A Comparative Review of Plant and Microbial Antioxidant Secondary Metabolites : Plant versus Microbial Antioxidants

Background and Objective: Disturbance of reactive species produced through various physiological and biochemical processes causes damages to the cells, leading to cell apoptosis. In addition to medical importance, compounds with antioxidant activity can prevent radical species linked damages in food industries. Antioxidants can be described as valuable food preservatives, which promote food nutritional values via preventing oxidation of various diverse contents, majorly lipids, in addition to food deterioration. Due to the high costs and dangerous effects on human health reported for synthetic antioxidants, the search for natural antioxidant compounds has increased. Therefore, the objective of the present review was to overview natural antioxidants from plants and microorganisms as well as their diversity and industrial uses. Results and Conclusion: Plants and microorganisms are significant natural sources of diverse antioxidants. Nevertheless, the vast diversity of microorganisms and their metabolites as well as their easier manipulations highlight the environmental-friendly antioxidant production techniques from microorganisms that must be revised, compared to plants or synthetic antioxidants. Phenolics and terpenoids are the dominant antioxidants produced in plants, while the microbial antioxidants vary, including carotenoids, polyketides and polysaccharides. This review clearly highlights the competency of microbial bioactive metabolites as the alternative sources of bioactive antioxidants for future of food industries. Elucidating structural and physicochemical characteristics of microbial antioxidants enables the discovery of emerging antioxidants and their mechanisms of action, leading to the disclosure of various strategies in the industries. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest

Recent Advances in Glioma Cancer Treatment: Conventional and Epigenetic Realms

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most typical and aggressive form of primary brain tumor in adults, with a poor prognosis. Successful glioma treatment is hampered by ineffective medication distribution across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the emergence of drug resistance. Although a few FDA-approved multimodal treatments are available for glioblastoma, most patients still have poor prognoses. Targeting epigenetic variables, immunotherapy, gene therapy, and different vaccine- and peptide-based treatments are some innovative approaches to improve anti-glioma treatment efficacy. Following the identification of lymphatics in the central nervous system, immunotherapy offers a potential method with the potency to permeate the blood-brain barrier. This review will discuss the rationale, tactics, benefits, and drawbacks of current glioma therapy options in clinical and preclinical investigations

SARS-CoV-2 and Stroke Characteristics: A Report From the Multinational COVID-19 Stroke Study Group

International audienceBackground and Purpose: Stroke is reported as a consequence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in several reports. However, data are sparse regarding the details of these patients in a multinational and large scale. Methods: We conducted a multinational observational study on features of consecutive acute ischemic stroke, intracranial hemorrhage, and cerebral venous or sinus thrombosis among SARS-CoV-2–infected patients. We further investigated the risk of large vessel occlusion, stroke severity as measured by the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and stroke subtype as measured by the TOAST (Trial of ORG 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment) criteria among patients with acute ischemic stroke. In addition, we explored the neuroimaging findings, features of patients who were asymptomatic for SARS-CoV-2 infection at stroke onset, and the impact of geographic regions and countries’ health expenditure on outcomes. Results: Among the 136 tertiary centers of 32 countries who participated in this study, 71 centers from 17 countries had at least 1 eligible stroke patient. Of 432 patients included, 323 (74.8%) had acute ischemic stroke, 91 (21.1%) intracranial hemorrhage, and 18 (4.2%) cerebral venous or sinus thrombosis. A total of 183 (42.4%) patients were women, 104 (24.1%) patients were <55 years of age, and 105 (24.4%) patients had no identifiable vascular risk factors. Among acute ischemic stroke patients, 44.5% (126 of 283 patients) had large vessel occlusion; 10% had small artery occlusion according to the TOAST criteria. We observed a lower median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (8 [3–17] versus 11 [5–17]; P =0.02) and higher rate of mechanical thrombectomy (12.4% versus 2%; P <0.001) in countries with middle-to-high health expenditure when compared with countries with lower health expenditure. Among 380 patients who had known interval onset of the SARS-CoV-2 and stroke, 144 (37.8%) were asymptomatic at the time of admission for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Conclusions: We observed a considerably higher rate of large vessel occlusions, a much lower rate of small vessel occlusion and lacunar infarction, and a considerable number of young stroke when compared with the population studies before the pandemic. The rate of mechanical thrombectomy was significantly lower in countries with lower health expenditures