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Topic Review
Quality/Yield of Lettuce in Open-Air Rooftop Hydroponic System
Hydroponic rooftop-grown lettuce can be competitive with their indoor counterparts if the rooftop hydroponic system is protected from extreme weather conditions. 
  • 778
  • 24 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Asian Form of Huanglongbing
The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, transmits ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas), a phloem-limited bacterium associated with the severe Asian form of huanglongbing (HLB), and the most destructive disease of citrus. The pathogen and the psyllid, both of South Asian origin, are now widespread in citrus regions of Asia and the Americas. There is no cure for the disease. Application of synthetic pesticides, in some instances more frequently than fortnightly, to minimize incidence of ACP in citrus orchards, has not prevented inevitable impacts of the disease in regions of Asia where CLas is present. Despite the inevitable spread of the disease, significant progress has been made in Sarawak since the mid-1990s towards effectively implementing integrated pest management (IPM) programs for stemming the impact of the disease and detrimental consequences of over-reliance on synthetic pesticides. Growers are encouraged to plant pathogen-free trees, remove diseased trees, monitor incidence of the psyllid, and to use pesticides judiciously to reduce their detrimental impacts on natural enemies. Knowledge has been enhanced through research on seasonal incidence of the psyllid, use of mineral oils, development of protocols and iodine–starch test kits for detecting infected trees, PCR for confirming the presence of CLas in symptomatic leaves, methods for monitoring incidence the psyllid, and training extension staff and growers. However, major impediments to increasing the average longevity of trees beyond <5 years in poorly managed orchards, based on marcotting (air layering), and >12 years in well-managed orchards, based on pathogen-free trees, still need to be addressed. These include grower knowledge, marcotting, aggressive marketing of synthetic pesticides, high prices of mineral oils, spray application procedures, and better reliance on natural enemies of the psyllid.
  • 778
  • 15 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Preclinical Urethral Tissue Engineering Studies
While the reasons the positive results obtained in preclinical studies for urethral repair have not been reproduced in the subsequent clinical trials are complex, poorly designed experiments and a lack of quality in reporting might be some of the main reasons that hinder clinical translation. However, the quality of reporting in preclinical urethral tissue engineering studies remains unclear. Moreover, it is unknown if the quality of reporting has improved as a consequence of the introduction of the ARRIVE guidelines.
  • 776
  • 10 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Digital Phenotyping
Phenotypes are set, observable variables that an organism displays when interacting with its environment. These variables are influenced by genotypes, which are complex and inheritable. Phenotypes can be measured continuously (e.g., assessing the change in an animal’s body temperature over a day) or categorically through the use of concise scoring systems. When the phenotypes of an animal are measured and collected for use as data points, the process is described as phenotyping.
  • 775
  • 15 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Ferroptosis and Kidney Diseases
Ferroptosis is a newly identified form of regulated cell death driven by iron-dependent phospholipid peroxidation and oxidative stress. Ferroptosis has distinct biological and morphology characteristics, such as shrunken mitochondria when compared to other known regulated cell deaths. The regulation of ferroptosis includes different molecular mechanisms and multiple cellular metabolic pathways, including glutathione/glutathione peroxidase 4(GPX4) signaling pathways, which are involved in the amino acid metabolism and the activation of GPX4; iron metabolic signaling pathways, which are involved in the regulation of iron import/export and the storage/release of intracellular iron through iron-regulatory proteins (IRPs), and lipid metabolic signaling pathways, which are involved in the metabolism of unsaturated fatty acids in cell membranes. Ferroptosis plays an essential role in the pathology of various kidneys diseases, including acute kidney injury (AKI), chronic kidney disease (CKD), autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), and renal cell carcinoma (RCC).
  • 773
  • 08 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Prevalence of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus in Poultry in Malaysia
Enterococcus has emerged as a significant nosocomial and community-acquired pathogen as a result of its ability to develop resistance to antimicrobials, particularly vancomycin. Vancomycin is the final treatment option, particularly for Enterococcus. There is abundant proof that drug-resistant bacteria exist in poultry and can be transmitted to humans. Regular monitoring of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) in poultry would aid policymakers in developing effective control measures and design antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance capacity building in Malaysia. Further, livestock farmers should be educated on antibiotics resistance and trained on responsible utilization of antibiotics.
  • 772
  • 16 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Primary Human Trabecular Meshwork Model for Pseudoexfoliation
Pseudoexfoliation is an age related fibrillopathy characterized by abnormal fibrillar extracellular material (ECM) in ocular tissues. Pseudoexfoliative aggregate material causing mechanical obstruction of the trabecular meshwork (TM), blood aqueous barrier dysfunction, endothelial cell dysfunction, and abnormal ECM homeostasis cause TM dysfunction/fibrosis eventually leading to glaucoma, if untreated. The pseudoexfoliative material comprises of non-collagenous basement membrane components such as laminin, fibronectin, amyloid P, and vitronectin as well as proteinaceous components of elastic fibres (such as elastin, tropoelastin, fibrillin-1, microfibril-associated glycoprotein-1) and latent TGF-β-binding proteins (LTBP-1 and -2). Transforming growth factor, tissue matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) regulate ECM homeostasis with increased PAI-1 levels causing excessive ECM deposition and reduced degradation in adjoining tissues. While Lysyl oxidase homolog 1 (LOXL1) is deemed necessary for disease pathogenesis, it is now understood that LOXL1 alone does not explain the preferential geographical distribution or the differential role of different genes in disease pathogenesis or glaucoma onset in different ethnic populations. It is well recognized that environmental factors, epigenetics, and their interplay with gene expression is what may hold the key for explaining the disease pathogenesis.
  • 771
  • 14 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Production and Biochemical Characterization of Dimeric Recombinant Gremlin-1
Gremlin-1 is a secreted cystine-knot protein that acts as an antagonist of bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), and as a ligand of heparin and the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2), thus regulating several physiological and pathological processes, including embryonic development, tissue fibrosis and cancer. Gremlin-1 exists both as a monomeric and dimeric protein.
  • 771
  • 10 Feb 2022
Topic Review
The Gut–Liver Axis of Boar Taint
The gut microbiome is a complex organ that is typically comprised of a couple hundred bacterial species expressing nearly 2 million different genes, which promote the biotransformation of xenobiotics and endogenous compounds and regulate the production of microbial metabolites in response to dietary, genetic, and environmental factors. Microbiota-derived compounds function as signaling molecules between different bacterial species to synchronize bacterial behaviours by altering the microbial population or the gene expression within the gut microbiome, which is known as quorum sensing. Gut-derived compounds also modulate metabolic pathways in the liver and intestines and act as ligands for nuclear receptors and other xenobiotic sensing transcription factors. In response, the liver produces bile to provide feedback to the gut microbiota and regulate further metabolite production. This bidirectional communication between the liver and the gut is referred to as the gut–liver axis and represents an important link between the gut microbiome and nuclear receptor signaling pathways.
  • 771
  • 13 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Fagopyrum Species Cultivated in Himalayan Regions
Fagopyrum spp. (buckwheat) is a dicotyledonous pseudocereal crop mainly cultivated in the north-western Himalayan regions for its highly nutritional, antioxidant and therapeutic values.
  • 770
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Strawberry Fungal Leaf Scorch Disease Identification
Plant health is the basis of agricultural development. Plant diseases are a major factor for crop losses in agriculture. Plant diseases are difficult to diagnose correctly, and the manual disease diagnosis process is time consuming. For this reason, it is highly desirable to automatically identify the diseases in strawberry plants to prevent loss of crop quality. Deep learning (DL) has recently gained popularity in image classification and identification due to its high accuracy and fast learning. In this research, deep learning models were used to identify the leaf scorch disease in strawberry plants. Four convolutional neural networks (SqueezeNet, EfficientNet-B3, VGG-16 and AlexNet) CNN models were trained and tested for the classification of healthy and leaf scorch disease infected plants. The performance accuracy of EfficientNet-B3 and VGG-16 was higher for the initial and severe stage of leaf scorch disease identification as compared to AlexNet and SqueezeNet. It was also observed that the severe disease (leaf scorch) stage was correctly classified more often than the initial stage of the disease. All the trained CNN models were integrated with a machine vision system for real-time image acquisition under two different lighting situations (natural and controlled) and identification of leaf scorch disease in strawberry plants. The field experiment results with controlled lightening arrangements, showed that the model EfficientNet-B3 achieved the highest classification accuracy, with 0.80 and 0.86 for initial and severe disease stages, respectively, in real-time. AlexNet achieved slightly lower validation accuracy (0.72, 0.79) in comparison with VGGNet and EfficientNet-B3. Experimental results stated that trained CNN models could be used in conjunction with variable rate agrochemical spraying systems, which will help farmers to reduce agrochemical use, crop input costs and environmental contamination.
  • 770
  • 18 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Listeria in Conventional and Alternative Egg Production Systems
Listeria continues to be a persistent foodborne pathogen that is responsible for human cases of listeriosis when contaminated food products are consumed. Human subjects considered to be most susceptible include the elderly, immunocompromised, and pregnant women. Listeria is characterized as a saprophytic organism with the capability of responding and adapting to constantly changing environments because it possesses multiple stress response mechanisms to overcome varying temperatures, salt concentrations, and pH, among others. Primary foods and food products associated with listeriosis include dairy products and ready-to-eat meats such as turkey products. Historically, chicken eggs have not been identified as a primary source of Listeria, but the potential for contamination during egg production and processing does exist. Listeria species have been isolated from egg-processing plant equipment and are presumed to occur in egg-processing plant environments. Whether Listeria is consistently disseminated onto eggs beyond the egg-processing plant is a risk factor that remains to be determined. 
  • 770
  • 29 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Dietary Selenium
Dietary selenium (Se) is an essential component that supports fish growth and the immune system. It emphasizes that optimal dietary Se levels are necessary for healthy biological processes in fish, such as growth, reproduction, and immunity. Since organic Se appears to be the most ideal for fish due to its low toxicity, environmental safety, and efficient fish culture, it explores the potential sources and forms of Se.
  • 770
  • 07 Oct 2023
Topic Review
MetS and EMS
Obesity and insulin resistance are considered as the main underlying risk factors for metabolic disturbances and are involved in the rise of other risk factors, such as hypertension, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia. The cluster of such risk factors is referred to as metabolic syndrome, a common condition among both human population and animals. Although there are numerous differences between metabolic dysregulation in humans and horses in terms of clinical manifestations, complications, outcomes, etc, a number of disease mechanisms common in both species can be identified (e.g., root causes of metabolic syndrome, role of liver malfunction). The most important pathological factor associated with metabolic syndrome is the affliction of the cardiovascular system in humans and the development of laminitis in horses. The mechanisms that lead to these potentially life-limiting consequences are not fully comparable, although the changes in these species take place in the vascular system. Inflammatory conditions in adipose tissue and effects on metabolic and biochemical processes show similarities between all species.
  • 769
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Pig FUT3 Methylation Regulates E. coli F18 Susceptibility
Post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) is frequently associated with E. coli F18 infections in piglets. However, the underlying molecular mechanism concerning the resistance of E. coli F18 in local weaned piglets in China is not clearly understood. In the present study, our findings indicated that the methylation of mC-3 and mC-5 sites has certain inhibitory effect on FUT3 expression and promotes the resistance of E. coli F18 in piglets. The underlined study may explore FUT3 as a new candidate target in E. coli F18 infection in Chinese local weaned piglets.
  • 762
  • 27 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Stem Cells against SARS-CoV-2 in Pregnant Women/Children
Similar to children, pregnant women have active fetal-derived stem cells circulating in their bodies, that are able to combat illnesses and repair maternal injured tissues. Fetal stem cells are multipotent stem cells derived from fetal blood and tissues. These cells are more limited in growth potential than pluripotent embryonic stem cells, although their proliferation rate and regenerative properties are higher than those of MSCs from adults.
  • 762
  • 08 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Microelement Composition of Reindeer Meat and Adaptation
The unique nutrition of the Arctic Indigenous Peoples is associated with their increased endurance, health, and adaptability to the harsh climate. Reindeer meat, blood, and liver are the most critical elements of this traditional nutrition enriched with minerals. Reindeer consumption is a crucial factor of successful adaptation to the cold stress, as well as a component of national culture, food, and economic security and sovereignty, affecting the well-being and health of the Indigenous population in the Arctic.
  • 762
  • 28 Jan 2022
Topic Review
β-Defensin in Flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)
Most defensins are cationic antimicrobial peptides with broad-spectrum killing activity against bacteria, fungi and enveloped viruses. However, it should be recognized that there are some non-cationic β-defensins in organisms, which need to be further studied. In this study, a new spliced isoform of anionic β-defensin from flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus, fBD) was identified, and its antibiosis, chemotaxis and modulation of phagocytosis were examined. In addition, the contributions of fBD to the antimicrobial activity of extracellular traps (ETs) were also analyzed. The recombinant fBD (rfBD) could effectively inhibit the growth of Gram-positive bacteria (S. aureus, Micrococcus luteus) and Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli, V. alginolyticus, V. anguillarum).
  • 761
  • 11 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Crested Servaline Genet
The Crested Servaline Genet (Genetta cristata) is a small carnivorous mammal native to the dense forests and woodlands of Central Africa. Known for its distinctive crested appearance, characterized by a tuft of fur on its head, this elusive species is a member of the Genetta genus within the Viverridae family. With its arboreal habits and nocturnal lifestyle, the Crested Servaline Genet plays a vital role in forest ecosystems as a predator of small vertebrates and an important seed disperser.
  • 761
  • 28 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Gut Microbiota of Oviparous Lizard
Vertebrates maintain complex symbiotic relationships with microbiota living within their gastrointestinal tracts which reflects the ecological and evolutionary relationship between hosts and their gut microbiota. 
  • 760
  • 31 Aug 2021
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