scholarly journals Potential Applications of Guayulins to Improve Feasibility of Guayule Cultivation

Agronomy ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 804 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco M. Jara ◽  
Katrina Cornish ◽  
Manuel Carmona

Guayule (Parthenium argentatum Gray) is an interesting alternative and renewable source of rubber/latex which has been used in the past. Guayule rubber and latex products are not available in the market largely because the raw material cost is higher than the current sources produced in South-East Asia and other tropical countries (Hevea brasiliensis). Guayule contains many other compounds whose joint exploitation could make guayule cultivation profitable, especially in semi-desert areas where cultivation of other crops is difficult or impossible. Guayulins A–D, sesquiterpene esters, appear to have some commercial promise. Despite being accumulated in relatively high concentrations (its majority representative, guayulin A, can account for up to 13.7% of the resin content of this plant, which itself ranges from 6%–12%), guayulins have received little direct attention from scientists. This review presents the current knowledge about the activity of these compounds and, based on known activities of similar compounds from other species, potential uses as fungicides, miticides and insecticides are suggested.

2008 ◽  
Vol 86 (9) ◽  
pp. 577-599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert T. Kinobe ◽  
Ryan A. Dercho ◽  
Kanji Nakatsu

The past decade has seen substantial developments in our understanding of the physiology, pathology, and pharmacology of heme oxygenases (HO), to the point that investigators in the field are beginning to contemplate therapies based on administration of HO agonists or HO inhibitors. A significant amount of our current knowledge is based on the judicious application of metalloporphyrin inhibitors of HO, despite their limitations of selectivity. Recently, imidazole-based compounds have been identified as potent and more selective HO inhibitors. This ‘next generation’ of HO inhibitors offers a number of desirable characteristics, including isozyme selectivity, negligible effects on HO protein expression, and physicochemical properties favourable for in vivo distribution. Some of the applications of HO inhibitors that have been suggested are treatment of hyperbilirubinemia, neurodegenerative disorders, certain types of cancer, and bacterial and fungal infections. In this review, we address various approaches to altering HO activity with a focus on the potential applications of second-generation inhibitors of HO.


Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 2237 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Sarika ◽  
Paul Nancarrow ◽  
Abdulrahman Khansaheb ◽  
Taleb Ibrahim

Phenol–formaldehyde (PF) resin continues to dominate the resin industry more than 100 years after its first synthesis. Its versatile properties such as thermal stability, chemical resistance, fire resistance, and dimensional stability make it a suitable material for a wide range of applications. PF resins have been used in the wood industry as adhesives, in paints and coatings, and in the aerospace, construction, and building industries as composites and foams. Currently, petroleum is the key source of raw materials used in manufacturing PF resin. However, increasing environmental pollution and fossil fuel depletion have driven industries to seek sustainable alternatives to petroleum based raw materials. Over the past decade, researchers have replaced phenol and formaldehyde with sustainable materials such as lignin, tannin, cardanol, hydroxymethylfurfural, and glyoxal to produce bio-based PF resin. Several synthesis modifications are currently under investigation towards improving the properties of bio-based phenolic resin. This review discusses recent developments in the synthesis of PF resins, particularly those created from sustainable raw material substitutes, and modifications applied to the synthetic route in order to improve the mechanical properties.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongxuan Wang ◽  
Wei Qin

AbstractOver the past years, the development of organic ferromagnetic materials has been investigated worldwide for potential applications. Due to the couplings among the charge, orbit, spin, and phonon in organic ferromagnetic materials, magnetoelectric, and optomagnetic couplings have been realized and observed. In this review, progress in organic magnetoelectric and optomagnetic couplings is presented, and the mechanisms behind the phenomena are also briefly summarized. Hopefully, the understanding of magnetoelectric and optomagnetic couplings could provide guidance for the further development of organic spin optoelectronics.


Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 287
Author(s):  
Ye Lin Park ◽  
Kiwon Park ◽  
Jae Min Cha

Over the past decades, a number of bone tissue engineering (BTE) approaches have been developed to address substantial challenges in the management of critical size bone defects. Although the majority of BTE strategies developed in the laboratory have been limited due to lack of clinical relevance in translation, primary prerequisites for the construction of vascularized functional bone grafts have gained confidence owing to the accumulated knowledge of the osteogenic, osteoinductive, and osteoconductive properties of mesenchymal stem cells and bone-relevant biomaterials that reflect bone-healing mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of bone-healing mechanisms focusing on the details that should be embodied in the development of vascularized BTE, and discuss promising strategies based on 3D-bioprinting technologies that efficiently coalesce the abovementioned main features in bone-healing systems, which comprehensively interact during the bone regeneration processes.


Author(s):  
Mamou Diallo ◽  
Servé W. M. Kengen ◽  
Ana M. López-Contreras

AbstractThe Clostridium genus harbors compelling organisms for biotechnological production processes; while acetogenic clostridia can fix C1-compounds to produce acetate and ethanol, solventogenic clostridia can utilize a wide range of carbon sources to produce commercially valuable carboxylic acids, alcohols, and ketones by fermentation. Despite their potential, the conversion by these bacteria of carbohydrates or C1 compounds to alcohols is not cost-effective enough to result in economically viable processes. Engineering solventogenic clostridia by impairing sporulation is one of the investigated approaches to improve solvent productivity. Sporulation is a cell differentiation process triggered in bacteria in response to exposure to environmental stressors. The generated spores are metabolically inactive but resistant to harsh conditions (UV, chemicals, heat, oxygen). In Firmicutes, sporulation has been mainly studied in bacilli and pathogenic clostridia, and our knowledge of sporulation in solvent-producing or acetogenic clostridia is limited. Still, sporulation is an integral part of the cellular physiology of clostridia; thus, understanding the regulation of sporulation and its connection to solvent production may give clues to improve the performance of solventogenic clostridia. This review aims to provide an overview of the triggers, characteristics, and regulatory mechanism of sporulation in solventogenic clostridia. Those are further compared to the current knowledge on sporulation in the industrially relevant acetogenic clostridia. Finally, the potential applications of spores for process improvement are discussed.Key Points• The regulatory network governing sporulation initiation varies in solventogenic clostridia.• Media composition and cell density are the main triggers of sporulation.• Spores can be used to improve the fermentation process.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 778
Author(s):  
Anna Stasiłowicz ◽  
Anna Tomala ◽  
Irma Podolak ◽  
Judyta Cielecka-Piontek

Cannabis sativa L. turned out to be a valuable source of chemical compounds of various structures, showing pharmacological activity. The most important groups of compounds include phytocannabinoids and terpenes. The pharmacological activity of Cannabis (in epilepsy, sclerosis multiplex (SM), vomiting and nausea, pain, appetite loss, inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, schizophrenia, glaucoma, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)), which has been proven so far, results from the affinity of these compounds predominantly for the receptors of the endocannabinoid system (the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1), type two (CB2), and the G protein-coupled receptor 55 (GPR55)) but, also, for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR), glycine receptors, serotonin receptors (5-HT), transient receptor potential channels (TRP), and GPR, opioid receptors. The synergism of action of phytochemicals present in Cannabis sp. raw material is also expressed in their increased bioavailability and penetration through the blood–brain barrier. This review provides an overview of phytochemistry and pharmacology of compounds present in Cannabis extracts in the context of the current knowledge about their synergistic actions and the implications of clinical use in the treatment of selected diseases.


Author(s):  
J. L. Watson

AbstractTwo major themes dominate the poetry of the Alexandrian poet, C. P. Cavafy: homosexual desire and Greekness, broadly defined. This paper explores the interconnectivity of these motifs, showing how Cavafy’s poetic queerness is expressed through his relationship with the ancient Greek world, especially Hellenistic Alexandria. I focus on Cavafy’s incorporation of ancient sculpture into his poetry and the ways that sculpture, for Cavafy, is a vehicle for expressing forbidden desires in an acceptable way. In this, I draw on the works of Liana Giannakopoulou on statuary in modern Greek poetry and Dimitris Papanikolaou on Cavafy’s homosexuality and its presentation in the poetry. Sculpture features in around a third of Cavafy’s poems and pervades it in various ways: the inclusion of physical statues as focuses of ecphrastic description, the use of sculptural language and metaphor, and the likening of Cavafy’s beloveds to Greek marbles of the past, to name but three. This article argues that Cavafy utilizes the statuary of the ancient Greek world as raw material, from which he sculpts his modern Greek queerness, variously desiring the statuesque bodies of contemporary Alexandrian youths and constructing eroticized depictions of ancient Greek marbles. The very ontology of queerness is, for Cavafy, ‘created’ using explicitly sculptural metaphors (e.g. the repeated uses of the verb κάνω [‘to make’] in descriptions of ‘those made like me’) and he employs Hellenistic statues as a productive link between his desires and so-called ‘Greek desire’, placing himself within a continuum of queer, Greek men.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2457
Author(s):  
Birgit J. Gerecke ◽  
Rolf Engberding

Noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCCM) has gained increasing attention over the past twenty years, but in daily clinical practice NCCM is still rarely considered. So far, there are no generally accepted diagnostic criteria and some groups even refuse to acknowledge it as a distinct cardiomyopathy, and grade it as a variant of dilated cardiomyopathy or a morphological trait of different conditions. A wide range of morphological variants have been observed even in healthy persons, suggesting that pathologic remodeling and physiologic adaptation have to be differentiated in cases where this spongy myocardial pattern is encountered. Recent studies have uncovered numerous new pathogenetic and pathophysiologic aspects of this elusive cardiomyopathy, but a current summary and evaluation of clinical patient management are still lacking, especially to avoid mis- and overdiagnosis. Addressing this issue, this article provides an up to date overview of the current knowledge in classification, pathogenesis, pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical manifestations and diagnostic evaluation, including genetic testing, treatment and prognosis of NCCM.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhihao Fang ◽  
Yiqiu Hu ◽  
Jinhui Hu ◽  
Yanqin Huang ◽  
Shu Zheng ◽  
...  

AbstractAs the predominant modification in RNA, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) has attracted increasing attention in the past few years since it plays vital roles in many biological processes. This chemical modification is dynamic, reversible and regulated by several methyltransferases, demethylases and proteins that recognize m6A modification. M6A modification exists in messenger RNA and affects their splicing, nuclear export, stability, decay, and translation, thereby modulating gene expression. Besides, the existence of m6A in noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) could also directly or indirectly regulated gene expression. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common cancer around the world and of high mortality. Increasing evidence have shown that the changes of m6A level and the dysregulation of m6A regulatory proteins have been implicated in CRC carcinogenesis and progression. However, the underlying regulation laws of m6A modification to CRC remain elusive and better understanding of these mechanisms will benefit the diagnosis and therapy. In the present review, the latest studies about the dysregulation of m6A and its regulators in CRC have been summarized. We will focus on the crucial roles of m6A modification in the carcinogenesis and development of CRC. Moreover, we will also discuss the potential applications of m6A modification in CRC diagnosis and therapeutics.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Hallinger ◽  
Vien-Thong Nguyen

This systematic review of research used science mapping as a means of analyzing the knowledge base on education for sustainable development (ESD) in K-12 schooling. The review documented the size, growth trajectory and geographic distribution of this literature, identified high impact scholars and documents, and visualized the “intellectual structure” of the field. The database examined in this review consisted of 1842 English language, Scopus-indexed documents published between 1990 and 2018. The review found that the knowledge base on ESD has grown dramatically over the past 30 years, with a rapidly accelerating rate of publication in the past decade. Although the field has been dominated by scholarship from Anglo-American_European nations, there is evidence of increasing geographic diversification of the ESD knowledge base over the past 15 years. Citation analyses identified authors who have had a significant influence on the development of this literature. Author co-citation analysis revealed three “schools of thought” that comprise the “intellectual structure” of this knowledge base: Education for Sustainable Development, Developing a Sustainability Mindset, Teaching and Learning for Sustainability. Document content analyses led to the conclusion that the current knowledge base is heavily weighted towards critical, descriptive and prescriptive papers, with an insufficient body of analytical empirical studies. Several recommendations are offered for strengthening this literature.


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