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Topic Review
GADD45A
The growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible 45 alpha (GADD45A) gene encodes a 165 aa protein localized in the nucleus, whose level is highest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, with a substantial reduction in S. The involvement of GADD45A in the cell cycle regulation and interaction with other proteins underline its function in the cellular DNA damage response and maintaining genomic stability, which, in turn, determines its high potential in cancer transformation. The protective role of GADD45A in DNA damage-induced tumorigenesis is the main biological function of this protein, but exact mechanism of it is not known. Emerging evidence suggests that GADD45A may be important in breast cancer and several molecular pathways were reported to underline this importance, including Ras, mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (MAPK8), JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) and p38. GADD45A may play a tumor-suppressor role by induction of senescence and apoptosis in cancer cells. However, it was also shown that GADD45A may promote tumorigenesis via the GSK3 β (glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta)/β-catenin signaling. Therefore, GADD45A may function as either a tumor promotor or suppressor, depending on the kind of oncogenic stress, and these two functions are mediated by different signaling pathways.
  • 1.7K
  • 01 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Neurological Disorders
Neurological disorders are the most devastating and challenging diseases associated with the central nervous system (CNS). The blood-brain barrier (BBB) maintains homeostasis of the brain and contributes towards the maintenance of a very delicate microenvironment, impairing the transport of many therapeutics into the CNS and making the management of common neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), exceptionally complicated.  Nanoparticle (NP) technology offers a platform for the design of tissue-specific drug carrying systems owing to its versatile and modifiable nature. The prospect of being able to design NPs capable of successfully crossing the BBB, and maintaining a high drug bioavailability in neural parenchyma, has spurred much interest in the field of nanomedicine. NPs, which also come in an array of forms including polymeric NPs, solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs), quantum dots and liposomes, have the flexibility of being conjugated with various macromolecules, such as surfactants to confer the physical or chemical property desired. These nanodelivery strategies represent potential novel and minimally invasive approaches to the treatment and diagnosis of these neurological disorders. Most of the strategies revolve around the ability of the NPs to cross the BBB via various influx mechanisms, such as adsorptive-mediated transcytosis (AMT) and receptor-mediated transcytosis (RMT), targeting specific biomarkers or lesions unique to that pathological condition, thereby ensuring high tissue-specific targeting and minimizing off-target side effects. In this article, insights into common neurological disorders and challenges of delivering CNS drugs due to the presence of BBB is provided, before an in-depth review of nanoparticle-based theranostic strategies.
  • 1.7K
  • 05 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Religious Trauma Syndrome
Religious trauma syndrome (RTS) is recognized in psychology and psychotherapy as a set of symptoms, ranging in severity, experienced by those who have participated in and left behind authoritarian, dogmatic, and controlling religious groups and belief systems. Symptoms include cognitive, affective, functional, and social/cultural issues as well as developmental delays. RTS occurs in response to two-fold trauma: first the prolonged abuse of indoctrination from a controlling religious community, and secondly the act of leaving the controlling religious community. RTS has developed as its own heuristic collection of symptoms informed by psychological theories of trauma originating in PTSD, C-PTSD and betrayal trauma theory, taking relational and social context into account when approaching further research and treatment. The term religious trauma syndrome was coined in 2011 by psychologist Marlene Winell in an article for British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies, though the phenomenon was recognized long before that. The term has circulated among psychotherapists, former fundamentalists, and others recovering from religious indoctrination. Winell explains the need for a label and the benefits of naming the symptoms encompassed by RTS as similar to naming anorexia as a disorder: the label can lessen shame and isolation for survivors while promoting diagnosis, treatment, and training for professionals who work with those suffering from the condition. Survivors report relief when they find out that RTS is “real.”
  • 1.7K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Beetroot, A Remarkable Vegetable
The cardioprotective effects of dietary nitrate from beetroot in healthy and hypertensive individuals are undeniable and irrefutable. Nitrate and nitrate-derived nitrite are precursors for nitric oxide synthesis, which promotes positive effects on cardiomyocytes and myocardial ischemia/reperfusion, improving endothelial function, reducing arterial stiffness and stimulating smooth muscle relaxation, consequently decreasing systolic and diastolic blood pressures.
  • 1.7K
  • 24 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases are affecting more and more people around the world. Current therapies only treat the symptoms and not the causes of the disease. However, the pathophysiology of these diseases is now better known. In the case of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, some common mechanisms have been identified. One of the first known mechanisms is the accumulation of proteins: α-synuclein (Parkinson's disease), Tau (Alzheimer's disease) and β-amyloid (Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease) proteins. Protein accumulation is related to a disruption of mitochondrial activity associated with cell death and oxidative stress. Inflammation is also another important mechanism, which is disrupted in these pathologies.
  • 1.7K
  • 15 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Glucose
Glucose is a major macronutrient and a vital homeostatic factor in the regulation of energy metabolism maintained in a narrow range of 4.4 to 6.1 mmol/L or about 1.0 g/L in the blood of healthy humans as measured in the fasting state. However, glucose per se is not the predominant component of mixed food, and its main source in the diet is poly- and oligosaccharides, which undergo enzymatic hydrolysis to monomers in the small intestine during luminal and membrane digestion. Depending on the food composition, the site of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) and time of the day, the postprandial glucose concentrations in the GIT lumen can vary in a large range and can be several times higher than in the blood.
  • 1.7K
  • 14 Aug 2021
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Antifungals and Drug Resistance
Antifungal drugs prevent topical or invasive fungal infections (mycoses) either by stopping growth of fungi (termed fungistatic) or by killing the fungal cells (termed fungicidal). Antibiotics also prevent bacterial infections through either bacteriostatic or bactericidal mechanisms. These microorganisms successfully develop resistance against conventional drugs that are designed to kill or stop them from multiplying. When a fungus no longer responds to antifungal drug treatments and continues to grow, this is known as antifungal drug resistance. Bacteria have an amazing capacity to become resistant to antibiotic action as well, and the effectiveness of the scarce antifungal arsenal is jeopardised by this antibiotic resistance, which poses a severe threat to public health.
  • 1.7K
  • 21 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Empathizing–Systemizing Theory
The empathizing–systemizing (E–S) theory is a theory on the psychological basis of autism and male–female neurological differences originally put forward by English clinical psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen. It classifies individuals based on abilities in empathic thinking (E) and systematic thinking (S). It measures skills using an Empathy Quotient (EQ) and Systemizing Quotient (SQ) and attempts to explain the social and communication symptoms in autism spectrum disorders as deficits and delays in empathy combined with intact or superior systemizing. According to Baron-Cohen, the E–S theory has been tested using the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and Systemizing Quotient (SQ), developed by him and colleagues, and generates five different 'brain types' depending on the presence or absence of discrepancies between their scores on E or S. E–S profiles show that the profile E>S is more common in females than in males, and the profile S>E is more common in males than in females. Baron-Cohen and associates say the E–S theory is a better predictor than gender of who chooses STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). The E–S theory has been extended into the extreme male brain (EMB) theory of autism and Asperger syndrome, which are associated in the E–S theory with below-average empathy and average or above-average systemizing. Baron-Cohen's studies and theory have faced some criticism.
  • 1.7K
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
DPP4 Inhibitors on COVID19 Outcomes
Although relatively new in the therapeutic landscape for managing type 2 diabetes (T2D), dipeptidyl-peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors have gained widespread popularity, due to their glycemic efficacy, low risk of hypoglycemic episodes and oral route of administration. DPP4, a cell-bound serine protease abundantly expressed on lymphocytes, epithelial and endothelial cells, plays critical roles in the modulation of glucose homeostasis and inflammatory immune responses. Also, given its potential to serve as an adjunctive functional receptor for the emerging Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to gain entry into the host, inhibition of DPP4 has been proposed as an alternative and multifaceted strategy to prevent severe clinical manifestations of the SARS-CoV-2 related illness (COVID-19), which are commonly observed in T2D patients. However, the inherent risk of mast cells hyper-activation and the lack of a clear demonstration of SARS-CoV-2 binding to DPP4, may raise some concerns and controversy.
  • 1.7K
  • 06 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Psychiatric Survivors Movement
The psychiatric survivors movement (more broadly consumer/survivor/ex-patient movement) is a diverse association of individuals who either currently access mental health services (known as consumers or service users), or who are survivors of interventions by psychiatry, or who are ex-patients of mental health services. The psychiatric survivors movement arose out of the civil rights movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s and the personal histories of psychiatric abuse experienced by some ex-patients. The key text in the intellectual development of the survivor movement, at least in the USA, was Judi Chamberlin's 1978 text, On Our Own: Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System. Chamberlin was an ex-patient and co-founder of the Mental Patients' Liberation Front. Coalescing around the ex-patient newsletter Dendron, in late 1988 leaders from several of the main national and grassroots psychiatric survivor groups felt that an independent, human rights coalition focused on problems in the mental health system was needed. That year the Support Coalition International (SCI) was formed. SCI's first public action was to stage a counter-conference and protest in New York City , in May, 1990, at the same time as (and directly outside of) the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting. In 2005 the SCI changed its name to MindFreedom International with David W. Oaks as its director. Common themes are "talking back to the power of psychiatry", rights protection and advocacy, and self-determination. While activists in the movement may share a collective identity to some extent, views range along a continuum from conservative to radical in relation to psychiatric treatment and levels of resistance or patienthood.
  • 1.7K
  • 23 Nov 2022
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