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Objectives: This study aimed to determine the effects of propolis on immune mediators and tissue histopathology in rats with L-arginine-induced acute pancreatitis (AP). Methods: This study was conducted at Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudia Arabia between September and November 2017. A total of 24 male albino Wistar rats were divided into three equal groups. Group one was the negative control, group two was the positive control (L-arginine-induced AP) and group three received treatment (L-arginineinduced AP and propolis). The rats in group three were treated with 100 mg/kg propolis for seven days after AP induction. Pancreatic tissue was evaluated histologically and levels of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-22 and IL-1β and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were measured. Results: Propolis reduced the quanitity of proinflammatory molecules (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6) in group three compared to group two, significantly increased the overall antiinflammatory effect of IL-22 (P <0.005) and reduced interstitial inflammation and neutrophil cell infiltration of the pancreatic tissues. Conclusion: Propolis may exert a therapeutic effect in AP. Further studies are required to demonstrate the mechanisms of propolis in AP

Despite the advanced development in the field of drug discovery and design, fighting infectious and non-infectious diseases remains a major worldwide heath challenge due to the limited activity of currently used drugs. Nevertheless, in recent years, the approach of designing nanoparticles for therapeutic applications has gained more interest and promise for future use. Thus, the current study is focused on the evaluation of A. judaica extract and chitosan nanoparticles loaded extract (CNPsLE) for potential antimicrobial and anticancer activities. The HPLC analysis of the extract has shown the presence of various phenolic and flavonoid compounds, including kaempferol (3916.34 µg/mL), apigenin (3794.32 µg/mL), chlorogenic acid (1089.58 µg/mL), quercetin (714.97 µg/mL), vanillin (691.55 µg/mL), naringenin (202.14 µg/mL), and rutin (55.64 µg/mL). The extract alone showed higher MIC values against B. subtilis, E. coli, S. aureus, K. pneumonia, and C. albicans (62.5, 15.65, 15.62, 31.25, and 31.25 µg/mL, respectively), whereas lower MIC values were observed when the extract was combined with CNPsLE (0.97, 1.95, 3.9, 4.1, and 15.62 µg/mL, respectively). The extract exhibited low cytotoxicity against normal Vero cells with IC50 173.74 µg/mL in comparison with the cytotoxicity of the CNPsLE (IC50, 73.89 µg/mL). However, CNPsLE showed more selective toxicity against the human prostate cancer cell line (PC3) with IC50 of 20.8 µg/mL than the extract alone with 76.09 µg/mL. In the docking experiments, kaempferol and apigenin were revealed to be suitable inhibitors for prostate cancer (2Q7L). Overall, the obtained data highlighted the promising potential therapeutic use of CNPsLE as an anticancer and antimicrobial agent.

Numerous experimental investigations conducted on different natural compounds; however, their effectiveness remains insufficient for overcoming the health problems. The effect of ozone on phytochemical characterization of propolis with its biological activities was investigated currently. HPLC showed that ozonized propolis (OP) contains several compounds with high concentrations like hesperetin, rosmarinic acid, coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and chlorogenic acid compared to non-ozonized propolis (NOP). Inhibition zones, killing kinetic time, MID and MBD indicated the effective role of OP against Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus besides Candida albicans compared to NOP . Low IC 50 value (9.91 ± 1.25 μg/mL) was attributed to OP while NOP provide IC 50 value 26.05 ± 0.50 μg/mL as antioxidant agent via DPPH. Inhibition of protein denaturation as a marker of anti-inflammatory was recorded for OP with IC 50 value of 6.46 ± 0.66 μg/mL compared to the IC 50 value of NOP (11.32 ± 1.33 μg/mL). Caco-2 cells line was inhibited with morphological changes by either OP or NOP, however OP reflected excellent IC 50 9.9 ± 2.98 μg/mL contrast NOP (IC 50 41.43 ± 0.62 μg/mL). Flow cytometric analysis of Caco-2 cells documented the apoptosis caused by propolis particularly NOP. The current study adopts a computational method to investigate the possible antibacterial and anticancer properties of rosmarinic acid and hespertin as main constituents of propolis. Rosmarinic acid and hespertin were docked as ligands against K. pneumonia (PDB ID: 6T77) and Caco2 cells (PDB ID: 1M17) receptors.

Modular integrated construction (MiC) is an innovative construction technology that boosts automation in the construction industry by shifting most of the on-site activities to controlled production facilities. However, transporting heavy, bulky, and tailor-made MiC modules to the construction site poses economic, environmental, and social challenges. Effective transportation planning is crucial to mitigate these challenges. The vehicle routing problem (VRP) is of central importance to logistics companies in determining the optimal routes for MiC module transportation. Existing literature lacks comprehensive studies on VRP that thoroughly consider the unique aspects of MiC transportation, including the need for multi-trips of trucks between the factory and the construction site, traffic conditions, and other environmental and social impacts (e.g., carbon emissions, noise, accidents, and congestion). Neglecting these factors jeopardizes the efficiency of MiC module transportation, potentially leading to project delays and undermining the sustainability benefits of MiC. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to develop a VRP model that adequately accounts for most MiC characteristics, facilitating efficient MiC module transportation. This can be achieved by proposing a new variant for the VRP model, called a multi-trip time-dependent vehicle routing problem with time windows, uncertain unloading time, and environmental and social considerations (MT-TVRPTW-UES). The MT-TVRPTW-UES is modeled as a mixed integer linear programming model. A neural network-based algorithm is utilized to predict uncertain unloading times. Additionally, we develop an ant colony optimization (ACO)-based algorithm to solve the MT-TVRPTW-UES model, specifically designed to tackle large test instances that cannot be handled by CPLEX software. To demonstrate the viability and superiority of the MT-TVRPTW-UES model, we present two case studies based on real-world data from a large logistics company located in Hong Kong. The results show that the MT-TVRPTW-UES model significantly improves the MiC module demand satisfaction, environmental protection, and people’s social life.

It is worth noting that laurel (Laurus nobilis L.) contains several pharmacologically and nutritionally active compounds that may differ according to the pretreatment process. The current study is designed to clarify the effect of moist heat on the phenolic and flavonoid constituents and anti-Helicobacter pylori, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anti-Alzheimer’s activities of laurel leaf extract (LLE). Unmoist-heated (UMH) and moist-heated (MH) LLEs showed the presence of numerous flavonoid and phenolic constituents, although at different levels of concentration. MH significantly induced (p < 0.05) the occurrence of most compounds at high concentrations of 5655.89 µg/mL, 3967.65 µg/mL, 224.80 µg/mL, 887.83 µg/mL, 2979.14 µg/mL, 203.02 µg/mL, 284.65 µg/mL, 1893.66 µg/mL, and 187.88 µg/mL, unlike the detection at low concentrations of 3461.19 µg/mL, 196.96 µg/mL, 664.12 µg/mL, 2835.09 µg/mL, 153.26 µg/mL, 254.43 µg/mL, 1605.00 µg/mL, 4486.02 µg/mL, and 195.60 µg/mL using UMH, for naringenin, methyl gallate, caffeic acid, rutin, ellagic acid, coumaric acid, vanillin, ferulic acid, and hesperetin, respectively. Chlorogenic acid, syringic acid, and daidzein were detected in the UMH LLE but not in the MH LLE, unlike pyrocatechol. The anti-H. pylori activity of the UMH LLE was lower (23.67 ± 0.58 mm of inhibition zone) than that of the MH LLE (26.00 ± 0.0 mm of inhibition zone). Moreover, the values of MIC and MBC associated with the MH LLE were very low compared to those of the UMH LLE. Via MBC/MIC index calculation, the UMH and MH LLEs showed cidal activity. The MH LLE exhibited higher anti-biofilm activity (93.73%) compared to the anti-biofilm activity (87.75%) of the MH LLE against H. pylori. The urease inhibition percentage was more affected in the UMH LLE compared to the MH LLE, with significant (p < 0.05) IC50 values of 34.17 µg/mL and 91.11 µg/mL, respectively. Promising antioxidant activity was documented with a very low value of IC50 (3.45 µg/mL) for the MH LLE compared to the IC50 value of 4.69 µg/mL for the UMH LLE and the IC50 value of 4.43 µg/mL for ascorbic acid. The MH LLE showed significantly higher (p < 0.05) inhibition of α-glucosidase and butyrylcholinesterase activities, with IC50 values of 9.9 µg/mL and 17.3 µg/mL, respectively, compared to those of the UMH LLE at 18.36 µg/mL and 28.92 µg/mL. The molecular docking of naringenin showed good docking scores against acetylcholinesterase 1E66 and butyrylcholinesterase 6EMI, indicating that naringenin is an intriguing candidate for additional research as a possible medication for Alzheimer’s disease.

Nanoparticles (NPs) formulation in biopolymers is an attractive process for the researcher to decrease the disadvantages of NPs application alone. Bimetallic NPs are a promising formula of two NPs that usually act as synergetic phenomena. Zinc oxide and gold NPs (ZnO@AuNPs) biosynthesis as a bimetallic was prepared via the eco-friendly manner currently. Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) was employed for the formulation of ZnO@AuNPs as a nanocomposite via a green method. Physicochemical and topographical characterization was assigned to ZnO@AuNPs and nanocomposite features. The nanostructure of bimetallic NPs and nanocomposite were affirmed with sizes around 15 and 25 nm, respectively. Indeed, the DLS measurements affirmed the more reasonable size and stability of the prepared samples as 27 and 93 nm for bimetallic NPs and nanocomposite, respectively. The inhibitory potential of nanocomposite was more than ZnO@AuNPs against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Enterococcus faecalis, Mucor albicans, Aspergillus flavus, and Mucor circinelloid. ZnO@AuNPs and nanocomposite exhibited antioxidant activity via DPPH with IC50 of 71.38 and 32.4 µg/mL, correspondingly. Excellent anti-diabetic potential of nanocomposite with IC50 of 7.4 µg/mL, and ZnO@AuNPs with IC50 of 9.7 µg/mL was reported compared with the standard acarbose with the IC50 of 50.93 µg/mL for amylase inhibition (%). Photocatalytic degradation of RR195 and RB dyes was performed by ZnO@AuNPs and nanocomposite, where maximum degradation was 85.7 ± 1.53 and 88.7 ± 0.58%, respectively using ZnO@AuNPs, 90.3 ± 0.28 and 91.8 ± 0.27%, respectively using nanocomposite at 100 min.

There are many acute and chronic infections affecting the urinary tract including bacterial, fungal and viral infections. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) can present in many different patterns with variable degrees of severity varying from asymptomatic and uncomplicated forms to life threatening complicated infections. Cross-sectional imaging techniques—including both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)—have become very important tools not only for evaluation of UTIs, but also for detection of associated complications. Selection of either CT or MRI in the UTI evaluation depends on several factors such as the presence of contraindication, experience, cost and availability. CT and MRI help in early detection and management of UTIs that reduce the prevalence and severity of complications. In this article we will present the radiologic findings at CT and MRI in different types of upper and lower UTIs including acute pyelonephritis, intrarenal and perinephric abscesses, pyonephrosis, chronic pyelonephritis, emphysematous UTIs, xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis, tuberculosis (TB), bilharziasis, fungal infection, corynebacterium infection, ureteritis, cystitis, prostatitis, prostatic abscess and urethritis.

Fungal spoilage of bread can be a great problem; however, it can be explored as a producer of enzymes. The fungi were isolated from breads, and their activity for α-amylase production was planned. The results identified nine fungi on spoiled breads. Aspergillus fumigatus occurred with 85% frequency, followed by other isolates. Starch yeast (SY), white flour (WF), and black flour (BF) were applied as substrates for α-amylase activity using fungal isolates. The SY was the best, followed by WF and BF for α-amylase activity. Using SY, A. niger showed the greatest potency for α-amylase (7.67 U/mL) unlike Monilia sitophila, which reflected low α-amylase activity (2.69 U/mL). Using WF, A. fumigatus reflected high amylase activity (5.76 U/mL) while A. niger, A. terreus, and Penicillium expansum showed less activity (5.12 U/mL, 4.41 U/mL, and 3.56 U/mL, respectively). The temperature 30 °C and pH 6 were the optimum for α-amylase activity by A. niger, A. fumigatus, and P. chrysogenum, using the three media, but α-amylase activity of A. fumigatus at 40 °C was higher than at 20 °C. At the ninth day of incubation, the maximum α-amylase activity was reported using SY, while at the twelfth day, maximum activity was reported using WF and BF.

Financial signaling and stock return synchronicity may not be at crossroads. This paper optimizes the signaling effect of firms’ financial indicators on stock return synchronicity. The ultimate objective is to align firms’ financial signaling and stock return synchronicity, which implies a benefit of hedging against fluctuations in the stock market index. The data cover quarterly periods from June 1992 to March 2022 for the non-financial firms listed in the DJIA30 and NASDAQ100. This paper examines the observed return synchronicity as the dependent variable. The independent variables are classified into six groups namely, Solvency (or Liquidity) ratios, Assets Efficiency ratios, Expense Control ratios, Debt (or Leverage) ratios, Profitability ratios, and Dividend ratios. The analysis is conducted on two different groups. The first group examines the observed firms’ financials that affect observed stock return synchronicity. The second group examines optimal firms’ financials that help optimize stock return synchronicity. The final results show that (a) current stock return synchronicity is affected positively by cash ratio, and negatively by receivables and historical growth of earnings; (b) optimal stock return synchronicity can be elevated using significant financial indicators namely, Inventory/Current Assets, Net Working Capital/Total Assets, Net worth/Fixed Assets, and Sales Annual Growth; (c) agency conflicts between managers and shareholders can be mitigated by the aforementioned financial indicators, which do not include debt financing being the common source of agency conflicts; and (d) dividends are still insignificant to stock return synchronization.

Bioethanol-derived biomass is a green sustainable source of energy that is highly recommended as an efficient alternative to the replacement of fossil fuels. However, this type of bioethanol production is always expensive with very low bioethanol concentration. Therefore, this work aims to represent a facile and green approach for bioethanol production with high concentration and purity as well as reasonable cost from corn stover (CS). The goal of this study is to characterize CS and its treated samples with maleic acid (CSM) using various characterization analyses, such as proximate and ultimate analysis, HHV, TGA, FTIR, SEM, and CHNS. The bioethanol production stages: Pretreatment, enzymatic degradation, fermentation, and finally bioethanol separation and purification via the pervaporation process, which have been investigated and optimized are associated with the economic analysis. The optimum operating condition of the pretreatment process was 2% maleic acid, 1:20 solid-to-liquid ratio at 45 psi, 120 °C, and 1 h of operation in the autoclave. This process contributes to 53 and 45% lignin and hemicellulose removal, 98% cellulose recovery, and a glucose yield of 741 mg/dL. The yeast isolate succeeded in the production of 1230 mg/dL of bioethanol. This isolated yeast strain was close to Pichia nakasei with a similarity of 98%, and its amplified 18S rRNA gene sequence was deposited in GenBank with the accession number MZ675535. Poly (MMA-co-MA) membrane was synthesized, characterized, and its efficiency for increasing the bioethanol concentration was evaluated using the integrated pervaporation technique. The techno-economic analysis is presented in detail to evaluate the process profitability, which achieves a considerable profit for the whole duration of the project without any losses as it reaches a net profit of USD 1 million in 2023, reaching USD 2.1 million in 2047 for a company with a capacity of 32 thousand tons per year. The sequential strategy offers a promising approach for efficient bioethanol production under mild and environmentally friendly conditions that enable its implication industrially.