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Topic Review
RNA Helicases
RNA helicases constitute a large family of proteins with functions in all aspects of RNA metabolism, including unwinding or annealing of RNA molecules to regulate pre-mRNA, rRNA and miRNA processing, clamping protein complexes on RNA, or remodeling ribonucleoprotein complexes, to regulate gene expression. RNA helicases also regulate the activity of specific proteins through direct interaction. Abnormal expression of RNA helicases has been associated with different diseases, including cancer, neurological disorders, aging, and autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) via regulation of a diverse range of cellular processes such as cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. 
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Rusty Grain Beetle
Cryptolestes ferrugineus, the rusty grain beetle, is a cosmopolitan pest that has adapted to cool and warm climates due to its unique biology, ecology, and behavior. The rusty grain beetle is a pest of high economic importance; hence, understanding their biology, ecology, and behavior could be useful in designing effective management strategies.
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Transcriptional Regulation of the Hippo Pathway
Hippo signaling pathway is a key modulator of tissue growth with widespread implications in organ development, cell growth, regeneration, and stem cell function.
  • 1.4K
  • 15 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Extracellular DNA
Extracellular DNA (eDNA) refers to any molecule of DNA found outside a cell. eDNA has an important ecological role as a signal molecule in several organisms. In plants, it has shown beneficial effects on important production traits such as defense mechanisms, plant growth and development, and secondary metabolites production that results in yield increment and better-quality food.
  • 1.4K
  • 22 Oct 2021
Topic Review
CRISPR Therapy
In the last two decades, the therapeutic landscape of several tumors have changed profoundly with the introduction of drugs against proteins encoded by oncogenes. Oncogenes play an essential role in human cancer and when their encoded proteins are inhibited by specific drugs, the tumoral process can be reverted or stopped. An example of this is the case of the chronic myeloid leukemia, in which all the pathological features can be attributed by a single oncogene. Most patients with this disease now have a normal life expectancy thanks to a rationality designed inhibitor. However, the drug only blocks the protein, the oncogene continues unaffected and treatment discontinuation is only an option for a small subset of patients. With the advent of genome-editing nucleases and, especially, the CRISPR/Cas9 system, the possibilities to destroy oncogenes now is feasible. A novel therapeutic tool has been developed with unimaginable limits in cancer treatment. Recent studies support that CRISPR/Cas9 system could be a definitive therapeutic option in chronic myeloid leukemia. This work reviews the biology of chronic myeloid leukemia, the emergence of the CRISPR system, and its ability as a specific tool for this disease.
  • 1.4K
  • 22 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Photochemical Internalization of siRNA for Cancer Therapy
In the race to design ever more effective therapy with ever more focused and controlled actions, nanomedicine and phototherapy seem to be two allies of choice. Indeed, the use of nanovectors making it possible to transport and protect genetic material is becoming increasingly important. In addition, the use of a method allowing the release of genetic material in a controlled way in space and time is also a strategy increasingly studied thanks to the use of lasers. In parallel, the use of interfering RNA and, more particularly, of small-interfering RNA (siRNA) has demonstrated significant potential for gene therapy.
  • 1.4K
  • 03 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Glucose Variability: Molecular Biology
Glucose variability (GV) plays a role in the development of the microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes. Current data indicate that the deteriorating effect of GV on target organs can be realized through oxidative stress, glycation, chronic low-grade inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, platelet activation, impaired angiogenesis and renal fibrosis. The effects of GV on oxidative stress, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and hypercoagulability could be aggravated by hypoglycemia, associated with high GV. Oscillating hyperglycemia contributes to beta cell dysfunction, which leads to a further increase in GV and completes the vicious circle. In cells, the GV-induced cytotoxic effect includes mitochondrial dysfunction, endoplasmic reticulum stress and disturbances in autophagic flux, which are accompanied by reduced viability, activation of apoptosis and abnormalities in cell proliferation. These effects are realized through the up- and down-regulation of a large number of genes and the activity of signaling pathways such as PI3K/Akt, NF-κB, MAPK (ERK), JNK and TGF-β/Smad. Epigenetic modifications mediate the postponed effects of glucose fluctuations. The multiple deteriorative effects of GV provide further support for considering it as a therapeutic target in diabetes.
  • 1.4K
  • 12 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Lonomia obliqua Envenoming
The hemorrhagic syndrome is one of the most serious complications in patients who have  been in contact with the Lonomia caterpillar bristles. Although 26 species of the genus Lonomia (Saturniidae family) are distributed in the American continent, the most studied species are L. obliqua and L. achelous caterpillars; both are capable of inducing hemorrhagic effects in humans. Envenoming by L. obliqua caterpillars was considered a public health problem in southern Brazil. The hemostatic disturbances observed in the envenoming by L. obliqua caterpillars, result in a consumption coagulopathy, resembling a disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and secondary fibrinolysis, which can lead to the hemorrhagic syndrome. The main complication of L. obliqua envenomation is acute renal failure, which can occur in up to 12% of the cases, being frequent in patients over 45 years old and in those with heavy bleeding. Besides that, some deaths related to hemorrhage and renal failure have been reported. However, the early diagnosis and proper treatment with  antilonomic serum (ALS), produced by the Butantan Institute (SP/Brazil), within 12 h of contact can prevent severe coagulopathy and hemorrhage events. 
  • 1.4K
  • 22 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Advantages/Disadvantages/Limitations of Chemotaxis Assays for Campylobacter spp.
Chemotaxis directed motility of intestinal bacteria such as Campylobacter jejuni could enable the cells to move toward favourable conditions and away from hazardous ones. Reproducible qualitative and quantitative assessment of bacterial chemotactic motility, particularly in response to chemorepellent effectors, is experimentally challenging. Several established chemotaxis assays currently used to investigate Campylobacter jejuni chemotaxis are compared, with the aim of improving the correlation between different studies and establishing the best practices.
  • 1.4K
  • 11 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Circadian Rhythms in Legumes
Circadian rhythms, the changes or processes that follow a 24-h light–dark cycle, while endogenously programmed, are also influenced by environmental factors, especially in sessile organisms such as plants, which can impact ecosystems and crop productivity.
  • 1.4K
  • 25 May 2021
Topic Review
Non-Photosynthetic Melainabacteria (Cyanobacteria) in Human Gut
Gut microorganisms are comprised of thousands of species and play an important role in the host’s metabolism, overall health status, and risk of disease. Cyanobacteria are the oldest organisms on earth, and their fossil record possibly tracked back to ~3.5 billion years ago. The emergence of the oxygenic photosynthesis of cyanobacteria was associated with the rise of oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere (also known as the Great Oxygenation Event) ~2.1 billion years ago.
  • 1.4K
  • 22 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Cytochrome P450 Aromatase
Aromatase is the cytochrome P450 enzyme converting androgens into estrogen in the last phase of steroidogenesis. As estrogens are crucial in reproductive biology, aromatase is found in vertebrates and the invertebrates of the genus Branchiostoma, where it carries out the aromatization reaction of the A-ring of androgens that produces estrogens.
  • 1.4K
  • 07 May 2021
Topic Review
Oxidative Stress in Male Infertility
The spermatozoon is a highly specialized cell, whose main function is the transport of the intact male genetic material into the oocyte. During its formation and transit throughout male and female reproductive tracts, sperm cells are internally and externally surrounded by reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are produced from both endogenous and exogenous sources. While low amounts of ROS are known to be necessary for crucial physiological sperm processes, such as acrosome reaction and sperm–oocyte interaction, high levels of those species underlie misbalanced antioxidant-oxidant molecules, generating oxidative stress (OS), which is one of the most damaging factors that affect sperm function and lower male fertility potential. 
  • 1.4K
  • 09 Jul 2021
Topic Review
High-Dose Vitamin C for Cancer Therapy
The idea that Vitamin C (Vit-C) could be utilized as a form of anti-cancer therapy has generated many contradictory arguments. Insights into the physiological characteristics of Vit-C, its pharmacokinetics, and results from preclinical reports, however, suggest that high-dose Vit-C could be effectively utilized in the management of various tumor types. Studies have shown that the pharmacological action of Vit-C can attack various processes that cancerous cells use for their growth and development. 
  • 1.4K
  • 13 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Epigenetics in the Uterine Environment
The societal burden of non-communicable disease is closely linked with environmental exposures and lifestyle behaviours, including the adherence to a poor maternal diet from the earliest preimplantation period of the life course onwards. Epigenetic variations caused by a compromised maternal nutritional status can affect embryonic development and offspring health later in life.
  • 1.4K
  • 14 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Basic Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH) in Arabidopsis
The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor family is one of the largest transcription factor gene families in Arabidopsis thaliana, and contains a bHLH motif that is highly conserved throughout eukaryotic organisms. Members of this family have two conserved motifs, a basic DNA binding region and a helix-loop-helix (HLH) region. These proteins containing bHLH domain usually act as homo- or heterodimers to regulate the expression of their target genes, which are involved in many physiological processes and have a broad range of functions in biosynthesis, metabolism and transduction of plant hormones.
  • 1.4K
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Antioxidants and Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease which is a major cause of coronary heart disease and stroke in humans. It is characterized by intimal plaques and cholesterol accumulation in arterial walls. The side effects of currently prescribed synthetic drugs and their high cost in the treatment of atherosclerosis has prompted the use of alternative herbal medicines, dietary supplements, and antioxidants associated with fewer adverse effects for the treatment of atherosclerosis. Natural and synthetic antioxidants have a crucial role in the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis through different mechanisms. These include: The inhibition of low density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation, the reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, the inhibition of cytokine secretion, the prevention of atherosclerotic plaque formation and platelet aggregation, the preclusion of mononuclear cell infiltration, the improvement of endothelial dysfunction and vasodilation, the augmentation of nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, the modulation of the expression of adhesion molecules such as vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) on endothelial cells, and the suppression of foam cell formation.
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Toxicity of meta-Tyrosine
meta-Tyrosine (m-Tyr) is a non-proteinogenic isomer of p-tyrosine (Tyr) and is an antimetabolite of proteinogenic amino acid phenylalanine (Phe). This compound can be found in animal and plant cells.
  • 1.4K
  • 02 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Gram-Negative Bacterial Lysins
Antibiotics have had a profound impact on human society by enabling the eradication of otherwise deadly infections. Unfortunately, antibiotic use and overuse has led to the rapid spread of acquired antibiotic resistance, creating a major threat to public health. Novel therapeutic agents called bacteriophage endolysins (lysins) provide a solution to the worldwide epidemic of antibiotic resistance. Lysins are a class of enzymes produced by bacteriophages during the lytic cycle, which are capable of cleaving bonds in the bacterial cell wall, resulting in the death of the bacteria within seconds after contact. Through evolutionary selection of the phage progeny to be released and spread, these lysins target different critical components in the cell wall, making resistance to these molecules orders of magnitude less likely than conventional antibiotics. Such properties make lysins uniquely suitable for the treatment of multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens. Lysins, either naturally occurring or engineered, have the potential of being developed into fast-acting, narrow-spectrum, biofilm-disrupting antimicrobials that act synergistically with standard of care antibiotics.
  • 1.4K
  • 23 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Peripheral Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen. The causes of AD are complex and are characterized by changes in the brain that lead to the accumulation of two proteins, amyloid beta and tau, forming structures called plaques and tangles, respectively. It is challenging to identify the mechanisms for the initiation and progression of AD. Oxidative stress and inflammation derived from peripheral mitochondrial dysfunction have also been suggested as alternative contributors of AD pathogenesis.
  • 1.4K
  • 04 Aug 2023
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