Highlights
The capability of gold nanomaterials to mimic enzyme activities offers new approaches for diagnosis and treatment in the field of biomedicine, which are discussed in this review.
...Controlling the physicochemical properties of the nanomaterials (size, morphology and surface chemistry) remains the first obstacle for endeavouring real-life applications.
Numerous examples of ex vivo applications in the field of diagnosis are a reality today, whereas further controlling side effects is required for in vivo applications like tumour treatment or intracellular ROS level control.
In recent years, gold nanoparticles have demonstrated excellent enzyme-mimicking activities which resemble those of peroxidase, oxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase or reductase. This, merged with their ease of synthesis, tunability, biocompatibility and low cost, makes them excellent candidates when compared with biological enzymes for applications in biomedicine or biochemical analyses. Herein, over 200 research papers have been systematically reviewed to present the recent progress on the fundamentals of gold nanozymes and their potential applications. The review reveals that the morphology and surface chemistry of the nanoparticles play an important role in their catalytic properties, as well as external parameters such as pH or temperature. Yet, real applications often require specific biorecognition elements to be immobilized onto the nanozymes, leading to unexpected positive or negative effects on their activity. Thus, rational design of efficient nanozymes remains a challenge of paramount importance. Different implementation paths have already been explored, including the application of peroxidase-like nanozymes for the development of clinical diagnostics or the regulation of oxidative stress within cells via their catalase and superoxide dismutase activities. The review also indicates that it is essential to understand how external parameters may boost or inhibit each of these activities, as more than one of them could coexist. Likewise, further toxicity studies are required to ensure the applicability of gold nanozymes in vivo. Current challenges and future prospects of gold nanozymes are discussed in this review, whose significance can be anticipated in a diverse range of fields beyond biomedicine, such as food safety, environmental analyses or the chemical industry.
Background: Gap junctions are clusters of intercellular channels
allowing the bidirectional pass of ions directly into the cytoplasm of adjacent cells.
Electrical coupling mediated by gap junctions ...plays a role in the generation of
highly synchronized electrical activity. The hypersynchronous neuronal activity is a
distinctive characteristic of convulsive events. Therefore, it has been postulated that
enhanced gap junctional communication is an underlying mechanism involved in
the generation and maintenance of seizures. There are some chemical compounds
characterized as gap junction blockers because of their ability to disrupt the gap
junctional intercellular communication.
Objective: Hence, the aim of this review is to analyze the available data concerning
the effects of gap junction blockers specifically in seizure models.
Results: Carbenoxolone, quinine, mefloquine, quinidine, anandamide, oleamide, heptanol, octanol,
meclofenamic acid, niflumic acid, flufenamic acid, glycyrrhetinic acid and retinoic acid have all been
evaluated on animal seizure models. In vitro, these compounds share anticonvulsant effects typically
characterized by the reduction of both amplitude and frequency of the epileptiform activity induced in
brain slices. In vivo, gap junction blockers modify the behavioral parameters related to seizures induced
by 4-aminopyridine, pentylenetetrazole, pilocarpine, penicillin and maximal electroshock.
Conclusion: Although more studies are still required, these molecules could be a promising avenue in the
search for new pharmaceutical alternatives for the treatment of epilepsy.
Highlights
Enzyme-mimicking activities of different nanomaterials (nanozymes) and the recent progress in the construction of nanozyme-based biosensors with various examples are discussed in this ...review.
Physicochemical properties of nanomaterials (size, composition, pH, temperature, surface chemistry) play crucial role in the nanozyme activities.
The emerging nanozyme-based biosensors promise great potential for point-of-care diagnostic applications following the ASSURED criteria defined by WHO.
Nanomaterial-based artificial enzymes (or nanozymes) have attracted great attention in the past few years owing to their capability not only to mimic functionality but also to overcome the inherent drawbacks of the natural enzymes. Numerous advantages of nanozymes such as diverse enzyme-mimicking activities, low cost, high stability, robustness, unique surface chemistry, and ease of surface tunability and biocompatibility have allowed their integration in a wide range of biosensing applications. Several metal, metal oxide, metal–organic framework-based nanozymes have been exploited for the development of biosensing systems, which present the potential for point-of-care analysis. To highlight recent progress in the field, in this review, more than 260 research articles are discussed systematically with suitable recent examples, elucidating the role of nanozymes to reinforce, miniaturize, and improve the performance of point-of-care diagnostics addressing the ASSURED (affordable, sensitive, specific, user-friendly, rapid and robust, equipment-free and deliverable to the end user) criteria formulated by World Health Organization. The review reveals that many biosensing strategies such as electrochemical, colorimetric, fluorescent, and immunological sensors required to achieve the ASSURED standards can be implemented by using enzyme-mimicking activities of nanomaterials as signal producing components. However, basic system functionality is still lacking. Since the enzyme-mimicking properties of the nanomaterials are dictated by their size, shape, composition, surface charge, surface chemistry as well as external parameters such as pH or temperature, these factors play a crucial role in the design and function of nanozyme-based point-of-care diagnostics. Therefore, it requires a deliberate exertion to integrate various parameters for truly ASSURED solutions to be realized. This review also discusses possible limitations and research gaps to provide readers a brief scenario of the emerging role of nanozymes in state-of-the-art POC diagnosis system development for futuristic biosensing applications.
Esophageal dilation: the evolution of an art Cerra-Franco, Javier A.; Micames, Carlos G.
Gastrointestinal endoscopy,
November 2021, 2021-11-00, 20211101, Letnik:
94, Številka:
5
Journal Article
This article provides an analysis of open access (OA) publishing in translation studies for the 1961-2015 period. To this end, we have taken advantage of the translation-studies (TS) bibliographical ...database BITRA, which comprised over 75,000 entries as of December 2018, over 21,000 of which had been labelled as OA. The main bibliometric factors we examined from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives were the global status of OA, publication format, language, topic, kind of publisher and types of websites hosting OA publications, while also providing an estimation of how these factors predict OA. The results indicate that we are increasingly witnessing a balance between open and toll access due to the dramatic growth of OA in TS. We have also found that OA is still on the increase in TS, although with some notable variations within each of the categories under analysis.
En este artículo se lleva a cabo un análisis bibliométrico de la producción académica sobre la relación entre cultura y traducción. Tras poner de manifiesto la importancia central de lo cultural para ...comprender los estudios de traducción modernos como disciplina autónoma, se presenta la metodología empírica, que extrae los datos de la base de datos bibliográfica BITRA, con más de 83.000 referencias comentadas en diciembre de 2020. A continuación se analizan parámetros bibliométricos básicos como la productividad, la concurrencia temática, la distribución por lenguas, los formatos de publicación o el impacto en un intento de comprender la evolución y la naturaleza de este objeto de estudio.
A bibliometric study of co-authorship in Translation Studies Rovira-Esteva, Sara; Aixela, Javier Franco
Onomazein : revista de linguística y traducción del Instituto de Letras de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile,
03/2020
47
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The main aims of this article are, on the one hand, to gain a better understanding of co-authorship practices in Translation Studies (TS) by examining how they have evolved over time and, on the ...other, to find out whether there is a citation advantage for co-authored works. Most of the data used for this study have been retrieved from BITRA (Bibliography of Interpreting and Translation), containing over 69,000 TS records. The analysis covering 54 years has focused on parameters including the percentage of co-authored documents versus single-authored, co-authored contributions by document type, evolution of co-authorship over time, mean number of authors per contribution, citations of co-authored vs. single-authored documents, or the ratio of international cooperation in TS. In order to complement the bibliometric analysis, we also weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of co-authorship taking a more qualitative approach. Our data yield the following interesting results. Firstly, the number of co-authored documents and the number of citations accrued by co-authored documents are on the increase. Secondly, there is a slight co-authorship citation advantage in the case of journal articles. Thirdly, the average number of authors is nowadays higher in TS as compared with other disciplines in Humanities. Fourthly, the ratio of international collaboration is rather poor, below 10%. Our findings represent an initial insight into the evolution and current situation of co-authorship in TS, and hopefully it might prove inspiring and a valuable starting point not only for future research, but also for research assessment policies that should be permeable to new trends in publication patterns in TS. Keywords: bibliometrics; citation advantage; co-authorship; impact; Translation Studies.
Citation distributions vary across the board among academic disciplines, which is the reason why field-oriented normalisation is necessary to compensate for this. In this vein, the aim of this study ...is three-fold. Firstly, to find out which document type is cited the most in translation studies (TS). Secondly, to determine the time distribution for citations and aging patterns in TS scientific literature. Thirdly, to define a discipline-weighted citation window or cited half-life, in order to establish the optimal citation window to be used in TS. Data enabling the present research will be retrieved from BITRA, which includes over 70,000 items covering the diversity of document types and languages used in TS research for all times and the citing information of over 10% of its entries. This database will thus allow us to carry out a study on citation and aging patterns in TS academic literature covering the 1960-2015 period. Both, global results, as well as a more detailed analysis focusing on different document types, will be provided. This bibliometric study aims to offer a discipline-focused approach in order to develop specific and realistic impact criteria for our discipline, while taking into account its actual research and communication practices.
•In preclinical models, fructose induces deficits in spatial and recognition memory.•Female rodents are more resistant to memory impairment induced by fructose.•Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress ...are short-term underlying mechanisms.•Fructose intake triggers neurogenesis inhibition and LTP decay in the long term.•Clinical data suggest an association between fructose and memory impairment.
Fructose consumption has increased over the years, especially in adolescents living in urban areas. Growing evidence indicates that daily fructose consumption leads to some pathological conditions, including memory impairment. This review summarizes relevant data describing cognitive deficits after fructose intake and analyzes the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Preclinical experiments show sex-related deficits in spatial memory; that is, while males exhibit significant imbalances in spatial processing, females seem unaffected by dietary supplementation with fructose. Recognition memory has also been evaluated; however, only female rodents show a significant decline in the novel object recognition test performance. According to mechanistic evidence, fructose intake induces neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress in the short term. Subsequently, these mechanisms can trigger other long-term effects, such as inhibition of neurogenesis, downregulation of trophic factors and receptors, weakening of synaptic plasticity, and long-term potentiation decay. Integrating all these neurobiological mechanisms will help us understand the cellular and molecular processes that trigger the memory impairment induced by fructose.
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