The human body is constantly under attack from free radicals that occur as part of normal cell metabolism, and by exposure to environmental factors such as UV light, cigarette smoke, environmental pollutants and gamma radiation. The resulting “Reactive Oxygen Species” (ROS) circulate freely in the body with access to all organs and tissues, which can have serious repercussions throughout the body. The body possesses a number of mechanisms both to control the production of ROS and to cope with free radicals in order to limit or repair damage to tissues. Overproduction of ROS or insufficient defense mechanisms leads to a dangerous disbalance in the organism. Thereby several pathomechanisms implicated in over 100 human diseases, e.g., cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus, physiological disease, aging, etc., can be induced. Thus, a detailed investigation on the quantity of oxygen radicals, such as hydroxyl radicals (OH^●) in human serum blood, and its possible correlation with antioxidant therapy effects, is highly topical. The subject of this study was the influence of schizophrenia on the amount of OH^● in human serum blood. The radicals were detected by fluorimetry, using terephthalic acid as a chemical trap. For all experiments the serum blood of healthy people was used as a control group.

Antibiotic resistance of bacteria stimulates the development of new treatment approaches. Piezoelectric-catalysis has attracted much attention due to the possibility to effectively provide antibacterial effect via generation of reactive oxygen species. However, the influence of the surface charge or potential of a piezopolymer on bacteria has not been sufficiently studied so far. This study reports the fabrication and characterization of thin films of piezoelectric polyhydroxybutyrate, polyvinylidene fluoride, and polyvinylidene fluoride trifluoroethylene as well as non-piezoelectric polycaprolactone polymers fabricated using solution casting approach. The piezoelectric coefficient (d₃₃) and surface electric peak-to-peak potential generated by the cyclic mechanical stress applied to the films were measured. Neither any toxic effect of the polymer films nor ultrasound influence on Escherichia coli bacteria behavior is observed. However, significant inhibition of the growth of bacteria is revealed during mechanical stimulation of piezoelectric samples via ultrasound treatment. Thus, this study demonstrates clear bacteriostatic effect of piezoelectric polymers for different tissue engineering applications.

A new simple electrochemical immunosensor approach for the determination of antibodies to tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in immunological products was developed and tested. The assay is performed by detecting the silver reduction signal in the bioconjugates with antibodies (Ab@AgNP). Here, signal is read by cathodic linear sweep voltammetry (CLSV) through the detection of silver chloride reduction on a gold–carbon composite electrode (GCCE). Covalent immobilization of the antigen on the electrode surface was performed after thiolation and glutarization of the GCCE. Specific attention has been paid to the selection of conditions for stabilizing both the silver nanoparticles and their Ab@AgNP. A simple flocculation test with NaCl was used to select the concentration of antibodies, and the additional stabilizer bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used for Ab@AgNP preparation. The antibodies to TBEV were quantified in the range from 50 IU·mL⁻¹ to 1600 IU·mL⁻¹, with a detection limit of 50 IU·mL⁻¹. The coefficient of determination (r²) is 0.989. The electrochemical immunosensor was successfully applied to check the quality of immunological products containing IgG antibodies to TBEV. The present work paves the path for a novel method for monitoring TBEV in biological fluids.

Phenothiazine and its derivatives have a number of properties that contribute to their wider practical use in the production of biologically active substances, drugs, dyes, etc. Therefore, the synthesis and study of new compounds is of great relevance. The aim of this work was to investigate the antioxidant activity of a number of new phenothiazine derivatives. The patterns of electroreduction of oxygen and its radicals in the presence of phenothiazine derivatives in aqueous ethanol media were studied by voltammetry. The influence of various factors on antioxidant activity was considered by the methods of experiment planning. The optimal conditions for the manifestation of the antioxidant activity of phenothiazine derivatives have been found, which seems to be relevant since it opens up new possibilities for their further use as complex preparations with antioxidant activity, including in psychiatric practice.

Introduction : A blood test can provide important information about the functional state of the antioxidant system. Malfunction of this system increases the concentration of free radicals and can cause oxidative stress. A difficulty in assessing oxidative stress is the lack of a universal method...

Radionuclide molecular imaging could provide an accurate assessment of the expression of molecular targets in disseminated cancers enabling stratification of patients for specific therapies. B7-H3 (CD276) is a transmembrane protein belonging to the B7 superfamily. This protein is overexpressed in different types of human malignancies and such upregulation is generally associated with a poor clinical prognosis. In this study, targeting properties of an Affibody-based probe, AC12, containing a -GGGC amino acid sequence as a chelator (designated as AC12-GGGC) labelled with technetium-99m (^99mTc) were evaluated for imaging of B7-H3-expressing tumours. AC12-GGGC was efficiently labelled with ^99mTc. [^99mTc]Tc-AC12-GGGC bound specifically to B7-H3 expressing cells in vitro with affinities in nanomolar range. In mice bearing B7-H3-expressing xenografts, [^99mTc]Tc-AC12-GGGC showed tumour uptake of 2.1 ± 0.5 %ID/g at 2 h after injection. Its clearance from blood, normal organs and tissues was very rapid. This new targeting agent, [^99mTc]Tc-AC12-GGGC, provided high tumour-to-blood ratio already at 2 h (8.2 ± 1.9), which increased to 11.0 ± 0.5 at 4 h after injection. Significantly (p < 0.05) higher tumour-to-liver and higher tumour-to-bone ratios at 2 h in comparison with 4 h after injection were observed. Thus, [^99mTc]Tc-AC12-GGGC could be a promising candidate for further development.