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Nitric oxide regulates plant responses to drought, salinity, and heavy metal stress
When exposed to stressful environments, such as drought, heat, and high-metal concentrations, plants release signalling molecules that help them adapt to the stress. Nitric oxide (NO) is one such signalling molecule whose exact role in plants is unclear. An international research team now reviews and discusse..
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Serum irisin levels in new-onset type 2 diabetes
Irisin, a recently discovered hormone, is known to play a role in the brown-fat-like development of white fat and heat production. In a new study, Kyungpook National University scientists show that irisin levels are decreased in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) compared to those with normal glucose toleran..
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Daily water level forecasting using wavelet decomposition and artificial intelligence techniques
Reservoirs play an important role in water supply, flood mitigation, and hydropower generation. For efficient reservoir operation, accurate forecasting of water level for reservoir inflow is critical. An international research team now develops and applies two hybrid models for water level forecasting based o..
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What Is There in Seeds? Vertically Transmitted Endophytic Resources for Sustainable Improvement in Plant Growth
Endophytic microbes, or the bacteria and fungi that live within plants, are beneficial to their development. In particular, endophytic microbes found inside seeds help improve the biomass of plants and their yield under stressful environments. However, their potential remains underexplored. Scientists from Ko..
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Silicon regulates antioxidant activities of crop plants under abiotic-induced oxidative stress: A review
Silicon is actively absorbed by plants and is known to boost different physiological processes, including growth, development, and optimized enzymatic action. In addition, the exogenous application of silicon also helps plants cope with oxidative stress, electrolyte leakage, and uptake of toxic ions. Research..
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A new approach for loading anticancer drugs into mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosome mimetics for cancer therapy
Synthetically personalized exosome mimetics (EMs) are being considered as alternative vesicles for customized drug delivery. Now researchers from Kyungpook National University have successfully isolated EMs from human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and used these EMs for drug delivery to treat bre..
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Functional polarization of neuroglia: Implications in neuroinflammation and neurological disorders
Human brain is a wonderfully dynamic organ that changes over time. Implicated in its dynamicity are the glial cells, particularly microglia and astrocytes, which react to diverse microenvironmental signals and maintain brain functioning under varied neuropathological conditions. Researchers from Kyungpook Nat..
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Vascular calcification—new insights into its mechanism
Vascular calcification (VC), wherein calcium-phosphate complexes are deposited in the blood vessels, is associated with cardiovascular disease. Chronic inflammation, autophagy defects, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction and dynamics have all been implicated in VC pathogenesis. To cons..
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Obesity and its metabolic complications: The role of adipokines and the relationship between obesity, inflammation, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
The excess production of adipose tissue in obesity is accompanied with an increased production of adipokines—bioactives associated with increased inflammation, among other complications. Since the association between obesity and metabolic disorders like insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, and non-alcoholic fa..