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Topic Review
mtUPR in Primary and Secondary Mitochondrial Diseases
Mitochondrial dysfunction is a key pathological event in many diseases. Its role in energy production, calcium homeostasis, apoptosis regulation, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) balance render mitochondria essential for cell survival and fitness. However, there are no effective treatments for most primary and secondary mitochondrial diseases to this day. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches, such as the modulation of the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (mtUPR), are being explored. mtUPRs englobe several compensatory processes related to proteostasis and antioxidant system mechanisms. mtUPR activation, through an overcompensation for mild intracellular stress, promotes cell homeostasis and improves lifespan and disease alterations in biological models of mitochondrial dysfunction in age-related diseases, cardiopathies, metabolic disorders, and primary mitochondrial diseases. Although mtUPR activation is a promising therapeutic option for many pathological conditions, its activation could promote tumor progression in cancer patients, and its overactivation could lead to non-desired side effects, such as the increased heteroplasmy of mitochondrial DNA mutations. Researchers present the most recent data about mtUPR modulation as a therapeutic approach, its role in diseases, and its potential negative consequences in specific pathological situations.
  • 1.1K
  • 07 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Potassium-Chloride Cotransporter 2 and NKCC1 in Neurological Disorders
Numerous central nervous system (CNS) diseases are associated with a disruption in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling, including Huntington's disease (HD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Down syndrome (DS), schizophrenia, and epilepsy. It is plausible that altered expression of potassium-chloride cotransporter 2 (KCC2) and sodium-potassium-chloride cotransporter 1 (NKCC1) in such disorders contributes to detrimental GABA signaling and an excitatory/inhbitory (E/I) imbalance. In the instance where NKCC1 is upregulated in the mature neuron, high intracellular chloride (Cl−) implies a reversion to immature physiology, thus, disrupting the formation of synaptic connections and normal neuronal functioning.
  • 1.1K
  • 16 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Classification of Limb–Girdle Muscular Dystrophies
Limb–girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs) are caused by mutations in multiple genes. Limb–girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMD) are muscular dystrophies that affect skeletal muscles, mostly proximal (hips and shoulder muscles). They are caused by a mutation in a gene encoding a protein, which is specific to each subtype. LGMD inheritance is autosomal. 
  • 1.1K
  • 27 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Aptamer Technologies in Neuroscience
Aptamers developed using in vitro Systematic Evolution of Ligands by Exponential Enrichment (SELEX) technology are single-stranded nucleic acids 10–100 nucleotides in length. Their targets, often with specificity and high affinity, range from ions and small molecules to proteins and other biological molecules as well as larger systems, including cells, tissues, and animals. Aptamers often rival conventional antibodies with improved performance, due to aptamers’ unique biophysical and biochemical properties, including small size, synthetic accessibility, facile modification, low production cost, and low immunogenicity. Therefore, there is sustained interest in engineering and adapting aptamers for many applications, including diagnostics and therapeutics. 
  • 1.1K
  • 06 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Role of Antimicrobial Peptides in Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) represents the most frequent type of dementia in elderly people. There are two major forms of the disease: sporadic (SAD) - whose causes are not completely understood - and familial (FAD) - with clear autosomal dominant inheritance. The two main hallmarks of AD are extracellular deposits of amyloid-beta (Aβ) peptide and intracellular deposits of the hyperphosphorylated form of the tau protein (P-tau). An ever-growing body of research supports the infectious hypothesis of sporadic forms of AD.
  • 1.1K
  • 10 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Clinical Aspects of HIV Associated Neurocognitive Impairment
Neurocognitive impairment (NCI) associated with HIV infection of the brain impacts a large proportion of people with HIV (PWH) regardless of antiretroviral therapy (ART). While the number of people with HIV (PWH) and severe NCI has dropped considerably with the introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART), the sole use of ART is not sufficient to prevent or arrest NCI in many PWH. As the HIV field continues to investigate cure strategies, adjunctive therapies are greatly needed. HIV imaging, cerebrospinal fluid, and pathological studies point to the presence of continual inflammation, and the presence of HIV RNA, DNA, and proteins in the brain despite ART.
  • 1.1K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
SARS-CoV-2 Neurological Implications
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is an emergent infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths throughout the world. COVID-19 infection’s main symptoms are fever, cough, fatigue, and neurological manifestations such as headache, myalgias, anosmia, ageusia, impaired consciousness, seizures, and even neuromuscular junctions’ disorders. Due to the neurological symptoms associated to COVID-19, damage in the central nervous system has been suggested as well as the neuroinvasive potential of SARS-CoV-2. 
  • 1.1K
  • 29 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Relationship between Latent-Toxoplasmosis and Depression
Latent infection of the globally spread parasite Toxoplasma gondii in humans has been associated with changes in personality and behavior. Numerous studies have investigated the effect of toxoplasmosis on depression, but their results are inconsistent. Our study focused on the effect of latent toxoplasmosis on depression in men and women in association with their fertility. In 2016–2018, we recruited clients (677 men and 664 women) of the Center for Assisted Reproduction and asked them to complete a standardized Beck Depression Inventory-II. In women without fertility problems, we found higher depression scores in Toxoplasma-positive than in Toxoplasma-negative (p = 0.010, Cohen’s d = 0.48). Toxoplasma-positive infertile men, on the other hand, had lower depression scores than Toxoplasma-negative infertile men (p ≤ 0.001, Cohen’s d = 0.48). Our results are consistent with the previously described effects of latent toxoplasmosis, which seem to go in opposite directions regarding the effect on personality and behavior of men and women. Our results could be explained by gender-contrasting reactions to chronic stress associated with lifelong infection. This suggests that due to gender differences in the impact of latent toxoplasmosis, future studies ought to perform separate analyses for women and men. 
  • 1.1K
  • 26 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Therapeutic Gardens for Dementia People
Contact with nature involves the exposure to greenery in general, or it can involve specific activities such as gardening therapy or the use of therapeutic gardens, both of which are among the non-pharmacological treatments recommended for PWD and other kinds of disease [7,8]. Therapeutic gardens can be used more or less actively, for gardening or other activities (e.g., psychotherapy), or passively (for walking or simply sitting in). They can be built inside or outside care facilities. Including therapeutic gardens in care environments has positive effects on agitation, behavior, walking, stress levels, self-esteem, depression, and aggressiveness.
  • 1.1K
  • 26 Oct 2021
Topic Review
N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor
Involvement of glutamate and its peripheral N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor (NMDAR) in migraine pathophysiology. N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor (NMDAR) are expressed at several levels of the trigeminovascular system, which is the anatomical and physiological substrate of migraine pain.
  • 1.1K
  • 15 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Challenges for Developmental Dyscalculia Study
Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) signifies a failure in representing quantities, which impairs the performance of basic math operations and schooling achievement during childhood. DD is defined as “a heterogeneous disorder that produces individual differences in both development and functioning of numerical cognition, evidence-based in neuroanatomical, neuropsychological, and behavioural levels, as well as their interactions”.
  • 1.1K
  • 23 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Lymphocyte Counts and Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics
As more treatment options emerge that have a significant impact on the peripheral immune system, the evaluation of lymphocyte count, and that of specific lymphocyte subsets, become more important in the treatment selection and management of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
  • 1.1K
  • 24 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Curcumin Scaffold as a Tool for Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders, which is caused by multi-factors and characterized by two histopathological hallmarks: amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of Tau proteins. Thus, researchers have been devoting tremendous efforts to developing and designing new molecules for the early diagnosis of AD and curative purposes. Curcumin and its scaffold have fluorescent and photochemical properties. Mounting evidence showed that curcumin scaffold had neuroprotective effects on AD such as anti-amyloidogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative and metal chelating.
  • 1.1K
  • 01 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Probiotics and Brain Health
Probiotics are proven adjuvant therapeutic agents for various acute and chronic infections, cancer, inflammatory diseases, and cognitive and psychiatric disorders.
  • 1.1K
  • 29 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Primary Motor Cortex
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has emerged as a novel technique to stimulate the human brain through the scalp. Over the years, identifying the optimal brain region and stimulation parameters has been a subject of debate in the literature on therapeutic uses of repetitive TMS (rTMS). Nevertheless, the primary motor cortex (M1) has been a conventional target for rTMS to treat motor symptoms, such as hemiplegia and spasticity, as it controls the voluntary movement of the body. However, with an expanding knowledge base of the M1 cortical and subcortical connections, M1-rTMS has shown a therapeutic efficacy that goes beyond the conventional motor rehabilitation to involve pain, headache, fatigue, dysphagia, speech and voice impairments, sleep disorders, cognitive dysfunction, disorders of consciousness, anxiety, depression, and bladder dysfunction.
  • 1.0K
  • 19 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Metabolomics in Retinal Diseases
The retina is abundant with highly specialized neurons that receive, process, and transduce light signals. It is composed of the monolayered retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the multi-layered neural retina, which contains five major types of neurons and is regarded as part of the central nervous system.
  • 1.0K
  • 19 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Nrf2/Bach1 Signaling Pathway in Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta. Although a complex interplay of multiple environmental and genetic factors has been implicated, the etiology of neuronal death in PD remains unresolved. Various mechanisms of neuronal degeneration in PD have been proposed, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, neuroinflammation, α-synuclein proteostasis, disruption of calcium homeostasis, and other cell death pathways. While many drugs individually targeting these pathways have shown promise in preclinical PD models, this promise has not yet translated into neuroprotective therapies in human PD. This has consequently spurred efforts to identify alternative targets with multipronged therapeutic approaches. A promising therapeutic target that could modulate multiple etiological pathways involves drug-induced activation of a coordinated genetic program regulated by the transcription factor, nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). Nrf2 regulates the transcription of over 250 genes, creating a multifaceted network that integrates cellular activities by expressing cytoprotective genes, promoting the resolution of inflammation, restoring redox and protein homeostasis, stimulating energy metabolism, and facilitating repair. Researchers propose that the transcriptional repressor of BTB and CNC homology 1 (Bach1), which antagonizes Nrf2, could serve as a promising complementary target for the activation of both Nrf2-dependent and Nrf2-independent neuroprotective pathways. Here this entry present the knowledge on the Nrf2/Bach1 signaling pathway, its role in various cellular processes, and the benefits of simultaneously inhibiting Bach1 and stabilizing Nrf2 using non-electrophilic small molecules as a novel therapeutic approach for PD.
  • 1.0K
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor in Alzheimer′s Disease
The most common form of dementia is accounted for by Alzheimer′s disease (AD) that includes between 50% and 75% of the cases of dementia with a doubling of its prevalence every five years after the age of 65 years. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine produced by several cells of the innate and adaptive immune system, as well as non-immune cells. Dismantling the exact role of MIF and its receptors in AD may offer novel diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities in AD. 
  • 1.0K
  • 29 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Endocannabinoid System: Chemical Characteristics and Biological Activity
The endocannabinoid system (eCB) has been studied to identify the molecular structures present in Cannabis sativa. eCB consists of cannabinoid receptors, endogenous ligands, and the associated enzymatic apparatus responsible for maintaining energy homeostasis and cognitive processes. Several physiological effects of cannabinoids are exerted through interactions with various receptors, such as CB1 and CB2 receptors, vanilloid receptors, and the recently discovered G-protein-coupled receptors (GPR55, GPR3, GPR6, GPR12, and GPR19). Anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidoylglycerol (2-AG), two small lipids derived from arachidonic acid, showed high-affinity binding to both CB1 and CB2 receptors. 
  • 1.0K
  • 01 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Multiple Intertwined Processes in MDD
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a heterogeneous disease that affects one out of five individuals in their lifetime and is the leading cause of disability worldwide. The symptoms of MDD are associated with structural and neurochemical deficits in the corticolimbic brain regions. The behavioral symptoms of depression are extensive, covering emotional, motivational, cognitive, and physiological domains, and include anhedonia, aberrant reward-associated perception, and memory alterations. Presently, MDD is considered a multifactorial disease with various causes and triggers such as genetic susceptibility, stress, and other pathological processes such as inflammation.
  • 1.0K
  • 22 Sep 2021
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