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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). 
  • 843
  • 11 Mar 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.
  • 840
  • 04 Apr 2023
Topic Review
BKCa Channel Function in Cellular Membranes
Alterations in the activity of BKCa channels, responsible for the generation of the overall magnitude of Ca2+-activated K+ current at the whole-cell level, occur through allosteric mechanisms. The collaborative interplay between membrane depolarization and heightened intracellular Ca2+ ion concentrations collectively contribute to the activation of BKCa channels.
  • 839
  • 30 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Physiological Functions of Melatonin in Horticultural Plants
Melatonin, a hormone known for its role in regulating sleep–wake cycles in mammals, has been found to have diverse functions in horticultural plants. Research has revealed the involvement of melatonin in various physiological processes in plants, like regulation of growth and development, stress tolerance, and antioxidant defense. Melatonin can augment seed germination, roots, shoot growth, and biomass accumulation in horticultural crops. It also performs a vital role in regulating vegetative and reproductive growth stages, floral transition, and leaf senescence. Melatonin improves stress tolerance in crops by regulating root architecture, nutrient uptake, and ion transport.
  • 836
  • 20 Sep 2023
Topic Review
O-GlcNAcylation in Renal (Patho)Physiology
O-GlcNAcylation is regulated by the enzymatic balance between O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA) which add and remove GlcNAc residues on target proteins, respectively. This post-translational modification is essential for cellular physiology, and unbalanced protein O-GlcNAcylation is associated with several diseases. Here, we discuss aspects of protein O-GlcNAcylation in renal physiology and pathophysiology
  • 825
  • 26 Oct 2022
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.
  • 823
  • 13 Dec 2021
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. 
  • 822
  • 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.
  • 822
  • 11 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Neuromuscular Activity during Cycling Performance
To determine the relationships between limiting factors and neuromuscular activity during a self-paced 20-km cycling time trial and evaluate the effect of environmental conditions on fatigue indices. Methods: Ten endurance-trained and heat-acclimated athletes performed in three conditions (ambient temperature, relative humidity): HUMID (30 °C, 90%), DRY (35 °C, 46%) and NEUTRAL (22 °C, 55%). Voluntary muscular contractions and electromagnetic stimulations were recorded before and after the time trials to assess fatigue. The data on performance, temperature, heat storage, electromyogram, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion data were analyzed. Results: Performance was impaired in DRY and HUMID compared with NEUTRAL environment (p < 0.05). The force developed by the vastus lateral muscle during stimulation of the femoral nerve remained unchanged across conditions. The percentage of integrated electromyogram activity, normalized by the value attained during the pre-trial maximal voluntary contraction, decreased significantly throughout the trial only in HUMID condition (p < 0.01). Neuromuscular activity in peripheral skeletal muscle started to fall from the 11th km in HUMID and the 15th km in DRY condition, although core temperature did not reach critical values. Conclusions: These alterations suggest that afferences from core/skin temperature regulate the central neural motor drive, reducing the active muscle recruited during prolonged exercise in the heat in order to prevent the system from hyperthermia. 
  • 815
  • 29 Mar 2022
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.
  • 814
  • 01 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Physiological Mental Workload Indicators
Mental workload (MWL), sometimes referred to as cognitive workload, is a dynamic concept that acquires different meanings depending on the outcome desired.  Physiological indicators of MWL have gained an immense amount of attention in several domains, considering their objective nature. The response of the human body to external sources of workloads can be effectively observed through physiological signal markers that are not heavily affected by subjective opinions. Overall, it can be considered an indirect measure that can be related to MWL and has a relatively quicker response to sudden shifts. Physiological processes that include heart activity, respiration, digestion, and sexual arousal are involuntarily regulated by the peripheral component of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system has three distinct divisions, namely, the sympathetic (SNS), parasympathetic (PNS), and enteric. The activation of the SNS and PNS can be directly observed in HR and HRV variations. Some commonly used SNS- and PNS-related physiological indicators are heart rate (HR), heartrate variability (HRV), respiratory rate (RR), galvanic skin response (GSR), and electrodermal activity (EDA). Eye-related data such as pupil size are also a result of autonomic activity and have been an important component of MWL research, as visual and mental tasks are highly correlated. Previous research has suggested that an increase in the cognitive demand or an increase in the MWL can result in increased blood flow in the frontal cortex of the brain.
  • 814
  • 18 May 2023
Topic Review
Microbiota Short-Chain Fatty Acids Modulate Antioxidant Defences
Food nutrients play a key role in human metabolism and health via the modulation of multiple mechanisms, including energy metabolism, intestinal homeostasis, antioxidant homeostasis, and immune responses. The intestine is an essential organ involved in human nutrition, the metabolic activity of gut microbes is essential for maintaining host health, and alterations in its composition induce metabolic shifts that may have adverse effects. The consensus on microbiota-mediated healthy effects on the host is based on the microbe-induced biotransformation of food components into bioactive metabolites. Bioactive molecules exhibit, in combination with food components, the ability to modulate the metabolic pathways of the host or to modify the composition and metabolism of the microbiota. Studies indicated the efficacy of the carbohydrates accessible to the microbiota (MACs), polyphenols, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in increasing the microbial population with the ability to yield biologically active metabolites (e.g., polyphenol metabolites, short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs)) capable of modulating redox homeostasis of the host.
  • 814
  • 16 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Current Techniques in Drug Delivery across Blood–Brain Barrier
Non-invasive drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) represents a significant advancement in treating neurological diseases. The BBB is a tightly packed layer of endothelial cells that shields the brain from harmful substances in the blood, allowing necessary nutrients to pass through. It is a highly selective barrier, which poses a challenge to delivering therapeutic agents into the brain. Several non-invasive procedures and devices have been developed or are currently being investigated to enhance drug delivery across the BBB.
  • 806
  • 27 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Oxygen Cascade from Atmosphere to Mitochondria
Hypoxia is a life-threatening challenge for about 1% of the world population and a contributor to high morbidity and mortality scores in patients affected by various cardiopulmonary, hematological, and circulatory diseases. In most cases, it is not hypoxia that generates diseases, but rather the attempts to adapt to the hypoxia condition. Thus, when adaptation to hypoxia becomes excessive, it translates into maladaptation. The oxygen cascade may represent a tool for understanding the genesis and the consequences of physiological and pathological hypoxia.
  • 805
  • 04 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Omics and Male Infertility
Male infertility is a multifaceted disorder affecting approximately 50% of male partners in infertile couples. Over the years, male infertility has been diagnosed mainly through semen analysis, hormone evaluations, medical records and physical examinations, which of course are fundamental, but yet inefficient, because 30% of male infertility cases remain idiopathic. This dilemmatic status of the unknown needs to be addressed with more sophisticated and result-driven technologies and/or techniques. Genetic alterations have been linked with male infertility, thereby unveiling the practicality of investigating this disorder from the “omics” perspective. Omics aims at analyzing the structure and functions of a whole constituent of a given biological function at different levels, including the molecular gene level (genomics), transcript level (transcriptomics), protein level (proteomics) and metabolites level (metabolomics).
  • 801
  • 08 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Acute Psychosocial Stress Effects on Food Consumption
The most central physiological stress response is the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which begins with the release of corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) from the hypothalamus. The physiological stress response can be dampened by eating, as the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) is reduced following consumption of food and the activation of the HPA axis is thereby attenuated.
  • 794
  • 27 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Protein Misfolding in Pregnancy
Protein misfolding disorders are a group of diseases characterized by supra-physiologic accumulation and aggregation of pathogenic proteoforms resulting from improper protein folding and/or insufficiency in clearance mechanisms. Although these processes have been historically linked to neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, evidence linking protein misfolding to other pathologies continues to emerge. Indeed, the deposition of toxic protein aggregates in the form of oligomers or large amyloid fibrils has been linked to type 2 diabetes, various types of cancer, and, in more recent years, to preeclampsia, a life-threatening pregnancy-specific disorder. While extensive physiological mechanisms are in place to maintain proteostasis, processes, such as aging, genetic factors, or environmental stress in the form of hypoxia, nutrient deprivation or xenobiotic exposures can induce failure in these systems. As such, pregnancy, a natural physical state that already places the maternal body under significant physiological stress, creates an environment with a lower threshold for aberrant aggregation. 
  • 794
  • 02 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Matrix Metalloproteinases in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are proteolytic enzymes that degrade proteins of the extracellular matrix and the basement membrane. Thus, these enzymes regulate airway remodeling, which is a major pathological feature of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Furthermore, proteolytic destruction in the lungs may lead to loss of elastin and the development of emphysema, which is associated with poor lung function in COPD patients.
  • 788
  • 10 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Single Cell Transcriptomics to Understand Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Aging leads to a decline in the functions of the hematopoietic and immune system, which in the elderly results in an increased risk of infection, poor vaccination efficacy, anemia and blood cancers. It is now well established that age-related dysfunction of the entire hematopoietic system originates from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), which lose their fitness over time. Single-cell transcriptomic technologies enable the uncovering and characterization of cellular heterogeneity and pave the way for studies aiming at understanding the origin and consequences of it. The hematopoietic system is in essence a very well adapted model system to benefit from this technological advance because it is characterized by different cellular states. Each cellular state, and its interconnection, may be defined by a specific location in the global transcriptional landscape sustained by a complex regulatory network. This transcriptomic signature is not fixed and evolved over time to give rise to less efficient hematopoietic stem cells (HSC), leading to a well-documented hematopoietic aging. 
  • 786
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Association between Periodontitis and Peri-Implantitis
Dental implants to replace lost teeth are a common dentistry practice nowadays. Titanium dental implants display a high success rate and improved safety profile. Nevertheless, there is an increasing peri-implantitis (PI), an inflammatory disease associated with polymicrobial infection that adversely affects the hard and soft tissues around the implant. Studies have demonstrated that oral microbiota (microorganisms residing in the oral cavity collectively known as oral microbiota) associated with periodontitis (PE) is involved in the infections related to PI, indicating a common link between PE and PI.
  • 786
  • 16 Jan 2023
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