The diterpenoid, sugiol, has been reported to exert anticancer effects against a number of human cancers. However, the anticancer effects of sugiol have not been evaluated against the human glioma cells. The present study was designed to examine the effects of sugiol on the proliferation of human U87 glioma cells. The results showed that sugiol significantly ( P < 0.05 ) suppressed the viability of the U87 cells in a concentration dependent manner and exhibited an IC50 value of 15 μM. On the other hand, the growth inhibitory effects of sugiol were minimal on the normal human astrocytes. Acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining (AO/EB) staining revealed that sugiol induces apoptosis which was further confirmed by Western blot analysis, wherein upregulation of Bax and downregulation of Bcl-2 were observed in U87 cells. Flow cytometry showed that sugiol causes cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 stage. The relative percentage of G1 phase was found to be increased from 26.58% at 0 μM to 70.96% at 30 μM sugiol. Taken together, the results suggest sugiol inhibits the growth of glioma cells and may prove to be a lead molecule in the management of human glioma.

The reprogramming of energy metabolism is one of the hallmarks of cancer and is crucial for tumor progression. Altered aerobic glycolysis is a well-known characteristic of cancer cell metabolism. In the present study, the expression profiles of key metabolic genes (HK2, PFKM, and PKM2) were assessed in the breast cancer cohort of Pakistan using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and IHC. Expression patterns were correlated with molecular subtypes and clinical parameters in the patients. A significant upregulation of key glycolytic genes was observed in tumor samples in comparison to their adjacent controls (p < 0.0001). The expression of the studied glycolytic genes was significantly increased in late clinical stages, positive nodal involvement, and distant metastasis (p < 0.05). HK2 and PKM2 were found to be upregulated in luminal B, whereas PFKM was overexpressed in the luminal A subtype of breast cancer. The genes were positively correlated with the proliferation marker Ki67 (p < 0.001). Moreover, moderate positive linear correlations between HK2 and PKM2 (r = 0.476), HK2 and PFKM (r = 0.473), and PKM2 and PFKM (r = 0.501) were also observed (p < 0.01). These findings validate that the key regulatory genes in glycolysis can serve as potential biomarkers and/or molecular targets for breast cancer management. However, the clinical significance of these molecules needs to be further validated through in vitro and in vivo experiments.

Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is a global health problem affecting the quality of life of more than 2 billion individuals. The current practice guidelines diagnose and monitor IDA via conventional hematological and iron biomarkers, which take several months before they are corrected under an iron-treatment plan. Reticulocyte hemoglobin equivalent (Ret-He) is used as a marker in most new hematology analyzers to assess iron incorporation into erythrocyte hemoglobin directly. This study aims to examine the efficacy of Ret-He as a marker for iron deficiency (ID) and IDA and investigate whether Ret-He is sensitive to iron therapy. Methods: Two blood samples were drawn from 182 participants for CBC and iron profile measurements. Follow-up samples were drawn from participants with a confirmed diagnosis of ID and/or IDA. Results: Ret-He levels were lower in the ID and IDA groups compared to the control (p < 0.0001), and lower in the IDA group compared to the ID group (p < 0.0001). Ret-He was correlated with ferritin at ID level (<30.0 mg/mL; r = 0.39) and severe IDA (<13.0 ng/mL; p-value < 0.01, r = 0.57). Cut-off values of <28.25 pg for ID and <21.55 pg for IDA showed a higher specificity and sensitivity (ID; AUC: 0.99, sensitivity: 92.73%, specificity: 97.87%) and (IDA; AUC: 0.94, sensitivity: 90.63%, specificity: 92.31%). Finally, Ret-He successfully reflected the iron therapy (p < 0.001) when compared to hemoglobin (Hb) (p = 0.1). Conclusions: Ret-He is a potential marker for detecting and diagnosing different stages of ID with high validity and is very sensitive in reflecting the iron incorporation in a short time.

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In the present work, several properties of fluoroperovskites are computed and examined through the approximations of trans-and blaha-modified Becke−Johnson (TB-mBJ) and generalized gradient approximation of Perdew− Burke−Ernzerhof (GGA-PBE) integrated within density functional theory (DFT). The lattice parameters for cubic TlXF 3 (X = Be, Sr) ternary fluoroperovskite compounds at an optimized state are examined and their values are used to calculate the fundamental physical properties. TlXF 3 (X = Be and Sr) cubic fluoroperovskite compounds contain no inversion symmetry and are thus a non-centrosymmetric system. The phonon dispersion spectra confirm the thermodynamic stability of these compounds. The results of electronic properties clarify that both the compounds possess a 4.3 eV of indirect band gap from M−X for TlBeF 3 and a direct band gap of 6.03 eV from X−X for TlSrF 3 , which display that both compounds are insulators. Furthermore, the dielectric function is considered to explore optical properties like reflectivity, refractive index, absorption coefficient, etc., and the different types of transitions between the bands were investigated by using the imaginary part of the dielectric function. Mechanically, the compounds of interest are computed to be stable and possess high bulk modulus values, and the ratio of "G/B" is higher than "1", which indicates the strong and ductile nature of the compound. Based on our computations for the selected materials, we deem an efficient application of these compounds in an industrial application, which will provide a reference for future work.

Medicinal plants play important role in the public health sector worldwide. Natural products from medicinal plants are sources of unlimited opportunities for new drug leads because of their unique chemical diversity. Researchers have focused on exploring herbal products as potential sources for the treatment of cancer, cardiac and infectious diseases. Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) is an important medicinal plant found in the northwest Himalayan regions of Pakistan. It is a poisonous plant and is used as a remedy against snake bites and scorpion stings. In this study, two bioactive compounds were isolated from Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) and their anticancer activity was evaluated against human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using an MTT assay. The crude extract of Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) was subjected to fractionation using different organic solvents in increasing order of polarity. The fraction indicating maximum activity was then taken for isolation of bioactive compounds using various chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques such as column chromatography, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Crude extract of Arisaema flavum (Forssk.), as well as various fractions extracted in different solvents such as n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate, were tested against human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using an MTT assay. The crude extract exhibited significant dose-dependent anticancer activity with a maximum activity of 78.6% at 500 µg/mL concentration. Two compounds, hexadecanoic acid ethyl ester with molecular formula C18H36O7 and molar mass 284 and 5-Oxo-19 propyl-docosanoic acid methyl ester with molecular formula C26H50O3 and molecular mass 410, were isolated from chloroform fraction. These compounds were tested against the MCF-7cell line for cytotoxic activity and exhibited a significant (p < 0.00l) decrease in cell numbers for MCF-7 cells with IC50 of 25 µM after 48 h of treatment. Results indicated that Arisaema flavum (Forssk.) possesses compounds with cytotoxic activity that can further be exploited to develop anticancer formulations.

The stainless steel waste solutions, produced during the electroplating process, were found to contain high chromium content (43.52 g/L). To avoid environmental chromium contamination and chromium toxicity, these wastes must be treated. In this work, new surface‐modified porous poly‐2‐((methacryloxy)‐methyl)‐oxirane polymers were synthesized, characterized, and then used to recover Cr (VI) from electroplating waste solution. Based on the obtained results, Cr(VI) adsorption improved with time and initial metal ion concentration. The results indicate a favourable chemisorption process controlled by pseudo second‐order rate and intraparticle diffusion mechanisms. The used polymers are capable of disposing of Cr(VI) species from wastewater with a maximum adsorption capacity of 4.21 and 5.31 mmol/g for RI@EDA and HCl@RI@EDA, respectively. The used resins showed superior affinity and efficiency in removing Cr(VI) from the electroplating waste solution.

Cancer is a global health concern with a dynamic rise in occurrence and one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Among different types of cancer, ovarian cancer (OC) is the seventh most diagnosed malignant tumor, while among the gynecological malignancies, it ranks third after cervical and uterine cancer and sadly bears the highest mortality and worst prognosis. First-line treatments have included a variety of cytotoxic and synthetic chemotherapeutic medicines, but they have not been particularly effective in extending OC patients’ lives and are associated with side effects, recurrence risk, and drug resistance. Hence, a shift from synthetic to phytochemical-based agents is gaining popularity, and researchers are looking into alternative, cost-effective, and safer chemotherapeutic strategies. Lately, studies on the effectiveness of phenolic acids in ovarian cancer have sparked the scientific community’s interest because of their high bioavailability, safety profile, lesser side effects, and cost-effectiveness. Yet this is a road less explored and critically analyzed and lacks the credibility of the novel findings. Phenolic acids are a significant class of phytochemicals usually considered in the nonflavonoid category. The current review focused on the anticancer potential of phenolic acids with a special emphasis on chemoprevention and treatment of OC. We tried to summarize results from experimental, epidemiological, and clinical studies unraveling the benefits of various phenolic acids (hydroxybenzoic acid and hydroxycinnamic acid) in chemoprevention and as anticancer agents of clinical significance.