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Topic Review
Emotion and Memory
Emotion can have a powerful effect on humans and animals. Numerous studies have shown that the most vivid autobiographical memories tend to be of emotional events, which are likely to be recalled more often and with more clarity and detail than neutral events. The activity of emotionally enhanced memory retention can be linked to human evolution; during early development, responsive behavior to environmental events would have progressed as a process of trial and error. Survival depended on behavioral patterns that were repeated or reinforced through life and death situations. Through evolution, this process of learning became genetically embedded in humans and all animal species in what is known as flight or fight instinct. Artificially inducing this instinct through traumatic physical or emotional stimuli essentially creates the same physiological condition that heightens memory retention by exciting neuro-chemical activity affecting areas of the brain responsible for encoding and recalling memory. This memory-enhancing effect of emotion has been demonstrated in many laboratory studies, using stimuli ranging from words to pictures to narrated slide shows, as well as autobiographical memory studies. However, as described below, emotion does not always enhance memory.
  • 902
  • 28 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Gutta-percha/Bioceramic Sealer (BCS)
The gutta-percha/bioceramic sealer (BCS) filling technique has gained popularity among endodontists, however there are no robust data  evaluating any potential impact of BCS vs. traditional filling techniques on postoperative pain (POP) among randomized controlled trials. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the effect of the BCS filling technique compared with traditional filling techniques on POP in adult patients following root canal filling (RCF). 
  • 902
  • 29 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Desmosomal Genes
Desmosomes are mirroring, transmembrane protein chains that connect the intermediate filament networks of neighbouring cells. Each chain continuously (dis)assembles due to the turnover of five desmosomal protein types: desmoplakin, plakoglobin, plakophilins, desmocollins and desmogleins. The expression of two genes is critical to the formation of all desmosomes: namely DSP, encoding two differently spliced desmoplakin proteins (DPI and DPII) and JUP, encoding plakoglobin (PG). Meanwhile, plakophilins, desmocollins and desmogleins are expressed in a tissue-specific manner and are therefore encoded by multiple genes.
  • 902
  • 20 Oct 2022
Topic Review
NEK1 Phosphorylation of YAP
Most prostate cancer (PCa) deaths result from progressive failure in standard androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), leading to metastatic castration-resistant PCa (mCRPC); however, the mechanism and key players leading to this are not fully understood. While studying the role of tousled-like kinase 1 (TLK1) and Never in Mitosis Gene A (NIMA)-related kinase 1 (NEK1) in a DNA damage response (DDR)-mediated cell cycle arrest in LNCaP cells treated with bicalutamide, the overexpression of wt-NEK1 resulted in a rapid conversion to androgen-independent (AI) growth, analogous to what has been observed when YAP1 is overexpressed. It's reported that overexpression of wt-NEK1 results in accumulation of YAP1, suggesting the existence of a TLK1>NEK1>YAP1 axis that leads to adaptation to AI growth. Further, YAP1 is co-immunoprecipitated with NEK1. Importantly, NEK1 was able to phosphorylate YAP1 on six residues in vitro, which researchers believe are important for stabilization of the protein, possibly by increasing its interaction with transcriptional partners. In fact, knockout (KO) of NEK1 in NT1 PCa cells resulted in a parallel decrease of YAP1 level and reduced expression of typical YAP-regulated target genes. In terms of cancer potential implications, the expression of NEK1 and YAP1 proteins was found to be increased and correlated in several cancers. These include PCa stages according to Gleason score, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, and glioblastoma, suggesting that this co-regulation is imparted by increased YAP1 stability when NEK1 is overexpressed or activated by TLK1, and not through transcriptional co-expression. Researchers propose that the TLK1>NEK1>YAP1 axis is a key determinant for cancer progression, particularly during the process of androgen-sensitive to -independent conversion during progression to mCRPC. 
  • 902
  • 17 Dec 2020
Topic Review
2015–16 Zika Virus Epidemic
In early 2015, a widespread epidemic of Zika fever, caused by the Zika virus in Brazil , spread to other parts of South and North America. It also affected several islands in the Pacific, and Southeast Asia. In January 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the virus was likely to spread throughout most of the Americas by the end of the year. In November 2016 WHO announced the end of the Zika epidemic. In February 2016, WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern as evidence grew that Zika can cause birth defects as well as neurological problems. The virus can be transmitted from an infected pregnant woman to her fetus, then can cause microcephaly and other severe brain anomalies in the infant. Zika infections in adults can result in Guillain–Barré syndrome. Prior to this outbreak, Zika was considered a mild infection, as most Zika virus infections are asymptomatic, making it difficult to determine precise estimates of the number of cases. In approximately one in five cases, Zika virus infections result in Zika fever, a minor illness that causes symptoms such as fever and a rash. The virus is spread mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is commonly found throughout the tropical and subtropical Americas. It can also be spread by the Aedes albopictus ("Asian tiger") mosquito, which is distributed as far north as the Great Lakes region in North America. Men infected with Zika can transmit the virus to their sexual partners. A number of countries have issued travel warnings, and the outbreak is expected to reduce tourism significantly. Several countries have taken the unusual step of advising their citizens to delay pregnancy until more is known about the virus and its impact on fetal development. Furthermore, the outbreak raised concerns regarding the safety of athletes and spectators at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. In Brazil, the Zika virus epidemic revealed structural problems of the health system, in particular in public health services and basic sanitation.
  • 901
  • 29 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Anticoagulatory and Procoagulatory Effects of Cannabinoids
Abnormal blood coagulation or coagulopathy is a common manifestation of many pathological conditions. It occurs when there is an imbalance between the activities of the coagulation system and the fibrinolytic system, leading to excessive or impaired intravascular blood clot formation, which can disturb blood flow causing ischemia or hemorrhage in the affected tissues. A growing body of evidence has demonstrated blood coagulation abnormalities in association with cannabinoid use, suggesting the involvement of the endogenous cannabinoid system (ECS) in modulating blood coagulation. However, the evidence in the literature has been controversial on whether cannabinoids promote or inhibit blood coagulation. 
  • 902
  • 25 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Blindness and Spatial Asymmetries
The human cerebral cortex is asymmetrically organized with hemispheric lateralization pervading nearly all neural systems of the brain. Whether the lack of normal visual development affects hemispheric specialization subserving the deployment of visuospatial attention asymmetries is controversial. In principle, indeed, the lack of early visual experience may affect the lateralization of spatial functions, and the blind may rely on a different sensory input compared to the sighted. In this entry, we thus present a current state-of-the-art synthesis of empirical evidence concerning the effects of visual deprivation on the lateralization of various spatial processes (i.e., including line bisection, mirror symmetry, and localization tasks). Overall, the evidence reviewed indicates that spatial processes are supported by a right hemispheric network in the blind, hence, analogously to the sighted. Such a right-hemisphere dominance, however, seems more accentuated in the blind as compared to the sighted as indexed by the greater leftward bias shown in different spatial tasks. This is possibly the result of the more pronounced involvement of the right parietal cortex during spatial tasks in blind individuals compared to the sighted, as well as of the additional recruitment of the right occipital cortex, which would reflect the cross-modal plastic phenomena that largely characterize the blind brain.
  • 902
  • 27 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Vitamin D arrests cell cycling
Vitamin D is a steroid hormone crucial for bone mineral metabolism. In addition, vitamin D has pleiotropic actions in the body, including anti-cancer actions. These anti-cancer properties observed within in vitro studies frequently report the reduction of cell proliferation by direct alteration of cell cycle regulators which induce cell cycle arrest. The most recurrent reported mode of cell cycle arrest by vitamin D is at the G1/G0 phase of the cell cycle. This arrest is mediated by p21 and p27 upregulation, which results in suppression of cyclin D and E activity which leads to G1/G0 arrest. In addition, vitamin D treatments within in vitro cell lines have observed a reduced C-MYC expression and increased retinoblastoma protein levels that also result in G1/G0 arrest.
  • 902
  • 16 Dec 2020
Topic Review
Nosocomial Infections
Nosocomial infections (NIs) pose an increasing threat to public health. The majority of NIs are bacterial, fungal, and viral infections; however, parasites also play a considerable role in NIs, particularly in our increasingly complex healthcare environment with a growing proportion of immunocompromised patients. Moreover, parasitic infections acquired via blood transfusion or organ transplantation are more likely to have severe or fatal disease outcomes compared with the normal route of infection. Many of these infections are preventable and most are treatable, but as the awareness for parasitic NIs is low, diagnosis and treatment are often delayed, resulting not only in higher health care costs but, importantly, also in prolonged courses of disease for the patients.
  • 902
  • 06 Mar 2021
Topic Review
Interventions with polyphenols in osteoarthritis
Polyphenols are plant-derived molecules with established anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that have been extensively evaluated in clinical settings and preclinical models in OA. As more knowledge is gained in the research field, an interesting approach in the management of OA is the additive and/or synergistic effects that polyphenols may have in an optimized supplement. 
  • 901
  • 30 Apr 2021
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