Yearly Archives: 2016
Verapamil and a loop diuretic modestly reduce the intracellular pH of cortical neurons: a contribution to their anti-seizure potency?
A tight regulation of the intracellular pH ( pHi ) is needed to preserve essential cell functions, e. g. involved in cell communication and viability ( Fig. 1A ). In mammalian cortical neurons, pHi – regulation is
A novel approach to reliably predicting efficient visual search
Working memory load is the capacity of mental effort we put into memorizing information over a period of time. Researchers use an eye-tracker as a passive implicit input device to measure eye movement as an indicator of
Wheat microRNA ancestors
Bread wheat, Triticum aestivum L., is one of the most important crops as a food source by providing approximately 20 % of human dietary energy. Bread wheat is harvested all over the world distributed more than 200
Bioethanol production from corn waste following an optimized hydrothermal pretreatment process
Depletion of crude oil reserves alongside rapid climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) have led scientific community to seek alternative energy sources. Renewable energy sources such as 2nd generation biofuels have garnered a lot of
Cancer can growth without angiogenesis. A new field opened in cancer biology
The word cancer derives from the Greek “karkinos “which means “crab”. According to the legend reported by Paul of Aegina in the 7th Century AD, this name was chosen because this disease “has the veins stretched on
How does fever work? As a non-specific stressor
Despite the spectacular discoveries in immunology and recent biotechnological advances, amazingly there has been no consensus on how fever functions to help control infections. Does the heat of fever act as an immune stimulant, or does it
Abdominal wall schwannoma
A 62-year-old woman was admitted to our institution for the surgical evaluation of a mass in the right iliac fossa causing an enduring abdominal pain. The patient presented with the following comorbidities: visceral class I obesity (BMI
Genetics of body shape: Connexin43 is the key to two zebrafish mutants with shorter backbones and fins
The variation in body shape within and among animal species has long been an intriguing question. D’Arcy Thompson, a pioneer of mathematical biology in the early 20th century, put forth the idea that body shape variation in
Meatal mobilization and glanuloplasty: A viable option for coronal and glanular hypospadias repair
Hypospadias is one of the most common anomalies in the human genitourinary system. With an incidence of 1 in 300 male newborns. The meatal location may be anywhere from just below the tip of the glans to
Brain pathology some times results in unexpected clinical disorders
There are some unusual brain syndromes rarely reported in the neurological or neuropsychological literature. This paper presents a review of four of these unusual clinical syndromes. Somatoparaphrenia Somatoparaphrenia is a delusional belief in which a patient states
BMI is enough to define overweight a young athlete?
The Body Mass Index (BMI; in kg/m2) is simple to measure and has been a valuable tool in monitoring trends in obesity and it is also strongly correlated with adiposity in children, but it has also numerous
Lead pollution reveals the ancient history of Naples
Almost two thousand years after the eruption of Vesuvius that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, certain periods of the history of Naples have just been reconstructed. Until now, historians and archaeologists had wondered about the impact of this
Using behavioral economics to increase flu vaccination rate
Seasonal flu imposes an enormous burden on society every year, yet many people refuse to obtain flu shots due to misconceptions about the risks and effectiveness of flu vaccines. These misconceptions include the beliefs that the vaccines
Effects of natural remedies on wound healing
Chronic wounds are a frequent finding in clinical practice and one of the problems with high impact on social health, affecting mainly the elderly people with chronic diseases (diabetes, nutritional abnormalities, cardiovascular diseases, chronic motor deficit and
Does the number of platelets affect outcome in patients with acute myocardial infarction?
Coronary artery atherosclerotic disease (CAD) is the most prevalent disease in industrialized countries. Acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) results from sudden obstruction of a coronary artery causing abrupt interruption of blood flow to the myocardium. Nowadays, urgent
Flipping the shape of a sugar through molecular machinery
The lectin protein receptors that are present at the surface of cell membrane are very interesting targets for drugs in order to recognize and penetrate into specific cells. Indeed, sugar moieties are able to specifically bind some
Microtubules slide neurons home
Brain development requires neurons, the most sophisticated information-carrying cells in the body, to migrate from where they are born to faraway destinations where they finally settle down and take up residence. During its journey, a young neuron
Licorice Root enhance cardiovascular health
The increasing incidence of lifestyle-based conditions–most notably those conditions that impact cardiovascular health, obesity, and blood sugar–has compelled consumers to consider natural solutions for these challenges. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cardiovascular
Performing muscle-damaging exercise with low muscle glycogen does not influence short-term recovery
Athletes often perform activities that involve repeated, intense and / or unaccustomed contractions, whereby the active muscle lengthens as it contracts. For example , the quadriceps muscles repeatedly lengthen when walking downstairs, running downhill and cross –
Unconscious Pig Latin: What it reveals about the conscious mind
Most things that one is aware of usually “just happen” to one. We open our eyes and see, for free, an external world, replete with objects, sights, and sounds. (This also occurs every night in the dream
