology have seen the potential of these novel materials with their nanoscale properties for use in diverse areas such as imaging, sensing and drug vectorisation. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are considered a very useful platform to create a valid and efficient drug delivery/carrier system due to their facile and well-studied synthesis, easy surface functionalization and biocompatibility. In the present study, stable antibiotic conjugated GNPs were synthesised by a one-step reaction using a poorly water soluble antibiotic, amoxicillin. Amoxicillin, a member of the penicillin family, reduces the chloroauric acid to form nanoparticles and at the same time coats them to afford the functionalised nanomaterial. A range of techniques including UV-vis spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were used to ascertain the gold/drug molar ratio and the optimum temperature for synthesis of uniform monodisperse particles in the ca. 30-40 nm size range. Amoxicillin-conjugated gold showed an enhancement of antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli compared to the antibiotic alone

Whole genome duplication is an early event leading to aneuploidy in -wild type glioblastoma

Glioblastoma, the most frequent and lethal form of glioma, displays chromosome instability and recurrent somatic copy number alterations (SCNA). Chromothripsis and whole genome duplication (WGD) have been recently identified in cancer. In the present study, we analyzed SCNA and determine the ploidy pattern in 123 -wild-type glioblastomas, using SNP array data. WGD and chromothripsis events were validated using, respectively, FISH and CTLPScanner. WGD was detected in 11.4% glioblastomas (14/123) and was associated with mutation ( = 0.0068). It was an early event occurring after the recurrent SCNA observed in diffuse high-grade gliomas. Glioblastomas with WGD were more aneuploid compared to glioblastomas without WGD ( < 0.0001). Chromothripsis occurred in 29.3% glioblastomas (36/123) and mostly affected chromosomes 7, 9 and 12, with amplification of oncogenes (EGFR, /), and homozygous deletion of tumor suppressor genes (). There was a significant association between chromothripsis and gene rearrangement at a given locus. WGD is an early genetic event significantly associated to mutation and leading to chromosome instability and aneuploidy in -wild-type glioblastoma. Chromothripsis recurrently targets oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes that are key players in gliomagenesis and tumor progression. The occurrence of chromothripsis points to underlying gene rearrangements (including gene fusions), potential therapeutic targets in glioblastoma

Оцінка якості життя у вікових першовагітних та вагітних з великим інтергенетичним інтервалом

Проведено изучение показателей качества жизни у 120 возрастных первобеременных и 240 беременных с большим интергенетическим интервалом с использованием опросника SF-36 Health Status Survey, разработанного The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, USA. Исследование показало, что пациентки обеих групп имеют низкие показатели качества жизни. При сравнении большинство изучаемых параметров оценки качества жизни в обследованных группах не отличались, однако у пациенток с большим интергенетическим интервалом – достоверно выше оценка социальной роли и энергетичности. Оценка качества жизни у возрастных первобеременных и беременных с большим интергенетическим интервалом является важным сегментом наблюдения во время беременности, который оценивает перспективы развития беременности в психологическом, физическом и социальном аспектах.A study of the life quality of 120 over-age primigravidas and of 240 women with a large intergenetic interval has been carried out using the questionnaire SF-36 Health Status Survey developed by The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, USA. This research has shown that the patients in the both groups have a low quality of life. The major part of the life quality parameters were the same in the both groups, however, in patients with a large interval between births the values of the social role and the energy level were significantly higher. The life quality of over-age primigravidas and pregnant women with a large interval between successive births is an important sector of observation during pregnancy, which allows assessing the prospects of pregnancy in the psychological, physical, and social aspects

Gold Nanoparticle-Quantum Dot Fluorescent Nanohybrid:Application for Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance-induced Molecular Beacon Ultrasensitive DNA Detection

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Intracellular SERS nanoprobes for distinction of different neuronal cell types.

Distinction between closely related and morphologically similar cells is difficult by conventional methods especially without labeling. Using nuclear-targeted gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as intracellular probes we demonstrate the ability to distinguish between progenitor and differentiated cell types in a human neuroblastoma cell line using surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). SERS spectra from the whole cell area as well as only the nucleus were analyzed using principal component analysis that allowed unambiguous distinction of the different cell types. SERS spectra from the nuclear region showed the developments during cellular differentiation by identifying an increase in DNA/RNA ratio and proteins transcribed. Our approach using nuclear-targeted AuNPs and SERS imaging provides label-free and noninvasive characterization that can play a vital role in identifying cell types in biomedical stem cell research

Improved Cellular Specificity of Plasmonic Nanobubbles versus Nanoparticles in Heterogeneous Cell Systems

The limited specificity of nanoparticle (NP) uptake by target cells associated with a disease is one of the principal challenges of nanomedicine. Using the threshold mechanism of plasmonic nanobubble (PNB) generation and enhanced accumulation and clustering of gold nanoparticles in target cells, we increased the specificity of PNB generation and detection in target versus non-target cells by more than one order of magnitude compared to the specificity of NP uptake by the same cells. This improved cellular specificity of PNBs was demonstrated in six different cell models representing diverse molecular targets such as epidermal growth factor receptor, CD3 receptor, prostate specific membrane antigen and mucin molecule MUC1. Thus PNBs may be a universal method and nano-agent that overcome the problem of non-specific uptake of NPs by non-target cells and improve the specificity of NP-based diagnostics, therapeutics and theranostics at the cell level