Search results for "Mini Review"

Understanding the Role of Sensorimotor Beta Oscillations

2021

Beta oscillations have been predominantly observed in sensorimotor cortices and basal\ud ganglia structures and they are thought to be involved in somatosensory processing\ud and motor control. Although beta activity is a distinct feature of healthy and pathological\ud sensorimotor processing, the role of this rhythm is still under debate. Here we review\ud recent findings about the role of beta oscillations during experimental manipulations (i.e.,\ud drugs and brain stimulation) and their alteration in aging and pathology. We show how\ud beta changes when learning new motor skills and its potential to integrate sensory input\ud with prior contextual knowledge. We conclude by discussing a n…

Is Oxidative Stress the Link Between Cerebral Small Vessel Disease, Sleep Disruption, and Oligodendrocyte Dysfunction in the Onset of Alzheimer’s Dis…

2021

Oxidative stress is an early occurrence in the development of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and one of its proposed etiologic hypotheses. There is sufficient experimental evidence supporting the theory that impaired antioxidant enzymatic activity and increased formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) take place in this disease. However, the antioxidant treatments fail to stop its advancement. Its multifactorial condition and the diverse toxicological cascades that can be initiated by ROS could possibly explain this failure. Recently, it has been suggested that cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) contributes to the onset of AD. Oxidative stress is a central hallmark of CSVD and is depicted as …

Estrogens and Stem Cells in Thyroid Cancer

2014

Recent discoveries highlight the emerging role of estrogens in the initiation and progression of different malignancies through their interaction with stem cell compartment. Estrogens play a relevant role especially for those tumors bearing a gender disparity in incidence and aggressiveness, as occurs for most thyroid diseases. Although several experimental lines suggest that estrogens promote thyroid cell proliferation and invasion, their precise contribution in stem cell compartment still remains unclear. This review underlines the interplay between hormones and thyroid function, which could help to complete the puzzle of gender discrepancy in thyroid malignancies. Defining the associatio…

Mini-Review: Two Brothers in Crime – The Interplay of TRESK and TREK in Human Diseases

2021

Abstract TWIK-related spinal cord potassium (TRESK) and TWIK-related potassium (TREK) channels are both subfamilies of the two-pore domain potassium (K2P) channel group. Despite major structural, pharmacological, as well as biophysical differences, emerging data suggest that channels of these two subfamilies are functionally more closely related than previously assumed. Recent studies, for instance, indicate an assembling of TRESK and TREK subunits, leading to the formation of heterodimeric channels with different functional properties compared to homodimeric ones. Formation of tandems consisting of TRESK and TREK subunits might thus multiply the functional diversity of both TRESK and TREK …

Disintegration of Wastewater Activated Sludge (WAS) for Improved Biogas Production: A Mini Review

2018

Due to rapid urbanization, the quantity of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) has increased, and with it the amount of waste generated by them. Sustainable management of this waste can lead to the creation of energy-rich biogas through the fermentation process. This review presents recent advances in the anaerobic digestion process resulting in greater biogas production. Disintegration techniques for enhancing waste activated sludge fermentation can be generally partitioned into biological, physical and chemical, each of which are covered in this review. These disintegration techniques were compared mainly in terms of their biogas yield. It was found that ultrasonic and microwave disintegra…

The Application of CRISPR/Cas9 Technology for Cancer Immunotherapy: Current Status and Problems

2022

Cancer is one of the main causes of disease-related deaths in the world. Although cancer treatment strategies have been improved in recent years, the survival time of cancer patients is still far from satisfied. Cancer immunotherapy, such as Oncolytic virotherapy, Immune checkpoints inhibition, Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy, Chimeric antigen receptor natural killer (CAR-NK) cell therapy and macrophages genomic modification, has emerged as an effective therapeutic strategy for different kinds of cancer. However, many patients do not respond to the cancer immunotherapy which warrants further investigation to optimize this strategy. The clustered regularly interspaced short …

Use of Antihypertensive Drugs During Preeclampsia

2018

Treatment of pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia (PE), remain a challenging problem in obstetrics. Typically, aggressive antihypertensive drug treatment options are avoided to prevent pharmacological-induced hypotension. Another major concern of administering antihypertensive drugs during pregnancy is possible adverse fetal outcome. In addition, management of hypertension during pregnancy in chronic hypertensive patients or in patients with prior kidney problems are carefully considered. Recent studies suggest that PE patients are at increased cardiovascular risk postpartum. Therefore, these patients need to be monitored postpartum for the subsequent development o…

2018

Tetraspanins (Tspans) are a family of four-span transmembrane proteins, known as plasma membrane “master organizers.” They form Tspan-enriched microdomains (TEMs or TERMs) through lateral association with one another and other membrane proteins. If multiple microdomains associate with each other, larger platforms can form. For infection, viruses interact with multiple cell surface components, including receptors, activating proteases, and signaling molecules. It appears that Tspans, such as CD151, CD82, CD81, CD63, CD9, Tspan9, and Tspan7, coordinate these associations by concentrating the interacting partners into Tspan platforms. In addition to mediating viral attachment and entry, these …

RUNX3 and T-Bet in Immunopathogenesis of Ankylosing Spondylitis—Novel Targets for Therapy?

2019

Susceptibility to ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is polygenic with more than 100 genes identified to date. These include HLA-B27 and the aminopeptidases (ERAP1, ERAP2, and LNPEPS), which are involved in antigen processing and presentation to T-cells, and several genes (IL23R, IL6R, STAT3, JAK2, IL1R1/2, IL12B, and IL7R) involved in IL23 driven pathways of inflammation. AS is also strongly associated with polymorphisms in two transcription factors, RUNX3 and T-bet (encoded by TBX21), which are important in T-cell development and function. The influence of these genes on the pathogenesis of AS and their potential for identifying drug targets is discussed here.

Human γδ T-Cells: From Surface Receptors to the Therapy of High-Risk Leukemias

2018

γδ T lymphocytes are potent effector cells, capable of efficiently killing tumor and leukemia cells. Their activation is mediated by γδ T-cell receptor (TCR) and by activating receptors shared with NK cells (e.g., NKG2D and DNAM-1). γδ T-cell triggering occurs upon interaction with specific ligands, including phosphoantigens (for Vγ9Vδ2 TCR), MICA-B and UL16 binding protein (for NKG2D), and PVR and Nectin-2 (for DNAM-1). They also respond to cytokines undergoing proliferation and release of cytokines/chemokines. Although at the genomic level γδ T-cells have the potential of an extraordinary TCR diversification, in tissues they display a restricted repertoire. Recent studies have identified …