Cancer is one of the most widespread deadly diseases, following cardiovascular disease, worldwide. Chemotherapy is widely used in combination with surgery, hormone and radiation therapy to treat various cancers. However, chemotherapeutic drugs can cause severe side effects due to non-specific targeting, poor bioavailability, low therapeutic indices, and high dose requirements. Several drug carriers successfully overcome these issues and deliver drugs to the desired sites, reducing the side effects. Among various drug delivery systems, polysaccharide-based carriers that target only the cancer cells have been developed to overcome the toxicity of chemotherapeutics. Polysaccharides are non-toxic, biodegradable, hydrophilic biopolymers that can be easily modified chemically to improve the bioavailability and stability for delivering therapeutics into cancer tissues. Different polysaccharides, such as chitosan, alginates, cyclodextrin, pullulan, hyaluronic acid, dextran, guar gum, pectin, and cellulose, have been used in anti-cancer drug delivery systems. This review highlights the recent progress made in polysaccharides-based drug carriers in anti-cancer therapy.

(1) Background: Odontogenic keratocysts (OKCs) are enigmatic developmental cysts that deserve special attention due to their heterogeneous appearance in histopathological characteristics and high recurrence rate. Despite several nomenclatures for classification, clinicians still confront challenges in its diagnosis and predicting its recurrence. This paper proposes an ensemble deep-learning-based prognostic and prediction algorithm, for the recurrence of sporadic odontogenic keratocysts, on hematoxylin and eosin stained pathological images of incisional biopsies before treatment. (2) Materials and Methods: In this study, we applied a deep-learning algorithm to an ensemble approach integrated with DenseNet-121, Inception-V3, and Inception-Resnet-V3 classifiers. Around 1660 hematoxylin and eosin stained pathologically annotated digital images of OKC-diagnosed (60) patients were supplied to train and predict recurrent OKCs. (3) Results: The presence of SEH (p = 0.004), an incomplete epithelial lining, (p = 0.023), and a corrugated surface (p = 0.049) were the most significant histological parameters distinguishing recurrent and non-recurrent OKCs. Amongst the classifiers, DenseNet-121 showed 93% accuracy in predicting recurrent OKCs. Furthermore, integrating and training the traditional ensemble model showed an accuracy of 95% and an AUC of 0.9872, with an execution time of 192.9 s. In comparison, our proposed model showed 97% accuracy with an execution time of 154.6 s. (4) Conclusions: Considering the outcome of our novel ensemble model, based on accuracy and execution time, the presented design could be embedded into a computer-aided design system for automation of risk stratification of odontogenic keratocysts.

SARS-CoV-2, an emerged strain of corona virus family became almost serious health concern worldwide. Despite vaccines availability, reports suggest the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 infection even in a vaccinated population. With frequent evolution and expected multiple COVID-19 waves, improved preventive, diagnostic, and treatment measures are required. In recent times, phytochemicals have gained attention due to their therapeutic characteristics and are suggested as alternative and complementary treatments for infectious diseases. This present study aimed to identify potential inhibitors against reported protein targets of SARS-CoV-2. We computationally investigated potential SARS-CoV-2 protein targets from the literature and collected druggable phytochemicals from Indian Medicinal Plants, Phytochemistry and Therapeutics (IMPPAT) database. Further, we implemented a systematic workflow of molecular docking, dynamic simulations and generalized born surface area free-energy calculations (MM-GBSA). Extensive literature search and assessment of 1508 articles identifies 13 potential SARS-CoV-2 protein targets. We screened 501 druggable phytochemicals with proven biological activities. Analysis of 6513(501 *13) docked phytochemicals complex, 26 were efficient against SARS-CoV-2. Amongst, 4,8-dihydroxysesamin and arboreal from Gmelina arborea were ranked potential against most of the targets with binding energy ranging between − 10.7 to − 8.2 kcal/mol. Additionally, comparative docking with known drugs such as arbidol (−6.6 to −5.1 kcal/mol), favipiravir (−5.5 to −4.5 kcal/mol), hydroxychloroquine (−6.5 to −5.1 kcal/mol), and remedesivir (−8.0 to −5.3 kcal/mol) revealed equal/less affinity than 4,8-dihydroxysesamin and arboreal. Interestingly, the nucleocapsid target was found commonly inhibited by 4,8-dihydroxysesamin and arboreal. Molecular dynamic simulation and Molecular mechanics generalized born surface area (MM-GBSA)calculations reflect that both the compounds possess high inhibiting potential against SARS-CoV-2 including the recently emerged Omicron variant (B.1.1.529). Overall our study imparts the usage of phytochemicals as antiviral agents for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Additional in vitro and in vivo testing of these phytochemicals is required to confirm their potency.

Scientific evidence shows a positive association in the etiopathogenesis of periodontitis and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Various confounding factors, such as obesity, diabetes, and inflammation, also play a significant role in the progression of CKD, which remains unexplored. We hypothesise the role of red complex bacteria with various confounding factors associated with chronic kidney disease. The study comprised a total of 120 participants categorised into 4 groups: the control group (C), periodontitis subjects without CKD (P), periodontally healthy chronic kidney disease subjects (CKD), and subjects having both periodontitis and CKD (P + CKD), with 30 subjects in each group. Demographic variables, and periodontal, renal, and diabetic parameters were recorded. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels and those of red complex bacteria such as Prophyromonas gingivalis (P.g), Treponema denticola (T.d), and Tonerella forsythia (T.f) were assessed, and the obtained results were statistically analysed. Among the various demographic variables, age showed a level of significance. Mean PI, GI, CAL, and PPD (the proportion of sites with PPD ≥ 5 mm and CAL ≥ 3 mm) were elevated in the P + CKD group. Diabetic parameters such as fasting blood sugar (FBS) and HbA1c levels were also greater in the P + CKD group. Renal parameters such as eGFR and serum creatinine levels were greater in CKD patients. The estimation of red complex periodontal pathogens such as Pg, Td and Tf levels were significantly greater in the P and P + CKD groups. Pearson correlation analysis revealed significant correlation of red complex bacteria with all variables. Greater levels of P.g, T.d and T.f were found in the P groups, thus indicating their important role in the initiation and progression of inflammation of periodontitis and CKD, with diabetes as one of the confounding factors. The study also confirmed a log-linear relationship between TNF-α levels and red complex bacteria, thereby demonstrating the role of inflammatory biomarkers in periodontal disease progression that could contribute to the development of systemic inflammation such as CKD.

Vitamin C, (ascorbic acid), vitamin D (cholecalciferol) and zinc (zinc sulfate monohydrate) supplements are important in immunity against coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). However, a limited number of studies have been conducted on the association of vitamins and supplements with the reduced risks of COVID-19 infection. This study aims to evaluate the association of vitamins and supplements as treatment options to reduce the severity of COVID-19. Data were collected from 962 participants from 13 December 2020 to 4 February 2021. The presence of COVID-19 was confirmed by qRT-PCR. The Chi-square test and multivariate regression analyses were conducted. The ratio of uptake of vitamin C:vitamin D:zinc was 1:1:0.95. Uptake of vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc were significantly associated with the reduced risk of infection and severity of COVID-19 (OR: 0.006 (95% CI: 0.03–0.11) (p = 0.004)) and (OR: 0.03 (95% CI: 0.01–0.22) (p = 0.005)). The tendency of taking supplements was associated with the presence of infection of COVID-19 (p = 0.001), age (p = 0.02), sex (p = 0.05) and residence (p = 0.04). The duration of supplementation and medication was significantly associated with reduced hospitalization (p = 0.0001). Vitamins C, D and zinc were not significantly (p = 0.9) associated with a reduced risk of severity when taken through the diet. Hospitalization (p = 0.000001) and access to health facilities (p = 0.0097) were significantly associated with the survival period of the participants. Participants with better access to health facilities recovered early (OR: 6.21, 95% CI 1.56–24.7). This study will add knowledge in the field of treatment of COVID-19 by using vitamins and zinc supplements.

The wild-type SARS-CoV-2 has continuously evolved into several variants with increased transmissibility and virulence. The Delta variant which was initially identified in India created a devastating impact throughout the country during the second wave. While the efficacy of the existing vaccines against the latest SARS-CoV-2 variants remains unclear, extensive research is being carried out to develop potential antiviral drugs through approaches like in silico screening and drug-repurposing. This study aimed to conduct the docking-based virtual screening of 50 potential phytochemical compounds against a Spike glycoprotein of the wild-type and the Delta SARS-CoV-2 variant. Subsequently, molecular docking was performed for the five best compounds, such as Lupeol, Betulin, Hypericin, Corilagin, and Geraniin, along with synthetic controls. From the results obtained, it was evident that Lupeol exhibited a remarkable binding affinity towards the wild-type Spike protein (−8.54 kcal/mol), while Betulin showed significant binding interactions with the mutated Spike protein (−8.83 kcal/mol), respectively. The binding energy values of the selected plant compounds were slightly higher than that of the controls. Key hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions of the resulting complexes were visualized, which explained their greater binding affinity against the target proteins—the Delta S protein of SARS-CoV-2, in particular. The lower RMSD, the RMSF values of the complexes and the ligands, Rg, H-bonds, and the binding free energies of the complexes together revealed the stability of the complexes and significant binding affinities of the ligands towards the target proteins. Our study suggests that Lupeol and Betulin could be considered as potential ligands for SARS-CoV-2 spike antagonists. Further experimental validations might provide new insights for the possible antiviral therapeutic interventions of the identified lead compounds and their analogs against COVID-19 infection.