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Chitosan and its nanoparticles (NPs) could be extracted from numerous fungal species and used as effectual carriers for bioactive compounds. The fungal chitosan (FC) was innovatively acquired from Fusarium oxysporum grown mycelia, characterized and used for NP synthesis and loading with bee venom (BV). The nano-FC (NFC) had 192.4 nm mean NP diameter, 38.22% loading capacity, and 92.42% entrapment efficiency. BV release from NFC was pH and time dependent; burst BV release was detected at the first 6 h, followed by gradual releases up to 30 h. The in vitro anticancer potentiality valuation, of NFC, BV, and NFC/BV nanoconjugates against HeLa cervix carcinoma, revealed that they all had potent dose-dependent anticancer activity; BV/NFC nanoconjugates were the most effective with IC50=200 μg/mL. The fluorescent staining of treated HeLa cells with BV/NFC nanoconjugates, with DAPI and acridine orange/propidium iodide combination, indicated the appearance of early apoptosis, secondary apoptosis, and secondary necrosis markers and their increment with exposure prolongation. The production of NFC from F. oxysporum and their loading with BV are strongly counseled for production of potent natural antitumor agent with augmented activity against cervix carcinoma.

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Biopolymers and nanomaterials are ideal candidates for environmental remediation and heavy metal removal. As hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) is a hazardous toxic pollutant of water, this study innovatively aimed to synthesize nanopolymer composites and load them with phycosynthesized Fe nanoparticles for the full Cr6+ removal from aqueous solutions. The extraction of chitosan (Cht) from prawn shells and alginate (Alg) from brown seaweed (Sargassum linifolium) was achieved with standard characteristics. The tow biopolymers were combined and cross-linked (via microemulsion protocol) to generate nanoparticles from their composites (Cht/Alg NPs), which had a mean diameter of 311.2 nm and were negatively charged (−23.2 mV). The phycosynthesis of iron nanoparticles (Fe-NPs) was additionally attained using S. linifolium extract (SE), and the Fe-NPs had semispherical shapes with a 21.4 nm mean diameter. The conjugation of Cht/Alg NPs with SE-phycosynthesized Fe-NPs resulted in homogenous distribution and stabilization of metal NPs within the polymer nanocomposites. Both nanocomposites exhibited high efficiency as adsorbents for Cr6+ at diverse conditions (e.g., pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and initial ion concentration) using batch adsorption evaluation; the most effectual conditions for adsorption were a pH value of 5.0, adsorbent dose of 4 g/L, contact time of 210 min and initial Cr6+ concentration of 75 ppm. These factors could result in full removal of Cr6+ from batch experiments. The composited nanopolymers (Cht/Alg NPs) incorporated with SE-phycosynthesized Fe-NPs are strongly recommended for complete removal of Cr6+ from aqueous environments.

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Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that is sometimes resistant to vancomycin. In this study, the prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA) was studied. 100 isolates of S. aureus were identified based on biochemical and molecular evidence. The antibiotic susceptibility of the studied isolates was tested against 13 antibiotics by the disc diffusion method that showed 24 vancomycin-resistant isolates. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were estimated by the agar dilution method to determine vancomycin intermediate-resistant S. aureus (VISA) and VRSA. The resistance gene cluster (vanA, vanR, vanH, and vanY) was amplified by PCR and then sequenced. Amplification of vanA and vanR genes showed that they are present in 21.4% and 14.3% of VRSA isolates, respectively, whereas none of the studied genes has been detected in VISA strains. A significant antimicrobial effect toward VRSA isolates using silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) synthesized from S. aureus and rosemary leaves was recorded. This study confirmed the existence of VRSA strains in Egypt. Furthermore, the use of silver nanoparticles inhibits these vancomycin-resistant S. aureus strains in vitro.

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease characterized by elevated blood sugar. It has serious complications and socioeconomic impact. The MicroRNAs are short single-stranded and non-coding RNA molecules. They regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional levels. They are important for many physiological processes including metabolism, growth, and others. The phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) is important for insulin signaling and glucose uptake. The genome wide association studies have identified the association of certain loci with diseases including T2D. In this study we have examined the association of miR126 rs4636297 and Phosphoinositide-3-kinase regulatory subunit 1 (PIK3R1) gene Variations rs7713645, rs706713 (Tyr73Tyr), and rs3730089 (Met326Ile) with T2D using the amplification refractory mutation system PCR. Results indicated that there was a significant different (p-value < 0.05) in the Mir126 rs4636297 genotypes distribution between cases and controls, and the minor allele of the rs4636297 was also associated with T2D with OR = 0.58, p-value < 0.05. In addition results showed that there were significant differences (p-value < 0.05) of rs4636297 genotype distribution of patients with normal and patient with abnormal lipid profile. Results also showed that the PIK3R1 rs7713645 and rs3730089 genotype distribution was significantly different between cases and controls with a p-values < 0.05. In addition, the minor allele of the rs7713645 and rs3730089 were associated with T2D with OR = 0.58, p-value < 0.05). We conclude that the Mir126 rs4636297 and PIK3R1 SNPs (rs7713645 and rs3730089) were associated with T2D. These results need verification in future studies with larger sample sizes and in different populations. Protein-protein interaction and enzyme assay studies are also required to uncover the effect of the SNPs on the PI3K regulatory subunit (PI3KR1) and PI3K catalytic activity.

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