Topic Review
African Bush Elephant
The African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), also known as the African savanna elephant, is the largest living terrestrial animal with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to 3.96 m (13.0 ft). Both sexes have tusks, which erupt when they are 1–3 years old and grow throughout life. It is distributed across 37 African countries and inhabits forests, grasslands and woodlands, wetlands and agricultural land. Since 2004, it has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. It is threatened foremost by habitat destruction, and in parts of its range also by poaching for meat and ivory. It is a social mammal, traveling in herds composed of cows and their offspring. Adult bulls usually live alone or in small bachelor groups. It is a herbivore, feeding on grasses, creepers, herbs, leaves and bark.
  • 1.1K
  • 05 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Hepacivirus C
Hepacivirus C (HCV) is a small (55–65 nm in size), enveloped, positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus of the family Flaviviridae. The Hepacivirus C is the cause of hepatitis C and some cancers such as liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma, abbreviated HCC) and lymphomas in humans.
  • 1.1K
  • 15 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Current Advances in Regeneration of Degenerated Articular Cartilage
Functional ability is the basis of healthy aging. Articular cartilage degeneration is amongst the most prevalent degenerative conditions that cause adverse impacts on the quality of life; moreover, it represents a key predisposing factor to osteoarthritis (OA). Both the poor capacity of articular cartilage for self-repair and the unsatisfactory outcomes of available clinical interventions make innovative tissue engineering a promising therapeutic strategy for articular cartilage repair. Significant progress was made in this field; however, a marked heterogeneity in the applied biomaterials, biofabrication, and assessments is nowadays evident by the huge number of research studies published to date. Accordingly, this entry assimilates the most recent advances in cell-based and cell-free tissue engineering of articular cartilage and also focuses on the assessments performed via various in vitro studies, ex vivo models, preclinical in vivo animal models, and clinical studies in order to provide a broad overview of the latest findings and clinical translation in the context of degenerated articular cartilage and OA.
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  • 11 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Controlled Release Fertilizers
Controlled Release Fertilizers (CRF) can be defined as “products containing sources of water-soluble nutrients, the release of which in the soil is controlled by a coating applied to the fertilizer. However, the most significant challenge that persists is the “tailing” effect, which reduces the economic benefits in terms of maximum fertilizer utilization. The high materials cost is also deemed as a significant obstacle restraining the widespread application of CRF in agriculture.
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  • 22 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Congenital Insensitivity to Pain
Congenital insensitivity to pain is a condition that inhibits the ability to perceive physical pain.
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  • 24 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Transthyretin
Transthyretin (TTR) is a thyroid hormone-binding protein which transports thyroxine from the bloodstream to the brain. The structural stability of TTR in tetrameric form is crucial for maintaining its original functions in blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The altered structure of TTR due to genetic mutations or its deposits due to aggregation could cause several deadly diseases such as cardiomyopathy and neuropathy in autonomic, motor, and sensory systems.
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  • 03 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Versatile Applications of Cyanobacteria in Biotechnology
Cyanobacteria are blue-green Gram-negative and photosynthetic bacteria which are seen as one of the most morphologically numerous groups of prokaryotes. Because of their ability to fix gaseous nitrogen and carbon dioxide to organic materials, they are known to play important roles in the universal nutrient cycle. Cyanobacteria has emerged as one of the promising resources to combat the issues of global warming, disease outbreaks, nutrition insecurity, energy crises as well as persistent daily human population increases. Cyanobacteria possess significant levels of macro and micronutrient substances which facilitate the versatile popularity to be utilized as human food and protein supplements in many countries such as Asia. Cyanobacteria has been employed as a complementary dietary constituent of feed for poultry and as vitamin and protein supplement in aquatic lives. They are effectively used to deal with numerous tasks in various fields of biotechnology, such as agricultural (including aquaculture), industrial (food and dairy products), environmental (pollution control), biofuel (bioenergy) and pharmaceutical biotechnology (such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressant, anticoagulant and antitumor).
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  • 06 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Biobeneficiation of PGMs
Conventional beneficiation of the Platinum Group of Metals (PGMs) relies on the use of inorganic chemicals. With the depreciation of high grade deposits, these conventional processes are becoming less economically viable. Furthermore, the use of chemicals has serious negative impacts on the environment. To address the challenges of conventional PGM beneficiation, biobeneficiation has been proposed. Bio-beneficiation is the concentration of mineral species by employing microorganisms that interact with either the gangue or the valuable mineral species. Bio-beneficiation can also be described as the use of microorganisms to interact with minerals to subsequently induce processes such as magnetic separation, flotation, and flocculation.
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  • 19 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Endogenous Retroviruses
Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are long terminal repeat (LTR)-retroelements of the Retroviridae genus. ERVs reside in vertebrate genomes, are particularly abundant in mammals, and still actively retrotranspose in mice. This entry describes their relationship to other LTR-retroelements and how they replicate. A brief introduction into epigenetic reprogramming of ERVs is followed by a few examples of how reprogramming of ERVs assists embryonic development in mouse and human.
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  • 26 Oct 2020
Topic Review
The Source and Toxicity of Heavy Metal Ions
Urbanization and industrialization are responsible for environmental contamination in the air, water, and soil. These activities also generate large amounts of heavy metal ions in the environment, and these contaminants cause various types of health issues in humans and other animals.
  • 1.1K
  • 20 Feb 2023
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