Among various cancers, pediatric brain tumors represent the most common cancer type in children and the second most common cause of cancer related deaths. Anticancer drugs and therapies, such as doxorubicin (Dox), have severe side effects on patients during chemotherapy, especially for children as their bodies are still under development. These side effects are believed to be due to the lack of a delivery system with high efficacy and targeting selectivity, resulting in serious damages of normal cells. To improve the efficacy and selectivity, the transferrin (Trans) receptor mediated endocytosis can be utilized for drug delivery system design, as transferrin receptors are expressed on the blood brain barrier (BBB) and often over expressed in brain tumor cells. Carbon dots (C-Dots) have recently emerged as benign nanoparticles in biomedical applications owing to their good water solubility, tunable surface functionalities and excellent biocompatibility. The unique characteristics of C-Dots make them promising candidates for drug delivery development. In this study, carbon dots-transferrin-doxorubicin covalent conjugate (C-Dots-Trans-Dox) was synthesized, characterized by different spectroscopic techniques and investigated for the potential application as a drug delivery system for anticancer drug doxorubicin to treat pediatric brain tumors. Our in vitro results demonstrate greater uptake of the C-Dots-Trans-Dox conjugate compared to Dox alone presumably owing to the high levels of transferrin receptors on these tumor cells. Experiment showed that C-Dots-Trans-Dox at 10 nM was significantly more cytotoxic than Dox alone, reducing viability by 14-45%, across multiple pediatric brain tumor cell lines.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has threatened human lives for decades, and a technique for estimating and healing is still needed. There has been increasing interest in finding CVD diagnostic biomarkers to predict risk. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) has proven to be a significant biomarker for acute myocardial infarction detection. An immunoassay based biosensor for cTnI can play an important role in diagnosis of CVD. Over the past decades, various methodologies regarding cTnI detection have been studied, including colorimetric, fluorescence, paramagnetic, electrochemical, and surface plasmon resonance. This review will focus more on recent strategies about surface immobilized cTnI detection.

Drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS) in biological systems remains a major medical challenge due to the tight junctions between endothelial cells known as the blood-brain-barrier (BBB). Here we use a zebrafish model to explore the possibility of using transferrin-conjugated carbon dots (C-Dots) to ferry compounds across the BBB. C-Dots have previously been reported to inhibit protein fibrillation, and they are also used to deliver drugs for disease treatment. In terms of the potential medical application of C-Dots for the treatment of CNS diseases, one of the most formidable challenges is how to deliver them inside the CNS. To achieve this in this study, human transferrin was covalently conjugated to C-Dots. The conjugates were then injected into the vasculature of zebrafish to examine the possibility of crossing the BBB in vivo via transferrin receptor-mediated endocytosis. The experimental observations suggest that the transferrin-C-Dots can enter the CNS while C-Dots alone cannot.

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A novel, simple, sensitive, and precise spectrofluorimetric method was developed for measuring the activity of the enzyme alpha-L-fucosidase (AFU). The method was based upon measuring the quenching of the luminescence intensity of the produced yellow colored complex ion associate of 2-chloro-4-nitrophenol [2-CNP] and a nano composite optical sensor samarium(III)-doxycycline [Sm(3+)-DC](+) complex in a sol-gel matrix at 645 nm. The remarkable quenching of the luminescence intensity of the [Sm(3+)-DC](+) complex doped in a sol-gel matrix by various concentrations of the reagent [2-CNP] was successfully used as an optical sensor for the assessment of AFU activity. The calibration plot was achieved over the concentration range 3.4 x 10(-9)-1.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) [2-CNP] with a correlation coefficient of 0.99 and a detection limit of 6.0 x 10(-10) mol L(-1). The method was used satisfactorily for the assessment of the AFU activity in a number of serum samples collected from various patients. A significant correlation between the luminescence activity of the enzyme AFU measured by the proposed procedure and the standard method was applied to patients and controls. The method proceeds without practical artifacts compared to the standard method.

A new, simple and accurate spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of metoclopramide hydrochloride was developed. The metoclopramide hydrochloride can remarkably enhance the luminescence intensity of the Tb(3+) ion doped in PMMA matrix at λ(ex)=360 nm in methanol at pH 6.9. The intensity of the emission band at 545 nm of Tb(3+) ion doped in PMMA matrix is increased due to the energy transfer from metoclopramide hydrochloride to Tb(3+) in the excited stated. The effect of different parameters, e.g., pH, temperature, Tb(3+) concentration, foreign ions that control the fluorescence intensity of the produced ion associate was critically investigated. The calibration curve of the emission intensity at 545 nm shows linear response of metoclopramide over a concentration range of 5 × 10(-5)-5.0 × 10(-8) M with detection limit of 8.7 × 10(-10) M. The method was used successfully for the determination of metoclopramide in pharmaceutical preparations and human serum. The average recovery of 99.48% with standard deviation of 0.32% and 96.98% with standard deviation of 0.4%, of pharmaceutical preparations and human serum respectively, were obtained which compared will with the results obtained from standard LC method of average recovery 99.04% and standard deviation of 0.6% and average recovery of 98.19% with standard deviation of 0.6% of pharmaceutical preparations and human serum, respectively.