Recent advances in nanoneurology for drug delivery to the brain

The drug development for neurodegenerative disorders are the major challenge to the science in 21st century. Many FDA approved drugs currently available in the market have limitations in crossing the blood brain barrier (BBB) owing to its complicated vasculature posed by the presence of specialized cells. Nanotechnology is an emerging interdisciplinary area, which have many applications including drug delivery. Nanocarrier drug delivery involves targeting drugs enclosed in a particular polymer and/or amphiphilic lipids. Controlled release, nanoplatform availability for combinatorial therapy and tissue specific targeting by using advanced technologies such as molecular Trojan horse (MTH) technology are the promises of nanotechnology. Different problems are associated with drug delivery
across the BBB. Some are mostly related to the structure of brain microvasculature system while the others are related to the nanomaterial
structure. Different strategies, such as using polymeric/solid lipid nanoparticles and surface modification of nanomaterial with surfactants
like polysorbates have been conducted to solve these limitations. Also, nanodrug formulations with double coatings have been designed for oral delivery of drugs to overcome reticulo-endothelial system and to improve their BBB permeability. It seems that the best choice of strategy and material could be achieved with regard to the physical and chemical structure of the drugs. The present review discusses the potential applications of nanotechnology for drug delivery across the BBB.

Recent advances in anti-survivin treatments for cancer

Apoptosis occurs via extrinsic or intrinsic signalling each triggered and regulated by many different molecular pathways. In recent years, the selective induction of apoptosis through survivin in tumour cells has been increasingly recognized as a promising approach for cancer therapy. Survivin has multiple functions including cytoprotection, inhibition of cell death, and cell-cycle regulation, especially at the mitotic process stage, all of which favour cancer survival. Many studies on clinical specimens have shown that survivin over expression is invariably up regulated in human cancers, associated with resistance to chemotherapy or radiation therapy, and linked to poor prognosis, suggesting that cancer cells survive with survivin. On the basis of these findings, survivin has been proposed as an attractive target for new anticancer interventions. Survivin inhibitors recently entered clinical trials. Recent studies suggest a possible role for survivin in regulating the function of normal adult cells. However, the expression and function of survivin in normal tissues are still not well characterized and understood. Still better understandings of survivin's role in tumour versus normal cells are needed for designing the strategies to selectively disrupt survivin in cancers. In the present review, we summarise the importance of recent survivin-targeted cancer therapy for future clinical application.

The self-assembled monolayer modification of electrodes - some recent advances in biological application

The modification of an electrode surface at the molecular level using the technique of depositing self-assembled monolayers (SAM) is a typical example of the techniques used in nanotechnology, from the process "bottom up", which is to create a nanostructure by successive additions of molecular or atomic entities on a surface. This article presents some recent advances in the field, with examples: the development of systems Sat hybridized with biomolecules, nanoparticles or nanotubes in bioelectronics, the use of switchable electrodes to study the adhesion and migration of biological cells , and the integration of molecular son in the SAM to recognize and allow the transduction of a biological response allowing the practice of electrochemistry in a complex biological environment.

Recent advances in chloroplast and mitochondrial division

Stomatin, originally identified as a major protein of the human erythrocyte membrane, is widely expressed in various tissues. Orthologues are found in vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and microorganisms. Related proteins exhibit a common core structure, termed the prohibitin (PHB) domain, with varying extensions. Stomatin has an unusual topology, similar to caveolin-1, with a hydrophobic domain embedded at the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. Additional anchoring is provided by palmitoylation and the membrane affinity of the PHB domain. Stomatin associates with cholesterol-rich microdomains (lipid rafts), forms oligomers, and thereby displays a scaffolding function by generating large protein-lipid complexes. It regulates the activity of various membrane proteins by reversibly recruiting them to lipid rafts. This mechanism of regulation has been shown for GLUT-1 and may also apply for ion channels. Stomatin is located at the plasma membrane, particularly in microvilli, in endocytic and exocytic vesicles, and cytoplasmic granules. Stomatin-carrying endosomes are highly dynamic and interact with lipid droplets suggesting a role in intracellular lipid transport. This subcellular distribution and the caveolin-like protein structure suggest important membrane organizing functions for stomatin. A general picture emerges now that cell membranes contain cholesterol-rich domains that are generated and regulated by scaffolding proteins like caveolins, stomatins, and flotillin/reggie proteins.

Recent advances in the surface forces apparatus (SFA) technique

The surface forces apparatus (SFA) has been used for many years to measure the physical forces between surfaces, such as van der Waals (including Casimir) and electrostatic forces in vapors and liquids, adhesion and capillary forces, forces due to surface and liquid structure (e.g. solvation and hydration forces), polymer, steric and hydrophobic interactions, bio-specific interactions as well as friction and lubrication forces. Here we describe recent developments in the SFA technique, specifically the SFA 2000, its simplicity of operation and its extension into new areas of measurement of both static and dynamic forces as well as both normal and lateral (shear and friction) forces. The main reason for the greater simplicity of the SFA 2000 is that it operates on one central simple-cantilever spring to generate both coarse and fine motions over a total range of seven orders of magnitude (from millimeters to ångstroms). In addition, the SFA 2000 is more spacious and modulated so that new attachments and extra parts can easily be fitted for performing more extended types of experiments (e.g. extended strain friction experiments and higher rate dynamic experiments) as well as traditionally non-SFA type experiments (e.g. scanning probe microscopy and atomic force microscopy) and for studying different types of systems.

Recent advances in immunology to target cancer, inflammation and infections

Immunology is the branch of biomedical sciences to study of the immune system physiology both in healthy and diseased states. Some aspects of autoimmunity draws our attention to the fact that it is not always associated with pathology. For instance, autoimmune reactions are highly useful in clearing off the excess, unwanted or aged tissues from the body. Also, generation of autoimmunity occurs after the exposure to the non-self antigen that is structurally similar to the self, aided by the stimulatory molecules like the cytokines. Thus, a narrow margin differentiates immunity from auto-immunity as already discussed. Hence, finding answers for how the physiologic immunity turns to pathologic autoimmunity always remains a question of intense interest. However, this margin could be cut down only if the physiology of the immune system is better understood. The individual chapters included in this book will cover all the possible aspects of immunology and pathologies associated with it. The authors have taken strenuous effort in elaborating the concepts that are lucid and will be of reader's interest.

Special issue : recent advances in soft computing : theories and applications

Soft Computing is an interdisciplinary area that encompasses a variety of computing paradigms. Examples of some popular soft computing paradigms include fuzzy computing, neural computing, evolutionary computing, and probabilistic computing. Soft computing paradigms, in general, aim to produce computing systems/machines that exhibit some useful properties, e.g. making inference with vague and/or ambiguous information, learning from noisy and/or incomplete data, adapting to changing environments, and reasoning with uncertainties. These properties are important for the systems/machines to be useful in assisting humans in our daily activities. Indeed, soft computing paradigms have been demonstrated to be capable of tackling a wide range of problems, e.g. optimization, decision making, information processing, pattern recognition, and intelligent data analysis. A number of papers pertaining to some recent advances in theoretical development and practical application of different soft computing paradigms are highlighted in this special issue.

An overview of recent advances in intrusion detection

The intrusion detection system is one of the security defense tools for computer networks. In recent years this research has lacked in direction and focus. In this paper we present a survey on the recent progression of multiagent intrusion detection systems. We survey the existing types, techniques and architectures of Intrusion Detection Systems in the literature. Finally we outline the present research challenges and issues