Plastics have enormous impacts to every aspect of daily life including technology, medicine and treatments, and domestic appliances. Most of the used plastics are thrown away by consumers after a single use, which has become a huge environmental problem as they will end up in landfill, oceans and other waterways. These plastics are discarded in vast numbers each day, and the breaking down of the plastics from micro- to nano-sizes has led to worries about how toxic these plastics are to the environment and humans. While, there are several earlier studies reported the effects of micro- and nano-plastics have on the environment, there is scant research into their impact on the human body at subcellular or molecular levels. In particular, the potential of how nano-plastics move through the gut, lungs and skin epithelia in causing systemic exposure has not been examined thoroughly. This review explores thoroughly on how nanoplastics are created, how they behave/breakdown within the environment, levels of toxicity and pollution of these nanoplastics, and the possible health impacts on humans, as well as suggestions for additional research. This paper aims to inspire future studies into core elements of micro- and nano-plastics, the biological reactions caused by their specific and unusual qualities.

C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family members integrate signals that affect proliferation, differentiation, survival, and migration in a cell context- and cell type-specific way. JNK and p38 MAPK activities are found upregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Studies have shown that activation of JNK and p38 MAPK signaling can promote NPC oncogenesis by mechanisms within the cancer cells and interactions with the tumor microenvironment. They regulate multiple transcription activities and contribute to tumor-promoting processes, ranging from cell proliferation to apoptosis, inflammation, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Current literature suggests that JNK and p38 MAPK activation may exert pro-tumorigenic functions in NPC, though the underlying mechanisms are not well documented and have yet to be fully explored. Here, we aim to provide a narrative review of JNK and p38 MAPK pathways in human cancers with a primary focus on NPC. We also discuss the potential therapeutic agents that could be used to target JNK and p38 MAPK signaling in NPC, along with perspectives for future works. We aim to inspire future studies further delineating JNK and p38 MAPK signaling in NPC oncogenesis which might offer important insights for better strategies in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment decision-making in NPC patients.

The objectives of this study were to develop and characterize itraconazole (ITZ)-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) and to study their potential for drug delivery into the brain. Precirol^® ATO 5 and Transcutol^® HP were selected as the lipid phase, and Tween^® 80 and Solutol^® HS15 as surfactants. The ITZ-NLCs were prepared by a hot and high-pressure homogenization method. The entrapment efficiency for the best formulation batch was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography and was found to be 70.5%±0.6%. The average size, zeta potential, and polydispersity index for the ITZ-NLCs used for animal studies were found to be 313.7±15.3 nm, –18.7±0.30 mV, and 0.562±0.070, respectively. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed that ITZ-NLCs were spherical in shape, with a size of less than 200 nm. Differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffractometry analysis showed that ITZ was encapsulated in the lipid matrix and present in the amorphous form. The in vitro release study showed that ITZ-NLCs achieved a sustained release, with cumulative release of 80.6%±5.3% up to 24 hours. An in vivo study showed that ITZ-NLCs could increase the ITZ concentration in the brain by almost twofold. These results suggest that ITZ-NLCs can be exploited as nanocarriers to achieve sustained release and brain-targeted delivery.

Combinatory therapies have been commonly applied in the clinical setting to tackle multi-drug resistant bacterial infections and these have frequently proven to be effective. Specifically, combinatory therapies resulting in synergistic interactions between antibiotics and adjuvant have been the main focus due to their effectiveness, sidelining the effects of additivity, which also lowers the minimal effective dosage of either antimicrobial agent. Thus, this study was undertaken to look at the effects of additivity between essential oils and antibiotic, via the use of cinnamon bark essential oil (CBO) and meropenem as a model for additivity. Comparisons between synergistic and additive interaction of CBO were performed in terms of the ability of CBO to disrupt bacterial membrane, via zeta potential measurement, outer membrane permeability assay and scanning electron microscopy. It has been found that the additivity interaction between CBO and meropenem showed similar membrane disruption ability when compared to those synergistic combinations which was previously reported. Hence, results based on our studies strongly suggest that additive interaction acts on a par with synergistic interaction. Therefore, further investigation in additive interaction between antibiotics and adjuvant should be performed for a more in depth understanding of the mechanism and the impacts of such interaction.

Recent advancements in nanotechnology have improved our understanding of cancer treatment and allowed the opportunity to develop novel delivery systems for cancer therapy. The biological complexities of cancer and tumour micro-environments have been shown to be highly challenging when treated with a single therapeutic approach. Current co-delivery systems which involve delivering small molecule drugs and short-interfering RNA (siRNA) have demonstrated the potential of effective suppression of tumour growth. It is worth noting that a considerable number of studies have demonstrated the synergistic effect of co-delivery systems combining siRNA and small molecule drugs, with promising results when compared to single-drug approaches. This review focuses on the recent advances in co-delivery of siRNA and small molecule drugs. The co-delivery systems are categorized based on the material classes of drug carriers. We discuss the critical properties of materials that enable co-delivery of two distinct anti-tumour agents with different properties. Key examples of co-delivery of drug/siRNA from the recent literature are highlighted and discussed. We summarize the current and emerging issues in this rapidly changing field of research in biomaterials for cancer treatments.