Topic Review
Food Proteins
Proteins are critical macronutrients, and beyond their physiological importance, they also contribute to satiety, aiding in weight management and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. Protein-based foods stand as a foundation in global diets, contributing significantly to human health, nutrition, and overall well-being. The essential role of proteins as building blocks for tissues, enzymes, hormones, and various bodily functions underlines their vital significance in sustaining life. Emerging alternative food processing technologies now offer solutions to enhance protein functionality and create opportunities for innovation.
  • 176
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Eosinophilic Cationic Protein in Chronic Pediatric Cough
Although the cough reflex is one of the essential protective mechanisms in the respiratory tract, it is considered a considerable health problem in adults and children when it becomes chronic and hypersensitive. However, the need for biomarkers for chronic cough in children and adults is critical. The problem with cough is also a severe symptom in hypersensitivity children. Respiratory infections are a considerable challenge for pediatricians, especially in allergic children. The term cough hypersensitivity syndrome, although introduced in adults, was questioned for children. Eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) is a promising marker for chronic cough but still needs to be validated and proved in clinical settings.
  • 114
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Anti-Arrhythmic Effects of Heart Failure Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for a substantial proportion of mortality in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), frequently triggered by ventricular arrhythmias (VA). Guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) for HFrEF is founded on a cornerstone of four distinct classes of medications: beta-blockers (BB), renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) inhibitors, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA), and sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i).
  • 174
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
p16 Expression in Laryngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) is a common malignancy that, despite scientific advancements, has not seen an improvement in its prognosis. Few promising predictive markers have been found and none are relevant in clinical practice. p16ink4a, an oncosuppressor protein involved in cell cycle arrest, with a prognostic impact on other cancers, has been widely used in the head and neck region as a surrogate marker of HPV infection. Published papers and meta-analyses seem to minimize the biological role of HPV in the context of LSCC’s cancerogenesis, and to disprove the reliability of p16ink4a as a surrogate prognostic marker in this context, while still highlighting its potential role as an independent predictor of survival. 
  • 121
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Genetic Features of 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome
The 22q11.2 region has a complex structure, characterized by low copy repeats (LCR22A, LCR22B, LCR22C, LCR22D) which share >96% of their sequence and are particularly prone to nonallelic homologous recombination during gametogenesis.
  • 101
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Full Value of Vaccine Assessment
A framework to guide the assessment and communication of the value of a vaccine—the Full Value of Vaccine Assessment (FVVA)—has been developed by the WHO. The FVVA framework offers a holistic assessment of the value of vaccines, providing a synthesis of evidence to inform the public health need of a vaccine, describing the supply and demand aspects, its market and its impact from a health, financial and economic perspective. 
  • 141
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Antibody-Based Radiopharmaceuticals Targeting Fibroblast Activation Protein
Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a serine protease characterized by its high expression in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) and near absence in adult normal tissues and benign lesions. This unique expression pattern positions FAP as a prospective biomarker for targeted tumor radiodiagnosis and therapy. The advent of FAP-based radiotheranostics is anticipated to revolutionize cancer management. 
  • 76
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
EMP/EMT-Dependent Fibrosis
Fibrosis represents a process characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. It often represents the evolution of pathological conditions, causes organ failure, and can, in extreme cases, compromise the functionality of organs to the point of causing death.
  • 147
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
The Lost Shantytowns of Barcelona
Shantytowns still existed in many of Southern Europe’s major cities in the second half of the 20th century, although many have now been demolished. The purpose of this article is to highlight the history and evolution of some of the main shantytowns that remained in Barcelona in the mid-1970s, track their subsequent demolition, and reflect on the fate of the shanty dwellers. This form of self-build housing, usually lacking in basic services, played a vital role in providing shelter for immigrant families and the urban poor. A strong neighbourhood identity existed in many of these shantytowns, and national and local policies that aimed at their demolition and the re-housing of residents, often in low-quality housing blocks, proved problematic. The shantytowns studied here are La Perona, the Tres Turons, Campo de la Bota, and Ramon Casellas, which together comprised over 2000 shanty dwellings in the 1970s. Drawing on photographs taken at the time and existing literature, and using recent images from Google Earth, the demise of these shantytowns is examined, and the policies and plans that determined their fate are discussed. This article finds that the shanty dwellers experienced mixed fortunes, some being forcibly removed and re-housed in tower blocks with associated social-economic problems, whilst others played an active part in the design of replacement housing, implemented in situ where the shanty dwellings once existed. This article contributes to existing studies on shantytowns in Barcelona, which received scant attention from academics at the time, and which only now are being recognised as an important aspect of Barcelona’s urban history.
  • 393
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Cytochalasins as Modulators of Stem Cell Differentiation
Regenerative medicine aims to identify new research strategies for the repair and restoration of tissues damaged by pathological or accidental events. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) play a key role in regenerative medicine approaches due to their specific properties, such as the high rate of proliferation, the ability to differentiate into several cell lineages, the immunomodulatory potential, and their easy isolation with minimal ethical issues. One of the main goals of regenerative medicine is to modulate, both in vitro and in vivo, the differentiation potential of MSCs to improve their use in the repair of damaged tissues. Over the years, much evidence has been collected about the ability of cytochalasins, a large family of 60 metabolites isolated mainly from fungi, to modulate multiple properties of stem cells (SCs), such as proliferation, migration, and differentiation, by altering the organization of the cyto- and the nucleo-skeleton. The ability of two different cytochalasins, cytochalasins D and B, to influence specific SC differentiation programs modulated by several agents (chemical or physical) or intra- and extra-cellular factors, is discussed herein, with particular attention to human MSCs (hMSCs).
  • 143
  • 08 Mar 2024
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