Topic Review
Pharmacology of LENART01, a Dermorphin–Ranatensin Hybrid Peptide
Diverse chemical and pharmacological strategies are currently being explored to minimize the unwanted side effects of currently used opioid analgesics while achieving effective pain relief. The use of multitarget ligands with activity at more than one receptor represents a promising therapeutic approach.
  • 13
  • 16 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Using 5-Nitroimidazole Derivatives against Neglected Tropical Protozoan Diseases
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a significant global health problem. Additionally, anti-protozoan treatments are toxic, and their therapeutic regimens require prolonged treatment times and high concentrations of the drugs. Additionally, multi-resistant protozoan strains represent an important global emergency that must be addressed. For these reasons, global efforts are being made to identify new drug candidates that are capable of combating these kinds of diseases. This systematic review shows that 5-nitroimidazole derivatives have been successfully used against neglected tropical protozoan diseases (NTPDs), with a specific focus on three diseases: malaria, leishmaniasis, and human trypanosomiasis. Some nitroimidazole derivatives have been repurposed, and an important group of new drugs is available for the treatment of NTPDs. 
  • 73
  • 15 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Thermodynamic Insights into Symmetry Breaking
Symmetry breaking is a phenomenon that is observed in various contexts, from the early universe to complex organisms, and it is considered a key puzzle in understanding the emergence of life. The importance of this phenomenon is underscored by the prevalence of enantiomeric amino acids and proteins. The presence of enantiomeric amino acids and proteins highlights its critical role. However, the origin of symmetry breaking has yet to be comprehensively explained, particularly from an energetic standpoint.  Therefore, a novel approach is explored by considering energy dissipation, specifically the lost free energy, as a crucial factor in elucidating symmetry breaking. A comprehensive thermodynamic analysis applicable to all scales from elementary particles to aggregate structures such as crystals is performed, we present experimental evidence establishing a direct link between nonequilibrium free energy and energy dissipation during the formation of the structures. Results emphasize the pivotal role of energy dissipation, not only as an outcome but as the trigger for symmetry breaking. This insight suggests that understanding the origins of complex systems, from cells to living beings and the universe itself, requires a lens focused on nonequilibrium processes  
  • 50
  • 15 Apr 2024
Topic Review
NTC-Properties of a Geomorphic Clinoptilolite Sample
Negative temperature coefficient (NTC) materials are usually based on ceramic semiconductors, and electrons are involved in their transport mechanism. A new type of NTC material, adequate for alternating current (AC) applications, is represented by zeolites. Indeed, zeolites are single charge carrier ionic conductors with a temperature-dependent electrical conductivity. In particular, electrical transport in zeolites is due to the monovalent charge-balancing cations, like K+, capable of hopping between negatively charged sites in the aluminosilicate framework. Owing to the highly non-linear electrical behavior of the traditional electronic NTC materials, the possibility to have alternative types of materials, showing linearity in their electrical behavior, is very desirable. Among different zeolites, natural clinoptilolite has been selected for investigating NTC behavior since it is characterized by high zeolite content, a convenient Si/Al atomic ratio, good mechanical strength due to its compact microstructure, and low toxicity. Clinoptilolite has shown a rapid and quite reversible impedance change under heating, characterized by a linear dependence on temperature.
  • 36
  • 15 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Deep Eutectic Solvents and Rare Earth Elements
The boosted interest in the use of rare earth elements (REEs) in modern technologies had also increase the necessity of their recovery from various sources, including raw materials and wastes. Though Hydrometallurgy plays a key role in these recovery processes, some drawbacks (apparent or not) of these processes (including the use of aggressive mineral acids, harmful extractants and diluents, etc.), had led to the development of a more environmental friendship subclass named Solvometallurgy, in which non-aqueous solvents substituted to the aqueous media of the hydrometallurgical processing. Together to ionic liquids (ILs), the non-aqueous solvents chosen for these usages are the chemicals known as Deep Eutectic Solvents (DEEs). The utilization of DEEs included the leaching of REEs from the different sources containing them, and also in the separation-purification steps necessary for the yielding of these elements, normally as oxides or salts, in the most purified form. 
  • 15
  • 15 Apr 2024
Topic Review
The Principles of Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization
Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) is a robust polymerization method that was developed by Dr. Jin-Shan Wang in Professor Matyjaszewski’s laboratory in 1995. It was inspired by atom transfer radical addition, which was successfully used in the synthesis of low-molecular-weight compounds.
  • 528
  • 14 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Synthesis of Metal Complexes of 2-Thiouracil and Derivatives
The thionamide antithyroid agents were discovered largely through observations carried out by various researchers in the 1940s that found that sulfhydryl-containing substances were goitrogenic in animals. Prof. Edwin B. Astwood started using these drugs to treat hyperthyroidism. The development background of these agents, the coordination possibility of 2-thiouracil and its derivatives are presented herein.
  • 40
  • 12 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Polysaccharide- and Aliphatic Polyester-Based Packaging
Food packaging plays an imperative role in the food processing sector by safeguarding foods from their point of harvesting until the moment of consumption.
  • 41
  • 01 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Alternative Methods to Retting of Straw
Bast fibers, such as flax and hemp, have been used by humanity for thousands of years. In the case of processes other than dew or field retting, they can also follow field drying. In any case, the fiber plant straw is retted first in order to be able to carry out the subsequent mechanical fiber recovery by decortication, cleaning and, if necessary, opening of the coarse fiber bundles. This can be defined as primary processing of bast fiber straw. The retting process involves the controlled decomposition of those substances that bind the fiber containing tissues to the other components of the stalk as well as the fibers to each other (to form so called bundles). It is described as one of the most important steps in the whole supply chain of fibers from bast fiber plants such as hemp and flax since it affects both the ease of performing the subsequent mechanical processing steps as well as the quality of the resulting fibers.
  • 39
  • 01 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Logic Gates and Molecular Logic Gates
Logic gates are devices used to perform binary arithmetic and logical operations and thus constitute the basis of modern computers. They perform Boolean logic operations on one or more inputs to produce an output. Molecular switches convert input stimulations into output signals. Therefore, the principles of binary logic can be applied to the signal transduction operated by molecular switches. The presence of various ions, neutral species, pH, temperature, and viscosity, among many others, result in color or emission changes due to the complex interplay of many excited state processes and environmental parameters. In this entry, basic logic gates are defined, and their types are given, while examples of molecular logic gates are also presented.
  • 51
  • 29 Mar 2024
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