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Topic Review
Generation of Chemerin Forms
Chemerin is the product of the RARRES2 gene which is secreted as a precursor of 143 amino acids. That precursor is inactive, but proteases from the coagulation and fibrinolytic cascades, as well as from inflammatory reactions, process the C-terminus of chemerin to first activate it and then subsequently inactivate it. Chemerin can signal via two G protein-coupled receptors, chem1 and chem2, as well as be bound to a third non-signaling receptor, CCRL2. Chemerin is produced by the liver and secreted into the circulation as a precursor, but it is also expressed in some tissues where it can be activated locally.
  • 521
  • 31 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Antiparasitic Activity of Betulinic Acid and Its Derivatives
Betulinic acid (BA) is a triterpene natural product which has shown antiparasitic activity against Leishmania, Trypanosoma cruzi, and Plasmodium. 
  • 521
  • 31 May 2022
Topic Review
Questionable Boundaries between Biological Disciplines
Recent and ongoing debates in biology and in the philosophy of biology reveal widespread dissatisfaction with the current definitions or circumscriptions, which are often vague or controversial, of key concepts such as the gene, individual, species, and homology, and even of whole disciplinary fields within the life sciences. To some extent, the long growing awareness of these conceptual issues and the contrasting views defended in their regard can be construed as a symptom of the need to revisit traditional unchallenged partitions between the specialist disciplines within the life sciences. I argue here that the current relationships between anchor disciplines (e.g., developmental biology, evolutionary biology, biology of reproduction) and nomadic concepts wandering between them is worth being explored from a reciprocal perspective, by selecting suitable anchor concepts around which disciplinary fields can flexibly move. Two examples are offered: a generalized anchor concept of generation that may suggests new perspectives on development and reproduction) and a species concept as unit of representation of biological diversity that may lead to a taxonomic pluralism to be managed with suitable adjustments of current nomenclature rules.
  • 520
  • 08 Oct 2021
Topic Review
OsFH3 Encodes a Type II Formin
The actin cytoskeleton is crucial for plant morphogenesis, and organization of actin filaments (AF) is dynamically regulated by actin-binding proteins. However, the roles of actin-binding proteins, particularly type II formins, in this process remain poorly understood in plants.
  • 520
  • 15 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Periodontal Pathogens and Preterm Birth
In periodontal diseases, pro-inflammatory cytokines and mediators, including IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and PGE2, were produced in subgingival area and then entered systemic circulation. Some authors identified periodontal disease as the cause of more than 18% of all preterm birth cases. Therefore, there is a significant evidence that periodontal pathogens, its enzymes and toxins can induce inflammation in placental tissues and cells.
  • 518
  • 30 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Toll-Like Receptors and Alpha-Synuclein Proteotoxicity
The misfolding and subsequent abnormal accumulation and aggregation of α-Synuclein (αSyn) as insoluble fibrils in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites is the pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and several neurodegenerative disorders. A combination of environmental and genetic factors is linked to αSyn misfolding, among which neuroinflammation is recognized to play an important role. Indeed, a number of studies indicate that a Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated neuroinflammation might lead to a dopaminergic neural loss, suggesting that TLRs could participate in the pathogenesis of PD as promoters of immune/neuroinflammatory responses.
  • 518
  • 15 May 2023
Topic Review
Rosemary Infusions
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L., Lamiaceae family) is quite appreciated in worldwide gastronomy due to its aromatic flavor and preservative properties. In addition, this plant is also traditionally consumed in the infusion form aiming at the treatment and prevention of several health disorders, such as dyspepsia, mild spasmodic disorders, headache, depression, anxiety, respiratory disorders, minor peripheral circulatory disorders, and minor muscular and articular pain.
  • 517
  • 12 May 2021
Topic Review
Interstitial Telomeric-like Repeats (ITR)
Interstitial telomeric repeat (ITR) sites, also known as interstitial telomeric sequences (ITSs), consist of tandem repeats of telomeric motifs that are located within intrachromosomal regions, including repeats located close to the centromeres and the ones found between the centromeres and the telomeres.
  • 517
  • 10 Dec 2021
Topic Review
OGG1 in Lung
As the organ executing gas exchange and directly facing the external environment, the lungs are challenged continuously by various stimuli, causing the disequilibration of redox homeostasis and leading to pulmonary diseases. The breakdown of oxidants/antioxidants system happens when the overproduction of free radicals results in an excess over the limitation of cleaning capability, which could lead to the oxidative modification of macromolecules including nucleic acids. The most common type of oxidative base, 8-oxoG, is considered the marker of DNA oxidative damage. The appearance of 8-oxoG could lead to base mismatch and its accumulation might end up as tumorigenesis. The base 8-oxoG was corrected by base excision repair initiated by 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase-1 (OGG1), which recognizes 8-oxoG from the genome and excises it from the DNA double strand, generating an AP site for further processing. Aside from its function in DNA damage repairment, it has been reported that OGG1 takes part in the regulation of gene expression, derived from its DNA binding characteristic, and showed impacts on inflammation. 
  • 517
  • 25 May 2022
Topic Review
Neuropathological Hallmarks of Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that leads to dementia and patient death. AD is characterized by intracellular neurofibrillary tangles, extracellular amyloid beta (Aβ) plaque deposition, and neurodegeneration. Diverse alterations have been associated with AD progression, including genetic mutations, neuroinflammation, blood–brain barrier (BBB) impairment, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and metal ion imbalance
  • 517
  • 22 May 2023
Topic Review
Modeling of Old Scars
Severe skin scars (i.e., hypertrophic and keloid) induce physical and emotional discomfort and functional disorders such as contractures and body part deformations. Scar’s response to treatment depends on “maturity”, which increases with time but is not merely proportional to it. When “fresh”, scars are relatively more treatable by conservative methods, while the treatment is only partially efficient. In contrast, surgery is a preferred approach for the older scars, but it is associated with a risk of the scar regrowth and worsening after excision if unrecognized immature scar tissue remains in the operated lesion. Therefore, to develop better treatment and diagnostics of scars, understanding of the scar maturation is essential. This requires biologically accurate experimental models of skin scarring. The current models only mimic the early stages of skin scar development. They are useful for testing new scar-preventing approaches while not addressing the problem of the older scars that exist for years. 
  • 515
  • 20 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Nrf2 Activation in Peripheral Neuropathic Pain
Nuclear factor erythroid 2 (NFE2)-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor encoded by the NFE2L2 gene and is a member of the cap ‘n’ collar subfamily of basic region leucine zipper transcription factors. 
  • 514
  • 28 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Redox-Responsive Drug Delivery Systems
With the widespread global impact of cancer on humans and the extensive side effects associated with current cancer treatments, a novel, effective, and safe treatment is needed. Redox-responsive drug delivery systems (DDSs) have emerged as a potential cancer treatment with minimal side effects and enhanced site-specific targeted delivery. 
  • 514
  • 30 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Melanocortins Protect against Diabetes Caused by Obesity
Melanocortins, a group of cleavage peptide products of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC), activate melanocortin receptors on the surface of a diverse range of cell types, leading to different biological actions. They are so named because of their melanotropic activity, that is, the ability of melanocortins to increase pigmentation in melanocytes in the skin and hair follicles, increase concentrations of eumelanin and prevent an increase in photosensitive pheomelanin. Melanocortins are produced by POMC neurons in the pars intermedia of the pituitary gland, the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus and the dorsal medullary nucleus of the solitary tract. They can be distinguished by the presence of an invariant amino acid sequence in each melanocortin peptide, His-Phe-Arg-Trp. The melanocortins produced in humans include alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH), beta-melanocyte stimulating hormone (β-MSH), gamma-melanocyte stimulating hormone (γ-MSH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH).
  • 514
  • 26 Feb 2024
Topic Review
MiR-7
miR-7 is an ancient miRNA involved in the fine-tuning of several signaling pathways, acting mainly as tumor suppressor. Through downregulation of PI3K and MAPK pathways, its dominant role is the suppression of proliferation and survival, stimulation of apoptosis and inhibition of migration. Besides these functions, it has numerous additional roles in the differentiation process of several cell types, protection from stress and chromatin remodulation. In the brain, one of the most investigated tissues, its downregulation is linked to glioblastoma cell proliferation. miR-7 deregulation is found also in other tumor types, such as liver, lung and pancreas. In some types of lung and oral carcinoma, it can act as oncomir. However, the miR-7 roles in cell fate determination and maintenance of cell homeostasis are still to be fully discovered, as well as the possibilities of its use as a specific biotherapeutic.
  • 513
  • 17 May 2021
Topic Review
Eosinophilic Pneumonia
Eosinophilic pneumonia (EP), including acute EP and chronic EP, is characterized by the massive pulmonary infiltration of eosinophils into the lung. However, the mechanisms underlying the selective accumulation of eosinophils in EP have not yet been fully elucidated. We reported that bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from EP patients induced the transmigration of eosinophils across endothelial cells in vitro. The concentrations of eotaxin-2 (CCL24) and monocyte chemotactic protein (MCP)-4 (CCL13), which are CC chemokine receptor (CCR) 3 ligands, were elevated in the BALF of EP patients, and anti-CCR3 monoclonal antibody inhibited the eosinophil transmigration induced by the BALF of EP patients. The concentration of macrophage inflammatory protein 1β (CCL4), a CCR5 ligand that induces eosinophil migration, was increased in the BALF of EP patients. Furthermore, the concentration of interleukin (IL) 5 was increased in the BALF of EP patients, and it has been reported that anti-IL-5 antibody treatment resulted in remission and the reduction of glucocorticoid use in some cases of chronic EP. The concentrations of lipid mediators, such as leukotriene (LT) B4, damage-associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs), such as uric acid, or extracellular matrix proteins, such as periostin, were also increased in the BALF of EP patients. These findings suggest that chemokines, such as CCR3/CCR5 ligands, cytokines, such as IL-5, lipid mediators, such as LTB4, DAMPs, and extracellular matrix proteins may play roles in the accumulation or activation of eosinophils in EP.
  • 512
  • 21 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Metabolomics in Asthma
Asthma is a highly heterogeneous disease, but the pathogenesis of asthma is still unclear. It is well known that the airway inflammatory immune response is the pathological basis of asthma. Metabolomics is a systems biology method to analyze the difference of low molecular weight metabolites (<1.5 kDa) and explore the relationship between metabolic small molecules and pathophysiological changes of the organisms. 
  • 512
  • 13 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Two-Pore Domain TASK Potassium Channels
TWIK-related acid-sensitive K+ (TASK) channels, including TASK-1, TASK-3, and TASK-5, are important members of the two-pore domain potassium (K2P) channel family. TASK-5 is not functionally expressed in the recombinant system. TASK channels are very sensitive to changes in extracellular pH and are active during all membrane potential periods. They are similar to other K2P channels in that they can create and use background-leaked potassium currents to stabilize resting membrane conductance and repolarize the action potential of excitable cells. TASK channels are expressed in both the nervous system and peripheral tissues, including excitable and non-excitable cells, and are widely engaged in pathophysiological phenomena, such as respiratory stimulation, pulmonary hypertension, arrhythmia, aldosterone secretion, cancers, anesthesia, neurological disorders, glucose homeostasis, and visual sensitivity. Therefore, they are important targets for innovative drug development. 
  • 512
  • 19 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Gut as an Alternative Entry Route for SARS-CoV-2
The gut has been proposed as a potential alternative entry route for SARS-CoV-2. This was mainly based on the high levels of SARS-CoV-2 receptor expressed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, the observations of GI disorders (such as diarrhea) in some COVID-19 patients and the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in feces. SARS-CoV-2 can productively infect enterocytes, damaging the intestinal barrier and contributing to inflammatory response, which might lead to GI manifestations, including diarrhea.
  • 512
  • 08 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Lonomia obliqua Envenoming
The hemorrhagic syndrome is one of the most serious complications in patients who have  been in contact with the Lonomia caterpillar bristles. Although 26 species of the genus Lonomia (Saturniidae family) are distributed in the American continent, the most studied species are L. obliqua and L. achelous caterpillars; both are capable of inducing hemorrhagic effects in humans. Envenoming by L. obliqua caterpillars was considered a public health problem in southern Brazil. The hemostatic disturbances observed in the envenoming by L. obliqua caterpillars, result in a consumption coagulopathy, resembling a disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and secondary fibrinolysis, which can lead to the hemorrhagic syndrome. The main complication of L. obliqua envenomation is acute renal failure, which can occur in up to 12% of the cases, being frequent in patients over 45 years old and in those with heavy bleeding. Besides that, some deaths related to hemorrhage and renal failure have been reported. However, the early diagnosis and proper treatment with  antilonomic serum (ALS), produced by the Butantan Institute (SP/Brazil), within 12 h of contact can prevent severe coagulopathy and hemorrhage events. 
  • 511
  • 22 Dec 2021
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