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Topic Review
Homo-Oligomeric Proteins
Protein homo-oligomerization is a very common phenomenon, and approximately half of proteins form homo-oligomeric assemblies composed of identical subunits. Many proteins have a natural tendency to self-associate into homo-oligomeric protein complexes, also termed homomers, which are composed of two or more identical subunits. According to the estimation, 30–50% of all proteins oligomerize. In addition, analysis of protein crystal structures demonstrated that roughly 45% of eukaryotic proteins and 60% of prokaryotic proteins that are deposited as single polypeptide chains also exist in a form of homo-oligomeric complex. 
  • 3.5K
  • 23 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Myostatin Gene Polymorphisms with Strength Phenotype of Athletes
Polymorphism (rs1805086), c.458A>G, p.Lys(K)153Arg(R), (K153R) of the myostatin gene (MSTN) has been associated with a skeletal muscle phenotype (hypertrophic response in muscles due to strength training). The K153R polymorphism is significant in the development of muscle mass and strength. The rare R variant increases the inhibition of MSTN synthesis, thereby leading to an increase in skeletal muscle mass and muscle strength. The R variant is favorable for sports in which muscle strength and mass are important, such as bodybuilding, powerlifting, weightlifting, arm wrestling, kettlebell lifting, shot put, and bobsleigh. It can be assumed that the strong effect of this allele on the ability to become a successful athlete in weightlifting and speed-power sports is based on the inhibition of MSTN synthesis. 
  • 3.5K
  • 01 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Lignin
Lignin is an extremely abundant substance that has a chemical functionality that endows it with the necessary properties to be an attractive platform material for the new millennium. We must continue to explore and exploit its potentiality as a stand-alone material, raw feedstock for refining to chemicals, polymeric filler, and co-composite material. This review highlights hardwood-derived lignin, a little explored form of lignin, as a promising platform material.
  • 3.5K
  • 13 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Life Cycle Assessment of Cellulose
The huge plastic production and plastic pollution are considered important global issues due to environmental aspects. One practical and efficient way to address them is to replace fossil-based plastics with natural-based materials, such as cellulose. The applications of different cellulose products have recently received increasing attention because of their desirable properties, such as biodegradability and sustainability.
  • 3.5K
  • 19 Feb 2021
Topic Review
P-Coumaric Acid in Cosmetics
p-Coumaric acid is a natural metabolite contained in many edible plants, and its antioxidant activities in reducing oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions have been demonstrated in various experimental models. p-Coumaric acid has an optimal structure to be a competitive inhibitor of tyrosinase that catalyzes key reactions in the melanin biosynthetic pathway. Experimental evidence supports this notion as it was found to be a more potent inhibitor of tyrosinase, especially toward human enzymes, than other well-known tyrosinase inhibitors such as arbutin and kojic acid. p-Coumaric acid inhibited melanin synthesis in murine melanoma cells, human epidermal melanocytes, and 3-dimensionally reconstituted human skin models. Ex vivo skin permeation experiments and in vivo efficacy tests for p-coumaric acid confirmed its efficient transdermal delivery and functional efficacy in reducing erythema development and skin pigmentation due to ultraviolet exposure. Human studies further supported its effectiveness in hypopigmentation and depigmentation. These findings suggest that p-coumaric acid has good potential to be used as a skin-lightening active ingredient in cosmetics. 
  • 3.5K
  • 30 Jul 2021
Biography
Bill Donohue
William Anthony Donohue (born July 18, 1947) is an American Roman Catholic. He has been president of the Catholic League in the United States since 1993.[1] Donohue was born in the borough of Manhattan in New York City , New York. He began his teaching career in the 1970s working at St. Lucy's School in Spanish Harlem. In 1977, he took a teaching position at La Roche College in McCandless, Pe
  • 3.5K
  • 30 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Polymers Modifications through Ultraviolet Absorbers Addition
The photooxidative degradation process of plastics caused by ultraviolet irradiation leads to bond breaking, crosslinking, the elimination of volatiles, formation of free radicals, and decreases in weight and molecular weight. Photodegradation deteriorates both the mechanical and physical properties of plastics and affects their predicted life use, in particular for applications in harsh environments. Plastics have many benefits, while on the other hand, they have numerous disadvantages, such as photodegradation and photooxidation in harsh environments and the release of toxic substances due to the leaching of some components, which have a negative effect on living organisms. Therefore, attention is paid to the design and use of safe, plastic, ultraviolet stabilizers that do not pose a danger to the environment if released. Plastic ultraviolet photostabilizers act as efficient light screeners (absorbers or pigments), excited-state deactivators (quenchers), hydroperoxide decomposers, and radical scavengers. Ultraviolet absorbers are cheap to produce, can be used in low concentrations, mix well with polymers to produce a homogenous matrix, and do not alter the color of polymers.
  • 3.5K
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Tank Steering Systems
Tank steering systems allow a tank, or other continuous track vehicle, to turn. Because the tracks cannot be angled relative to the hull (in any operational design), steering must be accomplished by speeding one track up, slowing the other down (or reversing it), or a combination of both. Half-track vehicles avoid this by combining steerable wheels and fixed-speed tracks. Early steering systems were adopted from tracked work vehicles, generally using a clutch to reduce power to one track, causing it to slow down. These designs have numerous problems, notably when climbing hills or running at high speed, as the reduction in power causes the overall speed to slow. Delivering power to both tracks while turning them at different speeds is a difficult design problem. A series of more advanced designs were introduced, especially through World War II, that maintained power to both tracks during steering, a concept known as regenerative steering. Some also allowed one track to move forward while the other reversed, allowing the tank to spin in place, a concept known as neutral steering. The first really successful system was the British double differential design of 1924, which was copied by both the United States and Germany. Most modern Western designs use a variation of the double differential, while Soviet designs preferred to use two separate transmissions in a single housing. Systems using electric motors with variable speed controls have been tried on a number of occasions, but have not entered widespread service.
  • 3.5K
  • 25 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Machine Learning for Plant Breeding/Biotechnology
Classical univariate and multivariate statistics are the most common methods used for data analysis in plant breeding and biotechnology studies. Evaluation of genetic diversity, classification of plant genotypes, analysis of yield components, yield stability analysis, assessment of biotic and abiotic stresses, prediction of parental combinations in hybrid breeding programs, and analysis of in vitro-based biotechnological experiments are mainly performed by classical statistical methods. Despite successful applications, these classical statistical methods have low efficiency in analyzing data obtained from plant studies, as the genotype, environment, and their interaction (G × E) result in nondeterministic and nonlinear nature of plant characteristics. Large-scale data flow, including phenomics, metabolomics, genomics, and big data, must be analyzed for efficient interpretation of results affected by G × E. Nonlinear nonparametric machine learning techniques are more efficient than classical statistical models in handling large amounts of complex and nondeterministic information with "multiple-independent variables versus multiple-dependent variables" nature. Neural networks, partial least square regression, random forest, and support vector machines are some of the most fascinating machine learning models that have been widely applied to analyze nonlinear and complex data in both classical plant breeding and in vitro-based biotechnological studies. High interpretive power of machine learning algorithms has made them popular in the analysis of plant complex multifactorial characteristics. The classification of different plant genotypes with morphological and molecular markers, modeling and predicting important quantitative characteristics of plants, the interpretation of complex and nonlinear relationships of plant characteristics, and predicting and optimizing of in vitro breeding methods are the examples of applications of machine learning in conventional plant breeding and in vitro-based biotechnological studies. Precision agriculture is possible through accurate measurement of plant characteristics using imaging techniques and then efficient analysis of reliable extracted data using machine learning algorithms. Perfect interpretation of high-throughput phenotyping data is applicable through coupled machine learning-image processing. This entry shows how nonlinear machine learning algorithms can be used in different branches of classical plant breeding and in vitro-based methods. An idea is provided at the end of the entry that shows how coupled image processing-machine learning (especially deep CNN) could be used to identify the ploidy level of plants. It could be used in laboratories without flowcytometry equipment and/or in plant species without an established chromosome counting protocol.
  • 3.5K
  • 17 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Ecology and Evolution of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
The yeast distributes ubiquitously in nature with clearly structured populations. The baker’s yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has become a powerful model in ecology and evolutionary biology. The global genetic diversity of S. cerevisiae is mainly contributed by strains from Far East Asia, and the ancient basal lineages of the species have been found only in China, supporting an ‘out-of-China’ origin hypothesis. The wild and domesticated populations are clearly separated in phylogeny and exhibit hallmark differences in sexuality, heterozygosity, gene copy number variation (CNV), horizontal gene transfer (HGT) and introgression events, and maltose utilization ability. The domesticated strains from different niches generally form distinct lineages and harbor lineage-specific CNVs, HGTs and introgressions, which contribute to their adaptations to specific fermentation environments. 
  • 3.5K
  • 01 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Bloodlands
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin is a book by Yale historian Timothy D. Snyder that was first published by Basic Books on October 28, 2010. In the book, Snyder examines the political, cultural and ideological context tied to a specific region of Central and Eastern Europe, where Joseph Stalin 's Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany committed mass killings of an estimated 14 million noncombatants between 1933 and 1945, the majority outside the death camps of the Holocaust. Snyder's thesis is that the "bloodlands", a region that is now Poland , Belarus , Ukraine , the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), northeastern Romania, and the westernmost fringes of Russia , is the area that the regimes of Stalin and Hitler, despite their conflicting goals, interacted to increase suffering and bloodshed many times worse than any seen in western history. Snyder notes similarities between the two totalitarian regimes and also the enabling interactions that reinforced the destruction and the suffering that were brought to bear on noncombatants. Making use of many new primary and secondary sources from Central and Eastern Europe, Snyder brings scholarship to many forgotten, misunderstood, or incorrectly-remembered parts of the history, and he particularly notes that most of the victims were killed outside the concentration camps of the respective regimes. The book earned many positive reviews and has been called "revisionist history of the best kind". It was awarded numerous prizes, including the 2013 Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thought.
  • 3.5K
  • 28 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Downstream Processing of Virus Filter
Virus filtration is a single-use, size-based separation process in which the contaminating virus particles are retained while the therapeutic molecules pass through the membrane pores. Virus filtration is routinely used as part of the overall virus clearance strategy. Compromised performance of virus filters due to membrane fouling, low throughput and reduced viral clearance, is of considerable industrial significance and is frequently a major challenge.
  • 3.5K
  • 24 Apr 2022
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Mucormycosis—Emerging Fungal Threats
Mucormycosis is an opportunistic fungal infection due to organisms of the Zygomycetes class and the order of Mucorales that can cause various types of infections. In recent years, an increasing phenomenon has been observed—invasive fungal infections especially in the healthcare setting. Among immucompromised patients, an important clinical emergency could be represented by mucormycosis. The epidemiology of mucormycosis has shown an alarming trend and its incidence is rising globally. Four elements are fundamental for a successful treatment: rapid diagnosis, reduction of predisposing factors (if possible), surgical debridement of infected tissues, and appropriate antifungal therapy. 
  • 3.5K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Maladjustment
Maladjustment is a term used in psychology to refer the "inability to react successfully and satisfactory to the demand of one's environment". The term maladjustment can be refer to a wide range of social, biological and psychological conditions. Maladjustment can be both intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic maladjustment is the disparities between the needs, motivations and evaluations of an individual, with the actual reward gain through experiences. Extrinsic maladjustment on the other hand, is refer to when an individual's behavior is does not meet the cultural or social expectation of society. The causes of maladjustment can be attributed to a wide variety of factors, including: family environment, personal factors, and school-related factors. Maladjustment affects an individual's development and the ability to maintain a positive interpersonal relationship with others. Often maladjustment emerges during early stages of childhood, when a child is in the process of learning methods to solve problem that occurs in interpersonal relationship in their social network. A lack of intervention for individuals who are maladjusted can cause negative effects later on in life.
  • 3.5K
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Plants Anthocyanin Biosynthesis
Anthocyanins are natural pigments with antioxidant effects that exist in various fruits and vegetables. The accumulation of anthocyanins is induced by environmental signals and regulated by transcription factors in plants. Numerous evidence has indicated that among the environmental factors, light is one of the most signal regulatory factors involved in the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway.
  • 3.5K
  • 25 Oct 2021
Topic Review
HVAC Systems of Smart Building
Early fault detection and diagnosis in heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems may reduce the damage of equipment, improving the reliability and safety of smart buildings, generating social and economic benefits. Data models for fault detection and diagnosis are increasingly used for extracting knowledge in the supervisory tasks. This article proposes an autonomic cycle of data analysis tasks (ACODAT) for the supervision of the building’s HVAC systems. Data analysis tasks incorporate data mining models for extracting knowledge from the system monitoring, analyzing abnormal situations and automatically identifying and taking corrective actions. This article shows a case study of a real building’s HVAC system, for the supervision with our ACODAT, where the HVAC subsystems have been installed over the years, providing a good example of a heterogeneous facility. The proposed supervisory functionality of the HVAC system is capable of detecting deviations, such as faults or gradual increment of energy consumption in similar working conditions. The case study shows this capability of the supervisory autonomic cycle, usually a key objective for smart buildings.
  • 3.5K
  • 01 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Almonds (Prunus dulcis)
Almond (Prunus dulcis) is a tree species that together with peach is included in the subgenus Amygdalus.
  • 3.5K
  • 02 Mar 2021
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Society, Work and Precarity
One of sociology’s core tasks is to explain how societies work and change. Work plays a crucial and fundamental role in the formation of societies and is also a major driver of social change. It is therefore of key sociological interest to understand how work creates and changes the social conditions we call societies. However, work also creates different levels of freedom and equality; which manifest as different types and degrees of precarity in what I call ‘work societies'.
  • 3.5K
  • 25 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Jewish Atheism
Jewish atheism refers to the atheism of people who are ethnically and (at least to some extent) culturally Jewish. Because Jewish identity is ethnoreligious (i.e., it encompasses ethnic as well as religious components), the term "Jewish atheism" does not inherently entail a contradiction. Based on Jewish law's emphasis on matrilineal descent, even religiously conservative Orthodox Jewish authorities would accept an atheist born to a Jewish mother as fully Jewish.
  • 3.5K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Currently Available Treatments for Periodontal Disease
Periodontitis is an inflammatory infection caused by bacterial plaque accumulation that affects the periodontal tissues. This entry provides a summary of the main features of the periodontium and describes the currently available treatments for periodontal disease.
  • 3.5K
  • 13 Apr 2023
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