Your browser does not fully support modern features. Please upgrade for a smoother experience.
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 by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Authorizing GM Crop Varieties
Once a GM crop has completed the full review cycle for environmental safety, food and feed safety, and DUS/VCU testing, further steps are required to ensure its launch as a new variety for cultivation and safeguarding its sustainability. Again, policy considerations and necessary policy reforms are involved in these final stages, which are analyzed in the sections below. Prior to the planting of GM crop varieties in farmers’ fields, either from domestically produced or imported seeds, they will have to be authorized as certified seed or quality-declared seed in most SSA countries.
  • 986
  • 27 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Emerging Cyanide Bioremediation Methods
Cyanide compounds are hazardous compounds which are extremely toxic to living organisms, especially free cyanide in the form of hydrogen cyanide gas (HCN) and cyanide ion (CN−). These cyanide compounds are metabolic inhibitors since they can tightly bind to the metals of metalloenzymes. Anthropogenic sources contribute significantly to CN− contamination in the environment, more specifically to surface and underground waters. The treatment processes, such as chemical and physical treatment processes, have been implemented. However, these processes have drawbacks since they generate additional contaminants which further exacerbates the environmental pollution. The biological treatment techniques are mostly overlooked as an alternative to the conventional physical and chemical methods. However, the recent research has focused substantially on this method, with different reactor configurations that were proposed. However, minimal attention was given to the emerging technologies that sought to accelerate the treatment with a subsequent resource recovery from the process. Hence, herein it is focused on the emerging tools that can be used to accelerate cyanide biodegradation. These tools include, amongst others, electro-bioremediation, anaerobic biodegradation and the use of microbial fuel cell technology. These processes were demonstrated to have the possibility of producing value-added products, such as biogas, co-factors of neurotransmitters and electricity from the treatment process.
  • 986
  • 19 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Human Activity Sensing with Wireless
Wireless networks have been widely deployed with a high demand for wireless data traffic. The ubiquitous availability of wireless signals brings new opportunities for non-intrusive human activity sensing. To enhance a thorough understanding of existing wireless sensing techniques and provide insights for future directions, this survey conducts a review of the existing research on human activity sensing with wireless signals. We review and compare existing research of wireless human activity sensing from seven perspectives, including the types of wireless signals, theoretical models, signal preprocessing techniques, activity segmentation, feature extraction, classification, and application. With the development and deployment of new wireless technology, there will be more sensing opportunities in human activities. Based on the analysis of existing research, the survey points out seven challenges on wireless human activity sensing research: robustness, non-coexistence of sensing and communications, privacy, multiple user activity sensing, limited sensing range, complex deep learning, and lack of standard datasets. Finally, this survey presents four possible future research trends, including new theoretical models, the coexistence of sensing and communications, awareness of sensing on receivers, and constructing open datasets to enable new wireless sensing opportunities on human activities.
  • 985
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Nutrient-Limited Operational Strategies for Microbial Production of Biochemicals
Limiting an essential nutrient has a profound impact on microbial growth. The notion of growth under limited conditions was first described using simple Monod kinetics proposed in the 1940s. Different operational modes (chemostat, fed-batch processes) were soon developed to address questions related to microbial physiology and cell maintenance and to enhance product formation. With more recent developments of metabolic engineering and systems biology, as well as high-throughput approaches, the focus of current engineers and applied microbiologists has shifted from these fundamental biochemical processes. 
  • 981
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Legionella in Domestic Water Systems
Legionella is able to remain in water as free-living planktonic bacteria or to grow within biofilms that adhere to the pipes. It is also able to enter amoebas or to switch into a viable but not culturable (VBNC) state, which contributes to its resistance to harsh conditions and hinders its detection in water.
  • 980
  • 05 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Engineering Photosynthetic Plants
One of the main contributors to biological carbon fixation is plants, during the process of photosynthesis. Plants are divided into three main categories based on their photosynthetic pathways, i.e., C3, C4, and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). These pathways are differentiated by their respective methods of carbon fixation and their ability to combat photorespiration.
  • 980
  • 11 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Enzymes Catalyzing CO2 to Organic Compounds
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main greenhouse gas emitted from human activities such as burning coal, oil, and natural gas, and is considered one of the causes of global warming and climate change. Efforts are being made worldwide to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere and ultimately achieve carbon neutrality. 
  • 971
  • 20 May 2022
Topic Review
Cyanobacteria as Biocatalysts
Cyanobacteria constitute an interesting group of photosynthetic microorganisms due to their morphological and genetic diversity that is related to their extremely long evolution process. The diverse cell structure is characterized by the fact that they occur in many morphological forms, from small single cells through to larger ones as well as branches, threads, or spirals. In the field of biotechnology, biocatalysis, is enriched by the enzymatic systems of cyanobacteria, regarding their uniqueness as photosynthesis-dependent organisms.
  • 971
  • 23 Nov 2021
Topic Review
The Role of Polysaccharide in Treating Neurodegenerative Disorders
The prevalence of neurodegenerative pathologies increases significantly with growing life expectancy. Neurodegenerative diseases including common diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD) impose a global public health burden. In this context, natural products could play a leading role in the search for new drugs for the treatment of neurodegeneration. Of note, more than 80 percent of drugs are of natural origin. Natural polysaccharides (general formula of Cx(H2O)y; where x is number 200_2500) occurs naturally in living matter (on the contrary to polysaccharides combined artificially in the process of organic synthesis) and principally play structural and storage functions. Natural polysaccharides can be classified according to their origin, namely plants (e.g., starch, cellulose), algae (e.g., agar, alginates), animals (e.g., chitin, hyaluronic acid), bacteria (e.g., dextran, polylactosamine), and fungal (e.g., chitosan, elsinan). As one of the most widely distributed biomolecules in nature, natural polysaccharides have received considerable attention because of their diverse pharmacological activity as inhibitors of cellular processes, with their antioxidant, anticoagulant, antithrombotic and anticancer effects.
  • 970
  • 09 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Peptide Stapling Applied to Antimicrobial Peptides
Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered a promising therapeutic approach against multi-drug resistant microorganisms. Besides their advantages, there are limitations to be overcome so that these molecules can become market competitive. One of the biggest limitations is proteolytic susceptibility, which could be overcome by structural modifications such as cyclization, especially for helix-constraining strategies. Over the years, many helix stabilization techniques have arisen, such as lactam-bridging, triazole-based, N-alkylation and all-hydrocarbon stapling. All-hydrocarbon stapling takes advantage of modified amino acid residues and olefinic cross-linking to constrain peptide helices. Despite being a well-established strategy and presenting efficient stability results, there are different limitations especially related to toxicity. In the research, some studies on stapled AMPs for antimicrobial usage are explored with the aim of understanding the future of these molecules as putative antimicrobial agents.
  • 970
  • 22 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Pseudomonas Lipopeptides
The Pseudomonas genus is ubiquitous and comprises species which are well known phytopathogens, such as P. syringae, or opportunistic human pathogens, such as P. aeruginosa, but also host members associated with water, soil and plant surfaces. Pseudomonas spp. are well adapted to growing in the rhizosphere and are well suited for biocontrol and growth promotion. Pseudomonas lipopeptides (Ps-LPs) play crucial roles in bacterial physiology, host–microbe interactions and plant disease control.
  • 969
  • 09 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Biocontrol of Nosemosis in Honey Bees
Nosemosis is a disease triggered by the single-celled spore-forming fungi Nosema apis and Nosema ceranae, which can cause extensive colony losses in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Fumagillin is an effective antibiotic treatment to control nosemosis, but due to its toxicity, it is currently banned in many countries. Accordingly, in the beekeeping sector, there is a strong demand for alternative ecological methods that can be used for the prevention and therapeutic control of nosemosis in honey bee colonies. Numerous studies have shown that plant extracts, RNA interference (RNAi) and beneficial microbes could provide viable non-antibiotic alternatives.
  • 969
  • 27 May 2022
Topic Review
Polysaccharide-Based Nanoparticles
Polysaccharide biomaterials have gained significant importance in the manufacture of nanoparticles used in colon-targeted drug delivery systems. These systems are a form of non-invasive oral therapy used in the treatment of various diseases. To achieve successful colonic delivery, the chemical, enzymatic and mucoadhesive barriers within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract must be analyzed.
  • 968
  • 20 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Membrane Proteins on Artificial Lipid Membranes
Membrane proteins play an important role in key cellular functions, such as signal transduction, apoptosis, and metabolism. Therefore, structural and functional studies of these proteins are essential in fields such as fundamental biology, medical science, pharmacology, biotechnology, and bioengineering.
  • 968
  • 04 May 2023
Topic Review
Neurotoxicity in Marine Invertebrates
Invertebrates represent about 95% of existing species, and most of them belong to aquatic ecosystems. Marine invertebrates are found at intermediate levels of the food chain and, therefore, they play a central role in the biodiversity of ecosystems. Furthermore, these organisms have a short life cycle, easy laboratory manipulation, and high sensitivity to marine pollution and, therefore, they are considered to be optimal bioindicators for assessing detrimental chemical agents that are related to the marine environment and with potential toxicity to human health, including neurotoxicity. In general, albeit simple, the nervous system of marine invertebrates is composed of neuronal and glial cells, and it exhibits biochemical and functional similarities with the vertebrate nervous system, including humans. In recent decades, new genetic and transcriptomic technologies have made the identification of many neural genes and transcription factors homologous to those in humans possible. Neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, and altered levels of neurotransmitters are some of the aspects of neurotoxic effects that can also occur in marine invertebrate organisms. The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of major marine pollutants, such as heavy metals, pesticides, and micro and nano-plastics, with a focus on their neurotoxic effects in marine invertebrate organisms.
  • 967
  • 08 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Tissue Engineering of the Urethra—Clinical Applications
Tissue engineering (TE) is a promising approach for repair/substitution of damaged tissues and organs. Urethral strictures are common and serious health conditions that impair quality of life and may lead to serious organ damage. The TE approach is promising and effective, but many issues remain that need to be addressed for broader adoption of TE in urethral repair. Better design of trials, better cooperation of research groups and centralization could lead to reduction of costs and slowly proceed to commercialization and routine use of TE products for urethral reconstruction.
  • 967
  • 23 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Valorization of Non-Edible Oilseed Residues
The sustainable development of biodiesel and oleochemical industries requires optimal recycling and reuse strategies for all the generated residues and by-products. The main residues from non-edible oilseeds are either lignocellulosic materials, such as fruit shells, pods, hulls, branches, and leaves, generated before oil extraction or a protein-rich material, e.g., the press cake or de-oiled meal, generated after oil extraction. Both lignocellulosic- and protein-rich materials have huge economic potential. However, since using non-edible oils for biodiesel production is still emerging, the valorization of non-edible oilseed residues is still underdeveloped compared to that of edible oil production residues. The utilization potential of non-edible oilseed residues goes far beyond the traditional energetic approaches. Thermochemical, biochemical, physico-chemical, and chemical approaches provide different utilization routes. Thermochemical approaches, such as gasification and pyrolysis, result in syngas, biochar, and biooil, which can then be converted into advanced biofuels or serve as raw materials for the chemical industry. In the biochemical conversion approach, by either anaerobic digestion, sugar-platform processes, or solid-state fermentation, microorganisms convert the starting substrates into gaseous or liquid biofuels, enzymes, or other compounds.
  • 967
  • 11 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Pathogenic Fungus and Cucurbitaceous Vegetables’ Gummy Stem Blight
Cucurbits are an important vegetable crop of the gourd family. Unfortunately, gummy stem blight (GSB) causes a major fungal disease on Cucurbitaceous vegetable crops. It is also known as black root when affecting fruits, and it is found all over the world. GSB is caused by the fungal pathogen Didymella bryoniae. 
  • 966
  • 07 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Cisd2 in Aging
Cisd2 (CDGSH Iron Sulfur Domain 2) is an oxidative stress-sensitive gene, the expression of which is able to prolong the lifespan in mice.
  • 965
  • 14 Jan 2021
Topic Review
Metal Nanoparticals Elaborated Fiber Sensors
Metal nano-particles-modified optical fiber LSPR sensor has high sensitivity and compact structure, which can realize the real-time monitoring of physical parameters, environmental parameters (temperature, humidity), and biochemical molecules (pH value, gas-liquid concentration, protein molecules, viruses). In this paper, both fabrication and application of the metal nano-particles modified optical fiber LSPR sensor probe are reviewed, and its future development is predicted.
  • 964
  • 17 Sep 2020
  • Page
  • of
  • 38
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Reprints

>>
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of Medieval Royal Iconography
Academic Video Service
Feedback