Role of deficits in pathogen recognition receptors in infection susceptibility

This work was supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013), and the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (IF/00735/2014 to A.C. and SFRH/BPD/96176/2013 to C.C.

Traditional and contemporary herbal medicines in management of cancer: A scoping review

Background: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and is primarily managed by chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. Traditional medicine is widely used worldwide due to availability, affordability, wide applicability and accessibility. While potential for traditional medicines in management of cancer is well-documented, there is limited literature that collates traditional knowledge and contemporary herbal medicine practice.To collate available evidence on herbal medicines used in the management of all cancers from traditional world-wide sources, and the management of lung and colorectal cancers in contemporary practice.Medicinal plants with anti-cancer properties were identified following JBI methodology for scoping reviews through searches of the following sources: Trove, Archive.Org, and Henriette's herbal medicine page (traditional texts), book list available from World Naturopathic Federation white paper (contemporary naturopathic texts), and in PubMed, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, ScienceDirect, AMED and JSTOR (case studies).Of the 1973 citations retrieved, 38 traditional texts, 3 contemporary naturopathic texts and 10 case studies were included in the review. The traditional texts (n = 110) noted the highest number of different anti-cancer herbal species, followed by case reports (n = 52) and contemporary texts (n = 13).This review identified various herbal medicines used to treat cancer traditionally which is distinct to those found in contemporary use. Moreover, this review identified the use of herbs from other native medical systems around the world in the contemporary naturopathic practice and individual case management. The evidence presented in the review could be utilized in pre-clinical settings to research traditional preparations of herbs

Collaborative active learning activities promote deep learning in a chemistry-biochemistry course

Currently in higher education, there is a move towards providing more student-centred learning experiences, where students are actively involved in the learning process. To promote learner engagement and communication between peers, many educators utilise collaborative active learning activities. This study aimed to demonstrate that an active learning curriculum developed for a Chemistry-Biochemistry unit, allowed students to gain a deep understanding of the content, while developing key academic skills. In each face-to-face session of the Chemistry-Biochemistry unit, students participated in collaborative active learning activities including Participation+ and a variety of Padlet activities. The students were also challenged to develop their written communication skills, by taking part in a formative In-Class Writing Task. Survey results indicated that the active learning curriculum provided an engaging, interactive environment that was conducive to the students developing an understanding of the course’s underlying concepts and developing key academic skills. The students communicated their deep understanding of the content verbally during active learning activities and in writing during the In-Class Writing Task, written assignment and final exam. Students who consistently communicated deep knowledge of the content during the In-Class Writing Task achieved high marks on the summative written assignment, final exam and unit total. This study clearly demonstrates that the active learning curriculum employed in the Chemistry-Biochemistry unit provided a collaborative and engaging learning environment, where many students developed a deep understanding of the content and acquired the skills to communicate their knowledge both orally and through written communication

An enolate ion as a synthon in biocatalytic synthesis of 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinoxalinones and 3,4-dihydro-1,4-benzoxazin-2-ones: lemon juice as an alternative to hazardous solvents and catalysts

Innovative, efficient, clean, experimentally simple and environmentally friendly one-pot biocatalytic synthesis of two small libraries of 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinoxalinones (4a-m) and 3,4-dihydro-1,4-benzoxazin-2-ones (5a, 5b, 5f and 5k-o) by heterocyclization of ethyl 2-hydroxy-4-alkyl(aryl)-4-oxo-2-butenoates (1a-o) or their corresponding salts (1a-o) with o-phenylenediamine (2) or o-aminophenol (3) in lemon juice as a solvent and a catalyst is presented. In all reactions where esters 1a-o are used for 24 h, very good-to-excellent yields were achieved, but the best yield was realized in the synthesis of 5a (97%) from 3 and 1a. The use of enolate salts (1a-o) instead of the corresponding esters 1a-o significantly reduced the reaction time (up to 6 h) and good-to-excellent yields were achieved. Groups with electron-donating or -withdrawing effects at the aromatic ring of the ester did not have significant influences on the yield of targeted products. In addition, several selected 3,4-dihydro-2(1H)-quinoxalinones and 3,4dihydro-1,4-benzoxazin-2-ones on a gram-scale in the yields up to 92% were synthesized. The presented synthetic strategy has produced smaller amount of waste without by-products and with excellent values of green chemistry metrics (atom efficiency, reaction mass efficiency, E-factor and EcoScale)

Sorption Properties Of Oxidized Cotton Linters According To Cation Color Mb

Sorption Properties Of Oxidized Cotton Linters According To Cation Color Mb, „International Conference of Experimental and Numerical Investigations and New Technologie

Vanillic aldehydes for the one-pot synthesis of novel 2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidines

A small library of novel 2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetrahydropyrimidines was synthesized via a one-pot multicomponent Biginelli reaction. Copper complex which was used for the first time as a homogeneous and heterogeneous catalyst, makes this a facile and efficient reaction at room temperature. All the obtained products fall out of the solution in pure form and are easily isolated via filtration in good-to-excellent yields. The molecular structure of one of the products, ethyl 6-methyl-2-oxo-4-(4-isopropoxy-3-methoxyphenyl) - 1,2,3,4 - tetrahydropyrimidine-5- carboxylate, has been determined by X-ray crystallography. All non-hydrogen atoms in the heterocyclic, six-membered ring are determined to be approximately coplanar