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Topic Review
Therapeutic Approaches Utilizing Macrophage-Derived iNOS/NO in Cancer
Nitric oxide and its production by iNOS is an established mechanism critical to tumor promotion or suppression. Macrophages have important roles in immunity, development, and progression of cancer and have a controversial role in pro-and anti-tumoral effects. The tumor microenvironment consists of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM), among other cell types that influence the fate of the growing tumor. Depending on the microenvironment and various cues, macrophages polarize into a continuum represented by the M1-like pro-inflammatory phenotype or the anti-inflammatory M2-like phenotype; these two are predominant, while there are subsets and intermediates. Manipulating their plasticity through programming or reprogramming of M2-like to M1-like phenotypes presents the opportunity to maximize tumoricidal defenses. The dual role of iNOS derived NO also influences TAM activity by repolarization to tumoricidal M1-type phenotype. Regulatory pathways and immunomodulation achieve this through miRNA that may inhibit the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment.
  • 1.4K
  • 07 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Infection Control
Infection control is the discipline concerned with preventing nosocomial or healthcare-associated infection, a practical (rather than academic) sub-discipline of epidemiology. It is an essential, though often underrecognized and undersupported, part of the infrastructure of health care. Infection control and hospital epidemiology are akin to public health practice, practiced within the confines of a particular health-care delivery system rather than directed at society as a whole. Anti-infective agents include antibiotics, antibacterials, antifungals, antivirals and antiprotozoals. Infection control addresses factors related to the spread of infections within the healthcare setting (whether patient-to-patient, from patients to staff and from staff to patients, or among-staff), including prevention (via hand hygiene/hand washing, cleaning/disinfection/sterilization, vaccination, surveillance), monitoring/investigation of demonstrated or suspected spread of infection within a particular health-care setting (surveillance and outbreak investigation), and management (interruption of outbreaks). It is on this basis that the common title being adopted within health care is "infection prevention and control."
  • 1.4K
  • 26 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Range Anxiety
Range anxiety is the fear that a vehicle has insufficient range to reach its destination and would thus strand the vehicle's occupants. The term, which is primarily used in reference to battery electric vehicles (BEVs), is considered to be one of the major barriers to large-scale adoption of all-electric cars. The term range anxiety was first reported in the press on September 1, 1997, in the San Diego Business Journal by Richard Acello referring to worries of GM EV1 electric car drivers. On July 6, 2010, General Motors filed to trademark the term, stating it was for the purpose of "promoting public awareness of electric vehicle capabilities". The Norwegian equivalent rekkeviddeangst was assigned second place in a list of Norwegian "words of the year" for 2013 by the Norwegian Language Council. The main strategies to alleviate range anxiety among electric car drivers are the deployment of extensive charging infrastructure, the development of higher battery capacity at a cost-effective price, battery swapping technology, use of range extenders, accurate navigation and range prediction and availability of free loan vehicles for long trips. According to a study by the American Automobile Association, the cure to range anxiety is owning an electric vehicle.
  • 1.4K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
List of Psychiatric Medications by Condition Treated
This is a list of psychiatric medications used by psychiatrists and other physicians to treat mental illness or distress. The list is ordered alphabetically according to the condition or conditions, then by the generic name of each medication. The list is not exhaustive and not all drugs are used regularly in all countries. Some medications treat multiple conditions and appear multiple times.
  • 1.4K
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
An Instrument for Occupation-Based Research
Occupational therapy practice is based on the fundamental assumption that meaningful occupations play a key role in achieving and maintaining health and wellbeing by facilitating personal engagement and accomplishment [1]. This practice framework rests largely on the fact that occupational performance should involve an occupational balance (OB), i.e., a sense of harmony between occupations, becoming a necessary condition to ensure that occupations properly perform a process for obtaining health and wellness. From an occupational perspective of health, it should be noted that there is a variety of risk factors that can affect the right use, choice, opportunity, or balance in an occupation, thereby resulting in occupational dysfunction, which may also involve other negative consequences such as occupational deprivation, occupational alienation, or occupational imbalance.
  • 1.4K
  • 28 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis
Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of tuberculosis (TB) infection caused by bacteria that are resistant to treatment with at least two of the most powerful first-line anti-TB medications (drugs), isoniazid and rifampin. Some forms of TB are also resistant to second-line medications, and are called extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). Tuberculosis is caused by infection with the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Almost one in four people in the world are infected with TB bacteria. Only when the bacteria become active do people become ill with TB. Bacteria become active as a result of anything that can reduce the person's immunity, such as HIV, advancing age, diabetes or other immunocompromising illnesses. TB can usually be treated with a course of four standard, or first-line, anti-TB drugs (i.e., isoniazid, rifampin and any fluoroquinolone). However, beginning with the first antibiotic treatment for TB in 1943, some strains of the TB bacteria developed resistance to the standard drugs through genetic changes (see mechanisms.) Currently the majority of multidrug-resistant cases of TB are due to one strain of TB bacteria called the Beijing lineage. This process accelerates if incorrect or inadequate treatments are used, leading to the development and spread of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Incorrect or inadequate treatment may be due to use of the wrong medications, use of only one medication (standard treatment is at least two drugs), not taking medication consistently or for the full treatment period (treatment is required for several months). Treatment of MDR-TB requires second-line drugs (i.e., fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, and others), which in general are less effective, more toxic and much more expensive than first-line drugs. Treatment schedules for MDR-TB involving fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides can run for 2 years, compared to the 6 months of first-line drug treatment, and cost over US$100,000. If these second-line drugs are prescribed or taken incorrectly, further resistance can develop leading to XDR-TB. Resistant strains of TB are already present in the population, so MDR-TB can be directly transmitted from an infected person to an uninfected person. In this case a previously untreated person develops a new case of MDR-TB. This is known as primary MDR-TB, and is responsible for up to 75% of cases. Acquired MDR-TB develops when a person with a non-resistant strain of TB is treated inadequately, resulting in the development of antibiotic resistance in the TB bacteria infecting them. These people can in turn infect other people with MDR-TB. MDR-TB caused an estimated 600,000 new TB cases and 240,000 deaths in 2016 and MDR-TB accounts for 4.1% of all new TB cases and 19% of previously treated cases worldwide. Globally, most MDR-TB cases occur in South America, Southern Africa, India, China, and the former Soviet Union. Treatment of MDR-TB requires treatment with second-line drugs, usually four or more anti-TB drugs for a minimum of 6 months, and possibly extending for 18–24 months if rifampin resistance has been identified in the specific strain of TB with which the patient has been infected. Under ideal program conditions, MDR-TB cure rates can approach 70%.
  • 1.4K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Multiple Myeloma
Multiple myeloma (MM), characterized by malicious clonal explanation of plasma cells in the bone marrow with creation of monoclonal gammopathy, is the second most prevalent hematologic malignancy in adults. It accounts for approximately 13% of all hematologic malignancies and 1% of all cancers in the world, with a median age of onset of 69 years [1][2]. 
  • 1.4K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Second-Hits in Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia
Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder that presents with telangiectases in skin and mucosae, and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) in internal organs such as lungs, liver, and brain. Mutations in ENG (endoglin), ACVRL1 (ALK1), and MADH4 (Smad4) genes account for over 95% of HHT. Localized telangiectases and AVMs are present in different organs, with frequencies which differ among affected individuals. By itself, HHT gene heterozygosity does not account for the focal nature and varying presentation of the vascular lesions leading to the hypothesis of a “second-hit” that triggers the lesions. Accumulating research has identified a variety of triggers that may synergize with HHT gene heterozygosity to generate the vascular lesions. Among the postulated second-hits are: mechanical trauma, light, inflammation, vascular injury, angiogenic stimuli, shear stress, modifier genes, and somatic mutations in the wildtype HHT gene allele.
  • 1.4K
  • 08 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Alzheimer’s Disease, Breast, Prostate Cancer
Noncommunicable diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, breast and prostate cancer, are becoming increasingly prevalent in Western countries. To better elucidate the onset and evolution of these pathologies and ultimately design new preventive and therapeutic strategies, research activities focused on these biomedical areas have been supported by the European Union in the last two decades. While research has globally contributed increasing our understanding of the pathological mechanisms underlying these diseases, the failure rate in drug development still remains very high. Nowadays, it is important to monitor contribution to innovation and impact of funded research by means of defined indicators.
  • 1.3K
  • 28 Jul 2020
Topic Review
Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a common type of chronic rheumatic diseases affecting children with the age of onset under 16 years, and needs aggressive treatment to control its symptoms.
  • 1.3K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
The Relationship between Iron and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), are chronic, relapsing inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Interactions between the environmental factors and commensal intestinal microflora in genetically predisposed individuals are considered the leading cause of an inappropriate immune response and as a result, the development of inflammatory disease. Iron is an indispensable nutrient for life. A lack of it leads to iron deficiency anaemia (IDA), which currently affects about 1.2 billion people worldwide. The primary means of IDA treatment is oral or parenteral iron supplementation. This can be burdened with numerous side effects such as oxidative stress, systemic and local-intestinal inflammation, dysbiosis, carcinogenic processes and gastrointestinal adverse events.
  • 1.3K
  • 15 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Scutellaria baicalensis
Flavonoids as the largest group of natural phytochemical compounds have received significant attention, as demonstrated by clinical trials, due to their chemotherapeutic and/or pharmacological effects against non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and asthma. Scutellaria baicalensis (S. baicalensis), known as one of the most popular medicinal plants and used in several countries, contains natural active flavone constituents, with the major compounds of the roots being baicalein, baicalin, wogonin, wogonoside and oroxylin A. S. baicalensis and their compounds are proven to have inhibitory effects on NSCLC cells when used at different concentrations. However, the exact mechanisms by which these compounds exert their therapeutic effects against asthma remain unexplored. Indeed, the mechanisms by which S. baicalensis and its flavone compounds exert a protective effect against nicotine-induced NSCLC and asthma are not yet fully understood. 
  • 1.3K
  • 17 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Degradation Behavior of Polymeric Coatings
The biodegradable term refers to a biologically assisted degradation process. A biodegradable polymer is a polymer susceptible to degradation by biological activity, accompanied by a lowering of its molar mass. There is a justified need to investigate biodegradable polymers in form of thin films because compared with those bulk, which has a long and comprehensive history on the degradation subject, there is still insufficient and fragmented understanding about the degradation of thin polymeric films, with research limited in general to very specific cases. Our efforts have been focused on on centralizing the comprehensive literature studies about stability and degradation of different polymeric coatings, which were thoroughly evaluated by polymer mass loss measurements, electrochemical investigations and/or surface. A briefly description of the factors affecting degradation, testing methods and applications of biodegradable polymers coatings was completed.
  • 1.3K
  • 07 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
User:RMCD bot/subject notice Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)[note 1] is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, or other threats on a person's life. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in how a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk for suicide and intentional self-harm. Most people who experience traumatic events do not develop PTSD. People who experience interpersonal trauma such as rape or child abuse are more likely to develop PTSD as compared to people who experience non-assault based trauma, such as accidents and natural disasters. About half of people develop PTSD following rape. Children are less likely than adults to develop PTSD after trauma, especially if they are under 10 years of age.[10] Diagnosis is based on the presence of specific symptoms following a traumatic event. Prevention may be possible when counselling is targeted at those with early symptoms but is not effective when provided to all trauma-exposed individuals whether or not symptoms are present. The main treatments for people with PTSD are counselling (psychotherapy) and medication.[11] Antidepressants of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor type are the first-line medications used for PTSD and are beneficial for about half of people. Benefits from medication are less than those seen with counselling. It is not known whether using medications and counselling together has greater benefit than either method separately.[12] Medications, other than SSRIs, do not have enough evidence to support their use and, in the case of benzodiazepines, may worsen outcomes.[13][14] In the United States, about 3.5% of adults have PTSD in a given year, and 9% of people develop it at some point in their life. In much of the rest of the world, rates during a given year are between 0.5% and 1%. Higher rates may occur in regions of armed conflict. It is more common in women than men. Symptoms of trauma-related mental disorders have been documented since at least the time of the ancient Greeks.[15] During the World Wars, the condition was known under various terms including "shell shock" and "combat neurosis".[16] The term "posttraumatic stress disorder" came into use in the 1970s in large part due to the diagnoses of U.S. military veterans of the Vietnam War.[17] It was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980 in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III).[18]
  • 1.3K
  • 06 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Felid Cardiopulmonary Nematodes
Felid cardiopulmonary nematodes belong to the superfamily Metastrongyloidea and mainly to the species Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, Troglostrongylus brevior, Oslerus rostratus (parasites of the airways), and Angiostrongylus chabaudi (parasite of the pulmonary artery and right chambers of the heart).
  • 1.3K
  • 26 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Epidemiology of Typhoid Fever
In 2000, typhoid fever caused an estimated 21.7 million illnesses and 217,000 deaths. It occurs most often in children and young adults between 5 and 19 years old. In 2013, it resulted in about 161,000 deaths – down from 181,000 in 1990. Infants, children, and adolescents in south-central and Southeast Asia experience the greatest burden of illness. Outbreaks of typhoid fever are also frequently reported from sub-Saharan Africa and countries in Southeast Asia. In the United States, about 400 cases occur each year, and 75% of these are acquired while traveling internationally. Historically, before the antibiotic era, the case fatality rate of typhoid fever was 10–20%. Today, with prompt treatment, it is less than 1%. However, about 3–5% of individuals who are infected develop a chronic infection in the gall bladder. Since S. e. subsp. enterica is human-restricted, these chronic carriers become the crucial reservoir, which can persist for decades for further spread of the disease, further complicating the identification and treatment of the disease. Lately, the study of S. e. subsp. enterica associated with a large outbreak and a carrier at the genome level provides new insights into the pathogenesis of the pathogen. In industrialized nations, water sanitation and food handling improvements have reduced the number of cases. Developing nations, such as those found in parts of Asia and Africa, have the highest rates of typhoid fever. These areas have a lack of access to clean water, proper sanitation systems, and proper health-care facilities. For these areas, such access to basic public-health needs is not in the near future.
  • 1.3K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Wearable Piezoresistive, Inertial Sensors, RRM
The demand for wearable devices to measure respiratory activity is constantly growing, finding applications in a wide range of scenarios (e.g., clinical environments and workplaces, outdoors for monitoring sports activities, etc.). Particularly, the respiration rate (RR) is a vital parameter since it indicates serious illness (e.g., pneumonia, emphysema, pulmonary embolism, etc.). Therefore, several solutions have been presented in the scientific literature and on the market to make RR monitoring simple, accurate, reliable and noninvasive.
  • 1.3K
  • 17 Sep 2021
Topic Review
MiR-615
miR-615, a miRNA highly conserved across eutherian mammals. It is involved not only during embryogenesis in the regulation of growth and development, for instance during osteogenesis and angiogenesis, but also in the regulation of cell growth and the proliferation and migration of cells, acting as a tumor suppressor or tumor promoter. It, therefore, serves as a biomarker for several types of cancer and recently has also been found to be involved in reparative processes and neural repair.
  • 1.3K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Tendinosis
Tendinosis means and is sometimes called chronic tendinitis, chronic tendinopathy, or chronic tendon injury. It is damage to a tendon at a cellular level (the suffix "osis" implies a pathology of chronic degeneration without inflammation). It is thought to be caused by microtears in the connective tissue in and around the tendon, leading to an increase in tendon repair cells. This may lead to reduced tensile strength, thus increasing the chance of tendon rupture. Tendinosis is often misdiagnosed as tendinitis because of the limited understanding of tendinopathies by the medical community. Classic characteristics of "tendinosis" include degenerative changes in the collagenous matrix, hypercellularity, hypervascularity, and a lack of inflammatory cells which has challenged the original misnomer "tendinitis".
  • 1.3K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Herd Immunity against Viral Diseases
Microbiome is the preeminent factor to maintain the efficacy of vaccine platform. The inception of herd immunity in society is depending upon food habits, microbiome symbiosis, environmental factors, and network among people with each other.  Rigorous pan-India polio vaccination program for the last 30 years develops heterologous immunity providing cardinal protection against the COVID-19.
  • 1.3K
  • 09 Nov 2020
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