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Topic Review
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis with the Enteric Nervous System
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons in the spinal cord, cerebral cortex, and medulla oblongata. Most patients present a clinical phenotype of classic ALS—with predominant atrophy, muscle weakness, and fasciculations—and survival of 3 to 5 years following diagnosis. There are two types of ALS: the familial form with genetic involvement, and the sporadic form with a multifactorial origin. ALS pathophysiology is characterized by involvement of multiple processes, including oxidative stress, glutamate excitotoxicity, and neuroinflammation. Moreover, it is proposed that conditioning risk factors affect ALS development—such as susceptibility to neurodegeneration in motor neurons, the intensity of performed physical activity, and intestinal dysbiosis with involvement of the enteric nervous system—which supports the existing theories of disease generation.
  • 532
  • 14 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Sympathetic Nerve in Chronic Pain-Associated Cardiovascular Disease
Chronic pain affects many people world-wide, and this number is continuously increasing. There is a clear link between chronic pain and the development of cardiovascular disease through activation of the sympathetic nervous system.
  • 531
  • 13 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Hypoxemia
Hypoxemia is an abnormally low level of oxygen in the blood. More specifically, it is oxygen deficiency in arterial blood. Hypoxemia has many causes, and often causes hypoxia as the blood is not supplying enough oxygen to the tissues of the body.
  • 528
  • 17 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Subclinical Acute Kidney Injury in Patients with COVID-19
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 disease, a bidirectional interaction between kidney disease and the progression of COVID-19 has been demonstrated. Kidney disease is an independent risk factor for mortality of patients with COVID-19 as well as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection leading to the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with COVID-19. However, the detection of kidney damage in patients with COVID-19 may not occur until an advanced stage based on the current clinical blood and urinary examinations. Some studies have pointed out the development of subclinical acute kidney injury (subAKI) syndrome with COVID-19. This syndrome is characterized by significant tubule interstitial injury without changes in the estimated glomerular filtration rate. Despite the complexity of the mechanism(s) underlying the development of subAKI, the involvement of changes in the protein endocytosis machinery in proximal tubule (PT) epithelial cells (PTECs) has been proposed.
  • 526
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Vitamin D against COVID-19
Many studies suggest that vitamin D improves immune function, reducing susceptibility to infection. In contrast, an extensive number of scientific studies highlight its immunosuppressive effects. Thus, it seems that vitamin D supports immune response under physiological conditions, but it also has an active role in autoimmunity prevention. In short, its effects would depend on the immunological situation of the patient.
  • 519
  • 30 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Haptoglobin
Haptoglobin (Hp) is an acute phase protein which supports the immune response and protects tissues from free radicals. Its concentration correlates with disease activity in spondyloarthropathies (SpAs).
  • 514
  • 27 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Roles of Cav1.2 in Pathogenesis of Hypertension-Related Disorders
Blood pressure is determined by cardiac output and peripheral vascular resistance. The L-type voltage-gated Ca2+ (Cav1.2) channel in small arteries and arterioles plays an essential role in regulating Ca2+ influx, vascular resistance, and blood pressure. Hypertension and preeclampsia are characterized by high blood pressure. In addition, diabetes has a high prevalence of hypertension. The etiology of these disorders remains elusive, involving the complex interplay of environmental and genetic factors. Common to these disorders are oxidative stress and vascular dysfunction. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) derived from NADPH oxidases (NOXs) and mitochondria are primary sources of vascular oxidative stress, whereas dysfunction of the Cav1.2 channel confers increased vascular resistance in hypertension. 
  • 513
  • 20 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Bilateral Vestibular Dysfunction
Patients with dysfunction of both vestibular systems of the inner ear experience postural instability and gait disturbances.  This condition is called Bilateral Vestibular Dysfunction (BVD). 
  • 511
  • 11 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Growth and Nutritional Quality of Lemnaceae
This entry focuses on recently characterized traits of the aquatic floating plant Lemna with an emphasis on its capacity to combine rapid growth with the accumulation of high levels of the essential human micronutrient zeaxanthin, due to an unusual pigment composition not seen in other fast-growing plants. In addition, Lemna’s response to elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide was evaluated in the context of the source–sink balance between plant sugar production and consumption. These and other traits of Lemnaceae are compared with those of other floating aquatic plants as well as terrestrial plants adapted to different environments. It was concluded that the unique features of aquatic plants reflect adaptations to the freshwater environment including rapid growth, high productivity, and exceptionally strong accumulation of high-quality vegetative storage protein and essential human antioxidant micronutrients. It was further concluded that the insensitivity of growth rate to environmental conditions and plant source–sink imbalance may allow duckweeds to take advantage of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide levels via particularly strong stimulation of biomass production and either no (under favorable nutrient supply), or only minor (under limiting nutrient supply), declines in the growth of new tissue.
  • 508
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Carbon Monoxide in Cardioprotection and Platelet
Nitric oxide (NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) represent a pair of biologically active gases with an increasingly well-defined range of effects on circulating platelets. These gases interact with platelets and cells in the vessels and heart and exert fundamentally similar biological effects, albeit through different mechanisms and with some peculiarity. Within the cardiovascular system, for example, the gases are predominantly vasodilators and exert antiaggregatory effects, and are protective against damage in myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury. Differently from NO, only a limited number of studies have been carried out on CO effects on platelets and CO and cardioprotection.
  • 508
  • 04 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Pathophysiological Response to CnTX Voltage-Gated Channel Modulation
Voltage-gated ion channels are plasma membrane proteins that generate electrical signals following a change in the membrane voltage.
  • 507
  • 14 Jun 2022
Topic Review
CCN5/WISP2 Gene Deficiency
CCN5/WISP2 is a matricellular protein, the expression of which is under the regulation of Wnt signaling and IGF-1. 
  • 506
  • 23 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Signaling in Uteroplacental Cells
Endometrial decidualization is a uterine process essential for spiral artery remodeling, embryo implantation, and trophoblast invasion. Defects in endometrial decidualization and spiral artery remodeling are important contributing factors in preeclampsia, a major disorder in pregnancy. Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) is a cardiac hormone that regulates blood volume and pressure. ANP is also generated in non-cardiac tissues, such as the uterus and placenta. In recent human genome-wide association studies, multiple loci with genes involved in natriuretic peptide signaling are associated with gestational hypertension and preeclampsia.
  • 505
  • 11 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Obesity and Aging
Today, inactivity and high-calorie diets contribute to the development of obesity and premature aging. In addition, the population of elderly people is growing due to improvements in healthcare management. Obesity and aging are together key risk factors for non-communicable diseases associated with several co-morbidities and increased mortality, with a major impact on skeletal muscle defect and/or poor muscle mass quality.
  • 503
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Lipidomics in Human Brain
One of the richest tissues in lipid content and diversity of the human body is the brain. Glycerophospholipids are the main lipid category widely distributed in neural cell membranes, with a very significant presence for the ether lipid subclass. Ether lipids have played a key role in the evolution of the human brain compositional specificity and functionality. Ether lipids determine the neural membrane structural and functional properties, membrane trafficking, cell signaling and antioxidant defense mechanisms. 
  • 498
  • 28 May 2023
Topic Review
Hypothalamic Suprachiasmatic Nuclei
24-h rhythms in physiology and behaviour are organized by a body-wide network of endogenous circadian clocks. In mammals, a central pacemaker in the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) integrates external light information to adapt cellular clocks in all tissues and organs to the external light-dark cycle.
  • 497
  • 13 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Galectin-3 in Kidney Diseases
Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a 30KDa lectin implicated in multiple pathophysiology pathways including renal damage and fibrosis. Gal-3 binds β-galactoside through its carbohydrate-recognition domain.
  • 497
  • 08 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Phenotypic Plasticity—Animals Adjusting to Environmental Conditions
Hyperplasia and hypertrophy or their counterparts, hypoplasia and hypotrophy, are elements of adjusting organ size and function in animals according to needs under altered environmental conditions. As such processes are costly in terms of energy and biomaterials, it is assumed that they are beneficial for the survival of the individual. The ability of animals to perform such adjustments and their limitations in scope are considered to be adaptive genetic traits which enable individual animals to survive regularly occurring changes in environmental conditions in their habitats as long as such changes stay within critical limits. The restructuring of mono-functional glands in ducklings which serve the animals to get rid of excess amounts of ingested salt from the body is presented as an example of complex plastic changes in organ structure. Phenotypic adjustments in these salt glands encompass processes which are reversible when environmental conditions switch back to the original state (‘phenotypic elasticity’) as well as irreversible ones (‘phenotypic plasticity’ in the narrow sense). As more information on genomes or transcriptomes of non-model animal species becomes available these days, researchers will better understand the biological significance of such phenotypic adjustments in animals in their natural environments and the underlying molecular mechanisms.
  • 494
  • 26 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Follicle-Stimulating Hormone Extra-Gonadal and Non-Canonical Effects in Males
Recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is commonly used for the treatment of female and male infertility FSH is composed of an α subunit, shared with other hormones, and a β subunit, which confers specificity of biological action by interacting with its surface receptor (FSHR), predominantly located in granulosa and Sertoli cells. Beyond the well-known effects of FSH on reproductive functions the attention has recently focused on the extra-gonadal effects of FSH, specifically on bone and adipose tissue metabolsm, the cardiovascular and immune systems and the prostate gland. FSH could therefore be involved in several pathological and physiological processes, which are still not completely understood.
  • 492
  • 16 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Exercise and Their Immunomodulation Effect
Depending on the intensity and volume, physical exercise can stimulate oxidative stress and muscle inflammation to generate muscle recovery. The practice of physical exercise is considered a potent immunomodulator, during physical exercise, both in trained and sedentary individuals, it is possible to observe a brief increase in the number of circulating leukocytes, which are mobilized from the lymphatic system, vessel walls, and spleen, indicating the ability of exercise to influence different cell compartments.
  • 487
  • 01 Mar 2023
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