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Topic Review
Unobtrusive Monitoring of Sleep Cycles
Polysomnography is the gold-standard method for measuring sleep but is inconvenient and limited to a laboratory or a hospital setting. As a result, the vast majority of patients do not receive a proper diagnosis. In an attempt to solve this issue, sleep experts are continually looking for unobtrusive and affordable alternatives that can provide longitudinal sleep tracking. Collecting longitudinal data on sleep can accelerate epidemiological studies exploring the effect of sleep on health and disease. These alternatives can be in the form of wearables (e.g., actigraphs) or nonwearable (e.g., under-mattress sleep trackers). 
  • 1.4K
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Epson HX-20
The Epson HX-20 (also known as the HC-20) was the first "true" laptop computer. It was invented in July 1980 by Yukio Yokozawa, who worked for Suwa Seikosha, a branch of Japanese company Seiko (now Seiko Epson), receiving a patent for the invention. It was announced in 1981 as the HC-20 in Japan, and was introduced by Epson in North America as the HX-20 at the 1981 COMDEX computer show in Las Vegas, where it drew significant attention for its portability. It had a mass-market release in July 1982, as the HC-20 in Japan and as the Epson HX-20 in North America. The size of an A4 notebook and weighing 1.6 kg, it was hailed by BusinessWeek magazine as the "fourth revolution in personal computing".
  • 1.4K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Physical Exercise-Induced FGF-21 to Fight Obesity
Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF-21) is a protein that is involved in the regulation of glucose, lipids, and energy metabolism. To act on target tissues, endocrine FGF-21 binds preferably to FGF receptor 1 (FGFR1) in the presence of the coreceptor named β-klotho (KLB). Some of the effects of FGF-21 include increased fatty acid oxidation, glucose uptake, insulin sensitivity, and thermogenesis, which can regulate body weight and glycemia control. By exerting such metabolic effects, the therapeutic potential of FGF-21 for the treatment of obesity and diabetes has been investigated. Physical exercise has been widely used for the prevention and treatment of obesity. Several mechanisms mediate the effects of physical exercise, including the FGF-21 pathway. Studies have shown that physical exercise increases the concentration of circulating and tissue FGF-21 in animals, while contradictory results are still observed in humans.
  • 1.4K
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Biomaterials Applied to Bone Regeneration
Bone loss raises great concern in numerous situations, such as ageing and many diseases and in both orthopedic and dentistry fields of application, with an extensive impact on health care. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms and the determinants that can regulate osteogenesis and ensure bone balance. In particular, new strategies for the improvement of the ability of biomaterials to trigger and sustain osteogenesis need to be developed. Autophagy is a well conserved lysosomal degradation pathway, which is known to be highly active during differentiation and development. An extensive revision of the literature on biomaterials, both for orthopedic and dentistry applications, enhancing osteogenesis by modulation of the autophagic process is here presented. Already investigated conditions regulating bone regeneration via autophagy need to be better understood for designing novel biomaterials with improved bioactivity.
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Oct 2020
Topic Review
PD-L1
The gastrointestinal (GI) mucosa is among the most complex systems in the body. It has a diverse commensal microbiome challenged continuously by food and microbial components while delivering essential nutrients and defending against pathogens. For these reasons, regulatory cells and receptors are likely to play a central role in maintaining the gut mucosal homeostasis. Recent lessons from cancer immunotherapy point out the critical role of the B7 negative co-stimulator PD-L1 in mucosal homeostasis. In this entry, we summarize the current knowledge supporting the critical role of PD-L1 in gastrointestinal mucosal tolerance and how abnormalities in its expression and signaling contribute to gut inflammation and cancers. Abnormal expression of PD-L1 and/or the PD-1/PD-L1 signaling pathways have been observed in the pathology of the GI tract. We also discuss the current gap in our knowledge with regards to PD-L1 signaling in the GI tract under homeostasis and pathology. Finally, we summarize the current understanding of how this pathway is currently targeted to develop novel therapeutic approaches.
  • 1.4K
  • 22 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Aluminium friction-stir welding with nanoparticles
Welding is a widely used and critical joining process in fabrication industries and consumes a lot of energy and materials. Friction stir welding process is most commonly and emerging process in solid state processes. In FSW, heat for welding is generated with pressure applied between the rotational tool and base metal, leading to plastic deformation without melting of the base metal and without change in the primary microstructure of the base metal. Aluminium and its alloys have been seen to be a viable and, in some cases, superior alternative to steel. the FSW process occurs below the melting temperature of the Al alloys, resulting in avoidance of metal solidification defects, less deformation, porosity and cracks, and improved mechanical integrity of the joints. For improving mechanical properties, nanoparticles have commonly been used as reinforcement particles, as their size leads to uniform dispersion, grain refinement and reducing joint flaws.
  • 1.4K
  • 20 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Correlates of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine-Induced Protection
Vaccine candidates against COVID-19 have been developed at an unprecedented speed, with more than 200 vaccine candidates currently under investigation. Among those, 20 candidates have entered the clinical Phase 3 to evaluate efficacy, and three have been approved by the European Medicines Agency. The aim of immunization is to act against infection, disease and/or transmission. However, the measurement of vaccine efficacy is challenging, as efficacy trials need to include large cohorts with verum and placebo cohorts. In the future, this will be even more challenging as further vaccine candidates will receive approval, an increasing number of humans will receive vaccinations and incidence might decrease. To evaluate novel and second-generation vaccine candidates, randomized placebo-controlled trials might not be appropriate anymore. Correlates of protection (CoP) could be an important tool to evaluate novel vaccine candidates, but vaccine-induced CoP have not been clearly defined for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. 
  • 1.4K
  • 04 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Reconstruction of Remotely Sensed LST
Land surface temperature (LST) is an important environmental parameter in climate change, urban heat islands, drought, public health, and other fields. Thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is the main method used to obtain LST information over large spatial scales. However, cloud cover results in many data gaps in remotely sensed LST datasets, greatly limiting their practical applications. Many studies have sought to fill these data gaps and reconstruct cloud-free LST datasets over the last few decades. This paper reviews the progress of LST reconstruction research. A bibliometric analysis is conducted to provide a brief overview of the papers published in this field. The existing reconstruction algorithms can be grouped into five categories: spatial gap-filling methods, temporal gap-filling methods, spatiotemporal gap-filling methods, multi-source fusion-based gap-filling methods, and surface energy balance-based gap-filling methods. The principles, advantages, and limitations of these methods are described and discussed. The applications of these methods are also outlined. In addition, the validation of filled LST values’ cloudy pixels is an important concern in LST reconstruction. The different validation methods applied for reconstructed LST datasets are also reviewed herein. Finally, prospects for future developments in LST reconstruction are provided.
  • 1.4K
  • 24 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Quercetin and Akkermansia muciniphila: Facing NAFLD & Obesity
Obesity is a disease characterized by an excessive body fat accumulation and by the presence of a subclinical chronic inflammation. It is related to many comorbidities, such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the predominant cause of chronic liver disease in many parts of the world. NAFLD is a disease spectrum which starts with simple steatosis (the accumulation of fat in the liver) and could progress to steatohepatitis, cirrhosis or even hepatocarcinoma, mainly due to sedentary lifestyle.  Gut microbiota is a metabolic organ involved in physiological homeostasis and is defined as all the microorganisms that habit along the digestive tract. The alteration of its composition and functionality, called dysbiosis, has been associated with many pathologies, such as obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) development. Gut microbiota emerges as a therapeutic target, in which probiotics or prebiotics play a central role. Probiotics are live microorganisms that have beneficial effects on health status when are consumed in proper doses, whereas prebiotics are non-digestible ingredients which promote the growth of beneficial microorganisms in the gut. A synbiotic is a combination of prebiotics and probiotics that confers a healthy benefit on the host. 
  • 1.4K
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Developing IoT Artifacts in a MAS Platform
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a computational paradigm where a massive number (perhaps billions) of ordinary objects are endowed with interconnection capabilities, making them able to communicate and cooperate with other (surrounding) devices, generally via the Internet.. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a growing computational paradigm where all kinds of everyday objects are interconnected, forming a vast cyberphysical environment at the edge between the virtual and the real world. Since the emergence of the IoT, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) technology has been successfully applied in this area, proving itself to be an appropriate paradigm for developing distributed, intelligent systems containing sets of IoT devices. However, this technology still lacks effective mechanisms to integrate the enormous diversity of existing IoT devices systematically.
  • 1.4K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Polymeric Platforms and Delivery Systems of Probiotics
The selection of optimal material for probiotic encapsulation and the appropriate processing route are key parameters to ensure an efficient delivery strategy, where early degradation by GIT stimuli and harsh conditions are largely avoided. Nevertheless, selecting the materials for superior performance in complex physiological environments such as the GIT is a task made challenging not only by the obstacles to be overcome to reach the target site but also by the need to maintain high biological activities and positive responses to the changing surroundings. The fast-growing notion that encapsulates can be composed of active biomaterials should be driven by matching the material’s properties with expected responses through the GIT. Particularly, polymers exhibit versatile molecular moieties that have been widely exploited to fabricate chemical and physical delivery platforms with properties that can be finely tuned by adjusting interchain interactions. Chemical polymeric scaffolds are formed by covalent bonds between adjacent chains, while the physical ones are maintained together by charged polyvalent surfactants or ion interactions. Moreover, their versatile processability schemes facilitate obtaining different morphologies, functionalities, and the possibility to form composites with nanostructured materials in search of an enhanced response when subjected to a stimulus. Typical polymeric encapsulates comprise microparticles, microspheres, microcapsules, hydrogels, and, more recently, nanocomposite 3D matrices.
  • 1.4K
  • 17 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Alzheimer’s Disease and Tau Self-Assembly
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disease characterized by progressive cognitive impairment, apathy, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Two main pathological hallmarks have been described: neurofibrillary tangles, consisting of tau oligomers (hyperphosphorylated tau) and Aβ plaques. The influence of protein kinases and phosphatases on the hyperphosphorylation of tau is already known. Hyperphosphorylated tau undergoes conformational changes that promote its self-assembly. 
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Digital Game-Based Support for Learning The Phlebotomy Procedure
Practice-based training in education is important, expensive, and resource-demanding. Digital games can provide complementary training opportunities for practicing procedural skills and increase the value of the limited laboratory training time in biomedical laboratory science (BLS) education. The Digital Game-Based Learning (DGBL) application has been taken as an engaging and effective learning method for learning how to perform the phlebotomy procedure, and even—for some students—to reduce phlebotomy-related anxiety. The game motivated students to train more, and teachers were positive towards using it in education.
  • 1.4K
  • 23 May 2022
Topic Review
Benefits of Agrivoltaics System
As more nations move towards net-zero emission goals by 2050, research into the coupling of photovoltaics (PV) and agriculture has increased into a new sector of agrivoltaics (AV). Measurement of the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) has allowed researchers to develop methods for optimizing the agrivoltaic system. While AVs are seen as a method to reduce the land loss for traditional PV farms, research has shown that they can be both beneficial to crop growth and PV efficiency. The levels of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) under the solar modules impact crop species in different ways. Understanding the PAR can be used to determine the most suitable crop to plant for each season. Factors such as micro-climates and water requirements are also changed due to the set-up of each AV system. 
  • 1.4K
  • 09 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Elie Bursztein
Elie Bursztein (born 1 June 1980) leads the anti-abuse research team at Google.[r 1] He is best known for his research on anti-fraud and abuse,[r 2] his novel attacks against web service and video games and his work on applied cryptography.[p 1][p 2] Prior to Google Bursztein was a post-doctoral fellow in computer science at Stanford University, where he focused on CAPTCHAs security[p 3][p 4] and usability.[p 5][p 6]
  • 1.4K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Ivermectin for the Treatment and/or Prophylaxis of COVID-19
The pathogenesis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is initiated by viral entry through the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE-2) receptor in the host cell. After entry, RNA is translated into viral proteins upon its release in the cytoplasm. The resulting symptoms and clinical manifestations include fever, headache, myalgia, and respiratory symptoms. Several drugs have been and continue to be repurposed for the prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19. Ivermectin (IVM) belongs to the naturally occurring family of avermectins produced by the bacterium Streptomyces avermitilis. Its broad antiparasitic spectrum is achieved through the hyperpolarization of the invertebrate’s cell membrane, with subsequent parasite paralysis. It was tested and confirmed for its in vitro antiviral activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Trials have put IVM to test for both the treatment and prophylaxis of COVID-19, as well as its potential role in combination therapy. Additionally, the targeted delivery of IVM was studied in animals and COVID-19 patients.
  • 1.4K
  • 31 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Neuroprotection and Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation
Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS) techniques, such as transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) and repetitive Magnetic Transcranial Stimulation (rTMS), are well-known non-pharmacological approaches to improve both motor and non-motor symptoms in patients with neurodegenerative disorders. Their use is of particular interest especially for the treatment of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), as well as axial disturbances in Parkinson’s (PD), where conventional pharmacological therapies show very mild and short-lasting effects. However, their ability to interfere with disease progression over time is not well understood; recent evidence suggests that NIBS may have a neuroprotective effect, thus slowing disease progression and modulating the aggregation state of pathological proteins. 
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Current Management Strategies for Neurogenic Hypertension
Hypertension is a significant risk factor for renal impairment, other cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and multiple end-organ damages. Nevertheless, a large pool of recent studies affirms a relatively higher incidence of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) (as indicated by high levels of norepinephrine and plasma catecholamines) in hypertension unresponsive to conventional treatment, which is also referred to as resistance hypertension or neurogenic hypertension (NH). This strong association between an increase in SNA and elevated blood pressure (BP) forms the basis of NH: a form of hypertension mainly driven by a sympathetic mechanism. The complex nature of NH makes curative treatment difficult. Therefore, the current therapeutic approach to tackling NH aims at bringing BP under control to prevent any cardiovascular events and associated end-organ damage. In addition, surgical procedures that have been explored for NH management interfere with the sympathetic influence on cardiac function. Although several surgical approaches were adopted, only a few progresses toward preclinical stages and still lead to inconclusive outcomes. Both therapeutic and surgical approaches that have been implemented for the management of NH will be briefly discussed.
  • 1.4K
  • 20 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Potential Biochemical Properties and Genetics of C-Reactive Protein
C-Reactive Protein (CRP) is supposed to be an accredited benchmark for physicians, to reveal or rule out inflammation, and multifarious scientific endeavors have been made so as to detect the direct pleiotropic functions of this protein. The use of CRP as the most important and critical immunochemical marker of several medical conditions, including infections such as sepsis, physiological organ diseases, various autoimmune disorders, malignancies and other health conditions, has become widely popular.
  • 1.4K
  • 14 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Nanoparticle Application in Biofuel Production
Biofuel, an inexhaustible fuel source, plays a pivotal role in the contemporary era by diminishing the dependence on non-renewable energy sources and facilitating the mitigation of CO2 emissions. Due to the many constraints in existing technology and the resulting increased costs, the production of biofuels on a large scale is a laborious process. The production of biofuels can be enhanced with intervention of nanotechnology, owing to the unique characteristics of these nanoparticles. These nanoparticles interact with the microorganisms and enzymes leading to the enhancement in biofuel production.
  • 1.4K
  • 24 Nov 2023
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