Swanson Chan (jeffkaren2)

Azo molecules are one of the fascinating organic molecular architectures with azo bond (-N=N-). Since the last century, the bright colored azo molecules are used as dyes for printing, food, paper, cosmetic laser, electronics, optics, material sciences etc. After the discovery of Prontosil as an antibacterial drug, azo molecules became into limelight in medicinal chemistry. Later a number of azo molecules such as Phenazopyridine, Basalazide, Sulfasalazine etc., occupied the drug market. Many azo molecules have been demonstrated as antibacterial, anti-malarial, antifungal, antioxidant, antiviral agents and many more. Metabolic degradation of many azo dyes can cause problem to liver that limits the application of azo dyes in medicinal chemistry. Azo dyes are significantly used in cancer chemotherapy. Recently, a paradigm shift has been observed in the application of azo dyes from medicinal chemistry to biomedical science area. The application of azo molecules in biomedical science such as imaging, drug deliver, photo pharmacology and photo switch areas are reported. In this article, we have complied and discussed the recent work done on azo dye molecules for medicinal importance and future prospects.Phosphorylation is arguably the most important post-translational modification that occurs within proteins. Phosphorylation is used as a signal to control numerous physiological activities ranging from gene expression to metabo-lism. Identifying phosphorylation sites within proteins was historically a challenge as it required either radioisotope label-ing or the use of phospho-specific antibodies. The advent of mass spectrometry (MS) has had a major impact on the abil-ity to qualitatively and quantitatively characterize phosphorylated proteins. In this article we describe MS methods for characterizing phosphorylation sites within individual proteins as well as entire proteome samples. #link# The utility of these methods is illustrated in examples that show the information that can be gained using these MS techniques. Diabetes mellitus (DM) represents a global health problem characterized by hyperglycemia due to insufficient insulin secretion or failure of insulin activity. There is an imperative need for the discovery of alternative therapeutic agents that overcome the drawbacks of the current synthetic antidiabetic drugs. This review critically summarizes the reports on the known and novel natural compounds including alkaloids, flavonoids, and saponins with a potent antidiabetic activity that were recently published from 2014 to 2019. We discussed the underlying mechanisms of action that put these compounds in the category of effective antidiabetic candidates. Information was obtained from Google Scholar, Scirus, PubMed, and Science Direct. The reported natural compounds showed promising antidiabetic activity through different mechanisms such as the inhibition of α-amylase, α-glucosidase, insulin-sensitizing effect, direct action on protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B), peroxisome proliferator-activated recept enzyme. Some compounds inhibited the formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Other compounds prevented the risk of diabetic complications such as cardiovascular diseases, retinopathy, and nephropathy. This review provides a critical overview of the most recent discoveries of antidiabetic agents from natural sources. This overview could help researchers to focus on the most prominent candidates aiming to develop new drug leads.Obesity is a major health concern for a growing fraction of the population, with the prevalence of obesity and its related metabolic disorders not being fully understood. Over the last decade, many attempts have been undertaken to understand the mechanisms at the basis of this condition, in which the accumulation of fat occurring in adipose tissue, leads to the pathogenesis of obesity related disorders. Among the most recent studies, those on Pero