Your browser does not fully support modern features. Please upgrade for a smoother experience.
Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Ursolic Acid Pharmacodynamics towards Nuclear Receptor
Nuclear receptors (NRs) form a family of druggable transcription factors that are regulated by ligand binding to orchestrate multifaceted physiological functions, including reproduction, immunity, metabolism, and growth. NRs represent attractive and valid targets for the management and treatment of a vast array of ailments. Pentacyclic triterpenes (PTs) are ubiquitously distributed natural products in medicinal and aromatic plants, of which ursolic acid (UA) is an extensively studied member, due to its diverse bio-pertinent activities against different cancers, inflammation, aging, obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and liver injury.
  • 1.2K
  • 23 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Therapeutic Targets and Implications in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly debilitating fatal neurodegenerative disorder, causing muscle atrophy and weakness, which leads to paralysis and eventual death. ALS has a multifaceted nature affected by many pathological mechanisms, including oxidative stress (also via protein aggregation), mitochondrial dysfunction, glutamate-induced excitotoxicity, apoptosis, neuroinflammation, axonal degeneration, skeletal muscle deterioration and viruses. This complexity is a major obstacle in defeating ALS. 
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Pathophysiology
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a traumatic condition, whereby motor neurons are lost eventually leading to death within a couple of years. There is no effective treatment, due primarily to a lack of understanding as to the relevant pathophysiological changes occurring. The biological underpinnings of ALS is described, highlighting the role of the gut microbiome, glia, muscles and the changes at the neuromuscular junction. It is proposed that alterations in the mitochondrial melatonergic pathway are a crucial aspect of ALS pathophysiology that underpins the changes in intercellular interactions that drive ALS. Many of these initial changes  seem to arise in the gut, indicating that this may be an important site for evaluation and treatment in the prevention of ALS. It is also proposed that glyphosate-based herbicides (weedkillers) exposure may be a relevant aspect of ALS susceptibility and progression. 
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Jan 2023
Topic Review
Use of Green Antimicrobials in Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) are one of the most serious and devastating complications of diabetes and account for a significant decrease in quality of life and costly healthcare expenses worldwide. This condition affects around 15% of diabetic patients and is one of the leading causes of lower limb amputations. DFUs generally present poor clinical outcomes, mainly due to the impaired healing process and the elevated risk of microbial infections which leads to tissue damage. Antimicrobial resistance poses a rising threat to global health, thus hampering DFU treatment and care. Faced with this reality, it is pivotal to find greener and less environmentally impactful alternatives for fighting these resistant microbes. Antimicrobial peptides are small molecules that play a crucial role in the innate immune system of the host and can be found in nature. Some of these molecules have shown broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties and wound-healing activity, making them good potential therapeutic compounds to treat DFUs. 
  • 1.2K
  • 03 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Therapeutic Attributes of Endocannabinoid System
In humans, various sites like cannabinoid receptors (CBR) having a binding affinity with cannabinoids are distributed on the surface of different cell types, where endocannabinoids (ECs) and derivatives of fatty acid can bind. The binding of these substance(s) triggers the activation of specific receptors required for various physiological functions, including pain sensation, memory, and appetite.
  • 1.2K
  • 10 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Thrombospondin-1 CD47 Signalling
Recent advances provide evidence that the cellular signalling pathway comprising the ligand-receptor duo of thrombospondin-1 (TSP1) and CD47 is involved in mediating a range of diseases affecting renal, vascular, and metabolic function, as well as cancer. In several instances, research has barely progressed past pre-clinical animal models of disease and early phase 1 clinical trials, while for cancers, anti-CD47 therapy has emerged from phase 2 clinical trials in humans as a crucial adjuvant therapeutic agent. This has important implications for interventions that seek to capitalize on targeting this pathway in diseases where TSP1 and/or CD47 play a role. Despite substantial progress made in our understanding of this pathway in malignant and cardiovascular disease, knowledge and translational gaps remain regarding the role of this pathway in kidney and metabolic diseases, limiting identification of putative drug targets and development of effective treatments. This review considers recent advances reported in the field of TSP1-CD47 signalling, focusing on several aspects including enzymatic production, receptor function, interacting partners, localization of signalling, matrix-cellular and cell-to-cell cross talk. The potential impact that these newly described mechanisms have on health, with a particular focus on renal and metabolic disease, is also discussed.
  • 1.2K
  • 02 Jul 2021
Topic Review
MicroRNAs in Human Adipose Tissue Physiology
In recent years, there has been a large amount of evidence on the role of microRNA (miRNA) in regulating adipose tissue physiology. Indeed, miRNAs control critical steps in adipocyte differentiation, proliferation and browning, as well as lipolysis, lipogenesis and adipokine secretion. Overnutrition leads to a significant change in the adipocyte miRNOME, resulting in adipose tissue dysfunction. Moreover, via secreted mediators, dysfunctional adipocytes may impair the function of other organs and tissues contributing to the development of obesity related compications.
  • 1.2K
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Cell Penetrating Peptides for Gene Therapy
Cell penetrating peptides (CPPs), also known as protein transduction domains (PTDs), first identified ~25 years ago, are small, 6–30 amino acid long, synthetic, or naturally occurring peptides, able to carry variety of cargoes across the cellular membranes in an intact, functional form. Since their initial description and characterization, the field of cell penetrating peptides as vectors has exploded. The cargoes they can deliver range from other small peptides, full-length proteins, nucleic acids including RNA and DNA, liposomes, nanoparticles, and viral particles as well as radioisotopes and other fluorescent probes for imaging purposes.
  • 1.2K
  • 25 Mar 2022
Topic Review Video
Gene Therapies for Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a complex neurological disorder affecting millions worldwide, with a substantial number of patients facing drug-resistant epilepsy. Conventional antiseizure medications (ASMs) have been the cornerstone of epilepsy management, providing significant relief to a large number of patients In the context of epilepsy, gene therapy holds the potential to address the underlying genetic abnormalities that give rise to seizure disorders. By targeting specific genes associated with epilepsy, gene therapy aims to restore normal cellular function and inhibit seizure generation, providing a promising avenue for the development of novel and more targeted epilepsy treatments.
  • 1.2K
  • 26 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Combination Therapy to Fight Oral Cancer
Combination therapy has become the standard practice for the treatment of locally advanced oral cancer, emerging as an effective approach in improving outcomes. Despite stepwise advances in our understanding of the molecular basis of oral carcinogenesis, the complexity and diversity of pathways and mechanisms that drive cancer progression and invasion may compromise the success of the treatment when used in a monotherapy approach. Therefore, combinatorial modalities that simultaneously target different pathways are expected to result in more clinical benefit for patients. 
  • 1.2K
  • 12 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Ghrelin and Microglia in Neuroinflammation
Numerous studies have shown that microglia are capable of producing a wide range of chemokines to promote inflammatory processes within the central nervous system (CNS). These cells share many phenotypical and functional characteristics with macrophages, suggesting that microglia participate in innate immune responses in the brain. Neuroinflammation induces neurometabolic alterations and increases in energy consumption. Microglia may constitute an important therapeutic target in neuroinflammation.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Syndemic: A Synergistic Anthropological Approach to the COVID-19 Pandemic
This review describes the relationship between the coronavirus-related pandemic and health inequities. The latter are linked to pre-existing social and economic discriminations in terms of access to healthcare for people affected by chronic diseases. We believe that we are living in a “syndemic pandemic”. The term “syndemic” was originally developed by the medical anthropologist Merrill Singer in the 1990s in order to recognize the correlation between HIV/AIDS, illicit drug use, and violence in the United States. This complex interplay exacerbated the burden of the disease and the prognosis of the patient. Similarly, in COVID-19 infection, socio-economic, ethnic, and racial inequities result in higher morbidity and mortality in certain sections of society. Unfortunately, such differences are becoming too common during the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of the incidence and prevalence of the disease, as well as inequal access to new medical advances and life-saving therapeutics for those with COVID-19, such as vaccines and monoclonal antibody treatment. Lockdown measures, imposed internationally as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are causing economic inequities, which complicate the issue even further. An appropriate syndemic anthropological approach is necessary to ensure that this pandemic does not increase health inequities in access to appropriate treatments.
  • 1.2K
  • 21 Apr 2023
Topic Review
The Role of Tachykinins in Human Disease
Since the identification of substance P in 1931, a number of short, highly conserved, bioactive peptides, called tachykinins, have been isolated and investigated, constituting at present one of the largest families of neuropeptides. In humans, tachykinins are expressed throughout the nervous and immune system, with an important role in the regulation of a wide range of physiological processes that include inflammation, nociception, smooth muscle contractility, epithelial secretion and cell proliferation in the nervous, immune, gastrointestinal, respiratory, urogenital and dermal systems.
  • 1.2K
  • 16 May 2022
Topic Review
CXCL1 in Noncancerous Diseases of Bone and Muscle
CXCL1 is a chemokine crucial in inflammation as a chemoattractant for neutrophils in physiology and in selected major non-cancer diseases. 
  • 1.2K
  • 31 May 2022
Topic Review
Biological Synthesis of Nanoparticles from Microalgae
Microalgae have been a source of useful compounds mainly used as food and dietary supplements. They have been used as a source of metabolites that can participate in the synthesis of several nanoparticles through inexpensive and environmentally friendly routes alternative to chemical synthesis.
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Jun 2023
Biography
Jean Cruveilhier
J. Cruveilhier was born on 9 February 1791 in Limoges, France [1]. For two centuries, the members of the Cruveilhier family were born and buried in Limoges. His grandfather Joseph (1726–1762) was a master surgeon and his father Léonard (1760–1836) was an important military surgeon, an attending surgeon at l’Hôpital Saint-Alexis in Limoges, and also a revolutionary Jacobin fanatic [2]. Hi
  • 1.2K
  • 12 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Formulation of Nanocarrier-based Viral Vaccines
Vaccination, employing peptides, nucleic acids, and other molecules, or using pathogen-based strategies, in fact, is one of the most potent approaches in the management of viral diseases. However, the vaccine candidate requires protection from degradation and precise delivery to the target cells. This can be achieved by employing different types of drug and vaccine delivery strategies, among which, nanotechnology-based systems seem to be more promising. 
  • 1.2K
  • 25 May 2021
Topic Review
On-Demand Drug Delivery Systems Using Nanofibers
On-demand drug-delivery systems using nanofibers are extensively applicable for customized drug release based on target location and timing to achieve the desired therapeutic effects. A nanofiber formulation is typically created for a certain medication and changing the drug may have a significant impact on the release kinetics from the same delivery system. Nanofibers have several distinguishing features and properties, including the ease with which they may be manufactured, the variety of materials appropriate for processing into fibers, a large surface area, and a complex pore structure. Nanofibers with effective drug-loading capabilities, controllable release, and high stability have gained the interest of researchers owing to their potential applications in on-demand drug delivery systems.
  • 1.1K
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Ocular Manifestations with COVID-19 Vaccine
Ocular manifestations after receiving COVID-19 vaccines may appear on the eyelid, cornea and ocular surface, retina, uvea, nerve, and vessel. The ocular manifestations occurred up to forty-two days after vaccination, and vaccine-induced immunologic responses may be responsible.
  • 1.1K
  • 06 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Integrins in Modulating Smooth Muscle Cell Plasticity
Smooth muscle cells (SMCs), present in the media layer of blood vessels, are crucial in maintaining vascular homeostasis. Upon vascular injury, SMCs show a high degree of plasticity, undergo a change from a “contractile” to a “synthetic” phenotype, and play an essential role in the pathophysiology of diseases including atherosclerosis and restenosis. Integrins are cell surface receptors, which are involved in cell-to-cell binding and cell-to-extracellular-matrix interactions. By binding to extracellular matrix components, integrins trigger intracellular signaling and regulate several of the SMC function, including proliferation, migration, and phenotypic switching. 
  • 1.1K
  • 01 Mar 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 35
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Reprints

>>
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of Medieval Royal Iconography
Academic Video Service
Feedback

Quick Survey

Encyclopedia MDPI is conducting a targeted survey to identify the specific barriers hindering efficient research. We invite you to spend 3 minutes defining the priorities for our next generation of structured knowledge tools.
Take Survey