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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..
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Improved bioavailability and high photostability of methotrexate by spray-dried surface-attached solid dispersion with an aqueous medium
Researchers in Korea have devised a novel strategy to improve the bioavailability and stability of methotrexate, a highly lipophilic and photo-unstable drug. They fabricated surface-attached solid dispersion of methotrexate through spray-drying in an aqueous medium without organic solvents and reported remark..
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Assessment of socioeconomic inequality based on virus-contaminated water usage in developing countries: A review
Clean water is a basic necessity for humans and provision of clean water to every human is recognized as one of United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDG-6). However, this basic right is unmet for many people in the developing world, who are often compelled to subsist on virus-contaminated water. Re..
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Removal of heavy metals from water sources in the developing world using low-cost materials: A review
Heavy metal contamination of water is a growing concern in the developing world owing largely to the spate of industrial and urban development in these countries but no adequate measures in place to check the resultant pollution. Although decontamination through activated carbon absorption, membrane filtratio..
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Circulating exosomal noncoding RNAs as prognostic biomarkers in human hepatocellular carcinoma
Hepatocellular carcinoma is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths and is particularly detrimental for patients with chronic liver disease. Now scientists in Korea have found that certain circulating exosomal noncoding RNAs (miRNA-21 and lncRNA-ATB) are novel prognostic markers of hepatocellular car..
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Microglia-astrocyte crosstalk: An intimate molecular conversation
Microglia sense changes in the central nervous system (CNS) and restore tissue homeostasis, besides serving as the primary immune cells of the CNS. They also regulate the innate immune functions of astrocytes, another major glial cell in the mammalian CNS. In turn, astrocytes regulate microglial phenotypes an..
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Exploiting IoT and big data analytics: Defining smart digital city using realtime urban data
For the efficient operation of a smart digital city, the large volume of urban data generated from varied sources must be effectively handled. Accordingly, researchers from Kyungpook National University have established an internet-of-things-based smart city using big data analytics on harvested real-time dat..