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Topic Review
CRISPR/Cas-Based Approaches to Study Schizophrenia
Genomic association studies have revealed the complex genetic architecture of schizophrenia (SZ) and other neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). High-throughput models, such as cells and their derivatives, are needed to decipher the molecular basis of SZ pathology. The time is coming for high-throughput genetic technologies based on CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat)/Cas systems to manipulate multiple genomic targets. CRISPR/Cas tools make it possible to find and explore the complex relationship between genotype and phenotype of neuronal cells.
  • 1.4K
  • 29 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Surfactant and the Glycocalyx
Gas exchange in the lung takes place via the air-blood barrier in the septal walls of alveoli. The tissue elements that oxygen molecules have to cross are the alveolar epithelium, the interstitium and the capillary endothelium. The epithelium that lines the alveolar surface is covered by a thin and continuous liquid lining layer. Pulmonary surfactant acts at this air-liquid interface. By virtue of its biophysical and immunomodulatory functions, surfactant keeps alveoli open, dry and clean. What needs to be added to this picture is the glycocalyx of the alveolar epithelium. Here, we briefly review what is known about this glycocalyx and how it can be visualized using electron microscopy. The application of colloidal thorium dioxide as a staining agent reveals differences in the staining pattern between type I and type II alveolar epithelial cells and shows close associations of the glycocalyx with intraalveolar surfactant subtypes such as tubular myelin. These morphological findings indicate that specific spatial interactions between components of the surfactant system and those of the alveolar epithelial glycocalyx exist which may contribute to the maintenance of alveolar homeostasis, in particular to alveolar micromechanics, to the functional integrity of the air-blood barrier, to the regulation of the thickness and viscosity of the alveolar lining layer, and to the defence against inhaled pathogens. Exploring the alveolar epithelial glycocalyx in conjunction with the surfactant system opens novel physiological perspectives of potential clinical relevance for future research.
  • 1.4K
  • 03 May 2021
Topic Review
Massage Therapy Effects on Sport and Exercise Performance
A massage is a tool that is frequently used in sports and exercise in general for recovery and increased performance. Massages, in general, do not affect motor abilities, except flexibility. However, several studies demonstrated that positive muscle force and strength changed 48 h after the massage was given. Concerning neurophysiological parameters, the massage did not change blood lactate clearance, muscle blood flow, muscle temperature, or activation. However, many studies indicate pain reduction and delayed onset muscle soreness, which are probably correlated with the reduction of the level of creatine kinase enzyme and psychological mechanisms. In addition, the massage treatment led to a decrease in depression, stress, anxiety, and the perception of fatigue and an increase in mood, relaxation, and the perception of recovery.
  • 1.4K
  • 15 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Cardiac Development
Cardiac development is a complex developmental process that is initiated soon after gastrulation, as two sets of precardiac mesodermal precursors are symmetrically located and subsequently fused at the embryonic midline forming the cardiac straight tube. Thereafter, the cardiac straight tube invariably bends to the right, configuring the first sign of morphological left–right asymmetry and soon thereafter the atrial and ventricular chambers are formed, expanded and progressively septated. As a consequence of all these morphogenetic processes, the fetal heart acquired a four-chambered structure having distinct inlet and outlet connections and a specialized conduction system capable of directing the electrical impulse within the fully formed heart.
  • 1.4K
  • 26 Feb 2021
Topic Review
LNX/PDZRN E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Family
The ligand of Numb protein-X (LNX) family, also known as the PDZRN family, is composed of four discrete RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligases (LNX1, LNX2, LNX3, and LNX4), and LNX5 which may not act as an E3 ubiquitin ligase owing to the lack of the RING domain. 
  • 1.3K
  • 31 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Fluorescence Imaging for Biomedical Applications
Molecular imaging offers the possibility to investigate biological and biochemical processes non-invasively and to obtain information on both anatomy and dysfunctions. Based on the data obtained, a fundamental understanding of various disease processes can be derived and treatment strategies can be planned. In this context, methods that combine several modalities in one probe are increasingly being used. Due to the comparably high sensitivity and provided complementary information, the combination of nuclear and optical probes has taken on a special significance.
  • 1.3K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Inflammation in TGFβ-Dependent EMT
Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complex cellular program known to be a crucial driver in the context of embryonic development, wound healing and tumour progression.
  • 1.3K
  • 03 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Virtual Anthropology and Paleoneurology
Advances in neuroscience have made it possible to obtain increasing information on the anatomy of the brain, at ever-higher resolutions, with different imaging techniques, on ever-larger samples. At the same time, paleoanthropology has to deal with partial reflections on the shape of the brain, on fragmentary specimens and small samples in an attempt to approach the morphology of the brain of past human species. Paleoanthropology has much to gain from interacting more with the field of neuroimaging. Improving our understanding of the morphology of the endocast necessarily involves studying the external surface of the brain and the link it maintains with the internal surface of the skull. The contribution of neuroimaging will allow us to better define the relationship between brain and endocast. Models of intra- and inter-species variability in brain morphology inferred from large neuroimaging databases will help make the most of the rare endocasts of extinct species. Moreover, exchanges between these two disciplines will also be beneficial to our knowledge of the Homo sapiens brain. Documenting the anatomy among other human species and including the variation over time within our own species are approaches that offer us a new perspective through which to appreciate what really characterizes the brain of humanity today. 
  • 1.3K
  • 09 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Anatomical Tissue Engineering of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Entheses
The firm integration of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) grafts into bones remains the most demanding challenge in ACL reconstruction, since graft loosening means graft failure. For a functional-tissue-engineered ACL substitute to be realized in future, robust bone attachment sites (entheses) have to be re-established. The latter comprise four tissue compartments (ligament, non-calcified and calcified fibrocartilage, separated by the tidemark, bone) forming a histological and biomechanical gradient at the attachment interface between the ACL and bone. The ACL enthesis is surrounded by the synovium and exposed to the intra-articular micromilieu. 
  • 1.2K
  • 16 Jun 2023
Biography
Juan Valverde de Amusco
Juan Valverde de Amusco (Figure 1) was born in 1525 in the town of Hamusco (now Amusco) in the shire of Tierra de Campos (Crown of Castile, presently Palencia, Spain). There are few precise records of his life. The safest ones come from small comments disseminated throughout his books. The details regarding his childhood and youth remain unconfirmed. His probable Jewish origin has been suggested
  • 1.2K
  • 10 Jan 2024
Topic Review
T-Cell Receptor Signalosome
Human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) can undergo either a lytic pathway to cause productive systemic infection or enter a latent state in which the integrated provirus remains transcriptionally silent for decades. The ability to latently infected T-cells enables HIV-1 to establish persistent infections in resting memory CD4+ T-lymphocytes which become reactivated following disruption or cessation of intensive drug therapy. Maintenance of viral latency occurs through epigenetic and non-epigenetic mechanisms. Epigenetic mechanisms of HIV latency regulation involve deacetylation and methylation of histone proteins within Nucleosome 1 (nuc -1) at the viral long terminal repeats (LTR) such that inhibition of histone deacetyltransferase and histone lysine methyltransferase activities, respectively, reactivates HIV from latency. Non-epigenetic mechanisms involve nuclear restriction of critical cellular transcription factors such as Nuclear factor-kappa Beta (NF-kB) or Nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT) which activate transcription from the viral LTR, limiting nuclear levels of viral transcription transactivator protein Tat and its cellular co-factor; positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) which together regulate HIV transcriptional elongation. The T-cell receptor (TCR) activation efficiently induces NF-kB, NFAT, and activator protein 1 (AP-1) transcription factors through multiple signal pathways and how these factors efficiently regulate HIV LTR transcription through the non-epigenetic mechanism. Elongation factor P-TEFb induced through an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) dependent mechanism regulates HIV transcriptional elongation before Tat is synthesized and the role of AP-1 in the modulation of HIV transcriptional elongation through functional synergy with NF-kB. The TCR signaling induces critical posttranslational modifications of the Cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) subunit of P-TEFb which enhances interactions between P-TEFb and viral Tat protein and the resultant enhancement of HIV transcriptional elongation.
  • 1.2K
  • 13 Aug 2020
Topic Review
The Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis
The microbiota–gut system can be thought of as a single unit that interacts with the brain via the “two-way” microbiota–gut–brain axis. Through this axis, a constant interplay mediated by the several products originating from the microbiota guarantees the physiological development and shaping of the gut and the brain. The modification of the composition of the microbiota destroys the bottom-to-top communication that ultimately influences brain motor, sensory, and cognitive functions, maintains brain homeostasis and/or contributes to the onset of pathological conditions. Elucidating the interplay between the gut microbiota and the central nervous system, and the role of microbiota in neuroinflammation, will lead to a better understanding of many neurodegenerative diseases pathogeneses, and, hopefully, to the development of new preventing or therapeutic strategies.
  • 1.2K
  • 11 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Microbiome Metagenomics and Epigenomics on Gastric Cancer
The gut microbiome plays a pivotal role in the development and progression of gastric cancer. Similar microbes implicated in gastric cancer carcinogenesis have been detected in some of the risk factors of the disease, with microbial dysbiosis as a common root of concern as it promotes carcinogenesis through dysregulation of cancer immunosurveillance and induction of therapeutic resistance. The microbiome plays an important role in gastric cancer (GC) pathological phenotypes and should be taken into consideration when designing personalized cancer therapies. 
  • 1.2K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Adhesion Protein Sialylation
The importance of adhesion protein sialylation was recognized by studying the changes of adhesion behavior of human tissue cells exposed in vitro to microgravity. Proteins involved in cell-cell or cell-extracellular matrix adhesion were investigated by retrieving and evaluation of information about sialylation of cell adhesion molecules detected by omics studies on cells, which change their adhesion behavior when exposed to microgravity. Using a knowledge graph created from experimental omics data and semantic searches across several reference databases, sialylation of adhesion proteins glycosylated at their extracellular domains and their impact in cellular processes were studied. This way, experimental omics data networked with the current knowledge about binding of sialic acids to cell adhesion proteins, its regulation and interactions in-between those proteins provided insights in the mechanisms behind experimental findings suggesting that balancing sialylation against de-sialylation of the terminal ends of the adhesion proteins’ glycans influences the binding activity of adhesion proteins, the interaction of cells and their aggregation. This shed light on the transition from the cells’ growth in a monolayer to spheroid formation observed in microgravity mirroring cell migration and cancer metastasis in vivo.
  • 1.2K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
PET for Microenvironment-Targeted Therapy
 Quantitative parameters of FDG-PET, such as SUV and TLG have been used to evaluate therapeutic response. Recent advancement in anti-cancer therapeutics showed that tumor response to molecular-targeted drugs and immune-checkpoint inhibitors is different from conventional chemotherapy in terms of temporal metabolic alteration and morphological change after the course of effective therapy. Metabolic changes and temporal enlargement due to immune cell infiltration seen after immune-checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) and anti-programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) antibodies facilitated the modification of conventional Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumor and FDG-PET response evaluation criteria. Tumor microenvironment including cancer stem cells (CSCs) that is thought to be a root cause of tumor heterogeneity; is considered a target of novel and effective therapy.   Accumulation of FDG reflects glucose metabolism of both cancer cells and immunologically competent cells in the tumor microenvironment. Immunological reaction to the therapy differs among patients according to the individual immune function. Considering the heterogeneity of tumor tissue and individual variation in tumor response to immunotherapy, radiomics approach combines quantitative image features with deep learning algorithm have the potentials to improve response assessment in more personalized treatment.   Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1)/C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4)-targeted α-particle therapy has been introduced, because SDF-1/CXCR4 axis is known to increase epithelial-mesenchymal transition to facilitate invasion and metastasis, and regulate immune response by accelerating T cell proliferation as well as PD-1 and PD-L1 expression in cancer cells and cytotoxic T lymphocytes, respectively. Prominent energy profile and biological effect of α-particles are promising as an alternative in targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT). Radiation dosimetry according to the theranostics approach will permit accurate TRT and artificial intelligence-based treatment decision making and precise response evaluation would be a precision nuclear medicine in the future.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Dendritic Cells and Dentinogenesis
Using several in vivo designs, antigen-presenting cells, including macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs), are identified in the pulpal tissue before tertiary dentin deposition under the afflicted area. However, the precise nature of this phenomenon and its relationship to inherent pulp cells are not yet clarified. This literature review aims to discuss the role of pulpal DCs and their relationship to progenitor/stem cells, odontoblasts or odontoblast-like cells, and other immunocompetent cells during physiological and pathological dentinogenesis.
  • 1.2K
  • 13 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Probiotics and Probiotic-like Agents against Chemotherapy-Induced Intestinal Mucositis
Cancer chemotherapy has allowed many patients to survive, but not without risks derived from its adverse effects. Drugs, such as 5-fluorouracil, irinotecan, oxaliplatin, methotrexate, and others, as well as different drug combinations trigger intestinal mucositis that may cause or contribute to anorexia, pain, diarrhea, weight loss, systemic infections, and even death. Dysbiosis is a hallmark of chemotherapy-induced intestinal mucositis and diarrhea, and, therefore, strategies aimed at modulating intestinal microbiota may be useful to counteract and prevent those dreadful effects.
  • 1.2K
  • 25 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Ocular Alterations and Neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the main neurodegenerative diseases worldwide. Unfortunately, AD shares many similarities with other dementias at early stages, which impedes an accurate premortem diagnosis. Therefore, it is urgent to find biomarkers to allow for early diagnosis of the disease. There is increasing scientific evidence highlighting the similarities between the eye and other structures of the CNS, suggesting that knowledge acquired in eye research could be useful for research and diagnosis of AD. For example, the retina and optic nerve are considered part of the central nervous system, and their damage can result in retrograde and anterograde axon degeneration, as well as abnormal protein aggregation. In the anterior eye segment, the aqueous humor and tear film may be comparable to the cerebrospinal fluid. Both fluids are enriched with molecules that can be potential neurodegenerative biomarkers. Indeed, the pathophysiology of AD, characterized by cerebral deposits of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau protein, is also present in the eyes of AD patients, besides numerous structural and functional changes observed in the structure of the eyes. Therefore, all this evidence suggests that ocular changes have the potential to be used as either predictive values for AD assessment or as diagnostic tools.
  • 1.2K
  • 09 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Vascular Cambium
The vascular cambium is the main lateral meristem responsible for the secondary growth of trees. There are a number of explicit and implicit assumptions behind this statement which allow questions to be raised about the mechanism underlying the radial growth of trees. Based on the hypothesis of the diurnal strains of plant organs, it is anticipated that the process of radial growth can be understood as an adaptation to the cyclically changing mechanical stress in the radial direction generated by the phloem during the 24 h day cycle.
  • 1.1K
  • 24 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Commonly Used Nanoparticles in Cancer Diagnosis
The application of nanoparticles in clinical diagnostics is called nanodiagnostics. Nanotechnology has developed to improve clinical diagnostics due to its increased sensitivity and capability for early cancer detection. There are several kinds of nanomaterials used in cancer diagnosis such as quantum dots, polymeric nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes, and dendrimers. To enhance the cancer detection capabilities of nanoparticles, they can be conjugated with aptamers, carbohydrates, antibodies, peptides, and other small molecules that specifically target molecules to reach the intended site. Studies have been conducted that used gold nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis. The use of Au-doped nanoparticles showed extraordinarily high luminescence intensity. Additionally, fluorescence has been utilized to detect the cancer biomarker CEA through color visualization.
  • 1.1K
  • 07 Apr 2023
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