Amyloid tetramer, the most toxic low-molecular-weight (LMW) amyloid oligomer, leads to synaptic dysfunction and plays a vital role in pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Hence, their kinetic inhibition may be regarded as a potential therapeutic strategy against AD. However, because of their dynamic, metastable nature, not much information has been gathered about them. Herein, amyloid tetramers have been isolated from a mixture pool of low- and high-molecular-weight amyloid oligomers. Kinetics of such tetrameric species has been studied in an in vitro model and inhibition of the fibrillation of the species has been achieved by means of a novel isatin functionalized polyfluorene derivative (PFIS). Isatin interacts with tetramers noncovalently to modulate its fibrillation by forming stable polymer–peptide coaggregates. In parallel to this, hydrophobic PFIS forms spherical nanoparticle in water that provides an external surface, which functions to modulate nucleation pathway of the oligomers. The polymer–peptide coaggregates are nontoxic in nature. Hence, these observations offer a potential strategy to suppress neurotoxicity of a LMW oligomer by forming nontoxic coaggregates. In parallel to this, our methodology also provides a potential strategy to observe and regulate nucleation pathway of the oligomers as well.

The cucurbit[n]urils (CB[n]) belong to the field of relatively young supramolecules which act as containers for a large variety of guests and are being explored extensively for their numerous biomedical applications. This includes drug formulation and delivery, controlled drug release, photodynamic therapy, sensing for bioanalytical purposes, etc. These supramolecular host–guest systems have distinctive recognition properties and have successfully been shown to enhance the in vitro and in vivo utility of various chemotherapeutic agents. The CB[n]s are tailored to optimize their application in payload delivery and diagnostics and in lowering the toxicity of existing drugs. This review has listed the recent studies on working mechanisms and host–guest complexation of the biologically vital molecules with CB[n] and highlighted their implementation in anticancer therapeutics. Various modifications in CB-drug inclusion compounds like CB supramolecular nanoarchitectures along with application in photodynamic therapy, which has shown potential as targeted drug delivery vehicles in cancer chemotherapy, have also been discussed.

The increasing number of vehicles on the road along with the mismanagement of available parking space leads to the parking related problems as well as increased traffic congestion in urban areas. Thus it is highly required to develop an automated smart parking management system that would help the driver to find out some suitable parking space for his/her vehicle very quickly. Although ample amount of research works on the development of smart parking system exist in literature, but most of them have not addressed the problem of real-time detection of improper parking and automatic collection of parking charges

Cancer is known as a notorious disease responsible for threatening millions of lives every year. Natural products which act by disrupting the microtubule assembly and dynamics have proven to be highly successful as anti-cancer agents but their high toxicity owing to lower selectivity has limited their usage. Recently, Noscapine (NOS), a known anti-tussive, has come out to be an effective anti-tubulin candidate with far lesser toxicity. Since its first report as an anti-mitotic agent in 1998, NOS has been extensively studied and modified by various group of researchers to optimize its anti-tubulin activity. In this review, the recent advancements pertaining to potential of these therapeutic candidates against various cancers have been compiled and analyzed for their inhibitory mechanism in distinct health conditions. It has been observed that the non-polar substitutions (e.g., halides, aryl groups) at specific sites (9-position and N-sites of isoquinoline ring; and modification of a methoxy group) have enhanced effect on efficacy. The mechanistic studies of NOS and its modified analogs have shown their inhibitory action primarily through interaction with microtubules dynamics thus disrupting the cell-cycle and leading to apoptosis. This review highlights the latest research in the field by providing a rich resource for the researchers to have a hands-on analysis of NOS analogues and the inhibitory action in comparison to other microtubule disrupting anti-cancer agents. The article also documents the newer investigations in studying the potential of noscapine analogs as possible anti-microbial and antiviral agents.

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