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This study introduces a highly effective technique for producing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) utilizing an extract from the bark of Annona muricata, which is rich in bioactive compounds. The AgNP synthesis was performed at room temperature, providing an environment-friendly and cost-effective alternative to traditional methods that involve harmful chemicals and high energy consumption. Characterization of the AgNPs was performed using various techniques: scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope analyses revealed spherical nanoparticles ranging from 29nm to 67nm in size, FTIR techniques was used to analyze the functional groups involved in the reduction and stabilization, UV-Vis spectroscopy confirmed surface plasmon resonance peaks, X-ray diffraction analysis indicated a face-centered cubic crystal structure and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDAX) analysis verified the elemental composition and stabilization. The antioxidant properties of biogenic AgNPs were evaluated using in vitro assays, which demonstrated their significant antioxidant efficacy. This study highlights the potential of A. muricata bark extract as a sustainable and effective agent for decreasing and stabilizing the synthesis of AgNPs. This technique demonstrates promising potential as antioxidant therapy.

Many cultivated and wild plants are used for the management of various diseases, specifically renal and hepatic diseases and those of the immune and cardiovascular systems. In China, medicinal plants from ancient to modern history have been used in patients with angina pectoris, congestive heart failure (CHF), systolic hypertension, arrhythmia, and venous insufficiency for centuries. The latest increase in the fame of natural products and alternative medicine has revived interest in conventional remedies that have been consumed in the management of CVD. The cardio-protective properties of the various herbs are possibly due to their anti-oxidative, antihypercholesterolemic, anti-ischemic activities, and inhibition of platelet aggregation that reduce the risk of CVD. Ethno-pharmacological and biological properties of these plants are explored, based upon published scientific literature. Although a majority of medicinal plants having a biological mechanism that linked with CVD management, to date, published literature pertaining to their promising scientific properties are still poorly understood. Compared with synthetic medicines, alternative medicines do not need scientific studies before their formal approval from the government sector and due to this purpose; their safety, as well as efficacy, still remain elusive. Taken together, we addressed all accessible evidence on alternative medicines commonly consumed in CVD management. Our comprehensive analysis of the scientific literature indicated that many TCMs are available and valuable herbal medication would be the best alternative for the management of CVD as a complementary therapy. Furthermore, practitioners should always discuss possible benefits–risks of alternative medicines with patients so that they are aware of the consumption of alternative medications.

The design of artificial gene regulatory networks has paved way for the construction of therapeutic gene circuits that would find application in next generation gene therapy approaches. The main challenge in such designs is in selecting the appropriate genetic components to make up the circuit in order to produce the anticipated or desired behavior. To eliminate this complexity, computational simulation tools are used to guide circuit design. This involves selection and genetic modification of components, until the required system behavior is achieved.

In this work, we have designed a model for a synthetic nanogene network. The gene expression involved in diseases caused by mutation, like cancer, Alzheimer's disease (AD), etc., can be effectively controlled by "Nanogene silencing genetic switch". Here, we have considered the case of Alzheimer's disease.

Genes that are responsible for genetic AD are APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2. Antimutagenic study of phytochemicals has been carried out with the common AD causing APP gene mutation. By our computational analysis, phytochemicals like curcumin, eugenol, and limonene have been identified as "molecular switch" devices to prevent mutation of AD gene. All these chemicals are found to be strongly interacted with the AD gene without making changes to the remaining part of the sequence. Among the analyzed chemicals, curcumin is found to be most interacting with AD gene protecting it from mutation. Hence, inclusion of curcumin-containing food items in our menu would prevent Alzheimer's disease to a large extent.

This technique is a type of gene therapy leading to silencing of the mutated part of the gene and preventing mutation.

The present study reports a rapid plant-based biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using callus extract of Jatropha curcas L. The particle size and morphological analyses were carried out using Zetasizer, SEM, TEM. The physicochemical properties were monitored using UV-Vis spectroscopic, IR and DSC. The formation of silver nanoparticle was confirmed by using UV-Vis spectrophotometer and absorbance peaks at 421 nm. The silver nanoparticle was found to be a negatively charged with size ranging from 2 nm to 50 nm. The morphology of the nanoparticle is uniformly spherical and has a dispersion ratio of 0.14. The physicochemical study using DSC indicated significant thermal stability and crystalline nature of the nanoparticle. This intracellular biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles is simple, cheap and eco-friendly than other mechanical and chemical approaches.

Selaginella willdenowii, a commonly used greenhouse fern, was often used as a biowaste to synthesize zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) in an eco-friendly and cost-effective way. UV–Visible spectra studies were carried out to confirm the synthesis of S. willdenowii-mediated ZnO NPs (SW-ZnO NPs), and a peak at 367nm with a sharp band gap of 3.415eV was observed. The X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that the crystalline size of the synthesized SW-ZnO NPs was 11.971nm. The phytochemicals present in the extracts and the compounds involved in the reduction of metal to nanoparticles were determined by Fourier Transform Infrared analysis. Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to analyze the surface morphology and size of the obtained SW-ZnO NPs. The examination revealed that they exhibited a hexagonal shape, with an average size falling within the range of 17–23nm. Under ultra-violet light, reactive blue 220 and reactive yellow 145 dyes showed 78.06% and 60.14% degradation, showing potential photocatalytic degradation activity. The synthesized SW-ZnO NPs also exhibited antimicrobial activity against bacterial strains (Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis) and fungal cultures (Candida tropicalis and Candida albicans) showed cytotoxic activity against Hep-G2 cell lines. Our results suggest the green synthesized SW-ZnO NPs have potential photocatalytic, antimicrobial and cytotoxic potential.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive sub-type of breast cancer, mainly affecting premenopausal women. As it neither expresses hormone receptors nor overexpresses HER2 receptors, it is difficult to tackle this deadly disease effectively. It is a well-known fact that phytochemicals have remarkable therapeutic potential in the prevention and treatment of different disorders. One of the well-known phytochemicals, ellagic acid (EA) has shown better efficacy in the prevention and treatment of cancer in many preclinical and clinical settings. Therefore, in this study, ellagic acid gold nanoparticles (EA-AuNp) were synthesized and characterized to passively target TNBC cells through EPR effect. EA-AuNp were prepared using the direct reduction method and characterized by UV–Visible spectroscopy, DLS, XRD, EDX, TEM and FT-IR spectra. We found that it significantly suppressed the TNBC cell proliferation (IC${}_{50}$ 12 $\mu$g/ml) compared to EA alone (IC${}_{50}$ 36 $\mu$g/ml). Flow cytometry and live and dead assays revealed that EA-AuNp induced more cell death in TNBC cells compared to EA alone. Further, western blot analysis substantiated that EA-AuNp induced apoptosis by regulating the expression of Bcl-2, survivin, caspase 3 and caspase 9. In conclusion, EA-AuNp has high anti-cancer potential and additional preclinical and clinical studies are highly recommended.

Cancer is a mechanistically complex and diverse disease with a plethora of fundamental genetic and epigenetic factors. Signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) is a transcription factor, and its constitutive activation executes promotion of cellular proliferation, cell cycle, angiogenesis, metastasis, immunosuppression, and chemo-resistance in cancer cells. Here, we aimed to design natural potential STAT3 inhibitors. For this purpose, we investigated 92 phytochemical compounds by molecular docking studies because they are diversified, multitargeted, affordable, easily available, and less- or non-toxic. We selected only 6 compounds such as sarsasapogenin (L3), peiminine (L9), solasodine (L10), tormentic acid (L23), obacunone (L29), and echinocystic acid (L34) due to their greater binding affinity than reference STAT3 inhibitor (S3I-201) with STAT3. The study was further continued by molecular dynamic (MD) simulations and ADMET (absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity) analysis. The results of molecular docking showed that all selected ligands exhibited binding affinity range from -9.3 Kcal/mol to -7.9 Kcal/mol and predicted inhibition constant ($K{i}_{\mathrm{\text{pred}}}$.) values range from 0.14 $\mu$M to 1.5 $\mu$M. These compounds showed effective hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions with DNA binding domain as well as SH2-domain of STAT3. The MD simulations performed by nanoscale molecular dynamics (NAMD) calculated root mean square deviations (RMSD), root mean square fluctuations (RMSF), radius of gyration ($R_g$), solvent accessible surface area (SASA) and number of hydrogen bond dynamics. All selected ligands with protein exhibited stability over 120 ns by MD simulation. Moreover, these ligands showed favorable ADMET profiling and drug likeness. So, our current computational investigations showed that these novel drug candidates can be potential STAT3 inhibitors and evoke the scientific interest for their further verification by in vitro and in vivo studies.

Breast cancer (BC) is a critical health issue that affects countless women, and it is the second leading reason of death worldwide. The phosphatidylinositol 3 kinases (PI3Ks) constitute a group of lipid kinases that play a role in tumorigenesis, development, migration, infiltration, programmed cell death, glycogen synthesis, DNA correction and viability by the PI3K/Akt cascade. The PI3K pathway has been linked to a variety of malignancies and increases the activation rate of cancer. Here, focus was given to the study of PI3K pathway involved in BC and emphasis was given on a particular nSH₂ domain that resides in the regulatory subunit of PI3K to find a potent inhibitor. A detailed pathway and interaction study was performed from KEGG pathway database and from the cystoscope. A total list of 60 compounds, comprises phytochemicals, and herbal compounds were screened based on structural similarity and eight FDA-approved drugs were considered. The docking analysis was carried over through the AutoDock software and Ligplot analysis was performed to investigate the interaction between the nSH₂ domain and the potent inhibitors. To ensure the complex stability, 20 ns of simulation run was also performed on the best complexes using GROMACS. From this study, it can be concluded that Evodia fruit has the maximum stability in the catalytic region among all the listed inhibitors against the target proteins and can act as a potent inhibitor among the others.

Environmental, endogenous DNA damaging agents and genetic factors cause aberrant changes in the normally functioning genes leading to tumor. The treatment strategies of cancer are varied and mostly they are administered in combination. The application of complementary and alternative medicine, which includes phytochemicals and herbal extracts, leads to chances of herb-drug interactions. The interaction could be adverse or advantageous and it is due to a number of factors which are not fully understood. Changes in cell signaling pathways, pharmacokinetic interactions, reversal of multi-drug resistance, and increase in immunity are a few mechanisms where the phytochemicals can act in synergy with anti-cancer drugs.