Topic Review
Pharmacognosy
Pharmacognosy is the study of medicinal drugs derived from plants or other natural sources. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources". It is also defined as the study of crude drugs.
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  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Instability of Peptide and Possible Causes of Degradation
Peptides are different from proteins. Although both are composed of amino acids, peptides are smaller molecules comprised of two or more amino acids linked by peptide bonds, while proteins are long chains of amino acids that may have a much larger number of amino acids. Peptide stability in aqueous solutions is critical when developing parenteral formulations, as the potency of a peptide is often compromised due to chemical or physical degradation pathways.
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  • 29 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Teeth Eruption Disorders
Dental eruption refers to the vertical displacement of a tooth from its initial non-functional towards its functional position. Tooth eruption disorders may be expressed in various clinical conditions, which may be grouped as “primary retention” and “secondary retention”.  Tooth eruption disorders can be manifested in several clinical conditions where the oral location, the number of the affected teeth, and the etiology of the disorders vary considerably. Eruption failure is often attributed to genetic factors.
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  • 27 Jul 2022
Topic Review
Ubiquitin-Specific Peptidase (USP) Inhibitors
Ubiquitylation and deubiquitylation are reversible protein post-translational modification (PTM) processes involving the regulation of protein degradation under physiological conditions. Loss of balance in this regulatory system can lead to a wide range of diseases, such as cancer and inflammation. As the main members of the deubiquitinases (DUBs) family, ubiquitin-specific peptidases (USPs) are closely related to biological processes through a variety of molecular signaling pathways, including DNA damage repair, p53 and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) pathways.
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  • 11 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Fibromyalgia Syndrome
Pain has a multidimensional nature in which three dimensions are usually differentiated: the sensory-discriminative, the emotional-affective and the cognitive-evaluative. Based on the duration, it is possible to distinguish between acute pain, when it is present for a period lower than 6 months; or chronic pain, if pain is present more than 6 months. Fibromyalgia Syndrome is a complex chronic pain disorder in which widespread and persistent musculoskeletal pain is accompanied by different symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia, morning stiffness, depression, anxiety and cognitive impairments. Fibromyalgia began to be studied from the 16th century and it received different names during its historical development. The main landmarks in the development of fibromyalgia term include -among others- when the French physician Guillaume de Baillou in 1642 provided the first description of the disease using the term “muscular rheumatism”. The British neurologist W.R. Gowers in 1904 coined the term “fibrositis” in an article on lumbago. In 1944, F. Elliot suggested that the pain experimented by fibromyalgia patients might involve the spinal cord and thalamus. In 1968, E.F. Traut stated the first near-modern description of fibromyalgia with systemic features. In 1976, the term fibromyalgia was coined by P.K. Hench as a form of non-articular rheumatism based on the absence of specific inflammatory damage. In 1977, H.A. Smythe and H. Moldofsky continued the work of P.K. Hench and proposed the first measure for evaluating fibromyalgia. Nevertheless, it was not until 1981 that the medical community accepted this disease under the term "fibrositis" or “fibromyalgia” thanks to the work of Yunus et al. The distinction between primary and secondary fibromyalgia disappeared sometime later. During the 1980s, different authors suggested other formal and ad-hoc criteria sets. In 1987, the American Medical Association accepted fibromyalgia as a real disease. Shortly thereafter and as a result of this recognition, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) created a committee to establish the diagnostic criteria for this disorder. The first official diagnostic criteria were proposed in 1990 by the ACR. In 1994, fibromyalgia was also recognized by the International Association for the Study of Pain. During the 1990s, there was an increase in fibromyalgia research. In 2010, the ACR proposed a new version of the diagnostic criteria based exclusively on the use of the Widespread Pain Index and the Symptom Severity Scale. In addition, other two subsequent diagnostic proposals were performed. In 2011, Wolfe et al. revised and modified the 2010 ACR diagnostic criteria to facilitate its use in epidemiological or community studies, but not for self-diagnosis in the clinical context. In 2016, ACR criteria were proposed to combine the 2010 and 2011 ACR criteria into a single set to overcome the previous limitations. Definitely, fibromyalgia involves high personal, family and financial costs. Fibromyalgia also implies high economic costs for the socio-health system. Fibromyalgia notably reduces perceived functioning in physical, psychological, and social spheres, and has a negative impact on personal relationships, parenting, work, daily activities, mental health and social relationships.
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  • 05 Nov 2020
Topic Review
D-ribose Supplementation in Caucasian Males
Mutations that occur within the AMPD1 gene are one of the most common defects detected in the Caucasian population with a likelihood of having the mutations as 1-2%. Several studies indicate that certain variants can cause fatigue, muscle weakness and muscular cramps, however some even with these variants remain asymptomatic. Some studies have shown that oral dosages of ribose can alleviate symptoms and can improve exercise performance in those with AMPD1 deficiency, ribose may provide a direct source of energy for cells. The aim of this preliminary study was to see if oral supplementary ribose can improve the performance of a 3 minute press-up test that is aimed to test muscle stamina and muscle fatigue in healthy Caucasian males against a control of healthy Caucasian males. The results show that having a T in rs17602729 may affect press-up performance in a 3 minute test and that supplemental ribose may improve performance, however the following results need to be correlated with current literature in the area and the conclusions are still debatable. 
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  • 05 Nov 2020
Topic Review
Pyrimidine Derivatives as Anticancer Agents
In this entry, new pyrimidine derivatives were designed, synthesized and analyzed in terms of their anticancer properties. The tested compounds were evaluated in vitro for their antitumor activity. The cytotoxic effect on normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDF) was also determined. According to the results, all the tested compounds exhibited inhibitory activity on the proliferation of all lines of cancer cells (colon adenocarcinoma (LoVo), resistant colon adenocarcinoma (LoVo/DX), breast cancer (MCF-7), lung cancer (A549), cervical cancer (HeLa), human leukemic lymphoblasts (CCRF-CEM) and human monocytic (THP-1)).
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  • 23 Apr 2021
Topic Review
Thiophene-Based Compounds
Thiophene derivatives provide useful intermediaries in various areas of science and industry, with a wide range of applications, and therapeutic properties. Thiophene derivatives attract both great academic interest, and interest from the agrochemical, pharmaceutical, and dye industries, as well. As to their biological and pharmacological applications, thiophene derivatives possess remarkable properties as antipsychotic, antianxiety, antifungal, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory agents. The present work provides an update on the role of thiophene-based derivatives in inflammation processes.
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  • 09 Oct 2021
Topic Review
3D Bone Bioprinting
Every year, approximately a couple of million bone grafts are performed worldwide to treat bone lesions, of which about 1 million only in Europe, thus bone regeneration is necessary to replace the damaged tissue, while the improvement of bone healing, both qualitatively and quantitatively, is mandatory. Bone tissue is constituted by cells with functions carefully coordinated, and a complex cross-talk between bone forming and inflammatory cells is known to guide successful regeneration, thus repairing bone is not an easy task. Autografts are still considered the gold standard for repairing bone defects, although they are not without significant drawbacks, such as donor site availability and possible morbidity. To overcome the pitfalls of grafts, researchers relied on bone tissue engineering (BTE) and 3D bioprinting techniques to produce cell-laden scaffolds, in which bone biological components are assembled to form a 3D environment. Several techniques of bone bioprinting have been developed: inkjet, extrusion and light-based 3D printers, which use different bioinks, i.e., the printing materials.
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  • 13 Apr 2021
Topic Review
AP-1 Transcription Factors in Myeloma
Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematologic malignancy characterized by the clonal expansion of malignant plasma cells within the bone marrow. Activator Protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factors (TFs), comprised of the JUN, FOS, ATF and MAF multigene families, are implicated in a plethora of physiologic processes and tumorigenesis including plasma cell differentiation and MM pathogenesis. Depending on the genetic background, the tumor stage, and cues of the tumor microenvironment, specific dimeric AP-1 complexes are formed. For example, AP-1 complexes containing Fra-1, Fra-2 and B-ATF play central roles in the transcriptional control of B cell development and plasma cell differentiation, while dysregulation of AP-1 family members c-Maf, c-Jun, and JunB is associated with MM cell proliferation, survival, drug resistance, bone marrow angiogenesis, and bone disease. The present review article summarizes our up-to-date knowledge on the role of AP-1 family members in plasma cell differentiation and MM pathophysiology. Moreover, it discusses novel, rationally derived approaches to therapeutically target AP-1 TFs, including protein-protein and protein-DNA binding inhibitors, epigenetic modifiers and natural products.
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  • 25 May 2021
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