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Objective(s): Encapsulation of essential oil in polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) increases their retention and improves their efficacy. Here, eucalyptus essential oil (EEO) encapsulate in the chitosan (CS) NPs increases its retention, and enhances the anticancer effect of EEO. Materials and Methods: The effects of pH, chitosan sodium tripolyphosphate ratio, and chitosan concentration on the size and charge NPs were evaluated. The success of EEO encapsulation was confirmed by FT-IR, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and GC techniques. The toxic effect of free EEO and CS-EEO NPs was investigated in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and fibroblast normal cells. Results: The optimized obtained EEO -loaded chitosan nanoparticles (CS-EEO NPs) were spherical with an average diameter of 86 nm, a polydispersity index below 0.4, and positive zeta potential (+14.25 mV) as confirmed. Increasing the concentration and pH of the chitosan solution and decreasing the chitosan/sodium tripolyphosphate ratio, the size of NPs decreased. Loading capacity (LC) and encapsulation efficiency (EE) of EEO in the NPs were about 45% and 32-76%, respectively. The chitosan nanoparticles exhibited a biphasic release profile with the release of 87% of the EEO in the first 5 h, followed by a sustained release for the next 43 h. Conclusion: The free EEO was more toxic for MDA-MB-231 cells than fibroblast cells; however, CS-EEO NPs were non-toxic for fibroblast cells and more toxic for MDA-MB-231 cells compared to free EEO. Therefore, the CS-EEO NPs illustrate smart behavior in killing cancerous cells and will be suggested for breast cancer drug delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Infectious diseases are disorders caused by microorganisms. Many of those microorganisms live on or inside our body, and many of them are naturally harmless or even helpful, causing disease under certain conditions. Since that many of the signs and symptoms of infectious diseases may be similar, it is necessary to perform laboratory tests or imaging to diagnose the cause of the symptoms. The use of mobile systems and related healthcare technologies has significantly accelerated the diagnosis of diseases. Objective: The aim of this study was to search Mobile-Health challenges in management of infectious diseases diagnosis. Material and Methods: To perform this review, we searched through Google Scholar, PubMed and Web of Science databases from 2012 to 2022. Results: New possibilities have been presented to diagnose and control infectious diseases and generally improve the efficiency of the health system globally, but there are still challenges in realizing their potential to increase patients' access to testing and improve the overall health level with prognosis and timely diagnosis of diseases has put many difficulties in this path. Imaging tests such as X-rays, CT scans and MRIs, which require advanced equipment for accurate diagnosis. Sampling of body fluids, blood tests, throat swabs, sampling of cerebrospinal fluid and other methods that require the physical presence of the patient in order to make an accurate and timely diagnosis and help the doctor to choose the right treatment is the difficulties of using M-Health technology in the diagnosis of infectious diseases. Conclusion: The promise of automated self-examination or mobile-assisted with connected and efficient link to care is one of the goals in the field of medical-technological approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising therapeutic modality for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. In this study, the epidermoid carcinoma cell line A431 and the normal fibroblasts were used to investigate whether gold nanoparticles (GNPs) can induce an increase in cell death during PDT using 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) as a photosensitizer. Methods: Human fibroblast and A431 cells were grown in 96-well plates. The effect of GNPs on the efficacy of 5-ALA-mediated PDT (5-ALA-PDT) was evaluated by comparing the effect of 5-ALA with GNPs to the effect of 5-ALA alone. Cell viability was determined by the methyl- tetrazolium assay. Results: Dark toxicity experiments showed that 5-ALA at concentrations 0.5, 1 and 2 mM had no significant effect on cell viability of both cell lines. However, treatment of cells with 5-ALA (0.5 to 2 mM) and light dose of 25 Jcm-2 led to 5-10% and 31-42% decrease in cell viability of fibroblast and A431 cells respectively. The data also shows that GNPs in both the absence and the presence of light, results in a dose-dependent decrease in cell viability of both cell lines. However, the sensitivity of cancer cells to GNPs at concentrations more than 24 µg/ml was approximately 2.5- to 4-fold greater than healthy cells. Furthermore, data indicates that 5-ALA in combination with GNPs results in a synergistic reduction in viability of A431 cells. Conclusion: In summary, the findings of this study suggest that concomitant treatment with 5-ALA and GNPs may be useful in enhancing the effect of 5-ALA-PDT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spirulina platensis is a photosynthetic filamentous, edible cyanobacterium that is known as a superfood. In this study, sapogenins were extracted from the spirulina and the effects of these compounds on telomerase activity were evaluated in MCF7 and HDF cell lines using Telomeric Repeat Amplification Protocol and ELIZA assay. The highest increase in telomerase activity was observed at 0.004 mg/ml of sapogenin by 26% ±20.5 in MCF7 cells, while in HDF cells in the same concentration telomerase activity decreased down to 47%±0.48 and the highest inhibition of telomerase activity was observed at 0.070 mg/ml of sapogenins from Spirulina by 68%±0.43. In conclusion, a compound could play a role as a telomerase activator in one cell line while it could play another role as a telomerase inhibitor in another cell line so introducing compounds as a telomerase inhibitor (anticancer) or as a telomerase activator (anti-aging) should be done with discreet.