Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) represent a set of substances that contribute directly to the triggering and/or aggravation of pathologies associated with ageing. AGEs are produced by the reaction between reducing sugars (or α-dicarbonyl compounds) proteins and amino acid residues. Current methodologies require an incubation period of 1-3 weeks to generate AGEs. In this study the reaction time for the formation of AGEs (48 and 3 hours) is significantly reduced by coupling and adapting procedures already existing in the literature to the free radical generation system called the hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase assay. The capacity of different classes and chemical compounds (aminoguanidine, chlorogenic acid, rutin, extracts of Hancornia speciosa Gomes) were evaluated to inhibit the protein glycation process, acting as capturing agents of α-dicarbonyl species. Aminoguanidine, rutin and the leaf extracts of Hancornia speciosa Gomes show a high capacity to act as α-dicarbonyl compound scavengers (RCS-trapping) and resulting in the inhibition of AGEs formation.

Sterepinic acids A–C (1–3), new carboxylic acids with two primary alcohols, have been isolated from a fungal strain of Stereum sp. OUPS-124D-1 attached to the marine alga Undaria pinnatifida. Dihydro-1,5-secovibralactone (4), a new vibralactone derivative, was isolated from the same fungal metabolites together with known vibralactone A (5), and 1,5-secovibralactone (6). The planar structures of these compounds have been elucidated by spectroscopic analyses using IR, HRFABMS, and NMR spectra. To determine the absolute configuration of the compounds, we used the phenylglycine methyl ester (PGME) method. These compounds exhibited less activity in the cytotoxicity assay against cancer cell lines.

In this study, functionalized-MWCNTs with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) loaded titania nanoparticles (MWCNTs-APTES-TiO₂) were prepared to investigate their physicochemical properties and photocatalytic activity for methyl orange (MO) degradation. The TiO₂ nanoparticles, functionalized-MNCNT and composite powders were characterized by XRD, raman, and TEM. The results obtained proved that titania (TiO₂) nanoparticles was successfully loaded on APTES-MWCNTs. The best photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange solution under UV light irradiation was recorded over MWCNTs-APTES-TiO₂ (1:2), with 87% after 180 min. Kinetic analysis indicated that photocatalytic degradation of MO solution by MWCNTs-APTES-TiO₂ obeyed second-order kinetic model (R² > 0.95), supported by half-life equations and graph. The presence of carbon nanotubes accelerated the degradation of methyl orange due to inhibition of electron-hole recombination, the formation of additional hydroxyl radicals and functional groups of the latter had an inhibitory effect on the degradation of methyl orange. This study shows that the MWCNTs-APTES-TiO₂ nanocomposites exhibit promising photocatalytic degradation against methyl orange.

In this study, a high energy conversion efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) was successfully fabricated by attaching a double anti-reflection (AR) layer which is composed of a subwavelength moth-eye structured polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) film and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film. The efficiency is up to 6.79%. The moth-eye structured PMMA film was fabricated by using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template which is simple, low-cost and scalable. The nano-pattern of AAO template has been precisely reproduced onto PMMA film. The photoanode is composed of Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles (NPs) with diameter of 25 nm deposited on the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrate and the sensitizer N3. The double AR layer can effectively improve the short-circuit current density (JSC) and conversion efficiency from 14.77 to 15.79 mA/cm² and from 6.26% to 6.79%, respectively.

This study investigated the neuroprotective effects of methyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate (MDHB) against t-butylhydroperoxide(TBHP) induced oxidative damage in SH-SY5Y (human neuroblastoma cells) and the underlying mechanisms. SH-SY5Y were cultured in DMEM+10% FBS for 24 hours and pretreated with different concentrations of MDHB or N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) for 4 hours prior to the addition of 40 μM TBHP for 24 hours. Cell viability was analyzed using the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assays. An annexin V-FITC assay was used to detect cell apoptosis rate. The 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate (DCFH-DA) assay was used to determine intracellular ROS levels. The activities of antioxidative enzymes (GSH-Px and SOD) were measured using commercially available kits. The oxidative DNA damage marker 8-OHdG was detected using ELISA. Western blotting was used to determine the expression of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase 3, p-Akt and Akt proteins in treated SH-SY5Y cells. Our results showed that MDHB is an effective neuroprotective compound that can mitigate oxidative stress and inhibit apoptosis in SH-SY5Y cells

The present investigation highlights the synthesis of polyaniline (PANI) coated graphene oxide doped with SrTiO3 nanocube nanocomposites through facile in-situ oxidative polymerization method for the efficient removal of carcinogenic dyes, namely, the cationic dye methylene blue (MB) and the anionic dye methyl orange (MO). The synthesised nanocomposites were characterised by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adsorption efficiencies of graphene oxide (GO), PANI homopolymer and SrTiO3 nanocubes-doped nanocomposites were assessed by monitoring the adsorption of methylene blue and methyl orange dyes from aqueous solution. The adsorption efficiency of nanocomposites doped with SrTiO3 nanocubes were found to be of higher magnitude as compared with undoped nanocomposite. Moreover, the nanocomposite with 2 wt% SrTiO3 with respect to graphene oxide demonstrated excellent adsorption behaviour with 99% and 91% removal of MB and MO respectively, in a very short duration of time.