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Topic Review
Lactic Acid Bacteria in Raw-Milk Cheeses
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are of great economic importance because they play an important role throughout the fermentation process of traditional cheeses when added accidentally or intentionally. Their metabolic features not only contribute to the development of desirable sensory characteristics of food products but also allow the nutritional value of the raw material to be maintained or even enhanced.
  • 1.1K
  • 05 Aug 2022
Topic Review
The Gut Microbiome in NAFLD
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a multifactorial disease in which environmental and genetic factors are involved. Although the molecular mechanisms involved in NAFLD onset and progression are not completely understood, the gut microbiome (GM) is thought to play a key role in the process, influencing multiple physiological functions. 
  • 1.1K
  • 30 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Urinary Incontinence
Urinary incontinence (UI), also known as involuntary urination, is any uncontrolled leakage of urine. It is a common and distressing problem, which may have a large impact on quality of life. It has been identified as an important issue in geriatric health care. The term enuresis is often used to refer to urinary incontinence primarily in children, such as nocturnal enuresis (bed wetting). UI is an example of a stigmatized medical condition, which creates barriers to successful management and makes the problem worse. People may be too embarrassed to seek medical help, and attempt to self-manage the symptom in secrecy from others. Pelvic surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause are major risk factors. Urinary incontinence is often a result of an underlying medical condition but is under-reported to medical practitioners. There are four main types of incontinence: Treatments include pelvic floor muscle training, bladder training, surgery, and electrical stimulation. Behavioral therapy generally works better than medication for stress and urge incontinence. The benefit of medications is small and long term safety is unclear. Urinary incontinence is more common in older women.
  • 1.1K
  • 18 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Chemical Enzymology of Monoamine Oxidase
Monoamine oxidase (E.C. 1.4.3.4) enzymes MAO A and MAO B are FAD-containing proteins located on the outer face of the mitochondrial inner membrane, retained there by hydrophobic interactions and a transmembrane helix. The redox co-factor (FAD) is covalently attached to a cysteine and buried deep inside the protein behind an aromatic cage that aligns substrates towards the flavin. MAO metabolizes neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin in the nervous system so is a target for drugs to modify amine levels. MAO also metabolizes a wide range of biogenic amines in all tissues. Current accumulated evidence, particularly from theoretical modelling, supports hydride transfer as the chemical mechanism. The long active site cavity accommodates a wide chemical variety of small molecules designed as inhibitors, including coumarins, chromones, triazoles, and more. Inactivators that bind covalently to MAO include hydrazines, cyclopropylamines and propargylamines. This entry is an extract adapted from a review outlining the remaining uncertainties in the understanding of this key drug target.
  • 1.1K
  • 19 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Cellular Communication
Cellular communication is an umbrella term used in biology and more in depth in biophysics, biochemistry and biosemiotics to identify different types of communication methods between living cellulites. Some of the methods include cell signaling among others. This process allows millions of cells to communicate and work together to perform important bodily processes that are necessary for survival. Both multicellular and unicellular organisms heavily rely on cell-cell communication.
  • 1.1K
  • 24 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Antimetabolite Drug
Methotrexate (4-{N-[(2,4-diaminopteridin-6-yl) methyl]-N-methylamino} benzoyl)-L-glutamic acid, MTX) is an antimetabolite drug. It is widely used as a chemotherapeutic agent in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis and some sorts of leukemia. MTX is a relatively well-known molecule and is a first-line antirheumatic medication because of its efficacy and safety. It decreases the concentration of tetrahydrofolate (THF) in the cells by the inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) enzyme, therefore it reduces the purine nucleotide and DNA synthesis.
  • 1.1K
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor and Autism
AhR is a ligand-activated transcription factor that belongs to basic-helix-loop-helix (bHLH)/Per-ARNT-Sim (PAS) family, which is involved in the regulation of cell differentiation, proliferation, and cancer imitation. AhR plays an important role in various physiological pathways, including host defense, immunity, stem cell maintenance, cell differentiation, and xenobiotic metabolism. It was initially believed that AhR is activated only by a group of environmental pollutants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
  • 1.1K
  • 28 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Cheese
Cheese is a worldwide produced and consumed commodity. There are many varieties of cheese from soft to hard, white to yellow, and fresh to aged after ripening. Especially, each category has its own producing technology.
  • 1.1K
  • 09 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Styela clava
Tunicates occupy the evolutionary position at the boundary of invertebrates and vertebrates. It exhibits adaptation to broad environmental conditions and is distributed globally. Despite hundreds of years of embryogenesis studies, the genetic basis of the invasive habits of ascidians remains largely unknown. The leathery sea squirt, Styela clava, is an important invasive species. We used the chromosomal‐level genome and transcriptome of S. clava to explore its genomic‐ and molecular‐network‐based mechanisms of adaptation to environments. Compared with Ciona intestinalis type A (C. robusta), the size of the S. clava genome was expanded by 2‐fold, although the gene number was comparable. An increase in transposon number and variation in dominant types were identified as potential expansion mechanisms. In the S. clava genome, the number of genes encoding the heat‐shock protein 70 family and members of the complement system was expanded significantly, and cold‐shock protein genes were transferred horizontally into the S. clava genome from bacteria. The expanded gene families potentially play roles in the adaptation of S. clava to its environments. The loss of key genes in the galactan synthesis pathway might explain the distinct tunic structure and hardness compared with the ascidian Ciona species. And to explore the role of transcription factors (TFs)  in embryonic development and environmental adaptation, we systematically identified and analyzed TFs in S. clava genome. We reported 553 TFs categorized into 60 families from S. clava, based on the whole genome data. Comparison of TFs analysis among the tunicate species revealed that the gene number in the zinc finger superfamily displayed the most significant discrepancy, indicating this family was under the highly evolutionary selection and might be related to species differentiation and environmental adaptation. The greatest number of TFs was discovered in the Cys2His2-type zinc finger protein (zf-C2H2) family in S. clava. From the point of temporal view, more than half the TFs were expressed at the early embryonic stage. The expression correlation analysis revealed the existence of a transition for TFs expression from early embryogenesis to the later larval development in S. clava. Eight Hox genes were identified to be located on one chromosome, exhibiting different arrangement and expression patterns, compared to Ciona robusta. 
  • 1.1K
  • 13 May 2021
Topic Review
Vestigiality
Vestigiality is the retention during the process of evolution of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on comparison with homologous features in related species. The emergence of vestigiality occurs by normal evolutionary processes, typically by loss of function of a feature that is no longer subject to positive selection pressures when it loses its value in a changing environment. The feature may be selected against more urgently when its function becomes definitively harmful, but if the lack of the feature provides no advantage, and its presence provides no disadvantage, the feature may not be phased out by natural selection and persist across species. Examples of vestigial structures (also called degenerate, atrophied, or rudimentary organs) are the loss of functional wings in island-dwelling birds; the human vomeronasal organ; and the hindlimbs of the snake and whale. The human appendix is no longer considered vestigial.
  • 1.1K
  • 24 Oct 2022
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