Conflicting data exist regarding the influence of thiopurines exposure on adverse pregnancy outcomes in female patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

The aim of this study was to provide an up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of the safety of thiopurines in pregnant IBD women.

All relevant articles reporting pregnancy outcomes in women with IBD received thiopurines during pregnancy were identified from the databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov) with the publication data up to April 2020. Data of included studies were extracted to calculate the relative risk (RR) of multiple pregnancy outcomes congenital malformations, low birth weight (LBW), preterm birth, small for gestational age (SGA), and spontaneous abortion. The meta-analysis was performed using the random-effects model.

Eight studies matched with the inclusion criteria and a total of 1201 pregnant IBD women who used thiopurines and 4189 controls comprised of women with IBD received drugs other than thiopurines during pregnancy were included. Statistical analysis results demonstrated that the risk of preterm birth was significantly increased in the thiopurine-exposed group when compared to IBD controls (RR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.00-1.79; p=0.049; I 2 =41%), while no statistically significant difference was observed in the incidence of other adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Thiopurines’ use in women with IBD during pregnancy is not associated with congenital malformations, LBW, SGA, or spontaneous abortion, but appears to have an association with an increased risk of preterm birth.

Thiopurines’ use in women with IBD during pregnancy is not associated with congenital malformations, LBW, SGA, or spontaneous abortion, but appears to have an association with an increased risk of preterm birth.Nanomedicines exhibit unbelievable capability in overcoming the hurdles faced in biological applications. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene-family nanomaterials and fullerenes are a class of engineered nanoparticles that have emerged as a new option for possible use in drug/gene delivery for life-threatening diseases. Their adaptability to pharmaceutical applications has opened new vistas for biomedical applications. Successful applications of this family of engineered nanoparticles in various fields may not support their use in medicine due to inconsistent data on toxicity as well as the lack of a centralized toxicity database. Inconsistent toxicological studies and lack of mechanistic understanding have been the reasons for limited understanding of their toxicological aspects. These nanoparticles, when underivatized or pristine, are considered as safe, however less reactive. The derivatized forms or functionalization changes their chemistry significantly to modify their biological effects including toxicity. see more They can cause acute and long term injuries in tissues by penetration through the the blood-air barrier, blood-alveolus barrier, blood-brain barrier, and blood-placenta barrier. and by accumulating in the lung, liver, and spleen . The toxicological effects are manifested through inflammatory response, DNA damage, apoptosis, autophagy and necrosis. Other factors that largely influence the toxicity of carbon nanotubes, graphenes and fullerenes are the concentration, functionalization, dimensional and surface topographical factors. Thus, a better understanding of the toxicity profile of CNTs, graphene-family nanomaterials and fullerenes in humans, animals and the environment is of significant importance, to improve their biological safety, to facilitate their wide biological application and for the successful commercial application. The exploration of appropriate cell lines to investigate specific receptors and intracellular targets as well as chronic toxicity beyond the proof-of-concept is required.

Fruit juice clarification is a challenging aspect of beverage industry which needs to be addressed for economical and hygienic production of fruit juices.

Current study is focused on the complete purification, characterization and thermodynamic analysis of an efficient mannanase enzyme to analyze its applicability in biological clarification fruit juice.

Mannanase production using Aspergillus awamori IIB037 in a 25 L stirred fermenter at pre optimized reaction conditions was carried out. Enzyme purification was carried out via series of steps. Characterization of enzyme along with kinetics and thermodynamic studies was conducted. Purified and characterized enzyme was assessed for its applicability in fruit juice clarification through clarification experiments on fresh apple juice.

Purification fold of 3.98 was obtained along with 86.80% purification yield of mannanase with specific activity of 158.16 U/mg. The molecular size of purified enzyme was determined as 66 kDa. The enzyme depicted 56% residual activity at 60°C after 8 hrs. Thermodynamic studies of an enzyme revealed enthalpy of activation (ΔH) and activation energy (Ea) as 30.53KJ/mol, 27.76KJ/mol, respectively. The enzyme activity increased in the presence of ß-mercaptoethanol surprisingly. On the other hand, methyl alcohol, ethanol, Hg2+ and Cu2+ inhibited enzyme activity. The enzyme showed Km and Vmax values of 11.07 mM and 19.08 µM min-1 for Locust Bean Gum (LBG) under optimal conditions. Juice treated with mannanase showed decrease in absorbance and increase in reducing sugar content.

The current study demonstrated that mannanase from Aspergillus awamori in its purified form has significant characteristics to be employed industrially for juice clarification.

The current study demonstrated that mannanase from Aspergillus awamori in its purified form has significant characteristics to be employed industrially for juice clarification.

In individuals with ovarian cancer, an increase in the circulating level of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) is readily apparent. Ovarian cancer cells exhibit signaling pathway of the epidermal growth factor (EGFR) and respond to the EGF. Annona Muricata (AM) has been shown to decrease ovarian cell proliferation however, role of AM in regulating EGF actions is not yet to be reported.

In this study, we proposed that the fractionated compound acetogenin can inhibit the activation of EGFRregulated signaling cascades such as MAPK7 / PI3K-Akt / mTOR / STAT upon EGF stimulation.

Ethanolic extract was prepared for the whole AM plant and Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) was performed to characterize the secondary metabolites and each fraction was assessed using kedde reagent for the presence of acetogenin. The effects of acetogenins were then tested on the survival of PA-1 ovarian cancer cells under basal and EGF stimulated conditions. To delineate the role of acetogenin in EGFR signaling cascades, the in silico docking studies were conducted.