Metallic nanoparticles have fascinated scientist for over a century and are now heavily utilized in biomedical sciences and engineering. They are a focus of interest because of their huge potential in nanotechnology. Today these materials can be synthesized and modified with various chemical functional groups which allow them to be conjugated with antibodies, ligands, and drugs of interest and thus opening a wide range of potential applications in biotechnology, magnetic separation, and preconcentration of target analytes, targeted drug delivery, and vehicles for gene and drug delivery and more importantly diagnostic imaging. Moreover, various imaging modalities have been developed over the period of time such as MRI, CT, PET, ultrasound, SERS, and optical imaging as an aid to image various disease states. These imaging modalities differ in both techniques and instrumentation and more importantly require a contrast agent with unique physiochemical properties. This led to the invention of various nanoparticulated contrast agent such as magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4), gold, and silver nanoparticles for their application in these imaging modalities. In addition, to use various imaging techniques in tandem newer multifunctional nanoshells and nanocages have been developed. Thus in this review article, we aim to provide an introduction to magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4), gold nanoparticles, nanoshells and nanocages, and silver nanoparticles followed by their synthesis, physiochemical properties, and citing some recent applications in the diagnostic imaging and therapy of cancer.

Tumor hypoxia, or low oxygen concentration, is a result of disordered vasculature that lead to distinctive hypoxic microenvironments not found in normal tissues. Many traditional anti-cancer agents are not able to penetrate into these hypoxic zones, whereas, conventional cancer therapies that work by blocking cell division are not effective to treat tumors within hypoxic zones. Under these circumstances the use of magnetic nanoparticles as a drug delivering agent system under the influence of external magnetic field has received much attention, based on their simplicity, ease of preparation, and ability to tailor their properties for specific biological applications. Hence in this review article we have reviewed current magnetic drug delivery systems, along with their application and clinical status in the field of magnetic drug delivery.

Emerging outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is a major threat to public health. The morbidity is increasing due to lack of SARS-CoV-2 specific drugs. Herein, we have identified potential drugs that target the 3-chymotrypsin like protease (3CLpro), the main protease that is pivotal for the replication of SARS-CoV-2. Computational molecular modeling was used to screen 3987 FDA approved drugs, and 47 drugs were selected to study their inhibitory effects on SARS-CoV-2 specific 3CLpro enzyme in vitro. Our results indicate that boceprevir, ombitasvir, paritaprevir, tipranavir, ivermectin, and micafungin exhibited inhibitory effect towards 3CLpro enzymatic activity. The 100 ns molecular dynamics simulation studies showed that ivermectin may require homodimeric form of 3CLpro enzyme for its inhibitory activity. In summary, these molecules could be useful to develop highly specific therapeutically viable drugs to inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 replication either alone or in combination with drugs specific for other SARS-CoV-2 viral targets.

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Abstract:The use of non-invasive alternating magnetic field (AMF) on biocompatible, small sized iron oxide nanoparticles can be used for heat generation in magnetic hyperthermia or for contrast enhancement of biological tissue. However, the behavior of magnetic nanoparticle in the presence of magnetic field is restricted by their size, shape, surface defects, and coatings. Hence, it becomes imperative to closely monitor the magnetic properties of the nanoparticles as current novel formulations of nanoparticles being developed for tissue targeting involves conjugating a magnetic nanoparticle with a site specific ligand or a peptide. Thus, in this review article we have reviewed the effect of size, shape, doping, and surface coating on the magnetic properties of the nanoparticle. Finally we have concluded with the clinical status of magnetic nanoparticle in the field of magnetic fluid hyperthermia.

BackgroundCurrently, various phone apps have been developed to assist patients. Many of these apps are developed to assist patients in the self-management of chronic diseases such as diabetes. It is essential to analyze these various apps to understand the key features that would potentially be instrumental in helping patients successfully achieve goals in disease self-management.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to conduct a review of all the available diabetes-related apps in the iOS App Store to evaluate which diabetic app is more interactive and offers a wide variety of operations such as monitoring glucose, water, carbohydrate intake, weight, body mass index (BMI), medication, blood pressure (BP) levels, reminders or push notifications, food database, charts, exercise management, email, sync between devices, syncing data directly to the prescribers, and other miscellaneous functions such as (Twitter integration, password protection, retina display, barcode scanner, apple watch functionality, and cloud syncing).MethodsData was gathered using the iOS App Store on an iPad. The search term “diabetes” resulted in 1209 results. Many of the results obtained were remotely related to diabetes and focused mainly on diet, exercise, emergency services, refill reminders, providing general diabetes information, and other nontherapeutic options. We reviewed each app description and only included apps that were meant for tracking blood glucose levels. All data were obtained in one sitting by one person on the same device, as we found that carrying out the search at different times or on different devices (iPhones) resulted in varying results. Apps that did not have a feature for tracking glucose levels were excluded from the study.ResultsThe search resulted in 1209 results; 85 apps were retained based on the inclusion criteria mentioned above. All the apps were reviewed for average customer ratings, number of reviews, price, and functions. Of all the apps surveyed, 18 apps with the highest number of user ratings were used for in-depth analysis. Of these 18 apps, 50% (9/18) also had a medication adherence function. Our analysis revealed that the Diabetes logbook used by the mySugr app was one of the best; it differentiated itself by introducing fun as a method of increasing adherence.ConclusionsA large variation was seen in patient ratings of app features. Many patient reviewers desired simplicity of app functions. Glucose level tracking and email features potentially helped patients and health care providers manage the disease more efficiently. However, none of the apps could sync data directly to the prescribers. Additional features such as graph customization, availability of data backup, and recording previous entries were also requested by many users. Thus, the use of apps in disease management and patient and health-care provider involvement in future app refinement and development should be encouraged.

Resonance Raman (RR) spectroscopy and density functional theory (DFT) calculations of oxochromium(IV,V) derivatives of 5,10,15-tris(pentafluorophenyl)corrole (tpfpc) are shown to provide useful information about the relative strength of the metal-oxo bond in high-valent Cr(IV) versus Cr(V) corroles. Isotope labeling of the terminal oxo group with (18)O revealed that the Cr(V)-oxo (perchromyl) stretch of (tpfpc)Cr(V)O vibrates at a frequency of 986 cm(-1) in carbon disulfide, consistent with a triply bonded Cr(V)[triple bond]O unit. In contrast, an acetonitrile solution produced RR scattering that rapidly changed with the number of scans collected and eventually became dominated by an (18)O-sensitive vibration at a significantly higher frequency of 1002 cm(-1). On the basis of DFT calculations and the observed (18/16)O isotopic shift, we assigned this new RR band at 1002 cm(-1) in acetonitrile as the Cr(IV)-oxo (chromyl) stretch of the autoreduced [(tpfpc)Cr(IV)O](-) product, which previously has been shown to form only during the course of the oxygen atom transfer (OAT) reaction with triphenylphosphine in acetonitrile or in the presence of a reducing chemical (cobaltocene) and electrochemical agents in other solvents. Consequently, RR observations indicate that the pi-bonding character of the chromyl bond is actually increased relative to that of the perchromyl bond, which is of interest if the beneficial role of acetonitrile in OAT catalysis by high-valent oxochromium(IV,V) corroles is to be elucidated.