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:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Therapeutic Options against Chronic HBV
Currently, Chronic Hepatitis B (CHB) is controlled but not cured by approved antivirals. For instance, transcriptionally active HBV DNA in the nucleus is not directly targeted. Except for interferon-α (IFN-α) and pegylated IFN-α, all other licensed drugs are nucleoside (Lamivudine, Clevudine, Entecavir, Telbivudine) and nucleotide analogues (Adefovir dipivoxil, Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, Tenofovir alafenamide). All these drugs are potent at reducing viral loads and normalizing alanine transaminase levels in CHB patients. However, long-term treatment with many of these drugs leads to the development of multiple drug resistance mutations. In addition, while a limited reduction in cccDNA is achieved, long-term nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment does not reduce hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels.
  • 471
  • 14 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Management
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a rising epidemic worldwide, involving more than a quarter of the world's population. A sedentary lifestyle and consuming a Western diet have led to substantial challenges in managing NAFLD patients. With no curative pharmaceutical therapies, lifestyle modifications, including dietary changes and exercise, that ultimately lead to weight loss remain the only effective therapy for NAFLD. 
  • 471
  • 09 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Vitamin D Signaling in Gastro-Rheumatology
Vitamin D has been recently pointed out, and abnormalities of the vitamin D axis have been described in both in vitro and in vivo models of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and arthritis.
  • 470
  • 29 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Artificial Intelligence in Colonoscopy
The early endoscopic identification, resection, and treatment of precancerous adenoma and early-stage cancer has been shown to reduce not only the prevalence of colorectal cancer but also its mortality rate. Recent advances in endoscopic devices and imaging technology have dramatically improved the ability to detect colorectal lesions and predict their pathological diagnosis. In addition to this, rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology mean that AI-related research and development is now progressing in the diagnostic imaging field, particularly colonoscopy, and AIs (i.e., devices that mimic cognitive abilities, such as learning and problem-solving) already approved as medical devices are now being introduced into everyday clinical practice. There is an increasing expectation that sophisticated AIs will be able to provide high-level diagnostic performance irrespective of the level of skill of the endoscopist.
  • 470
  • 10 Jun 2022
Topic Review
TLR4 Signaling in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Immunotherapy
Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of primary liver cancer and is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Immunotherapy has emerged as the mainstay treatment option for unresectable HCC. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) plays a crucial role in the innate immune response by recognizing and responding primarily to bacterial lipopolysaccharides. In addition to its role in the innate immune system, TLR4 has also been implicated in adaptive immunity, including specific anti-tumor immune responses. In particular, the TLR4 signaling pathway seems to be involved in the regulation of several cancer hallmarks, such as the continuous activation of cellular pathways that promote cell division and growth, the inhibition of programmed cell death, the promotion of several invasion and metastatic mechanisms, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, angiogenesis, drug resistance, and epigenetic modifications. Emerging evidence further suggests that TLR4 signaling holds promise as a potential immunotherapeutic target in HCC
  • 470
  • 21 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Flavonoids’ Dual Benefits in Gastrointestinal Cancer and Diabetes
Diabetes and gastrointestinal cancers (GI) are global health conditions with a massive burden on patients’ lives worldwide. The development of both conditions is influenced by several factors, such as diet, genetics, environment, and infection, which shows a potential link between them. Flavonoids are naturally occurring phenolic compounds present in fruits and vegetables. Once ingested, unabsorbed flavonoids reaching the colon undergo enzymatic modification by the gut microbiome to facilitate absorption and produce ring fission products. The metabolized flavonoids exert antidiabetic and anti-GI cancer properties, targeting major impaired pathways such as apoptosis and cellular proliferation in both conditions, suggesting the potentially dual effects of flavonoids on diabetes and GI cancers. Herein, the knowledge on the impact of flavonoids on diabetes and GI cancers in four significant pathways is summarized. It also addresses the synergistic effects of selected flavonoids on both conditions. While this is an intriguing approach, more studies are required to better understand the mechanism of how flavonoids can influence the same impaired pathways with different outcomes depending on the disease.
  • 469
  • 19 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Cholestatic Pruritus in Children
Pruritus in the setting of cholestatic liver disease is difficult to treat and occurs in patients ranging in age from infancy to adulthood. Likely multifactorial in etiology, this symptom often involves multimodal therapy targeting several pathways and mechanisms proposed in the underlying etiology of cholestatic pruritus. Conventional therapies for the treatment of cholestatic pruritus in children include ursodeoxycholic acid, cholestyramine, hydroxyzine, and rifampin. Therapies used in the adult population with limited data in pediatric patients include opioid antagonists and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Ileal bile acid transport inhibitors have been shown to alleviate pruritus in many children with Alagille syndrome and progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis and it is an additional therapy available for consideration for these patients. Ultimately, surgical management and liver transplantation are considered in select refractory cases.
  • 469
  • 14 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Apoptosis and Autophagy in Human Colorectal Cancer Development
Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major life-threatening malignancy. Apoptosis and autophagy are two processes that share common signaling pathways, are linked by functional relationships and have similar protein components. During the development of cancer, the two processes can trigger simultaneously in the same cell, causing, in some cases, an inhibition of autophagy by apoptosis or apoptosis by autophagy. Malignant cells that have accumulated genetic alterations can take advantage of any alterations in the apoptotic process and as a result, progress easily in the cancerous transformation. Autophagy often plays a suppressive role during the initial stages of carcinogenicity, while in the later stages of cancer development it can play a promoting role. It is extremely important to determine the regulation of this duality of autophagy in the development of CRC and to identify the molecules involved, as well as the signals and the mechanisms behind it. All the reported experimental results indicate that, while the antagonistic effects of autophagy and apoptosis occur in an adverse environment characterized by deprivation of oxygen and nutrients, leading to the formation and development of CRC, the effects of promotion and collaboration usually involve an auxiliary role of autophagy compared to apoptosis. 
  • 469
  • 20 Jun 2023
Topic Review
TAM Receptors in the Pathophysiology of Liver Disease
TAM receptors (Tyro3, Axl and MerTK) are a family of tyrosine kinase receptors that are expressed in a variety of cell populations, including liver parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells These receptors are vital for immune homeostasis, as they regulate the innate immune response by suppressing inflammation via toll-like receptor inhibition and by promoting tissue resolution through efferocytosis. However, there is increasing evidence indicating that aberrant TAM receptor signaling may play a role in pathophysiological processes in the context of liver disease. This review will explore the roles of TAM receptors and their ligands in liver homeostasis as well as a variety of disease settings, including acute liver injury, steatosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction and hepatocellular carcinoma. A better understanding of our current knowledge of TAM receptors in liver disease may identify new opportunities for disease monitoring as well as novel therapeutic targets. Nonetheless, this review also aims to highlight areas where further research on TAM receptor biology in liver disease is required.
  • 468
  • 28 Jan 2022
Topic Review
New insights in Liver Regeneration
The physiological importance of the liver is demonstrated by its unique and essential ability to regenerate following extensive injuries affecting its function. By regenerating, the liver reacts to hepatic damage and thus enables homeostasis to be restored. The actors involved in the regenerative process are numerous and many of them are also pivotal players in both the immune and non-immune inflammatory process, that is observed in the early stages of hepatic regeneration. Balance of Th17/Treg is important in liver inflammatory process outcomes. 
  • 468
  • 08 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Microbiota and Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasing cause of chronic liver illness associated with obesity and metabolic disorders, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, or type 2 diabetes mellitus. A more severe type of NAFLD, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), is considered an ongoing global health threat and dramatically increases the risks of cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is characterized by an increase in fat accumulation in the form of micro and macro vacuoles of lipids into hepatocytes (named steatosis), is the most common liver disorder worldwide. Steatosis is classified as mild (5–33%), moderate (34–66%), or severe (more than 66%) depending on the fat number in vacuoles within the cytoplasm of hepatocytes. Additionally, other histopathological features should be taken into account in the presence of steatosis including inflammation, fibrosis, and ballooning degeneration.
  • 467
  • 06 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Protective Role of Natural Compounds under Radiation-Induced Injury
Evidence has shown the potential therapeutic effects of different natural compounds for the prevention and treatment of radiotherapy-induced mucositis (RIOM). RIOM represents one of the most frequent side effects associated with anti-neoplastic treatments affecting patients’ quality of life and treatment response due to radiation therapy discontinuation. The innate radio-protective ability of natural products obtained from plants is in part due to the numerous antioxidants possessed as a part of their normal secondary metabolic processes. However, oxygen presence is a key point for radiation efficacy on cancer cells. Here, it is to describe the most recent evidence on radiation-induced injury and the emerging protective role of natural compounds in preventing and treating this specific damage without compromising treatment efficacy.
  • 467
  • 26 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Immune Cells in Gastric Cancer
Despite the fact that the incidence of gastric cancer has declined over the last decade, it is still the world’s leading cause of cancer-related death. The diagnosis of early gastric cancer is difficult, as symptoms of this cancer only manifest at a late stage of cancer progression. Thus, the prognosis of gastric cancer is poor, and the current treatment for improving patients’ outcomes involves the application of surgery and chemotherapy. Immunotherapy is one of the most recent therapies for gastric cancer, whereby the immune system of the host is programmed to combat cancer cells, and the therapy differs based upon the patient’s immune system. However, an understanding of the role of immune cells, namely the cell-mediated immune response and the humoral immune response, is pertinent for applications of immunotherapy. The roles of immune cells in the prognosis of gastric cancer have yielded conflicting results.
  • 466
  • 23 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
IBS is a widespread functional GI disorder that determines symptoms such as chronic abdominal pain, flatulence, bloating, and altered bowel habits. Depending on diagnostic standards and the regional area, this pathology has a prevalence between 5% and 20% in adults. IBS can occur among patients of any age, even among children, more precisely 13.5% worldwide, and adolescents, rarely manifesting in older patients. IBS has a slightly higher prevalence among women than males and between 18 and 39 years of age.
  • 466
  • 15 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Therapeutic Quiver of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
The therapeutic quiver of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) consists of several levels, of which lifestyle, pharmaceutical, and surgical approaches are the main treatments. A multimodal intervention with multiple aspects, such as lifestyle modification, weight loss, specific diets, and medication, is the most appropriate and holistic approach for most people with NAFLD.
  • 463
  • 27 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Microbial Translocation Disorders
Gut microbes are immunologically tolerated in the gastrointestinal tract but trigger aggressive immune responses upon translocation across the gut barrier. Although oral tolerance, a physiological process that dampens immune responses to food proteins and commensal microbiota, remains poorly defined, significant progress was made during and after the Human Immunodeficiency Virus epidemic in the 1980s and the discovery of regulatory T cells in 1995. Additional insight was gained after the discoveries of innate lymphoid cells in 2008 and the functional elucidation of mucosal mast cells.
  • 462
  • 28 Apr 2023
Topic Review
Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines in Patients with Cirrhosis
Liver cirrhosis is followed by a profound immune dysfunction characterized by alterations in innate (decreased complement activity, reduced chemotaxis, and phagocytosis) and adaptive immunity (decreased memory cells, CD4 helper cells, T cell exhaustion) which leads to an inadequate immune response against a wide range of pathogens. The pathogenesis of what is known as ‘cirrhosis-associated immune dysfunction’ resides mainly in impairment of the hepatic reticulo-endothelial system, defective protein production, blood cell dysfunction, and systemic inflammation that is related to hepatocyte destruction.
  • 461
  • 21 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Epigenetics and Inflammatory Biomarkers in Necrotizing Enterocolitis
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a severe inflammatory necrosis of the distal small intestine/colon that primarily affects preterm or very low birth weight infants after the introduction of enteral feeds. Epigenetic alternation in the immature intestine, such as changes in DNA methylation and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) patterns, may contribute to increased risk of NEC. 
  • 460
  • 22 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Crohn’s Disease Complication
Crohn’s Disease (CD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder in which up to 50% of patients develop fistula within 20 years after the initial diagnosis, and half of these patients suffer perianal fistulizing disease. The etiopathogenesis of CD-related perianal fistula is still unclear, and its phenotypical and molecular characteristics are even more indefinite. A better understanding would be crucial to develop targeted and more effective therapeutic strategies.
  • 458
  • 06 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Bicarbonate Transport in Cystic Fibrosis and Pancreatitis
CFTR, the cystic fibrosis (CF) gene-encoded epithelial anion channel, has a prominent role in driving chloride, bicarbonate and fluid secretion in the ductal cells of the exocrine pancreas. Here, we summarize recent insights into the mechanism and regulation of CFTR-mediated and modulated bicarbonate secretion in the pancreatic duct, including the role of the osmotic stress/chloride sensor WNK1 and the scaffolding protein IRBIT, and current knowledge about the role of CFTR in genetic and acquired forms of pancreatitis. Furthermore, we discuss the perspectives for CFTR modulator therapy in the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and pancreatitis and introduce pancreatic organoids as a promising model system to study CFTR function in the human pancreas, its role in the pathology of pancreatitis and its sensitivity to CFTR modulators on a personalized basis.
  • 457
  • 19 Apr 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 33
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Encyclopedia of Fungi
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
ScholarVision Creations
Feedback