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Topic Review
Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteases 3
The proteolytical cleavage of transmembrane proteins with subsequent release of their extracellular domain, so-called ectodomain shedding, is a post-translational modification that plays an essential role in several biological processes, such as cell communication, adhesion and migration. Metalloproteases are major proteases in ectodomain shedding, especially the disintegrin metalloproteases (ADAMs) and the membrane-type matrix metalloproteases (MT-MMPs), which are considered to be canonical sheddases for their membrane-anchored topology and for the large number of proteins that they can release. The unique ability of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteases 3 (TIMP-3) to inhibit different families of metalloproteases, including the canonical sheddases (ADAMs and MT-MMPs), renders it a master regulator of ectodomain shedding. 
  • 1.8K
  • 16 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Regulatory Pathway of Biosimilar
While most biosimilars have rigidly followed the WAC pricing of 3–30% below the reference product in the US, we can anticipate significant price drops in the future. Since the US market represents 40% of the world market, price drops in the US are pivotal in presenting the overall benefits of biosimilars. In the EU, the pricing of biosimilars is a regional issue, presenting a range of 30 to 70% of market share and price drops of up to 85%, with Norway, Denmark, and Italy leading the reductions. The success of biosimilars in Europe was due to them achieving widespread acceptance by payers, providers, and patients as an integral part of medicine through an extensive program involving preparing stakeholders, investing in evidence generation (e.g., the NorSwitch trial), and introducing incentive models to share payer savings with hospitals. A key component of this success was forced switching, which is not possible on legal grounds in some countries and due to commercial interest in others.
  • 1.8K
  • 27 Apr 2022
Topic Review
OPV AIDS Hypothesis
The oral polio vaccine (OPV) AIDS hypothesis posits that the AIDS pandemic originated from live polio vaccines prepared in chimpanzee tissue cultures and then administered to up to one million Africans between 1957 and 1960 in experimental mass vaccination campaigns. Data analyses in molecular biology and phylogenetic studies contradict the OPV AIDS hypothesis; consequently, scientific consensus regards the hypothesis as disproven. The journal Nature has described the hypothesis as "refuted".
  • 1.8K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
The uPA/uPAR System in Fibrosis Progression
Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) is a single-chain serine protease that can cleave and activate Plg into plasmin by binding to urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). uPA is secreted as a single-chain glycosylated zymogen called pro-uPA, and pro-uPA is activated by several proteinases, such as kallikrein, stromelysin, and plasmin. uPAR is a glycosyl-phosphatidyl-inositol anchored (GPI) membrane protein that consists of three domains: D1 (residues 1–92), D2 (residues 93–191) and D3 (residues 192–283). uPAR is cleaved between the D1 and D2 domains (linker region) and the GPI-anchor domain by several proteases, such as uPA, plasmin, MMPs, and GPI-specific phospholipase D, and then forms soluble uPAR (suPAR; full length D1-D3, D2D3, and D1).
  • 1.8K
  • 01 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Nitrogen-Fixing and Phosphate-Solubilizing Soil Bacteria
Bacteria that fix atmospheric nitrogen (N2) live in plant tissues (e.g., tubers and roots) and at the soil–rhizosphere interface, and can supply the significant amounts of mineral nitrogen required for plant growth. Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria are known to increase the bioavailability of phosphorus from soil to plants, they solubilize inorganic phosphates and mineralize insoluble organic forms of phosphorus.
  • 1.8K
  • 20 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Pesticides with Microbial Inoculants
Inoculants or biofertilizers aiming to partially or fully replace chemical fertilizers are becoming increasingly important in agriculture, as there is a global perception of the need to increase sustainability. 
  • 1.8K
  • 13 May 2021
Topic Review
Cellulases
Cellulose is a macromolecular polysaccharide linked by glucose via a β-1,4-glycosidic bond, is insoluble in water and organic solvents, and forms the plant cell wall together with hemicellulose, pectin, and lignin. Cellulases are a group of enzymes that can hydrolyze the glycosidic bonds of cellulose to produce glucose, and the members of this group include exoglucanase, endoglucanase, and β-glucosidase. The synergistic action of these enzymes can break down cellulose into glucose.
  • 1.8K
  • 28 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Horologium
Horologium, Latin for "clock" or "timepiece," is a faint constellation located in the southern celestial hemisphere. It was first described by the French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in 1756.
  • 1.8K
  • 15 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Endoscopic Ultrasound for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours
Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors (GISTs) are subepithelial lesions (SELs) that commonly develop in the gastrointestinal tract. GISTs, unlike other SELs, can exhibit malignant behavior, so differential diagnosis is critical to the decision-making process. Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is considered the most accurate imaging method for diagnosing and differentiating SELs in the gastrointestinal tract by assessing the lesions precisely and evaluating their malignant risk.
  • 1.8K
  • 22 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Natural Killer Cells and Cytotoxic T Cells
Natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T (CD8+) cells are two of the most important types of immune cells in our body, protecting it from deadly invaders. While the NK cell is part of the innate immune system, the CD8+ cell is one of the major components of adaptive immunity. Still, these two very different types of cells share the most important function of destroying pathogen-infected and tumorous cells by releasing cytotoxic granules that promote proteolytic cleavage of harmful cells, leading to apoptosis.
  • 1.8K
  • 08 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Local Anesthesia in Cancer Surgeries
The application of local anaesthetics is frequently involved in anaesthesia in the surgical treatment of various cancers. It is used in addition to or instead of general anaesthesia as a way to provide control of sensation and pain to specific regions or parts of the patients' bodies. They are thought to reduce the requirement for volatile anaesthetics and opioids used in the surgery.
  • 1.8K
  • 28 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Flexible Electronic System
Flexible Electronic System (FES,) known as flex circuits, have been growing rapidly in industries and organisations such as medical healthcare, energy and power, aerospace, industrial automation, military and defence, sports and entertainment are now the array of various devices are generally comprised of organic substances as a substrate.
  • 1.8K
  • 18 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Subtype-Specific Cardiomyocytes
Cardiogenesis produces multiple cardiac muscle cell subtypes, including the contractile cardiomyocytes constituting the four heart chambers and the non-contractile cardiomyocytes forming the cardiac conduction system. The various cardiac cellular subtypes (e.g. atrial, ventricular, nodal) are highly specified, with each subtype expressing a unique set of structural proteins, ion channels and transcription factors. Stringent spatiotemporal molecular, transcriptomic, and electrophysiological regulation gives rise to the differentiation and maturation of the multiple cardiomyocyte subtypes. The precise generation of subtype-specific cardiomyocytes is necessary for translational applications of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes for regenerative medicine.  
  • 1.8K
  • 21 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Pact for Life Program
In Brazil, one of the most well deemed state-level programs in the prevention of homicides is the so-called Pacto pela Vida (A Pact for Life), executed in many northern regions of the country. The Pact for Life program, one of the most successful state-level projects to reduce the occurrences of homicides and other violent crimes, had its contribution by integrating the public policy of security with the Judicial Power, Legislative Power, municipalities, state and federal government. The value added by this integration has been fundamental for the fact police cycle is not unitary, meaning that the police that arrive at the crime scene are not the same one that investigates.
  • 1.8K
  • 20 May 2021
Topic Review
Morphological Plasticity of Leaves
Plants adapt to environmental changes by regulating their development and growth. As an important interface between plants and their environment, leaf morphogenesis varies between species, populations, or even shows plasticity within individuals. Leaf growth is dependent on many environmental factors, such as light, temperature, and submergence. Phytohormones play key functions in leaf development and can act as molecular regulatory elements in response to environmental signals. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge on the effects of different environmental factors and phytohormone pathways on morphological plasticity and intend to summarize the advances in leaf development. In addition, we detail the molecular mechanisms of heterophylly, the representative of leaf plasticity, providing novel insights into phytohormones and the environmental adaptation in plants.
  • 1.8K
  • 19 May 2021
Topic Review
Pharmacokinetics of Antibiotics in Pediatric Intensive Care
Children show important developmental and maturational changes, which may contribute greatly to pharmacokinetic (PK) variability observed in pediatric patients. These PK alterations are further enhanced by disease-related, non-maturational factors. Specific to the intensive care setting, such factors include critical illness, inflammatory status, augmented renal clearance (ARC), as well as therapeutic interventions (e.g., extracorporeal organ support systems or whole body hypothermia [WBH]). This entry illustrates the relevance of both maturational and non-maturational changes in absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) applied to antibiotics.
  • 1.8K
  • 09 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Role of Lycopene in Benign Urologic Conditions
Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a proliferative disorder of the prostate gland arising from its epithelial cells and smooth muscle within the transitional zone. Prostatitis is a common urologic condition that in 1999 was subdivided into four categories—acute bacterial prostatitis, chronic bacterial prostatitis, chronic non-bacterial prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CPPS), and asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis. Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common bacterial infections affecting women. Benign prostatic hyperplasia, urolithiasis, recurrent urinary tract infections, and chronic prostatitis are diseases that are commonly diagnosed worldwide. Carotenoids, including lycopene, are widely available in fruits and vegetables, and it is postulated that they can be used in the prevention and treatment of benign urological conditions. 
  • 1.8K
  • 14 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Horizon (IT System)
Horizon is a computer system used by part of the United Kingdom's postal service, Post Office Ltd. In 2013 the system was being used by at least 11,500 branches, and was processing some six million transactions every day. Horizon was introduced in 1999, and from then onwards unexplained discrepancies and losses began to be reported by sub-postmasters. The Post Office maintained that Horizon was "robust" and that none of the shortfalls or discrepancies in sub-postmasters' branch accounts were due to problems caused by Horizon. Sub-postmasters unwilling or unable to make good the shortfalls were sometimes prosecuted (by the Post Office's in-house prosecution team) for theft, false accounting and/or fraud. This was done on IT evidence alone, without proof of criminal intent. Despite this, some sub-postmasters were successfully persuaded by their own solicitors to plead guilty to false accounting, on being told the Post Office would drop theft charges. Once the Post Office had a criminal conviction, it would attempt to secure a Proceeds of Crime Act Order against convicted sub-postmasters, allowing it to seize their assets and bankrupt them. According to press reports, these actions by the Post Office caused the loss of dozens of jobs, bankruptcy, divorce, unwarranted prison sentences and one documented suicide. In 2019 the Horizon Issues trial judgment in the Bates & Ors v Post Office Ltd group litigation at the High Court found that bugs, errors and defects did exist and that it was possible for these to cause apparent discrepancies or shortfalls in branch accounts or transactions, and to undermine the reliability of Horizon accurately to process and to record transactions. Mr Justice Fraser found that this had happened on numerous occasions. In September 2020, the Post Office declared it would not oppose 44 postmasters' appeals against conviction. In December 2020 six convictions were quashed, and in April 2021 the Court of Appeal quashed a further 39 people's convictions. The BBC called the convictions "the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice". In April 2021 Post Office Chief Executive Nick Read announced that the Horizon system would be replaced with a new cloud-based IT system.
  • 1.8K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence for Fish Recognition
Computer vision has been applied to fish recognition. With the inception of deep learning techniques in the early 2010s, the use of digital images grew strongly, and this trend is likely to continue. As the number of articles published grows, it becomes harder to keep track of the state of the art and to determine the best course of action for new studies.
  • 1.8K
  • 24 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Elastomer–Hydrogel Systems
Elastomers are a class of polymeric materials that can repeatedly and easily undergo large, reversible deformations with complete recovery. They are usually composed of long-chain molecules, extremely flexible due to their ability to reconfigure themselves and dissipate an applied force. Hydrogels (HGs) are macromolecular structures consisting of polymer networks with the ability to absorb water without any dissolution. By applying sophisticated design and engineering methods, various elastomer–hydrogel systems (EHS) with outstanding performance have been developed. These systems composed of elastomers and hydrogels are very attractive due to their high biocompatibility, injectability, controlled porosity and often antimicrobial properties. Moreover, their elastomeric properties and bioadhesiveness are making them suitable for soft tissue engineering.
  • 1.8K
  • 28 Dec 2022
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