Introduction: Testing for active SARS-CoV-2 infection is a fundamental tool in the public health measures taken to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the overwhelming use of SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription (RT)-PCR tests worldwide, the availability of test kits has become a major bottleneck and the need to increase testing throughput is rising. We aim to overcome these challenges by pooling samples together, and performing RNA extraction and RT-PCR in pools. Methods: We tested the efficiency and sensitivity of pooling strategies for RNA extraction and RT-PCR detection of SARS-CoV-2. We tested 184 samples both individually and in pools to estimate the effects of pooling. We further implemented Dorfman pooling with a pool size of eight samples in large-scale clinical tests. Results: We demonstrated pooling strategies that increase testing throughput while maintaining high sensitivity. A comparison of 184 samples tested individually and in pools of eight samples showed that test results were not significantly affected. Implementing the eight-sample Dorfman pooling to test 26 576 samples from asymptomatic individuals, we identified 31 (0.12%) SARS-CoV-2 positive samples, achieving a 7.3-fold increase in throughput. Discussion: Pooling approaches for SARS-CoV-2 testing allow a drastic increase in throughput while maintaining clinical sensitivity. We report the successful large-scale pooled screening of asymptomatic

Food allergens have a notable potential to induce various health concerns in susceptible individuals. The majority of allergenic foods are usually subjected to thermal processing prior to their consumption. However, during thermal processing and long storage of foods, Maillard reaction (MR) often takes place. The MR is a non-enzymatic glycation reaction between the carbonyl group of reducing sugars and compounds having free amino groups. MR may sometimes be beneficial by damaging epitope of allergens and reducing allergenic potential, while exacerbation in allergic reactions may also occur due to changes in the motifs of epitopes or neoallergen generation. Apart from these modulations, non-enzymatic glycation can also modify the food protein(s) with various type of advance glycation end products (AGEs) such as Nϵ-(carboxymethyl-)lysine (CML), pentosidine, pyrraline, and methylglyoxal-H1 derived from MR. These Maillard products may act as immunogen by inducing the activation and proliferation of various immune cells. Literature is available to understand pathogenesis of glycation in the context of various diseases but there is hardly any review that can provide a thorough insight on the impact of glycation in food allergy. Therefore, present review explores the pathogenesis with special reference to food allergy caused by non-enzymatic glycation as well as AGEs.

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Chickpeas (CPs) are one of the most commonly consumed legumes, especially in the Mediterranean area as well as in the Western world. Being one of the most nutritional elements of the human diet, CP toxicity and allergy have raised health concerns. CPs may contain various antinutritional compounds, including protease inhibitors, phytic acid, lectins, oligosaccharides, and some phenolic compounds that may impair the utilization of the nutrients by people. Also, high consumption rates of CPs have enhanced the allergic problems in sensitive individuals as they contain many allergens. On the other hand, beneficial health aspects of CP consumption have received attention from researchers recently. Phytic acid, lectins, sterols, saponins, dietary fibers, resistant starch, oligosaccharides, unsaturated fatty acids, amylase inhibitors, and certain bioactive compounds such as carotenoids and isoflavones have shown the capability of lowering the clinical complications associated with various human diseases. The aim of this paper is to unravel the health risks as well as health-promoting aspects of CP consumption and to try to fill the gaps that currently exist. The present review also focuses on various prevention strategies to avoid health risks of CP consumption using simple but promising ways.

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Andrographolide, a diterpenoid lactone and a major constituent of Andrographis paniculata Nees, exhibits remarkable anticancer activity. However, the effect of andrographolide on colon cancer has not been completely elucidated yet. Thus, we investigated the chemopreventive potential of andrographolide in colon cancer HT-29 cells. The cytotoxic potential of andrographolide on HT-29 cells was determined by MTT assay, trypan blue exclusion assay, colony formation assay, and morphological analysis; and apoptotic property by DAPI and Hoechst staining, FITC-Annexin V assay, DNA fragmentation assay and caspase-3 activity assay. To elucidate andrographolide action, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level was determined by DCFDA dye; change in mitochondrial potential by Rhodamine123 and Mito Tracker Red CMXRos dye; and cell cycle modulatory property by flow cytometric analysis. Results of the study have shown that andrographolide decreased cell viability of HT-29 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Furthermore, andrographolide induced apoptosis in HT-29 cells which seemed to be linked with augmented intracellular ROS level and disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential. Interestingly, andrographolide caused significant cell cycle arrest in G2/M phase at lower doses, but, in G0/G1 phase at higher doses. In summary, our results indicated that andrographolide exhibited antiproliferative and apoptotic properties against colon cancer HT-29 cells.

Carvacrol, a major monoterpenoid phenol from Origanum and Thymus species, has been shown to exhibit antiproliferative and anticancer properties in a few recent studies. Nevertheless, detailed mechanism of the action of this compound in prostate cancer has not been elucidated yet. Therefore, in the current study, we examined the anticancer activity and mechanism of the action of carvacrol against human prostate cancer cells. It was found that the treatment of DU145 cells with carvacrol decreased cell viability in a concentration and time-dependent manner. The antiproliferative action of carvacrol leads to induction of apoptosis as confirmed by nuclear condensation, Annexin V-FITC/PI positive cells, and caspase-3 activation. In addition, carvacrol augmented reactive oxygen species generation and disruption in the mitochondrial membrane potential which has not been reported in the previous studies of carvacrol with prostate cancer. Moreover, carvacrol-induced apoptosis of prostate cancer cells was also accompanied by significant amount of growth arrest at the G/G phase of the cell cycle which has also not been documented previously. To sum up, this study has established that carvacrol could be a promising chemotherapeutic agent and could have a direct practical implication and translational relevance to prostate cancer patients as Origanum consumption may retard prostate cancer progression.

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