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Topic Review
Cyanobacteria: Model Microorganisms and Beyond
Cyanobacteria, also formerly called “blue-green algae”, are photosynthetic prokaryotes with ~3500 million years of existence on the planet earth. They live in a diverse range of environments, from freshwater and marine to terrestrial ecosystems. Cyanobacteria can tolerate and live in the most extreme habitats including geothermal habitats, frozen systems, and hypersaline environments.
  • 1.6K
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Thermal Denaturation of Milk Whey Proteins: Rapid Quantification
Heat treatment of milk signifies a certain degree of protein denaturation, which modifies the functional properties of dairy products. Traditional methods for detecting and quantifying the denaturation of whey proteins are slow, complex and require sample preparation and qualified staff. The world’s current trend is to develop rapid, real-time analytical methods that do not destroy the sample and can be applied on/in-line during processing.
  • 1.6K
  • 03 Aug 2022
Topic Review
Grain Number per Panicle
Rice grain yield is a complex trait determined by three components: panicle number, grain number per panicle (GNPP) and grain weight. GNPP is the major contributor to grain yield and is crucial for its improvement. GNPP is determined by a series of physiological and biochemical steps, including inflorescence development, formation of rachis branches such as primary rachis branches and secondary rachis branches, and spikelet specialisation (lateral and terminal spikelets).
  • 1.6K
  • 06 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Adaptation to EUTR Requirements: Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia
Eight years after the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) came into force, its effectiveness is still unsatisfactory due to deficient and uneven implementation among member states.  In addition, some Western Balkan countries have poor legality monitoring systems, increasing the risk of trade in illegally harvested timber. Regardless of this, no recent work has analyzed the adaptation of national forest policies to the EUTR obligations. Author study aims to contribute to the understanding of EUTR implementation by analyzing the adaptation of policies of the Western Balkan countries (Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia) to the EUTR. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on 22 policy documents from Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Documents were coded using coding categories derived from EUTR. Our results point out that none of the analyzed countries have a policy to directly address illegal logging or prevention of illegal activities. As EU members, Slovenia and Croatia has implemented EUTR through laws. The Slovenian Forest Act addresses all EUTR obligations, while Croatian Law on EUTR Implementation does not directly address the obligation of legality. This obligation is addressed by the Law on Forests. As Serbia is not an EU member, it did not implement EUTR. Nevertheless, Serbian Law on Forests addresses all EUTR obligations, but has some discrepancies regarding Traceability obligation. With ongoing discourses on Green Deal policies and the increasing focus on “deforestation-free” commodities, stricter implementation might be expected of EUTR at EU level. Most countries would probably have to build capacities for EUTR implementation and become more transparent and responsible concerning information availability. To successfully implement EUTR, an increased number of checks as well as stricter fines will be needed.
  • 1.5K
  • 22 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Y RNA
Y RNA are a class of small non-coding RNA that are largely conserved. Although their discovery was almost 40 years ago, their function is still under investigation. This is evident in cancer biology, where their role was first studied just a dozen years ago. Since then, only a few contributions were published, mostly scattered across different tumor types and, in some cases, also suffering from methodological limitations. Nonetheless, these sparse data may be used to make some estimations and suggest routes to better understand the role of Y RNA in cancer formation and characterization.
  • 1.5K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Congenital Malformations in Sea Turtles
Congenital malformations can lead to embryonic mortality in many species, and sea turtles are no exception. Genetic and/or environmental alterations occur during early development in the embryo, and may produce aberrant phenotypes, many of which are incompatible with life. Causes of malformations are multifactorial; genetic factors may include mutations, chromosomal aberrations, and inbreeding effects, whereas non-genetic factors may include nutrition, hyperthermia, low moisture, radiation, and contamination. It is possible to monitor and control some of these factors (such as temperature and humidity) in nesting beaches, and toxic compounds in feeding areas, which can be transferred to the embryo through their lipophilic properties.
  • 1.5K
  • 22 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Taro Mucilage
Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is an important source of carbohydrates as an energy source and is used as a staple food throughout the world. It is rich in mucilage and starch granules, making it a highly digestible ingredient. Mucilage can act as a matrix and a thickening, binding, emulsifying, or foaming agent in food, pharmaceutical, and several other fields of research. Moreover, mucilage can be extracted from several living organisms and has excellent functional properties, such as water-holding, oil-holding, and swelling capacities. Therefore, these remarkable functional properties make mucilage a promising ingredient with possible industrial applications. Furthermore, several extraction techniques, including enzyme-assisted, ultrasonication, microwave-assisted, aquatic, and solvent extraction methods, are used to obtain quantitative amounts of taro mucilage. Coldwater extraction with ethanol precipitation can be considered an effective and cost-effective technique to obtain high-quality mucilage with suitable industrial applications, whereas the ultrasonication method is more expensive but results in a higher amount of mucilage than other emerging techniques. Mucilage can also be used as a fat replacer or reducer, dye remover, coating agent, and antioxidating agent
  • 1.5K
  • 25 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Protoplasts
Plants are sessile organisms that have a remarkable developmental plasticity, which ensures their optimal adaptation to environmental stresses. Plant cell totipotency is an extreme example of such plasticity, whereby somatic cells have the potential to form plants via direct shoot organogenesis or somatic embryogenesis in response to various exogenous and/or endogenous signals. Protoplasts provide one of the most suitable systems for investigating molecular mechanisms of the plant cell totipotency, because they are effectively single cell populations. The term protoplast originates from the ancient Greek word prōtóplastos, which means “first-formed”, and refers to a cell without a cell wall. Protoplasts represent a powerful tool to study the mechanisms that induce cell proliferation from individual, differentiated somatic cells, enabling successful reprogramming of plant cells when cultured in vitro.
  • 1.5K
  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Human Cytomegalovirus
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) expresses a variety of viral regulatory proteins that undergo close interaction with host factors including viral-cellular multiprotein complexes. The HCMV protein kinase pUL97 represents a viral CDK ortholog (vCDK) that determines the efficiency of HCMV replication via phosphorylation of viral and cellular substrates. A hierarchy of functional importance of individual pUL97-mediated phosphorylation events has been discussed, however, the most pronounced pUL97-dependent phenotype could be assigned to viral nuclear egress, as illustrated by genetic ORF-UL97 deletion or pharmacological pUL97 inhibition. Despite earlier data pointing to a cyclin-independent functionality, experimental evidence increasingly emphasized the role of pUL97-cyclin complexes. Consequently, the knowledge about pUL97 involvement in host interaction, viral nuclear egress and additional replicative steps led to the postulation of pUL97 as an antiviral target. Indeed, validation experiments in vitro and in vivo confirmed the sustainability of this approach. Consequently, current investigations of pUL97 in antiviral treatment go beyond the known pUL97-mediated ganciclovir prodrug activation and henceforward include pUL97-specific kinase inhibitors. Among a number of interesting small molecules analyzed on experimental and preclinical stages, maribavir is presently investigated in clinical studies and, in the near future, might represent a first kinase inhibitor applied in the field of antiviral therapy.
  • 1.5K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Ferroptosis in Liver Diseases
Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of cell death characterized by intracellular lipid peroxide accumulation and redox imbalance. Ferroptosis shows specific biological and morphological features when compared to the other cell death patterns. The loss of lipid peroxide repair activity by glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4), the presence of redox-active iron and the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-containing phospholipids are considered as distinct fingerprints of ferroptosis. Several pathways, including amino acid and iron metabolism, ferritinophagy, cell adhesion, p53, Keap1/Nrf2 and phospholipid biosynthesis, can modify susceptibility to ferroptosis. Through the decades, various diseases, including acute kidney injury; cancer; ischemia-reperfusion injury; and cardiovascular, neurodegenerative and hepatic disorders, have been associated with ferroptosis. Here, we provide a short overview of the main biological and biochemical mechanisms of ferroptosis. The contribution of ferroptosis to the spectrum of liver diseases, acute or chronic is also reported. Finally, we discuss the use of ferroptosis as a therapeutic approach against hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common form of primary liver cancer.
  • 1.5K
  • 21 Jul 2020
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