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Topic Review
Organoids
Organ-like cell clusters, so-called organoids, which exhibit self-organized and similar organ functionality as the tissue of origin, have provided a whole new level of bioinspiration for ex vivo systems. Microfluidic organoids or organs-on-a-chip platforms are a new group of micro-engineered promising models that recapitulate 3D tissue structure and physiology. Microfluidic technology is used in numerous application since its allow us to control and manipulate fluid flows with a high degree of accuracy. This system is an emerging tool for understanding disease development and progression, especially for personalized therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment, which provide well-grounded, cost-effective, powerful, fast, and reproducible results.
  • 1.2K
  • 12 Apr 2021
Topic Review
VALTOCO®
Valtoco® is a new FDA-approved nasal spray version of diazepam indicated for the treatment of acute, intermittent, and stereotypic episodes of frequent seizure activity in epilepsy patients six years of age and older. Although IV and rectal diazepam are already used to treat seizure clusters, Valtoco® has less variability in plasma concentration compared to rectal diazepam. Furthermore, the intranasal administration of Valtoco® is more convenient and less invasive than rectal or IV diazepam, making it ideal for self-administration outside of a hospital setting. Multiple clinical trials have taken place comparing Valtoco® to the oral, rectal, and IV forms of diazepam. Aside from mild nasal irritation and lacrimation, Valtoco® was found to have no increased safety risk in comparison to traditional forms of diazepam.
  • 1.2K
  • 25 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Burn Injury and Skin Explants
Severe burn injuries remain a major health problem due to high rates of mortality, residual morbidity, and/or aesthetic damages. To find new therapies aimed at promoting a harmonious healing of skin burns, it is important to develop models which take into account the unique properties of the human skin. Based on previously described models of burn injury performed on human skin explants, we hypothesized that maintaining explants under constant tension forces would allow to more closely reproduce the pathophysiological processes of skin remodeling. We thus. Here, we set up and characterized an improved model of deep second-degree burn injury on ex vivo cultured human skin explants at air-liquid interface and maintained under conditions of constant tension forces. A spontaneous re-epithelialization of the lesion was observed 8 to 9 days post burn and was found to rely on the proliferation of basal keratinocytes at the wound edges. Collagen VII at the dermo-epidermal junction reformed along with the progression of re-epithelializatio and a synthesis of procollagen III was observed in the dermis at the wound site. These findings indicate that our model is suitable for the assessment of clinically-relevant therapies aimed at modulating the kinetics of re-epithelialization and/or the activation of fibroblasts following skin burn injuries. In this regard, we evaluated the use of a thermoreversible poloxamer hydrogel as a vehicle for topically-testable therapeutic molecules. Our data showed that, although useful for drug formulation, the p407/p188 poloxamer hydrogel induces a delay of skin re-epithelialization in humans skin explants submitted to experimental burn injury.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Elevation (Emotion)
Elevation is an emotion elicited by witnessing virtuous acts of remarkable moral goodness. It is experienced as a distinct feeling of warmth and expansion that is accompanied by appreciation and affection for the individual whose exceptional conduct is being observed. Elevation motivates those who experience it to open up to, affiliate with, and assist others. Elevation makes an individual feel lifted up and optimistic about humanity.
  • 1.2K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Helicobacter pylori and Osteoporotic Fractures
Osteoporosis (OP) and osteoporotic fractures (OFs) are common multifactorial and heterogenic disorders of increasing incidence. Helicobacter pylori (H.p.) colonizes the stomach approximately in half of the world’s population, causes gastroduodenal diseases and is prevalent in numerous extra-digestive diseases known to be associated with OP/OF. The studies regarding relationship between H.p. infection (HPI) and OP/OFs are inconsistent. The current review summarizes the relevant literature on the potential role of HPI in OP, falls and OFs and highlights the reasons for controversies in the publications. In the first section, after a brief overview of HPI biological features, we analyze the studies evaluating the association of HPI and bone status. The second part includes data on the prevalence of OP/OFs in HPI-induced gastroduodenal diseases (peptic ulcer, chronic/atrophic gastritis, and cancer) and the effects of acid-suppressive drugs. In the next section, we discuss the possible contribution of HPI-associated extra-digestive diseases and medications to OP/OF, focusing on conditions affecting both bone homeostasis and predisposing to falls. In the last section, we describe clinical implications of accumulated data on HPI as a co-factor of OP/OF and present a feasible 5-step algorithm for OP/OF risk assessment and management in regard to HPI, emphasizing the importance of an integrative (but differentiated) holistic approach. Increased awareness about the consequences of HPI linked to OP/OF can aid early detection and management. Further research on HPI – OP/OF relationship is needed to close current knowledge gaps and improve clinical management of both OP/OF and HPI-related disorders.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Music Therapy in End-of-Life Care Contexts
Certified music therapists use music within therapeutic relationships to address human needs, health, and well-being with a variety of populations. Palliative care and music therapy are holistic and diverse fields, adapting to unique issues within end-of-life contexts. Palliative care music therapy has been formally practiced since the late 1970s and affords a variety of benefits, including pain and anxiety reduction, enhancement of quality of life, emotional expression, and relationship completion. 
  • 1.2K
  • 12 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia
Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an inherited vascular disease characterised by bleeding from small blood vessels in the nose and gastrointestinal tract and by larger arteriovenous malformations in the lungs, liver and neural tissues. Recent advances have been made in gaining a better understanding of the cell defects that cause this disease.
  • 1.2K
  • 20 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Fatty Liver
Fatty liver, or hepatic steatosis or simple steatosis, is a reversible condition wherein large vacuoles of triglyceride fat accumulate in liver cells via the process of steatosis (i.e., abnormal retention of lipids within a cell). Despite having multiple causes, fatty liver can be considered a single disease that occurs worldwide in those with excessive alcohol intake and the obese (with or without effects of insulin resistance). The condition is also associated with other diseases that influence fat metabolism. When this process of fat metabolism is disrupted, the fat can accumulate in the liver in excessive amounts, thus resulting in a fatty liver. It is difficult to distinguish alcoholic FLD, which is part of alcoholic liver disease, from nonalcoholic FLD (NAFLD), and both show microvesicular and macrovesicular fatty changes at different stages. The accumulation of fat in alcoholic or non-alcoholic steatosis may also be accompanied by a progressive inflammation of the liver (hepatitis), called steatohepatitis. This more severe condition may be termed either alcoholic steatohepatitis or non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
  • 1.2K
  • 01 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Gluten Free Diet for IBS
The Gluten Free Diet is often considered as a diet therapy for Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) patients, in addition to the more famous and recognized Low FODMAP Diet. Evidence on its efficacy and long-term safety is scarce, but it can still be included in therapy for selected IBS patients, on the basis of specific symptoms and dietary history.
  • 1.2K
  • 23 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Risk Ratio
In epidemiology, risk ratio (RR) or relative risk is the ratio of the probability of an outcome in an exposed group to the probability of an outcome in an unexposed group. It is computed as [math]\displaystyle{ I_e / I_u }[/math], where [math]\displaystyle{ I_e }[/math] is the incidence in the exposed group, and [math]\displaystyle{ I_u }[/math] is the incidence in the unexposed group. Together with risk difference and odds ratio, risk ratio measures the association between the exposure and the outcome.
  • 1.2K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Oxidative Stress in Friedreich´s Ataxia
Friedreich´s ataxia is the commonest autosomal recessive ataxia among population of European descent. Despite the huge advances performed in the last decades, a cure still remains elusive. One of the most studied hallmarks of the disease is the increased production of oxidative stress markers in patients and models. This feature has been the motivation to develop treatments that aim to counteract such boost of free radicals and to enhance the production of antioxidant defenses.
  • 1.2K
  • 20 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Fosfomycin as Partner Drug
Fosfomycin is being increasingly prescribed intravenously for multidrug‐resistant bacterial infections, usually administered as a partner drug. The knowledge of fosfomycin pharmacodynamicinteractions (synergistic, additive, indifferent and antagonistic effect) is fundamental for a properclinical management of severe bacterial infections. We performed a systematic review to point outfosfomycin’s synergistic properties.
  • 1.2K
  • 02 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Compulsive Behavior
Compulsive behavior is defined as performing an action persistently and repetitively without it necessarily leading to an actual reward or pleasure. Compulsive behaviors could be an attempt to make obsessions go away. The act is usually a small, restricted and repetitive behavior, yet not disturbing in a pathological way. Compulsive behaviors are a need to reduce apprehension caused by internal feelings' a person wants to abstain from or control. A major cause of the compulsive behaviors is said to be obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). "The main idea of compulsive behavior is that the likely excessive activity is not connected to the purpose to which it appears directed." Furthermore, there are many different types of compulsive behaviors including shopping, hoarding, eating, gambling, trichotillomania and picking skin, itching, checking, counting, washing, sex, and more. Also, there are cultural examples of compulsive behavior.
  • 1.2K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Media
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) or autism spectrum conditions (ASCs) describe a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders in the DSM-5, used by the American Psychiatric Association. As with many neurodivergent people and conditions, the popular image of autistic people and autism itself is often based on inaccurate media representations. Additionally, media about autism may promote pseudoscience such as vaccine denial or facilitated communication. Since the 1970s, fictional portrayals of people with autism, Asperger syndrome, and other ASCs have become more frequent. Public perception of autism is often based on these fictional portrayals in novels, biographies, movies, and television series. These depictions of autism in media today are often made in a way that brings pity to the public and their concern of the topic, because their viewpoint is never actually shown, leaving the public without knowledge of autism and its diagnosis. Portrayals in the media of characters with atypical abilities (for example, the ability to multiply large numbers without a calculator) may be misinterpreted by viewers as accurate portrayals of all autistic people and of autism itself. James McGrath writes that the stereotype of autistic individuals as successful in math and science, along with disliking fiction, is widely overrepresented in literature.
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Oct 2022
Topic Review
General Issues and Status Quo of Polymeric Micelles
Polymeric micelles represent drug delivery nanosystems that possess a core–shell structure and are created when amphiphilic block copolymers (ABCs) self-assemble in an aqueous solution. Polymeric micelles also refer to systems where the lipophilic portion of the amphiphilic polymer is directed to the center of the micelles and the hydrophilic portion is directed outward. 
  • 1.2K
  • 27 Mar 2023
Biography
John Sappington
John S. Sappington (1776-1856) was an American physician known for developing a quinine pill to treat malarial and other fever diseases in the Missouri and Mississippi valleys, where the disease was widespread. He later used the pill to prevent malaria. Because he both manufactured and sold "Dr. Sappington's Anti-Fever Pills", he became wealthy from his bestseller. From Maryland and Tennessee,
  • 1.2K
  • 12 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Roles of GRP78 in Regulating Lipid Metabolism
Glucose-regulated protein 78 (GRP78), a molecular chaperone, is overexpressed in patients suffering from obesity, fatty liver, hyperlipidemia and diabetes. GRP78, therefore, can be not only a biomarker to predict the progression and prognosis of obesity and metabolic diseases but also a potential therapeutic target for anti-obesity treatment.
  • 1.2K
  • 13 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Mitochondrial Oxidative Stress
Mitochondria are essential semi-autonomous cellular organelles with a double membrane composed by an inner (IMM) and an outer membrane (OMM).
  • 1.2K
  • 18 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Plant Extract and Infertility
Infertility is a couple’s inability to conceive after one year of unprotected regular intercourse.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
The Development of Chronic Low Back Pain
Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with up to 80% of the population experiencing this at some point in their life. Chronic back pain is complex and there is currently no cure for it, nor does alleviating potential causes guarantee that pain will go away. Therefore, rather than attempting to “cure” chronic pain, many clinicians, caregivers and researchers aim to help educate patients about their pain and try to help them live a better quality of life despite their condition. This may include using strategies such as pain neuroscience education (PNE) and cognitive behavior therapy. PNE, for example, is considered an intervention aimed at reconceptualizing an individual’s understanding of their pain as less threatening. A systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated that PNE can have a significant effect in reducing pain catastrophizing as well as kinesiophobia. This is highly beneficial in pain management, as reduced catastrophic thinking can help orient a person away from their pain and towards living their life, and reduced fear helps patients to be more open to active interventions like physical therapy and exercise. Pain education is often paired with physical therapy, or used pre-emptively for things like post-operative pain.
  • 1.2K
  • 06 Feb 2023
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