Articles

Barley somatic embryogenesis-an attempt to modify variation induced in tissue culture

Somatic embryogenesis is a phenomenon carried out in an environment that generates abiotic stress. Thus, regenerants may differ from the source of explants at the morphological, genetic, and epigenetic levels....

Authors: Renata Orłowska

First report of detection of microcystins in farmed mediterranean mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis in Thermaikos gulf in Greece

Microcystins are emerging marine biotoxins, produced by potentially toxic cyanobacteria. Their presence has been reported in aquatic animals in Greek freshwater, while data are few in marine environments. Sinc...

Authors: Maria P. Kalaitzidou, Christina I. Nannou, Dimitra A. Lambropoulou, Konstantinos V. Papageorgiou, Alexandros M. Theodoridis, Vangelis K. Economou, Ioannis A. Giantsis, Panagiotis G. Angelidis, Spyridon K. Kritas and Evanthia J. Petridou

CircCTNNA1 acts as a ceRNA for miR-363-3p to facilitate the progression of colorectal cancer by promoting CXCL5 expression

Circular RNAs (circRNA) have been shown to be involved in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). CircCTNNA1 was found to be one of the upregulated circRNAs in CRC. However, there are few studies on circC...

Authors: Yan Zhang, Sheng Zheng, Nansheng Liao, Huifeng Huang, Wenxiao Chen, Zhenxing Wu and Deqing Wu

Artemisinin attenuated oxidative stress and apoptosis by inhibiting autophagy in MPP⁺-treated SH-SY5Y cells

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer's disease. The oxidative stress is an important component of the pathogenesis of PD. Artemisinin (ART) has antioxida...

Authors: Junqiang Yan, Hongxia Ma, Xiaoyi Lai, Jiannan Wu, Anran Liu, Jiarui Huang, Wenjie Sun, Mengmeng Shen and Yude Zhang

Genome-scale meta-analysis of breast cancer datasets identifies promising targets for drug development

Because of the highly heterogeneous nature of breast cancer, each subtype differs in response to several treatment regimens. This has limited the therapeutic options for metastatic breast cancer disease requir...

Authors: Reem Altaf, Humaira Nadeem, Mustafeez Mujtaba Babar, Umair Ilyas and Syed Aun Muhammad

Long‐term monitoring of common spadefoot toad activity in a European steppe using barn owl pellets

One third of the worldwide amphibian species are threatened, therefore, efficient monitoring efforts are needed. Amphibians which adopt a hidden lifestyle, such as the common spadefoot toad, are often missed w...

Authors: Lukas Landler and Katharina Stefke

Different solutions lead to similar life history traits across the great divides of the amniote tree of life

Amniote vertebrates share a suite of extra-embryonic membranes that distinguish them from anamniotes. Other than that, however, their reproductive characteristics could not be more different. They differ in ba...

Authors: Shai Meiri, Gopal Murali, Anna Zimin, Lior Shak, Yuval Itescu, Gabriel Caetano and Uri Roll

The histone methyltransferase inhibitor A-366 enhances hemoglobin expression in erythroleukemia cells upon co‐exposure with chemical inducers in culture

Erythroleukemia is caused by the uncontrolled multiplication of immature erythroid progenitor cells which fail to differentiate into erythrocytes. By directly targeting this class of malignant cells, the induc...

Authors: Christos I. Papagiannopoulos, Nikoleta F. Theodoroula, Konstantinos A. Kyritsis, Melpomeni G. Akrivou, Maria Kosmidou, Konstantina Tsouderou, Nikolaos Grigoriadis and Ioannis S. Vizirianakis

Circ_0000396 inhibits rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblast growth and inflammatory response via miR-203/HBP1 axis

Circ_0000396 was found to be down-regulated in the rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and had a high diagnostic value. However, the function and mechanisms underlying circ_0000396 in RA progression remain uncl...

Authors: Laifang Wang, Qing Zhao, Na Wang, Yanjie Ding, Lingli Kong and Jing Wang

Prostate cancer and therapeutic challenges

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most prevalent type of cancer in men worldwide. In Saudi Arabia, the rate of PC is increasing annually. The sex steroid hormones androgens and their receptors have critical roles in...

Authors: Yousef MohammedRabaa Hawsawi, Samar Abdullah Zailaie, Atif Abdulwahab A. Oyouni, Othman Rashed Alzahrani, Osama Mohamed Alamer and Saad Ali S. Aljohani

Campbell biology (edited by Lisa Urry, Michael Cain, Steven Wasserman, Peter Minorsky and Jane Reece)

Campbell Biology is divided into eight units and 56 chapters. The organization and size of this book are appropriate and easy for first-year university students and help them to learn and digest the content. Camp...

Authors: Gangxu Shen

Cell adhesion molecules’ altered profile in benign and malignant salivary gland tumors. The paradigm of beta4-integrin, desmoglein-2, ICAM-1 and CD44s

Alterations in intercellular and cell-extracellular matrix connections contribute to tumour development. This study investigates the expression of specific cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) in salivary gland tumo...

Authors: Dimitrios Andreadis, Athanasios Poulopoulos, Apostolos Epivatianos, Alexandros Nomikos, Dimitrios Parlitsis, Konstantinos Christidis, Calypso Barbatis, Dimitrios Kavvadas, Alexandros Toskas, Theodora Papamitsou and Dimitrios Antoniades

A potential hypothesis for 2019-nCoV infection therapy through delivery of recombinant ACE2 by red blood cell-hitchhiking

A novel infectious disease, caused by 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is responsible for the recent outbreak of severe respiratory disease. The 2019-nCoV spread rapidly and reaching epidemic proportions in ...

Authors: Zahra Sadat Aghili, Seyed Abbas Mirzaei and Mehdi Banitalebi-Dehkordi

LncRNA NCK1-AS1 in plasma distinguishes oral ulcer from early-stage oral squamous cell carcinoma

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) at early stages can be misdiagnosed as an oral ulcer (OU) due to similar symptoms, such as chronic and indurated ulcer. LncRNA NCK1-AS1 has been characterized as a key playe...

Authors: Fei Le, Yangqian Ou, Ping Luo and Xiaoming Zhong

The adaptive immune response in cardiac arrest resuscitation induced ischemia reperfusion renal injury

The present study aims to investigate, immunohistochemically, the role of the adaptive immune response in cardiac arrest/resuscitation-induced ischemia–reperfusion renal injury (IRI), namely to assess the pres...

Authors: Maria Tsivilika, Eleni Doumaki, George Stavrou, Antonia Sioga, Vasilis Grosomanidis, Soultana Meditskou, Athanasios Maranginos, Despina Tsivilika, Dimitrios Stafylarakis, Katerina Kotzampassi and Theodora Papamitsou

Application of antibody phage display to identify potential antigenic neural precursor cell proteins

The discovery of neural precursor cells (NPCs) and the concomitant intensive research in the field offer regenerative medicine novel approaches, enabling it to tackle conditions, such as neurodegenerative dise...

Authors: Ioannis Paspaltsis, Evangelia Kesidou, Olga Touloumi, Roza Lagoudaki, Marina Boziki, Martina Samiotaki, Dimitra Dafou, Theodoros Sklaviadis and Nikolaos Grigoriadis

Evaluating the effect of TLR4-overexpressing on the transcriptome profile in ovine peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) plays an important role in the elimination of Gram-negative bacteria infections and the initiation of antiinflammatory response. Using the technology of pronuclear microinjection, g...

Authors: Xiaofei Guo, Jinlong Zhang, Yao Li, Jing Yang, Yihai Li, Chunxiao Dong, Guoshi Liu, Zhengxing Lian and Xiaosheng Zhang

Correction to: Genome wide meta-analysis of cDNA datasets reveals new target gene signatures of colorectal cancer based on systems biology approach

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

Authors: Umair Ilyas, Shahiq uz Zaman, Reem Altaf, Humaira Nadeem and Syed Aun Muhammad

Aberrant methylation-mediated downregulation of lncRNA CCND2 AS1 promotes cell proliferation in cervical cancer

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) plays an important role in tumorigenesis. The lncRNA CCND2 AS1 has been shown to be involved in the growth of several tumors; however, its role in cervical cancer has not been elucida...

Authors: Chengcheng Zhao, Jian Liu, Huazhang Wu, Jiaojiao Hu, Jianquan Chen, Jie Chen and Fengchang Qiao

bolA gene involved in curli amyloids and fimbriae production in E. coli: exploring pathways to inhibit biofilm and amyloid formation

Biofilm formation is a complex phenomenon of bacterial cells, involved in several human infections. Its formation is regulated and controlled by several protein factors. The BolA-like proteins (bolA gene) are con...

Authors: Mohd W. Azam, Azna Zuberi and Asad U. Khan

The occurrence of cancer in vertebrates: a mini review

Neoplasia is a multilevel condition caused by irregularities over the genome, which can lead to a fatal result. To fully understand this phenomenon, an evolutionary challenge has risen during the last decades,...

Authors: Christos V. Kitsoulis, Athanasios D. Baxevanis and Theodore J. Abatzopoulos

Genome wide meta-analysis of cDNA datasets reveals new target gene signatures of colorectal cancer based on systems biology approach

Colorectal cancer is known to be the most common type of cancer worldwide with high disease-related mortality. It is the third most common cancer in men and women and is the second major cause of death globall...

Authors: Umair Ilyas, Shahiq uz Zaman, Reem Altaf, Humaira Nadeem and Syed Aun Muhammad

TRAF3 can interact with GMEB1 and modulate its anti-apoptotic function

Members of Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Receptor-Associated Factors (TRAFs) family interact with the cytoplasmic tails of TNF receptor family members to mediate signal transduction processes. TRAF3 has a major ...

Authors: George Kotsaris, Despoina Kerselidou, Dimitrios Koutsoubaris, Elena Constantinou, George Malamas, Dimitrios A. Garyfallos and Eudoxia G. Ηatzivassiliou

A potential prognostic model based on miRNA expression profile in The Cancer Genome Atlas for bladder cancer patients

This study aimed to construct prognostic model by screening prognostic miRNA signature of bladder cancer.

Authors: Yan Liu, Dong Yan Zhu, Hong Jian Xing, Yi Hou and Yan Sun

A review on Zika virus outbreak, epidemiology, transmission and infection dynamics

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a newly emergent relative of the Flaviviridae family and linked to dengue (DENV) and Chikungunya (CHIVKV). ZIKV is one of the rising pathogens promptly surpassing geographical borders. ZIK...

Authors: Syeda Sidra Kazmi, Waqar Ali, Nousheen Bibi and Faisal Nouroz

Effect of crocin on antioxidant gene expression, fibrinolytic parameters, redox status and blood biochemistry in nicotinamide-streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats

Diabetes is regarded as an epidemiological threat for the twenty-first century. Phytochemicals with known pharmaceutical properties have gained interest in the field of alleviating secondary complications of d...

Authors: Ioannis Margaritis, Katerina Angelopoulou, Sophia Lavrentiadou, Ilias C. Mavrovouniotis, Maria Tsantarliotou, Ioannis Taitzoglou, Alexandros Theodoridis, Aristidis Veskoukis, Efthalia Kerasioti, Dimitrios Kouretas and Ioannis Zervos

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Histologic evaluation of femoral nerve demyelinating and axonal neuropathy in Wistar rats due to alendronate intake: a randomised study

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are forceful inhibitors of osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. Long-term BP use is associated with multiple rare but severe adverse effects. The objective of this study was to investigat...

Authors: Papamitsou Theodora, Papakoulas Apostolos, Papaliagkas Vasileios, Karachrysafi Sofia, Dietrich Eva-Maria and Sioga Antonia

Metabolic engineering of Escherichia coli for the utilization of ethanol

The fuel ethanol industry has made tremendous progress in the last decades. Ethanol can be obtained by fermentation using a variety of biomass materials as the feedstocks. However, few studies have been conduc...

Authors: Yujin Cao, Hui Mu, Jing Guo, Hui Liu, Rubing Zhang, Wei Liu, Mo Xian and Huizhou Liu

Implications of salep collection for the conservation of the Elder-flowered orchid (Dactylorhiza sambucina) in Epirus, Greece

In Epirus, Greece, orchids have been traditionally harvested for the production of salep, a beverage made from their tubers. Over-collection of orchids for salep is believed to be a growing threat to wild spec...

Authors: Martha Charitonidou, Kalliopi Stara, Konstantinos Kougioumoutzis and John M. Halley

Saliva proteomics updates in biomedicine

In the years of personalized (or precision) medicine the ‘omics’ methodologies in biomedical sciences—genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics—are helping researchers to detect quantifiable biolo...

Authors: Katerina R. Katsani and Dimitra Sakellari

Modulation of RECK levels in Xenopus A6 cells: effects on MT1-MMP, MMP-2 and pERK levels

MT1-MMP is a cell-surface enzyme whose regulation of pro-MMP-2 and ERK activation position it as a key facilitator of ECM remodelling and cell migration. These processes are modulated by endogenous MMP inhibit...

Authors: Jessica A. Willson, Bradley S. Bork, Carlie A. Muir and Sashko Damjanovski

Tanshinone IIA attenuates Aβ-induced neurotoxicity by down-regulating COX-2 expression and PGE2 synthesis via inactivation of NF-κB pathway in SH-SY5Y cells

Amyloid-β (Aβ)-induced neurotoxicity is a major pathological mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA), extracted from traditional Chinese herb Radix salvia miltiorrhiza, possesses anti-oxid...

Authors: Lijiao Geng, Wei Liu and Yong Chen

Heterozygosity fitness correlations and generation interval of the Norway lobster in the Aegean Sea, eastern Mediterranean

Comprehensively detailed information on population dynamics for benthic species is crucial since potential admixture of individuals could shift the genetic subdivision and age structure during a full breeding ...

Authors: Georgios A. Gkafas, Marianthi Hatziioannou, Emmanouil E. Malandrakis, Costas S. Tsigenopoulos, Ioannis T. Karapanagiotidis, Elena Mente, Dimitrios Vafidis and Athanasios Exadactylos

A contribution to knowledge on the terrestrial malacofauna of the Kastellorizo (Megisti) island group (SE Greece)

The Kastellorizo island group (in the Dodecanese, Greece) is situated in the southeast corner of the Aegean Archipelago. It consists of twenty islets, of which the three largest (Kastellorizo, Ro and Strongyli...

Authors: Moisis Mylonas, Katerina Vardinoyannis and Nikos Poulakakis

Patterns and drivers of species richness and turnover of neo-endemic and palaeo-endemic vascular plants in a Mediterranean hotspot: the case of Crete, Greece

Exploring species richness and turnover patterns and their drivers can provide new insights into underlying mechanisms shaping community assembly, with significant implications for biodiversity conservation. H...

Authors: Maria Lazarina, Athanasios S. Kallimanis, Panayotis Dimopoulos, Maria Psaralexi, Danai-Eleni Michailidou and Stefanos P. Sgardelis

Polyphasic taxonomy of green algae strains isolated from Mediterranean freshwaters

Terrestrial, freshwater and marine green algae constitute the large and morphologically diverse phylum of Chlorophyta, which gave rise to the core chlorophytes. Chlorophyta are abundant and diverse in freshwat...

Authors: Urania Lortou and Spyros Gkelis

Endemic plants of Crete in electronic trade and wildlife tourism: current patterns and implications for conservation

The island of Crete is a biodiversity hotspot having 223 endemic vascular taxa (species and subspecies) as a result of its long isolation and the wide range of habitats it includes. We explore trends and patte...

Authors: Viktoria Menteli, Nikos Krigas, Manolis Avramakis, Nicholas Turland and Despoina Vokou

The decreased SIRT1 level may account for the lipid profile in chronic kidney disease

Dysregulated lipid profile with hypertriglyceridemia and increased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD) whereas the reason is unclear. A similar phenomenon is found in the el...

Authors: Gang Chen and Xuemei Li

T-Box20 inhibits osteogenic differentiation in adipose-derived human mesenchymal stem cells: the role of T-Box20 on osteogenesis

Skeletal development and its cellular function are regulated by various transcription factors. The T-box (Tbx) family of transcription factors have critical roles in cellular differentiation as well as heart a...

Authors: Samaneh Mollazadeh, Bibi Sedigheh Fazly Bazzaz, Vajiheh Neshati, Antoine A. F. de Vries, Hojjat Naderi-Meshkin, Majid Mojarad, Zeinab Neshati and Mohammad Amin Kerachian

Genetic diversity analysis in Plectranthus edulis (Vatke) Agnew populations collected from diverse geographic regions in Ethiopia using inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSRs) DNA marker system

Plectranthus edulis (Vatke) Agnew (Lamiaceae), locally known as Ethiopian potato syno. Ethiopian dinich, is one of the native Ethiopian edible tuber crops that has been significantly contributing to household foo...

Authors: Medhin Gebrehiwet, Teklehaimanot Haileselassie, Fekadu Gadissa and Kassahun Tesfaye

Promoting evolution: the brand new Hellenic Evolutionary Society (HEVOS)

Herein we present the recently founded Hellenic Evolutionary Society (HEVOS) that has been recently instituted to promote evolution and scientific thinking among the Greek-speaking public. HEVOS is a timely in...

Authors: Theodore J. Abatzopoulos, Sinos Giokas, Panayiotis Pafilis, Nikos Poulakakis, Spyros Sfenthourakis and Eleftherios Zouros

Comparative transcriptional analysis of flavour-biosynthetic genes of a native Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain fermenting in its natural must environment, vs. a commercial strain and correlation of the genes’ activities with the produced flavour compounds

During alcoholic fermentation, Saccharomyces cerevisiae synthesizes more than 400 different compounds with higher alcohols, acetate esters of higher alcohols and ethyl esters of medium-chain fatty acids being the...

Authors: Maria Parapouli, Afroditi Sfakianaki, Nikolaos Monokrousos, Angelos Perisynakis and Efstathios Hatziloukas

Unbiased phenotypic identification of functionally distinct hematopoietic progenitors

Hematopoiesis is a model-system for studying cellular development and differentiation. Phenotypic and functional characterization of hematopoietic progenitors has significantly aided our understanding of the m...

Authors: Grigorios Georgolopoulos, Mineo Iwata, Nikoletta Psatha, Minas Yiangou and Jeff Vierstra

Comparative analysis of differentially expressed genes between the ovaries from pregnant and nonpregnant goats using RNA-Seq

A multitude of genes tightly regulate ovarian follicular development and hormone secretion. These complex and coordinated biological processes are altered during pregnancy. In order to further understand the r...

Authors: Qing Quan, Qi Zheng, Yinghui Ling, Fugui Fang, Mingxing Chu, Xiaorong Zhang, Yong Liu and Wenyong Li

A systematic simulation-based meta-analytical framework for prediction of physiological biomarkers in alopecia

Alopecia or hair loss is a complex polygenetic and psychologically devastating disease affecting millions of men and women globally. Since the gene annotation and environmental knowledge is limited for alopeci...

Authors: Syed Aun Muhammad, Nighat Fatima, Rehan Zafar Paracha, Amjad Ali and Jake Y. Chen

Intraspecific morphological variation of the sperm storing organ in two hermaphroditic land snail species

Postcopulatory sexual selection is very important in species with reproductive strategies that involve multiple mating and prolonged sperm storage. The sperm storage organ has been hypothesized to evolve in re...

Authors: Alexandra Staikou and Evripidis Koemtzopoulos

Immune cell counts and signaling in body fluids of cows vaccinated against Clostridium difficile

New treatment options are needed to prevent relapses following failed antibiotic therapies of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in humans. The concomitant therapy with an anti-C. difficile IgA containing whe...

Authors: Christiane Schmautz, Nadine Müller, Marlene Auer, Ines Ballweg, Michael W. Pfaffl and Heike Kliem

Transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis in a high-anthocyanin resynthesized Brassica napus cultivar

Anthocyanins are plant secondary metabolites with key roles in attracting insect pollinators and protecting against biotic and abiotic stresses. They have potential health-promoting effects as part of the huma...

Authors: Gayatri Goswami, Ujjal Kumar Nath, Jong-In Park, Mohammad Rashed Hossain, Manosh Kumar Biswas, Hoy-Taek Kim, Hye Ran Kim and Ill-Sup Nou

Developing computational biology at meridian 23° E, and a little eastwards

Modern biology is experiencing a deep transformation by the expansion of molecular-level measurements at all scales, using omics technologies. A key element in this transformation is the field of bioinformatic...

Authors: Christos A. Ouzounis