Le Beatty (tempopants40)

Lawsone (2-hydroxy-1,4-naphtoquinone; LAW), as a naphthoquinone derivative, is the biologically active component of Henna leaves. In this study, the structural and functional effects of LAW on bovine liver catalase (BLC), has been studied utilizing ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption, fluorescence, and ATR-FTIR spectroscopic techniques, and molecular docking approach. In-vitro kinetic study showed that by adding gradual concentrations of LAW, catalase activity was significantly decreased through noncompetitive inhibition mechanism. UV-vis and ATR-FTIR spectroscopic results illustrated that additional concentration of LAW lead to significant change in secondary structure of the enzyme.The fluorescence spectroscopic results at different temperatures indicated that LAW quenches the intrinsic fluorescence of BLC by dynamic mechanismand there is just one binding site for LAW on BCL. Changing the micro-environment nearby two aromatic residues (tryptophan (Trp) and tyrosine (Tyr)) were resulted from synchronous fluorescence. The thermodynamic parameters were implied that the hydrophobic bindings have a significant impress in the organization of the LAW-catalase complex. Molecular docking data in agreement with experimental results, confirmed that hydrophobic interactions are dominant. Inhibition of enzyme activity by LAW, showed that along withits helpful effects as ananti-oxidant compounds, the side effects of LAW should not be overlooked.One of the main genotoxic drugs used in bladder cancer chemotherapy is cisplatin. While it is applied in most types of cancers, resistance to cisplatin is wildly common. In order to overcome drug resistance, it is necessary to determine a predictive marker. This study was conducted to provide basic data for selecting and designing a gene profile for further cohort and RCT studies in the future to improve response to treatment in bladder cancer. The expression levels of ERCC1, MLH1, MSH2, and CTR1 mRNA were determined in the tumor tissue using real-time q-PCR. Progression-free survival (PFS) was analyzed in term of the level of genes expression. The results revealed that the level of ERCC1 mRNA expression was higher in the recurrence (R) group compared to the no recurrence (NR) group. Moreover, the PFS time was increased in the patients with an ERCC1 expression level of below 1.57. The level of MLH1 and MSH2 mRNA expression was lower in the R group compared to the NR group; therefore, PFS time was increased in the patients with MLH1 and MSH2 gene expression levels above the cutoff point. While the level of CTR1 mRNA expression was higher in the R group versus the NR group, the PFS time was longer in the patients with CTR1 expression levels of below 1.265 compared to the patients with high levels of CTR1 expression. It can be concluded that the level of ERCC1, MLH1, MSH2, and CTR1 mRNA expression may be associated with PFS time as possible therapeutic targets for decreasing cisplatin resistance.MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, ecstasy) is often abused by youth as a recreational drug. MDMA abuse is a growing problem in different parts of the world. An important adverse consequence of the drug consumption is hepatotoxicity of different intensities. However, the underlying mechanism of this toxicity has not been completely understood. Ghrelin is a gut hormone with growth hormone stimulatory effect. It expresses in liver, albeit at a much lower level than in stomach, and exerts a hepatoprotective effect. In this study, we investigated hepatotoxicity effect of MDMA alone and its combination with ghrelin as a hepatoprotective agent. MDMA and MDMA+ ghrelin could transiently increase serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) followed by tissue necrosis. However, they could significantly decrease liver tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-±) in both treatment groups. Unexpectedly, in MDMA treated rats, Bax, Bcl-xl, Bcl-2,