bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Allergy
Authors: Hodge Emily , Sayers Ian 
Published: April 2013

AbstractAllergy is an exaggerated, hypersensitive immune response to innocuous environmental antigens, characterised by inflammation and mediated by immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies. Symptoms of allergy depend on the site of allergen contact and range from being uncomfortable (itching, sneezing and breathlessness) to serious (anaphylaxis). The development of allergy is due to environmental and genetic factors; the heritable component is known as atopy, defined as a predisposition to the overproduction of IgE. The prevalence of allergies such as hay fever (seasonal allergic rhinitis), eczema (atopic dermatitis) and asthma are increasing in Westernised societies. Antihistamines are the first‐line drug treatment for allergy; however, these often fail to alleviate all symptoms satisfactorily and are not clinically effective in asthma, illustrating the heterogeneity of allergic disorders. This has necessitated the development of alternative medication for asthma, which targets airway symptoms, for example, β2‐adrenergic receptor agonists. New, more effective therapeutic approaches are still required to treat allergic disease.Key Concepts:Allergy describes a variety of symptoms, which cause discomfort but can be life threatening.Allergic symptoms are a defining feature of diseases such as hay fever, eczema, asthma and food allergy.Atopy is a heritable trait (defined by elevated IgE or positive skin prick test), which predisposes an individual to allergic disease.Allergies are becoming increasingly common in Westernised societies and represent a significant economic burden, but the reasons for this are not fully understood.Recent improvements in technology have facilitated studies, which link genetic variants to atopy susceptibility, with confidence.New therapeutics are needed to more adequately treat symptoms of allergic diseases such as hay fever, eczema and asthma.Histamine is a key inflammatory mediator, the action of which might be targeted in new ways to treat the symptoms of allergic disease.
Macular Degeneration, Age Related
Authors: Zayit‐Soudry Shiri , Duncan Jacque L 
Published: April 2013

AbstractMacular degeneration comprises a group of diseases characterised by progressive deterioration of the retinal photoreceptors, retinal pigment epithelial cells and underlying choriocapillaris, causing progressive central vision loss. The most common form of macular degeneration is age‐related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of irreversible blindness among elderly patients in developed countries. Other types of hereditary early onset macular dystrophies share clinical characteristics with AMD, but a monogenetic basis for many of these conditions has been found. Recent advances in clinical and genetic research have led to a better understanding of the genetics and pathophysiology of AMD, which is currently viewed as a complex disorder in which multiple susceptibility genes combined with environmental factors play a role. The management of neovascular AMD has changed dramatically with the introduction of anti‐VEGF drugs, but treatment options for other types of macular degeneration remain limited because the aetiology and pathogenesis are incompletely defined.Key Concepts:Macular degeneration refers to a group of diseases characterised by photoreceptor cell degeneration and death leading to central vision loss.Recent advances in Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) technology has led to its major role in diagnosis and management of macular degeneration.Monthly follow‐up of patients with neovascular AMD is recommended for best visual outcome.Regular anti‐VEGF therapy with intravitreal injections of ranibizumab or bevacizumab is currently considered to be the standard treatment for neovascular AMD.Ongoing clinical trials are investigating the efficacy and safety of combination treatments for neovascular AMD and treatments for other forms of macular degeneration.Research efforts are directed at prevention of AMD and stem cell and gene therapy treatments for Stargardt disease.
Plant Waxes
Authors: von Wettstein‐Knowles Penny 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Waxes, found primarily in the cuticle of vascular plants, prevent uncontrolled water loss. They comprise a diverse mixture of aliphatics, triterpenoids, flavonoids and/or phenolic lipids, such as, alkylresorcinols. Aliphatic carbon skeletons are fatty acid synthase (FAS) products extended by fatty acid elongase (FAE) enzyme complexes and type III polyketide synthases (PKSs) to 20–34 carbons +/– keto groups that serve as substrates for associated reductive, decarb and enoic pathways plus variants thereof. Study of
eceriferum
(
cer
) mutants, reverse genetic molecular approaches and biochemistry has lead to increasingly detailed biosynthetic pathways in
Arabidopsis
and the
Gramineae
. Nevertheless, many enzymes remain unidentified. How many FAEs and type III PKSs are specific for wax biosynthesis, that is, they do not also participate in other pathways such as sphingolipid biosynthesis, is unknown. Our knowledge is rudimentary, concerning regulation of biosynthesis or translocation of aliphatics during synthesis and thereafter from the endoplasmic reticulum into and onto the cuticle's aerial surface.

Key Concepts:

Epidermal cells synthesise waxes localised in and on the cuticle surface which protect against water loss.

Waxes include a very diverse collection of aliphatic compounds.

Primer substrates for waxes are synthesised by fatty acid synthase (FAS) in plastids.

FAS products are extended by fatty acid elongases (FAEs) and type III polyketide synthases (pkKCSs) to give skeletons with as many as 32 carbons.

Enzymes in associated pathways localised in the endoplasmic reticulum convert the long carbon skeletons into a broad range of compounds.

A handful of genes participating in biosynthesis of the waxes and their translocation within the epidermal cells have been cloned and characterised.

Some of the enzymes may also participate in synthesis of related aliphatics found in cutin, suberin and sphingolipids, for example.

Waxes may also include other compounds with long carbon skeletons such as phenolic lipids that function in defence against bacteria and fungi.
Protozoan Pathogens of Humans
Authors: Mehlhorn Heinz 
Published: April 2013

AbstractSeveral protozoans are causes of important diseases that kill millions of animals and humans every year. In addition to known parasites, many so‐called opportunistic agents increase the infection risk, especially for immunocompromised people. Owing to the recent process in globalisation leading to a quick transportation of goods and people from one end of the world to the other, the chance for importation of agents of diseases has enormously increased. Thus new rush of epidemics or even pandemics will threaten overcrowded regions. This danger is furthermore supported by the phenomena of global warming, which lead to the further expansion of vectors of diseases. Therefore awareness is highly needed, if diseases should be recognised as early as possible.Key Concepts:Teaching in parasitology and epidemics must be strengthened at universities and governmental authorities.Emergency plans have to be established to fight epidemics.Research for new and better acting medicaments has to be strengthened.
Trypanosomiases
Authors: Gibson Wendy 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

The human trypanosomiases are vector‐borne tropical diseases that occur in tropical Africa and South America and are caused by parasitic protozoa. Human African trypanosomiasis (or sleeping sickness) is caused by two subspecies of

Trypanosoma brucei

and is transmitted by the bite of the bloodsucking tsetse fly. Chagas disease occurs in Latin America and is caused by

Trypanosoma cruzi

. This parasite is transmitted by triatomine bugs, which acquire infection by feeding on infected blood, but pass the parasites on to the next host

via

their infected faeces. The human trypanosomiases are zoonoses and a range of wild and domestic mammals can act as reservoir hosts for the parasites. There are no vaccines for these diseases and control relies on case treatment and limiting opportunities for transmission.

Key Concepts:

African human trypanosomiasis or sleeping sickness and Chagas disease in Latin America are caused by insect‐borne, parasitic trypanosomes, but the diseases and the parasite life cycles are completely different.

Control of the trypanosomiases relies on treatment of human patients and reduction of transmission, largely achieved through killing the insect vectors.

The human trypanosomiases are zoonotic diseases and a range of wild and domestic mammals act as reservoir hosts for the parasites.

Vector borne diseases with animal reservoirs have complex epidemiology and are difficult to control.

Eradication of human African trypanosomiasis in West Africa seems likely if current treatment, surveillance and tsetse control measures are maintained.

Animal reservoir hosts are more important in maintaining human trypanosomiasis in East Africa than West and Central Africa.

Eradication of Chagas disease is thwarted by the longevity of infection in humans and circulation of the parasite in a wide range of animal reservoir hosts.
Chromista
Authors: Sym Stuart D , Maneveldt Gavin W 
Published: April 2013

AbstractThe concept of chromists, at its most expansive, includes the heterokonts (stramenopiles), alveolates, rhizarians, heliozoans, telonemians, haptophytes and cryptophytes. There is mounting evidence that this grouping is not valid. Even in the narrowest sense (the heterokonts), chromists include very diverse forms, exhibiting a great variety of trophic mechanisms. This great diversity in form and feeding make it difficult to identify any unifying features, but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that this group of organisms is indeed monophyletic. The distribution of morphological characters over reconstructed trees allows for the identification of potential synapomorphic characters that have been secondarily lost or modified across the group. These include a combination of mitochondria with tubular cristae; the biflagellate heterokont condition; and, if photosynthetic, then with chlorophyll c, girdle lamellae and four membranes around the chloroplast, the outer continuous with the nuclear envelope. Heterotrophy appears to be ancestral but is also occasionally a derived state from autotrophic forms.Key Concepts:There is no consistency in the ranking of the various eukaryotic taxa, making reference to particular forms and their relationships awkward.Molecular studies, particularly over the last decade, indicate an ever‐increasing delimitation of the Chromista to include very diverse forms.The chromalveolate theory, at the root of the concept of Chromista, has been fiercely debated and most recent evidence points to multiple independent events involving red algal endosymbionts in diverse eukaryotic hosts.Even the original grouping of Chromista (heterokonts, haptophytes and cryptophytes) is tenuous, making it more sensible to equate chromists with the heterokonts (=stramenopiles).Heterokonts enjoy robust support from molecular phylogenetic analyses, but there are no universal morphological and physiological characters.The most universal character is the biflagellate condition of swimming cells, with one tinsel (hairy) and one smooth flagellum. The hairy flagellum is invested with two opposite rows of tri‐partite, tubular hairs that are responsible for reversing thrust.Plastids of autotrophic heterokonts have consistent features, including two additional surrounding membranes (the periplastidial membrane and the RER), girdle lamellae and thylakoids stacked in groups of three.The classification within the heterokonts also has a chequered history, but multigene phylogenetic analyses are providing a clearer idea of groupings.Heterotrophic forms are rooted deeply in phylogenetic trees reconstructed using molecular markers, but some are secondarily derived from autotrophic forms.Heterokonts play an important role both ecologically and economically.
Gymnodinium
and Related Dinoflagellates
Authors: Heimann Kirsten 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Mounting molecular evidence and ultrastructural differences, in particular the type of apical groove and flagellar apparatus architecture, have provided sufficient evidence over the past decade to demand a revision of the dinoflagellate genus
Gymnodinium
, as it contained a complex assemblage of evolutionarily unrelated species. Consequently, the genus has now been split into four genera:
Gymnodinium
,
Akashiwo
,
Karenia
and
Karlodinium
. The only remaining harmful species within the genus
Gymnodinium
is

Gymnodinium catenatum

, a species that causes paralytic shellfish poisoning, and it was recently introduced into Australian waters via ship ballast water. The genus
Akashiwo
contains no toxic representatives, whilst the genera
Karenia
and
Karlodinium
are close sister lineages with both genera incorporating ichthyotoxic species. Many representatives form blooms and produce toxins thus providing valuable insight into fundamental phylogenetic and biochemical questions. Taxa assigned to these genera are known to be toxin producers of extreme importance to biomedicine.

Key Concepts:

Molecular data have led to substantial changes of classifications within the protists, to which the dinoflagellates belong.

Consequently, names of genera and species have changed many times, resulting in taxonomic confusion, particularly for researchers working in the field of ecology or environmental monitoring.

The former genus
Gymnodinium
has long been recognised to be polyphyletic.

Molecular data and ultrastructural details, such as the type of apical groove and flagellar apparatus architecture, have resulted in a reclassification of the former genus
Gymnodinium
.

Taxonomic revision resulted in splitting the former genus
Gymnodinium
into four genera:
Gymnodinium
,
Akashiwo
,
Karenia
and
Karlodinium
.

Additional revision of the genus
Gymnodinium sensu
Daugbjerg
et al.
(2000) might be necessary, which would transform the very large and species‐rich former genus
Gymnodinium
into one of the smallest.

Irrespective of the reclassification, many of the organisms within these four genera form harmful algal blooms and produce toxins that can affect invertebrates, lead to fish mortality and can severely affect human health.

Some of the toxins produced have been used successfully in biomedical research, which helped to elucidate the mechanisms that control operation of the voltage‐gated sodium channel.

Blooms by these organisms lead to large economic losses for shellfish aquaculture, in particular blooms by
Gymnodinium catenatum
, whose toxins induce paralytic shellfish poisoning, which may result in human death.

The expansion of the aquaculture industry, shellfish and fish trades around the globe, and climate change‐induced range expansions, as well as introduction via ships’ ballast water to nonendemic areas require an efficient monitoring system for dinoflagellate toxins and harmful algal blooms.
Paramecium
Authors: Aufderheide Karl J 
Published: April 2013

AbstractMembers of the genusParamecium(from the classical Greek, παραμηκησ, oblong or oval‐shaped) are ciliated protozoa with an elongated shape (length approximately three to four times the width), a uniform distribution of cilia over the cell surface and a ciliated oral groove leading from the anterior of the cell to a midventral deep oral cavity. The oral apparatus is shaped like a funnel, with 12 rows of oral cilia in a helical array inside. Each cell has two distinct types of nuclei: one large, transcriptionally active, polycopy macronucleus and one or more small, transcriptionally inactive micronuclei. Many features make paramecia favourable organisms for the study of many cellular/developmental/genetic aspects of cells. Their large size allows microscopic observations as well as microinjections and cell surgery. They show Mendelian and non‐Mendelian inheritance, and several different epigenetic inheritance patterns. The genome ofParamecium tetraureliahas been sequenced and is available for analysis.Key Concepts:Species ofParameciumare distributed worldwide in freshwater habitats and are easy to cultivate in the laboratory.Morphological differences are not enough to distinguish some species ofParamecium.The genomes of the macronucleus and micronucleus are not identical, even though both are derived from the same zygote nucleus.The genome ofParamecium tetraureliahas been sequenced; 40 000 genes have been identified.Paramecia do not use two of the three ‘stop codons’ for translation termination.The trichocysts of paramecia are examples of a regulated exocytotic process.The cortex of the cell contains the cilia, basal bodies and associated accessory structures.Paramecia can carry a number of different types of endosymbiotic organisms.
Tetrahymena
Authors: Coyne Robert S 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Tetrahymena
is a genus of mostly free‐living ciliated protozoa that is intensively employed to investigate and solve fundamental problems in molecular, cellular and developmental biology. Like all ciliates,
Tetrahymena
contains separate germline and somatic nuclei, known as the micronucleus and macronucleus, respectively. The macronucleus is derived from a copy of the micronucleus through a process that involves extensive programmed whole‐genome rearrangement and is under intensive study. The most highly developed experimental model species is

Tetrahymena thermophila

, which can be readily manipulated using the tools of genetics, molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry. Notable discoveries made using
Tetrahymena
include the structure of telomeres and telomerase, self‐splicing RNA, the first microtubular motor and the link between histone acetylation and gene regulation. The approximately 104 Megabase macronuclear genome of

T. thermophila

has been sequenced and annotated; the micronuclear genome sequence will be completed soon.

Key Concepts:

Tetrahymena
are large, elaborate eukaryotic cells with many experimental advantages and well‐suited to the study of cellular structure, division and development.

Tetrahymena
have been studied for nearly a century and been the source of a number of groundbreaking discoveries.

A characteristic feature of
Tetrahymena
, and the basis of much biological interest, is the separation of germline and somatic genetic functions into separate nuclei.

Programmed genome rearrangement in
Tetrahymena
shares common mechanistic features with heterochromatic gene silencing in other eukaryotes.

Applying the modern tools of genomics and proteomics has facilitated research with
Tetrahymena
and opened up new areas of investigation.
Trypanosoma
Authors: de Souza Wanderley 
Published: April 2013

AbstractThe trypanosomes comprise a large number of species of pathogenic protozoa of animals and plants. Some present a simple life cycle in the insect; others, however, present a complex life cycle involving vertebrate and invertebrate hosts, with the participation of different developmental stages, some of which are localised within cells of the vertebrate host. These organisms present some characteristic features such as the presence of the kinetoplast, a highly specialised organisation of mitochondrial DNA, compartmentalisation of the glycolytic pathway in glycosomes, the presence of a network of filaments forming the paraflagellar rod connected to the flagelar axonme.Key ConceptsIdeally the identification and classification of protozoa shall combine the use of classical taxonomic parameters with phylogenetic analysis.Despite significant advances in biomedical sciences diseases caused by protozoa still constitute important health problem throughout the world.Cell transformation in response to environmental factors is fundamental for parasitic protozoa survival both in the vertebrate and invertebrate hosts.Intracellular parasites developed the ability to attach to host cell surface and to trigger various mechanism leading to their internalisation into the cells.Endocytosis in protozoa of the Trypanosomatidae family is a highly polarised taking place only in the flagellar pocket and the cytostome.In some protozoa the glycolytic pathway does not take place in the cytosol but is compartmentalised in an organelle known as glycosome, which is part of the family of organelles designated as peroxisome.Protozoa of the Trypanosomatidae family may contain up to 30% of the total DNA concentrated in a special region of its unique mitochondrion, localised close to the origin of the flagellum, and known as the kinetoplast.
Cryptomonads
Authors: Clay Brec L 
Published: April 2013

Abstract

Cryptomonads are a group of unicellular, biflagellate protists occurring in a variety of aquatic habitats. Several nonpigmented forms exist but the vast majority bear plastids containing chlorophylls
a
and
c
, and accessory pigments known as phycobiliproteins. Plastids of cryptomonads are derived from a secondary endosymbiotic event involving the engulfment of a unicellular red alga, its retention as an endosymbiont, and its conversion into a photosynthetic organelle. Unique features of cryptomonads include the cell covering termed a periplast, the surface architecture consisting of a furrow and/or gullet, extrusive organelles called ejectisomes, and the presence of a reduced eukaryotic genome known as the nucleomorph. Accurate identification of cryptomonad species using light microscopy is problematic owing to the range of morphological plasticity and the presence of two distinct morphotypes in certain species. In addition to traditional morphological characters, proper diagnosis of species cannot exclude molecular data.

Key Concepts:

Accurate identification and estimation of cryptomonads from field samples requires counting cells in the living state.

Proper characterisation of cryptomonad periplast plates requires use of quick‐freezing and freeze‐fracture techniques.

Accumulating karyotypic data continues to provide insight into the genetic variability of nucleomorph genomes, which may prove systematically significant.

Cryptomonad biliproteins all derive from an ancestral phycoerythrin, which has since evolved into at least seven spectral types.

Morphological species concepts are problematic given the increasing awareness of morphological plasticity and dimorphisms among cryptomonads.

Resolution of the large‐scale phylogentic affinities of cryptomonads remains tenuous and additional molecular analyses are required.