scholarly journals Using chemical biology to assess and modulate mitochondria: progress and challenges

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 20160151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Logan ◽  
Michael P. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Function ◽  
Chemical Biology ◽  
Biomedical Sciences ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
The Many ◽  
Opening Up

Our understanding of the role of mitochondria in biomedical sciences has expanded considerably over the past decade. In addition to their well-known metabolic roles, mitochondrial are also central to signalling for various processes through the generation of signals such as ROS and metabolites that affect cellular homeostasis, as well as other processes such as cell death and inflammation. Thus, mitochondrial function and dysfunction are central to the health and fate of the cell. Consequently, there is considerable interest in better understanding and assessing the many roles of mitochondria. Furthermore, there is also a growing realization that mitochondrial are a promising drug target in a wide range of pathologies. The application of interdisciplinary approaches at the interface between chemistry and biology are opening up new opportunities to understand mitochondrial function and in assessing the role of the organelle in biology. This work and the experience thus gained are leading to the development of new classes of therapies. Here, we overview the progress that has been made to date on exploring the chemical biology of the organelle and then focus on future challenges and opportunities that face this rapidly developing field.

Language and framing as determinants of the predominance of behavioural health promotion: an Australian view

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 624-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Fry
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Ottawa Charter ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
Message Frame ◽  
The Many ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Behavioural Strategies

Abstract The language used in health promotion warrants attention as it shapes how health promotion is understood, constraining or opening up possibilities for action. The 2016 Shanghai Declaration and the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion call for comprehensive approaches which include policy and environmental changes. Yet many health promotion programmes in Australia continue to focus on informational and/or behavioural strategies, and there is a contemporary tendency for such programmes to be described as ‘sending messages’. This paper uses frame analysis to discuss the role of language, and specifically language that frames health promotion as sending messages, in contributing to and reinforcing the predominance of informational and/or behavioural strategies. It argues such ‘message’ language helps to set a pattern in which informational and/or behavioural strategies are assumed to be the primary goal and extent of health promotion; rather than one component of a comprehensive, multi-strategic approach. It discusses how frames can be ‘taken for granted’ and ways in which such frames can be challenged and broadened. It argues that the message frame and associated behavioural framings set narrow boundaries for health promotion, contributing to the continuation of health inequities. These frames can also displace the language of the Ottawa Charter, which has capacity to reframe health issues socio-ecologically and include collective strategies. The paper concludes that a first step (of the many needed) towards applying the Charter’s approach and multi-level, multi-strategic framework is to use the innovative vocabulary it offers. The words matter.

scholarly journals Precision Detection Technology: Equipping Precision Oncology with Wings

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rilan Bai ◽  
Zheng Lv ◽  
Xiao Chen ◽  
Hanfei Guo ◽  
Ling Bai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Biopsy ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Precision Oncology ◽  
Detection Techniques ◽  
Detection Technology ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Rare Gene ◽  
The Many

In recent years, precision medical detection techniques experienced a rapid transformation from low-throughput to high-throughput genomic sequencing, from multicell promiscuous detection to single-cell precision sequencing. The emergence of liquid biopsy technology has compensated for the many limitations of tissue biopsy, leading to a tremendous transformation in precision detection. Precision detection techniques contribute to monitoring disease development more closely, evaluating therapeutic effects more scientifically, and developing new targets and new drugs. In the future, the role of precision detection and the joint detection in epigenetics, rare gene detection, individualized targeted therapy, and multigene targeted drug combination therapy should be extensively explored. This article reviews the changes in precision medical detection technology in the era of precision medicine, as well as the development, clinical application, and future challenges of liquid biopsy.

Industrial Hubs and the Industrial Labour Force in Africa and Asia

2020 ◽  
pp. 379-400
Author(s):  
Carlos Oya ◽  
Florian Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Labour Force ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Job Creation ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Sectoral Composition ◽  
Opening Up

Industrial hubs can take a number of institutional forms and vary greatly in size, sectoral composition, and degree of internal coordination. What all such hubs have in common, though, is that they concentrate industrial workers in great numbers and therefore play a key role in opening up new possibilities for organizing and negotiating industrial relations. In this chapter we examine the role of industrial hubs for light manufacturing in creating and maintaining an industrial labour force in Africa and Asia. We critically review theories for understanding industrial hubs as spaces of both job creation and labour control, and show how outcomes are in part determined by incorporation into global production networks. Drawing on a wide range of empirical evidence, we provide an overview of wages and working conditions in industrial hubs in Africa and Asia, and examine the causes and consequences of gendered labour dynamics in these spaces.

scholarly journals A Look Behind the Scenes: Danish Renaissance Martial Arts during the Reign of Christian IV

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Claus Frederik Sørensen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Martial Art ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Many

Abstract From the 4th – 7th of July 2016, the annual International Medieval Congress was held in Leeds, England. Among the many different sessions two specifically addressed historical European martial arts. The first session discussed and commented upon modern practices and interpretations of historical European martial arts, each paper being based on good practice and the proper criteria for academic research. The second session, in which this paper was presented, went more “behind the scenes”, discussing the importance of thorough analysis of the historical context which remains essential to forming a foundation for solid hypotheses and interpretations. This article discusses and sheds light upon Danish historical martial art during the reign of the Danish King Christian IV (r.1588 to 1648). At this point in time Europe consisted of many small principalities in addition to a few larger states and kingdoms. Thoughts and ideas could spread as quickly as ripples in water but also be bound by political and religious alliances or enmities, plague, famine and not to mention the role also played by topographical and cultural differences. Thus, at times, vast cultural differences could be seen from region to region. To this should be added a wide range of social factors, such as the role of relationships and mentalities, and the obeying of unspoken norms and codes which can also affect modern researchers’ interpretations of what is shown or described. Therefore, the aim of this article is to provide a series of “behind the scenes” examples which all have the potential to affect hypotheses, interpretations, and overall understandings of the context of historical European martial arts.

scholarly journals A New Kid on the Block? Carbonic Anhydrases as Possible New Targets in Alzheimer’s Disease

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 4724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Provensi ◽  
Fabrizio Carta ◽  
Alessio Nocentini ◽  
Claudiu T. Supuran ◽  
Fiorella Casamenti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Population Aging ◽  
Clinical Findings ◽  
Carbonic Anhydrases ◽  
Disease Modifying Drugs ◽  
New Targets ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Future Challenges

The increase in the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), is a consequence of the world′s population aging but unfortunately, existing treatments are only effective at delaying some of the symptoms and for a limited time. Despite huge efforts by both academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies, no disease-modifying drugs have been brought to the market in the last decades. Recently, several studies shed light on Carbonic Anhydrases (CAs, EC 4.2.1.1) as possible new targets for AD treatment. In the present review we summarized preclinical and clinical findings regarding the role of CAs and their inhibitors/activators on cognition, aging and neurodegeneration and we discuss future challenges and opportunities in the field.

scholarly journals Muscling in on mitochondrial sexual dimorphism; role of mitochondrial dimorphism in skeletal muscle health and disease

2017 ◽  
Vol 131 (15) ◽  
pp. 1919-1922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth A. Nye ◽  
Giorgos K. Sakellariou ◽  
Hans Degens ◽  
Adam P. Lightfoot
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Mitochondrial Function ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Cellular Processes ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Muscle Health ◽  
The Impact

Mitochondria are no longer solely regarded as the cellular powerhouse; instead, they are now implicated in mediating a wide-range of cellular processes, in the context of health and disease. A recent article in Clinical Science, Ventura-Clapier et al. highlights the role of sexual dimorphism in mitochondrial function in health and disease. However, we feel the authors have overlooked arguably one of the most mitochondria-rich organs in skeletal muscle. Many studies have demonstrated that mitochondria have a central role in mediating the pathogenesis of myopathologies. However, the impact of sexual dimorphism in this context is less clear, with several studies reporting conflicting observations. For instance in ageing studies, a rodent model reported female muscles have higher antioxidant capacity compared with males; in contrast, human studies demonstrate no sex difference in mitochondrial bioenergetics and oxidative damage. These divergent observations highlight the importance of considering models and methods used to examine mitochondrial function, when interpreting these data. The use of either isolated or intact mitochondrial preparations in many studies appears likely to be a source of discord, when comparing many studies. Overall, it is now clear that more research is needed to determine if sexual dimorphism is a contributing factor in the development of myopathologies.

scholarly journals A Commentary on the Current and Future Status of Educational and Developmental Psychology in Australia

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Gilmore ◽  
Janet Fletcher ◽  
Alan Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Community Organisations ◽  
University Programs ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
Training Specialist ◽  
Future Status

Educational and developmental psychology faces a number of current and future challenges and opportunities in Australia. In this commentary we consider the identity of educational and developmental psychology in terms of the features that distinguish it from other specialisations, and address issues related to training, specialist endorsement, supervision and rebating under the Australian government's Medicare system. The current status of training in Australia is considered through a review of the four university programs in educational and developmental psychology currently offered, and the employment destinations of their graduates. Although the need for traditional services in settings such as schools, hospitals, disability and community organisations will undoubtedly continue, the role of educational and developmental psychologists is being influenced and to some extent redefined by advances in technology, medicine, genetics, and neuroscience. We review some of these advances and conclude with recommendations for training and professional development that will enable Australian educational and developmental psychologists to meet the challenges ahead.

scholarly journals Colloids and Interfaces in Oil Recovery

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 50
Author(s):  
Spencer E. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Colloid Chemistry ◽  
Future Challenges ◽  
The Many

The role of surface and colloid chemistry in the petroleum industry is of great importance to the many current and future challenges confronting this sector [...]

scholarly journals From language to meteorology: kinesis in weather events and weather verbs across Sinitic languages

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chu-Ren Huang ◽  
Sicong Dong ◽  
Yike Yang ◽  
He Ren
Keyword(s):  
Key Factors ◽  
Verb Classes ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Many ◽  
Sinitic Languages ◽  
Action Verbs ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractInteractions among the environment, humans and language underlie many of the most pressing challenges we face today. This study investigates the use of different verbs to encode various weather events in Sinitic languages, a language family spoken over a wide range of climates and with 3000 years of continuous textual documentation. We propose to synergise the many concepts of kinesis that grew from Aristotle’s original ideas to account for the correlation between meteorological events and their linguistic encoding. It is observed that the two most salient key factors of weather events, i.e., mass of weather substances and speed of weather processes, are the two contributing components of kinetic energy. Leveraging the linguistic theory that kinesis underpins conceptualisation of verb classes, this paper successfully accounts for the selection of verbs for different meteorological events in all Sinitic languages in terms of both language variations and changes. Specifically, weather events with bigger weather substances and faster weather processes tend to select action verbs with high transitivity. The kinesis driven accounts also predict the typological variations between verbal and nominal constructions for weather expressions. The correlation between kinesis and the selection of verbs is further corroborated by an experiment on the perception of native Sinitic language speakers, as well as analyses of regional variations of verb selections that do not follow general typological patterns. It is found that such typological exceptions generally correspond to variations in meteorological patterns. By explicating the pivotal role of kinesis in bridging weather events and the linguistic encoding of weather, this study underlines the role of cognition as the conceptualisation of physical and sensory inputs to sharable knowledge encoded by language.

A Review of the Significance of Vision in the Remediation of Balance Control and Associated Falls Avoidance

2021 ◽  
pp. 201-214
Keyword(s):  
Balance Control ◽  
Balance Training ◽  
Posture Control ◽  
Cognitive Factors ◽  
Visual Functions ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Risk Of Fall

Background: Loss of balance and falls are the primary cause of accidental death in persons over 65 years of age. This review examines the role of visual functions in the maintenance of a balanced posture and associated fall avoidance, including how visual functions interact with proprioceptive, tactile, vestibular and cognitive factors under a range of environmental circumstances and conditions. Methods: Reference to relevant articles from a wide range of sources were used to examine how vision functions are usually integrated with other senses in avoiding falls. Results: Under most conditions vision can make an important contribution to posture control and fall avoidance although such contributions have not always been recognized in the past. However, successful balance training has been shown to be associated with multi-component programs. Conclusions: Given the complexity of posture control and the multiple changes (physiological- and disease-related) which occur with age, as well as the capacity for different professional groups to contribute more or less dissimilar fall prevention strategies, it is not surprising that there appears to be great potential for improved interdisciplinary coordination of remedial interventions which reduce the risk of fall-related injuries and death. Similarly, overcoming age- or frailty-related difficulties in standing from a seated position can be best handled by interdisciplinary approaches.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document