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Topic Review
Impact of Drought in Plant-Metabolism
       Plants are often exposed to unfavorable environmental conditions, for instance abiotic stresses, which dramatically alter distribution of plant species among ecological niches and limit the yields of crop species. Among these, drought stress is one of the most impacting factors which alter seriously the plant physiology, finally leading to the decline of the crop productivity. Drought stress causes in plants a set of morpho-anatomical, physiological and biochemical changes, mainly addressed to limit the loss of water by transpiration with the attempt to increase the plant water use efficiency. The stomata closure, one of the first consistent reactions observed under drought, results in a series of consequent physiological/biochemical adjustments aimed at balancing the photosynthetic process as well as at enhancing the plant defense barriers against drought-promoted stress (e.g., stimulation of antioxidant systems, accumulation of osmolytes and stimulation of aquaporin synthesis), all representing an attempt by the plant to overcome the unfavorable period of limited water availability. In view of the severe changes in water availability imposed by climate change factors and considering the increasing human population, it is therefore of outmost importance to highlight: (i) how plants react to drought; (ii) the mechanisms of tolerance exhibited by some species/cultivars; and (iii) the techniques aimed at increasing the tolerance of crop species against limited water availability. All these aspects are necessary to respond to the continuously increasing demand for food, which unfortunately parallels the loss of arable land due to changes in rainfall dynamics and prolonged period of drought provoked by climate change factors. This review summarizes the most updated findings on the impact of drought stress on plant morphological, biochemical and physiological features and highlights plant mechanisms of tolerance which could be exploited to increase the plant capability to survive under limited water availability. In addition, possible applicative strategies to help the plant in counteracting unfavorable drought periods are also discussed.
  • 2.7K
  • 24 Aug 2020
Topic Review
Carbonation and Its Mechanisms in Reinforced Concrete Structures
Reinforced concrete (RC) has been commonly used as a construction material for decades due to its high compressive strength and moderate tensile strength. However, these two properties of RC are frequently hampered by degradation. The main degradation processes in RC structures are carbonation and the corrosion of rebars. The scientific community is divided regarding the process by which carbonation causes structural damage. Some researchers suggest that carbonation weakens a structure and makes it prone to rebar corrosion, while others suggest that carbonation does not damage structures enough to cause rebar corrosion.
  • 2.7K
  • 11 May 2022
Topic Review
Epigenetic Regulations of T Cell Differentiation
T cell differentiation is a tightly regulated process. Recent studies have shown that epigenetics plays a significant role at all stages of the differentiation process.  The different stages of T cell differentiation are introduced and recent findings on the epigenetic regulation of this process will be discussed. The epigenetic modifications associated with T cell differentiation related to cancer are discussed as well.
  • 2.7K
  • 18 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Extracellular Calcium and Inflammation
Burn injury serves as an example of a condition with a robust systemic inflammatory response. The elevation of circulating interleukins (IL)-1β and -6 in children and adolescents with severe burn injury upregulates the parathyroid calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), resulting in hypocalcemic hypoparathyroidism accompanied by urinary calcium wasting. This effect protects the body from the hypercalcemia that results from bone resorption, liberating calcium into the circulation. Extracellular calcium can exacerbate and prolong the inflammatory response by stimulating mononuclear cell chemokine production as well as the NLRP3 inflammasome of the innate immune system, resulting in increased IL-1 production by monocytes and macrophages. Interestingly, the CaSR upregulation in response to inflammatory cytokines disappears with age, potentially trapping calcium from bone resorption in the circulation, allowing it to contribute to increased inflammation and possibly increased calcium deposition in small arteries, such as the coronaries, as conditions with increased chronic inflammation, such as spinal cord injury, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis have an incidence of cardiovascular disease and coronary artery calcium deposition significantly higher than the unaffected age-matched population. 
  • 2.7K
  • 08 Aug 2022
Topic Review
3D Cell Culture
A 3D cell culture is an artificially created environment in which biological cells are permitted to grow or interact with their surroundings in all three dimensions. Unlike 2D environments (e.g. a Petri dish), a 3D cell culture allows cells in vitro to grow in all directions, similar to how they would in vivo. These three-dimensional cultures are usually grown in bioreactors, small capsules in which the cells can grow into spheroids, or 3D cell colonies. Approximately 300 spheroids are usually cultured per bioreactor.
  • 2.7K
  • 30 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Theosophy and Music
According to some musicology and religious studies scholars, after the foundation of the Theosophical Society (1875), some professional musicians had a fancy for Theosophy, at the same time, the Theosophists had often engaged in music. However, several composers like Alexander Scriabin, Cyril Scott, Luigi Russolo chose Theosophy as the main ideological and philosophical basis of their work. Prof. Julia Shabanova stated that music, having both "existential and metaphysical" traits, extends comprehension of the world to its "universal constants". The European thought of the 19th century, which was in the period of the emergence of modern Theosophy in the process of "changing the philosophical and worldview paradigms", needed this.
  • 2.7K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
The Cult of the Child
The concept of the “cult of the child” highlights a radical change in child representation. Having been neglected and even disrespected for centuries, children are now valued, and their interests are placed above all others. This change in views of children, reflected in changes in laws, institutions and practices, has also spread to two pillars of our democratic societies, the family and the school, with a number of consequences for parents, teachers and children.
  • 2.7K
  • 30 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Expert System and Decision Support System
Electrocardiography (ECG) is one of the most widely used recordings in clinical medicine. ECG deals with the recording of electrical activity that is generated by the heart through the surface of the body. The electrical activity generated by the heart is measured using electrodes that are attached to the body surface. The use of ECG in the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been in existence for over a decade, and research in this domain has recently attracted large attention. Along this line, an expert system (ES) and decision support system (DSS) have been developed for ECG interpretation and diagnosis.
  • 2.7K
  • 13 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Requirements Engineering in OTF-Computing
The idea of On-The-Fly (OTF) Computing is to compose and provide software services ad hoc, based on requirement descriptions in natural language. Since non-technical users write  their software requirements themselves and in unrestricted natural language, deficits occur such as inaccuracy and incompleteness. These deficits are usually tackled by natural language processing methods, which have to face specific challenges in OTF Computing because maximum automation is the goal there. In the following, we present current automatic approaches for solving inaccuracies and incompleteness in natural language requirement descriptions.
  • 2.7K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Escherichia coli in Secondary Habitats
Escherichia (E.) coli are rod shaped, facultative anaerobic, gram-negative, coliform, fecal gammaproteobacteria that inhabit the intestines of endotherms (primary habitat) and the natural environment (secondary habitats). Due to historic thinking regarding the limited capacity of E. coli to survive in the environment, a great deal of research is needed to advance understanding of environmental factors influencing E. coli’s survival.
  • 2.7K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Atypical Chronic Myeloid Leukemia
Atypical chronic myeloid leukemia, BCR-ABL1 negative (aCML) is a rare myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)/myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) with a high rate of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia, and poor survival. Until now, the diagnosis has been based on morphological grounds only, possibly making the real frequency of the disease underestimated. Only recently, new insights in the molecular biology of MDS/MPN syndromes have deepened our knowledge of aCML, enabling us to have a better molecular profile of the disease. The knowledge gleaned from next generation sequencing has complemented morphologic and laboratory WHO criteria for myeloid neoplasms and can provide greater specificity in distinguishing aCML from alternative MDS/MPN or MPNs. The most commonly mutated genes (> 20%) in aCML are SETBP1, ASXL1, N/K-RAS, SRSF2, and TET2, and less frequently (< 10%) CBL, CSFR3, JAK2, EZH2, and ETNK1. Several of these mutations affect the JAK-STAT, MAPK, and ROCK signaling pathways, which are targetable by inhibitors that are already in clinical use and may lead to a personalized treatment of aCML patients unfit for allogeneic transplant, which is currently the only curative option for fit patients. 
  • 2.7K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Schisandra chinensis in Human Health and Nutrition
Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. (SCE) is a plant with high potential for beneficial health effects, confirmed by molecular studies. Its constituents exert anti-cancer effects through the induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, as well as inhibition of invasion and metastasis in cancer cell lines and experimental animals. SCE displays antimicrobial effects against several pathogenic strains. It has anti-diabetic potential, supported by hypoglycemic activity. A diet rich in SCE improves pancreatic functions, stimulates insulin secretion, and reduces complications in diabetic animals. 
  • 2.7K
  • 20 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Slack
Slack is a messaging program designed specifically for the office, but has also been adopted for personal use. Developed by the Canadian software company Slack Technologies, and now owned by Salesforce, Slack offers many IRC-style features, including persistent chat rooms (channels) organized by topic, private groups, and direct messaging. In addition to these online communication features, Slack integrates with other software.
  • 2.7K
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Optimates
The optimates (/ˈɒptɪməts/; Latin for "best ones", singular: optimas), also known as boni ("good men"), are a label in studies of the late Roman republic. They are seen as supporters of the continued authority of the senate. The importance of the term comes from Cicero's Pro Sestio, a speech published in 56 BC, in which he constructs two types of politicians.
  • 2.7K
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Colorectal Cancer Screening and Diagnostics
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a prevalent and potentially fatal disease categorized based on its high incidences and mortality rates, which raised the need for effective diagnostic strategies for the early detection and management of CRC. While there are several conventional cancer diagnostics available, they have certain limitations that hinder their effectiveness. 
  • 2.7K
  • 17 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Fused Filament Printing Process
Additive manufacturing technologies are used in various high-tech industries. Additive methods for the production of prostheses, implants and other products of complex geometric shapes made of polymer materials are being actively studied and introduced. A large number of studies are associated with the use of polylactide (PLA), polyether ether ketone (PEEK), polyamides and other biocompatible materials when printing using fused filament/granular fabrication (FFF/FGF).
  • 2.7K
  • 01 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Applications of Liquid Biopsy in Colorectal Cancer Screening
Colorectal cancer (CRC) represents the third most prevalent cancer worldwide and a leading cause of mortality among the population of western countries. However, CRC is frequently a preventable malignancy due to various screening tests being available. While failing to obtain real-time data, current screening methods (either endoscopic or stool-based tests) also require disagreeable preparation protocols and tissue sampling through invasive procedures, rendering adherence to CRC screening programs suboptimal. In this context, the necessity for novel, less invasive biomarkers able to identify and assess cancer at an early stage is evident. Liquid biopsy comes as a promising minimally invasive diagnostic tool, able to provide comprehensive information on tumor heterogeneity and dynamics during carcinogenesis.
  • 2.7K
  • 17 Nov 2022
Topic Review
ROS Scavenging in Plants
Salinity is an issue impairing crop production across the globe. Under salinity stress, besides the osmotic stress and Na+ toxicity, ROS (reactive oxygen species) overaccumulation is a secondary stress which further impairs plant performance. Chloroplasts, mitochondria, the apoplast, and peroxisomes are the main ROS generation sites in salt-stressed plants. 
  • 2.7K
  • 28 May 2021
Topic Review
Severe TBI: Second and Third Tier Therapies
Intracranial hypertension is a common finding in severe traumatic brain injury, and requires treatment in the intensive care unit with intracranial pressure monitoring and, when possible, the application of multimodal neuromonitoring. A three-tier approach is suggested in current rec-ommendations, with higher tier therapies having more significant side effects. Researchers explain the rationale for this approach, they analyze the benefits and risks of each therapeutic mo-dality, and they discuss how to adapt the therapy to the resources available, based on the most recent recommendations.
  • 2.7K
  • 08 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Musical Stimulation on Placental Programming of Preterm Infants
The fetal environment is modulated by the placenta, which integrates and transduces information from the maternal environment to the fetal developmental program and adapts rapidly to changes through epigenetic mechanisms that respond to internal (hereditary) and external (environmental and social) signals. Consequently, the fetus corrects the trajectory of own development. During the last trimester of gestation, plasticity shapes the fetal brain, and prematurity can alter the typical developmental trajectories. Prenatal music stimulation had positive effects on fetus, newborn, and pregnant mother while post-natal exposure affected the neurodevelopment of the preterm infants and parental interaction.
  • 2.7K
  • 28 Apr 2023
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