In this study, we describe the development of zein nanoparticles associated with the herbicide atrazine and evaluate the pre-emergence activity of this formulation against a target (Brassica juncea) and a non-target (Zea mays) plant, as well as its soil mobility and uptake/transport in the tissues of Bidens pilosa plants. The proposed nanoformulation showed good colloidal stability, with nanoparticles of spherical shape, sizes between 130 and 170 nm, and an encapsulation efficiency of the active ingredient above 90%. The nanoencapsulation provided greater herbicide effectiveness against B. juncea, even at a dose 80 times lower than the recommended, without posing toxicity to the crop species. The monitoring of FITC-labeled nanoparticles indicated that the nanostructures were captured and accumulated in B. pilosa and Z. mays roots, but were poorly transported to the shoot. In addition, atrazine nanoencapsulation did not increase the mobility of the herbicide in the soil compared to the conventional formulation, remaining at the upper soil fractions, where the seed bank is located. Thus, these findings highlight the potential of this nanoformulation as an alternative for weed control.

Background: Despite the wide variety of Covid‐19 symptoms, pain and the related mechanisms underlying unsettled nociceptive status are still under‐prioritized. Understanding the complex network of Covid‐19‐related pain may result in new lines of study. It is unknown whether patient's immunological background influences pain in the acute phase of Covid‐19, including musculoskeletal pain. Thus, we evaluated the blood levels of selected molecules that are upregulated in SARS‐CoV‐2 infection and analyzed a possible correlation with pain during Covid‐19.Methods: A cohort of 20 hospitalized patients with confirmed diagnoses for Covid‐19 were evaluated in the context of pain. Visual analogic scale (VAS) was applied to quantitate pain level. Blood tests were used to determine the systemic levels of cytokines (IL‐10 and IL‐1β), substance P, and leptin. The data were correlated when appropriate to determine the association between pain‐related markers and assessed pain intensity.Results: Our findings show that systemic levels of IL‐10 have strong negative correlation with pain intensity on Covid‐19 patients. Additionally, we also show that leptin systemic levels were increased in Covid‐19 patients with pain, however, with moderate positive correlation between these events. IL‐1β and SP levels did not differ between Covid‐19 patients with or without pain. Men reported less pain compared to women. No differences were found between genders in the levels of the molecules evaluated in patients with pain.Conclusion: IL‐10 has been described over the years as an anti‐inflammatory and analgesic cytokine. The present data support that low IL‐10 levels might contribute to Covid‐19‐associated pain.

Gout arthritis (GA) is an intermittent inflammatory disease affecting approximately 10% of the worldwide population. Symptomatic phases (acute flares) are timely spaced by asymptomatic periods. During an acute attack, redness, joint swelling, limited movement, and excruciating pain are common symptoms. However, the current available therapies are not fully effective in reducing symptoms and offered numerous side effects. Therefore, unveiling new drug targets and effector molecules are required in developing novel GA therapeutics. This review discusses the pathophysiological mechanisms of GA and explore potential pharmacological targets to ameliorate disease outcome. In addition, we listed promising pre-clinical studies demonstrating effector molecules with therapeutical potential. Among those, we emphasized the importance of natural products, including traditional Chinese medicine formulas and their multitarget mechanisms of action. In our search, we observed that there is a massive gap between pre-clinical and clinical knowledge. Only a minority (4.4%) of clinical trials aimed to intervene applying natural products, or current hot targets described herein. In this sense, we envisage four possibilities for GA therapeutics, which includes the repurposing of existing therapies, ALX/FPR2 agonism for improvement in disease outcome, the use of multitarget drugs (e.g. natural products), and targeting the neuroinflammatory component of GA.