Encyclopedia
Scholarly Community
Encyclopedia
Entry
Journal
Book
Video
Image
News
About
Entry
Entry
Video
Image
Log in/Sign up
Submit
Entry
Video
Image
Subject:
All Disciplines
Arts & Humanities
Biology & Life Sciences
Business & Economics
Chemistry & Materials Science
Computer Science & Mathematics
Engineering
Environmental & Earth Sciences
Medicine & Pharmacology
Physical Sciences
Public Health & Healthcare
Social Sciences
Sort:
Hottest
Latest
Alphabetical (A-Z)
Alphabetical (Z-A)
Type:
All
Topic Review
Biography
Topic Review
Mercury Toxicity and Detection
Mercury (Hg), this non-essential heavy metal released from both industrial and natural sources entered into living bodies, and cause grievous detrimental effects to the human health and ecosystem.
925
22 Mar 2021
Topic Review
NAD
+
Biology in Kidney and Renal Disease
Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+) and its reduced form NADH, by regulating redox reactions and allowing the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), are crucial for energy metabolism and fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) in proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTECs). In addition, by being the substrate of non-redox NAD+-consuming enzymes such as sirtuins and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs), NAD+ is also involved in several key molecular mechanisms for cellular homeostasis. NAD+ is present in the kidney at concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 1 mmol/kg of tissue, which is comparable to concentrations found in liver and muscle.
925
28 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Plant Secondary Metabolites in Pharmaceutical Product Development
Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) are vital for human health and constitute the skeletal framework of many pharmaceutical drugs. Indeed, more than 25% of the existing drugs belong to PSMs. One of the continuing challenges for drug discovery and pharmaceutical industries is gaining access to natural products, including medicinal plants. This bottleneck is heightened for endangered species prohibited for large sample collection, even if they show biological hits. While cultivating the pharmaceutically interesting plant species may be a solution, it is not always possible to grow the organism outside its natural habitat. Plants affected by abiotic stress present a potential alternative source for drug discovery. In order to overcome abiotic environmental stressors, plants may mount a defense response by producing a diversity of PSMs to avoid cells and tissue damage. Plants either synthesize new chemicals or increase the concentration (in most instances) of existing chemicals, including the prominent bioactive lead compounds morphine, camptothecin, catharanthine, epicatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), quercetin, resveratrol, and kaempferol. Most PSMs produced under various abiotic stress conditions are plant defense chemicals and are functionally anti-inflammatory and antioxidative. The major PSM groups are terpenoids, followed by alkaloids and phenolic compounds.
922
29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Lipid and Polymer-Based siRNA Carriers for Cancer Therapy
RNA interference (RNAi) uses small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to mediate gene-silencing in cells and represents an emerging strategy for cancer therapy. Successful RNAi-mediated gene silencing requires overcoming multiple physiological barriers to achieve efficient delivery of siRNAs into cells in vivo, including into tumor and/or host cells in the tumor micro-environment (TME).
898
26 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Influenza Hemagglutinin Vaccines
Hemagglutinin (HA) is the predominant antigenic protein of influenza viruses and antibodies directed at HA are correlated with protection against influenza virus infection
871
12 May 2021
Topic Review
Biomolecular Targeted Covalent Inhibitors
Introduction of artificial structure(s) into a middle-sized therapeutic biomolecule, which would often add a superior function to the drug molecule, is easier than that into an antibody. In this direction, introducing a reactive warhead structure into such therapeutic biomolecules to create BIOmolecular Targeted Covalent Inhibitors (abbreviated as bioTCIs). It would create precise and safe covalent drugs that semi-permanently inhibit the target protein activity upon binding and the duration of the drug effect is only limited by the target protein turnover. Regardless of the modalities, all bioTCIs reduce the skepticism of small-molecule TCIs’ safety concerns because bioTCIs can stringently recognize and conjugate only to the target proteins. Among them, oligonucleotide-type bioTCIs possess unique features, such as nuclease resistance and on-demand-reversal of the drug action with the complementary-strand antidote, which circumvents another major limitation to clinical translation of the aptamer drugs.
856
17 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Parkia speciosa
Medicinal plants may act as an alternative resource or adjunctive treatment option in the treatment of diabetes and its cardiovascular complications. Parkia speciosa (Fabaceae) is a plant found abundantly in the Southeast Asian region. Extracts of P. speciosa, particularly from its seeds and empty pods, show the presence of polyphenols. They also exhibit potent antioxidant, hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory, and antihypertensive properties. Its hypoglycemic properties are reported to be associated with the presence of β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, and stigmat-4-en-3-one.
851
29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Erythrocytes for Targeted Drug Delivery
Erythrocytes (red blood cells, RBCs) are the largest population of blood cells in mammals. Their main function is oxygen transfer to cells and body tissues. The lifetime of erythrocytes in the bloodstream is 100–120 days, after which they are removed by the spleen. Due to the unique biophysical properties RBCs can be used as drug carriers in two different ways: by incorporating the drug into the cells or by binding it (using non-specific adsorption or a specific association, involving antibodies or various chemical cross-linking compounds) on the RBCs’ surface. Erythrocytes can act as carriers that prolong the drug’s action due to its gradual release from the carrier; as bioreactors with encapsulated enzymes performing the necessary reactions, while remaining inaccessible to the immune system and plasma proteases; or as a tool for targeted drug delivery to target organs, primarily to cells of the reticuloendothelial system, liver and spleen. To date, erythrocytes have been studied as carriers for a wide range of drugs, such as enzymes, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, antiviral drugs, etc., and for diagnostic purposes.
841
22 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Artificial Intelligence in Translational Medicine
Between preclinical and clinical research, translational research is benefitting from computer-based approaches like Artificial Intelligence, resulting in breakthroughs for advancing human health.
841
17 Dec 2021
Topic Review
Estrogen in Stress-Induced Neuroendocrine Regulation of Energy Homeostasis
Estrogens are among important contributing factors to many sex differences in neuroendocrine regulation of energy homeostasis induced by stress. Research in this field is warranted since chronic stress-related psychiatric and metabolic disturbances continue to be top health concerns, and sex differences are witnessed in these aspects.
839
08 Mar 2022
Page
of
68
Featured Entry Collections
>>
Featured Books
>>
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Chief Editor:
Michael McAleer
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Chief Editor:
Stephen Bustin
Encyclopedia of Fungi
Chief Editor:
Luis V. Lopez-Llorca
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Chief Editor:
Sandro Serpa
Entry
Journal
Book
Video
Image
News
About
Log in/Sign up
New Entry
New Video
New Images
About
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Advisory Board
Contact
Partner
Feedback
Top
Feedback
×
Help Center
Browse our user manual, common Q&A, author guidelines, etc.
Rate your experience
Let us know your experience and what we could improve.
Report an error
Is something wrong? Please let us know!
Other feedback
Other feedback you would like to report.
×
Did you find what you were looking for?
Love
Like
Neutral
Dislike
Hate
0
/500
Email
Do you agree to share your valuable feedback publicly on
Encyclopedia
’s homepage?
Yes, I agree. Encyclopedia can post it.
No, I do not agree. I would not like to post my testimonial.
Webpage
Upload a screenshot
(Max file size 2MB)
Submit
Back
Close
×