| 1. |
- Adamaki, Angeliki, et al.
(författare)
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ENVRI-FAIR Project brief on implementation of Open Science and EOSC targets
- 2021
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the ENVRI-FAIR project brief on implementation of Open Science and EOSC targets the current achievements and planned activities in ENVRI-FAIR are summarised with regard to a) Integration with the EOSC infrastructure b) FAIR principles implementation and repositories c) Technical, semantic, legal and organisational interoperability d) Stewardship of data and e) Cross-cluster collaboration activities and achievements.
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| 2. |
- El-Garawani, Islam M., et al.
(författare)
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In Vitro Induction of Apoptosis in Isolated Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells : The Role of Anastatica hierochuntica Methanolic Extract
- 2022
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Ingår i: Metabolites. - : MDPI AG. - 2218-1989 .- 2218-1989. ; 12:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anastatica hierochuntica L. (Cruciferae) has been known in Egyptian folk medicine as a remedy for gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes and heart diseases. Despite the wide usage, A. hierochuntica research provides insufficient data to support its traditional practice. The cytotoxicity of A. hierochuntica methanolic extract was investigated on acute myeloid leukemia blasts (AML) and normal human peripheral leucocytes (NHPL). The phytochemical identification of bioactive compounds using 1H-NMR and LC-ESI-MS was also performed. A. hierochuntica extract caused non-significant cytotoxicity on NHPL, while the cytotoxicity on AML was significant (IC50: 0.38 ± 0.02 μg/mL). The negative expression of p53, upregulation of Caspase-3 and increase in the BAX/BCL-2 ratio were reported at the protein and mRNA levels. The results suggest that A. hierochuntica extract induced AML cell death via the p53-independent mitochondrial intrinsic pathway and further attention should be paid to this plant as a promising natural anticancer agent.
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| 3. |
- El-Seedi, Hesham, et al.
(författare)
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A Spotlight on the Egyptian Honeybee (Apis mellifera lamarckii)
- 2022
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Ingår i: Animals. - : MDPI AG. - 2076-2615. ; 12:20
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Egypt has an ongoing long history with beekeeping, which started with the ancient Egyptians making various reliefs and inscriptions of beekeeping on their tombs and temples. The Egyptian honeybee (Apis mellifera lamarckii) is an authentic Egyptian honeybee subspecies utilized in apiculture. A. m. lamarckii is a distinct honeybee subspecies that has a particular body color, size, and high levels of hygienic behavior. Additionally, it has distinctive characteristics; including the presence of the half-queens, an excessive number of swarm cells, high adaptability to climatic conditions, good resistance to specific bee diseases, including the Varro disorder, and continuous breeding during the whole year despite low productivity, using very little propolis, and tending to abscond readily. This review discusses the history of beekeeping in Egypt and its current situation in addition to its morphology, genetic analysis, and distinctive characters, and the defensive behaviors of native A. m. lamarckii subspecies.
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| 4. |
- El-Seedi, Hesham R., et al.
(författare)
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Honeybee products : An updated review of neurological actions
- 2020
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Ingår i: Trends in Food Science & Technology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0924-2244 .- 1879-3053. ; 101, s. 17-27
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: According to the World Health Organization, two billion people will attain the age of 60 years or more by 2050. Ageing is a major risk factor for a number of neurodegenerative disorders, which currently possess challenge to the global health status, carrying economic and social consequences. Therefore, attention has been dedicated towards the development of neuroprotective agents derived from natural sources. Honeybee products, such as honey, bee pollen, bee bread, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, and bee venom have been used for therapeutic purposes since ancient times in Egypt, Greece, and China. Despite the emergence of modern medicine, bee products remain clinically relevant owing to their potential as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and neuroprotective agents.Scope and approach: This review demonstrates the potential of bee products against neurological disorders in the light of the current literature.Key findings and conclusions: Bee products and individual isolated components have enormous therapeutic potential for multiple neurological disorders. The different studies show overall neuroprotective and nerve-tonic characteristics of bee products, mainly due to their anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic features. However, some limitations such as allergic reactions and the cytotoxic effect of some bee products warrant a special care in its development as drug leads in future studies.
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| 5. |
- El-Seedi, Hesham R., et al.
(författare)
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Naturally Occurring Xanthones; Biological Activities, Chemical Profiles and In Silico Drug Discovery
- 2024
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Ingår i: Current Medicinal Chemistry. - : Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.. - 0929-8673 .- 1875-533X. ; 31:1, s. 62-101
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Xanthones are widely distributed polyphenols, present commonly in higher plants; Garcinia, Calophyllum, Hypericum, Platonia, Mangifera, Gentiana and Swertia. Xanthone tricyclic scaffold is able to interact with different biological targets, showing antibacterial and cytotoxic effects, as well as potent effects against osteoarthritis, malaria, and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, in this article we focused on pharmacological effects, applications and preclinical studies with the recent updates of xanthon & PRIME;s isolated compounds from 2017-2020. We found that only a-mangostin, gambogic acid, and mangiferin, have been subjected to preclinical studies with particular emphasis on the development of anticancer, diabetes, antimicrobial and hepatoprotective therapeutics. Molecular docking calculations were performed to predict the binding affinities of xanthone-derived compounds against SARS-CoV-2 M-pro. According to the results, cratoxanthone E and morellic acid demonstrated promising binding affinities towards SARS-CoV-2 M-pro with docking scores of -11.2 and -11.0 kcal/mol, respectively. Binding features manifested the capability of cratoxanthone E and morellic acid to exhibit nine and five hydrogen bonds, respectively, with the key amino acids of the M-pro active site. In conclusion, cratoxanthone E and morellic acid are promising anti-COVID-19 drug candidates that warrant further detailed in vivo experimental estimation and clinical assessment.
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| 6. |
- Khalifa, Shaden A. M., et al.
(författare)
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Comprehensive Overview on Multiple Strategies Fighting COVID-19
- 2020
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 17:16
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lately, myriad of novel viruses have emerged causing epidemics such as SARS, MERS, and SARS-CoV-2, leading to high mortality rates worldwide. Thus, these viruses represented a challenging threat to mankind, especially considering the miniscule data available at our disposal regarding these novel viruses. The entire world established coordinative relations in research projects regarding drug and vaccine development on the external range, whereas on the internal range, all countries declared it an emergency case through imposing different restrictions related to their border control, large gatherings, school attendance, and most social activities. Pandemic combating plans prioritized all sectors including normal people, medical staff politicians, and scientists collectively shouldered the burden. Through planning and learning the previous lessons from SARS and MERS, healthcare systems could succeed in combating the viral spread and implications of these new pandemics. Different management strategies including social distance, social awareness and isolation represented successful ways to slow down the spread of the pandemic. Furthermore, pre-preparedness of some countries for emergencies is crucial to minimize the consequences of the crisis.
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| 7. |
- Khalifa, Shaden A. M., et al.
(författare)
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Screening for natural and derived bio-active compounds in preclinical and clinical studies : One of the frontlines of fighting the coronaviruses pandemic
- 2021
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Ingår i: Phytomedicine. - : Elsevier BV. - 0944-7113 .- 1618-095X. ; 85
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Starting December 2019, mankind faced an unprecedented enemy, the COVID-19 virus. The world convened in international efforts, experiences and technologies in order to fight the emerging pandemic. Isolation, hygiene measure, diagnosis, and treatment are the most efficient ways of prevention and intervention nowadays. The health organizations and global care systems screened the available resources and offered recommendations of approved and proposed medications. However, the search for a specific selective therapy or vaccine against COVID-19 remains a challenge.Methods: A literature search was performed for the screening of natural and derived bio-active compounds which showed potent antiviral activity against coronaviruses using published articles, patents, clinical trials website (https://clinicaltrials.gov/) and web databases (PubMed, SCI Finder, Science Direct, and Google Scholar).Results: Through the screening for natural products with antiviral activities against different types of the human coronavirus, extracts of Lycoris radiata (L'Her.), Gentiana scabra Bunge, Dioscorea batatas Decne., Cassia tora L., Taxillus chinensis (DC.), Cibotium barometz L. and Echinacea purpurea L. showed a promising effect against SARSCoV. Out of the listed compound Lycorine, emetine dihydrochloride hydrate, pristimerin, harmine, conessine, berbamine, 4'-hydroxychalcone, papaverine, mycophenolic acid, mycophenolate mofetil, monensin sodium, cycloheximide, oligomycin and valinomycin show potent activity against human coronaviruses. Additionally, it is worth noting that some compounds have already moved into clinical trials for their activity against COVID-19 including fingolimod, methylprednisolone, chloroquine, tetrandrine and tocilizumab.Conclusion: Natural compounds and their derivatives could be used for developing potent therapeutics with significant activity against SARS-COV-2, providing a promising frontline in the fighting against COVID-19.
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| 8. |
- Magagna, Barbara, et al.
(författare)
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ENVRI-FAIR D5.1 Requirement analysis, technology review and gap analysis of environmental RIs
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The overarching goal of ENVRI-FAIR is for all participating ENVRIs to improve their FAIRness and prepare the connection of their data repositories and services to the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC). With the development of FAIR implementations from the participating RIs and integrated services among the environmental subdomains, these data and services will be brought together at a higher level (for the entire cluster), providing more efficient services for researchers and policy makers.This deliverable introduces the FAIR principles, describes the approach chosen for the FAIRness assessment, gives insights into the assessment results at the project/subdomain level (and for each RI in the protected project-internal Redmine environment) and discusses the requirements for achieving FAIRer data and services. It provides a summary of the identified gaps by the subdomains and gives an overview of the development plans. It further describes the current plan for the next steps in the project for this task.
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| 9. |
- Muleke, Albert, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainable intensification with irrigation raises farm profit despite climate emergency
- 2023
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Ingår i: Plants, People, Planet. - : Wiley. - 2572-2611. ; 5:3, s. 368-385
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Societal Impact StatementDespite comprising a small proportion of global agricultural land use, irrigated agriculture is enormously important to the global agricultural economy. Burgeoning food demand driven by population growth—together with reduced food supply caused by the climate crisis—is polarising the existing tension between water used for agricultural production versus that required for environmental conservation. We show that sustainable intensification via more diverse crop rotations, more efficient water application infrastructure and greater farm area under irrigation is conducive to greater farm business profitability under future climates.SummaryResearch aimed at improving crop productivity often does not account for the complexity of real farms underpinned by land-use changes in space and time.Here, we demonstrate how a new framework—WaterCan Profit—can be used to elicit such complexity using an irrigated case study farm with four whole-farm adaptation scenarios (Baseline, Diversified, Intensified and Simplified) with four types of irrigated infrastructure (Gravity, Pipe & Riser, Pivot and Drip).Without adaptation, the climate crisis detrimentally impacted on farm profitability due to the combination of increased evaporative demand and increased drought frequency. Whole-farm intensification—via greater irrigated land use, incorporation of rice, cotton and maize and increased nitrogen fertiliser application—was the only adaptation capable of raising farm productivity under future climates. Diversification through incorporation of grain legumes into crop rotations significantly improved profitability under historical climates; however, profitability of this adaptation declined under future climates. Simplified systems reduced economic risk but also had lower long-term economic returns.We conclude with four key insights: (1) When assessing whole-farm profit, metrics matter: Diversified systems generally had higher profitability than Intensified systems per unit water, but not per unit land area; (2) gravity-based irrigation infrastructure required the most water, followed by sprinkler systems, whereas Drip irrigation used the least water; (3) whole-farm agronomic adaptation through management and crop genotype had greater impact on productivity compared with changes in irrigation infrastructure; and (4) only whole-farm intensification was able to raise profitability under future climates.
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| 10. |
- Petzold, A., et al.
(författare)
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Advancing the FAIRness and Openness of Earth system science in Europe
- 2021
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Focused environmental research projects and continuously operating research infrastructures (RIs) designed for monitoring all subdomains of the Earth system contribute to global observing systems and serve as crucial information sources for environmental scientists in their quest for understanding and interpreting the complex Earth System and contribute to global observing systems. The EU funded ENVRI-FAIR project [1] builds on the Environmental Research Infrastructure (ENVRI) community that includes principal European producers and providers of environmental research data and services.ENVRI-FAIR targets the development and implementation of both technical frameworks and policy solutions that make subdomain boundaries irrelevant for environmental scientists and prepare Earth system science for the new Open Science paradigm. Cross-discipline harmonization and standardization activities, together with the implementation of joint data management and access structures at the RI level, facilitate the strategic coordination of observation systems required for truly interdisciplinary science. ENVRI-FAIR will ultimately create the open access ENVRI-Hub delivering environmental data and services provided by the contributing environmental RIs.The architecture and functionalities of the ENVRI-Hub are driven by the applications, use cases and user needs, and will be based on three main pillars: (1) the ENVRI Knowledge Base as the human interface to the ENVRI ecosystem; (2) the ENVRI Catalogue as the machine-actionable interface to the ENVRI ecosystem; and (3) subdomain and cross-domain use cases as demonstrators for the capabilities of service provision among ENVRIs and across Science Clusters. The architecture is designed in anticipation of interoperation with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and is intended to act as a key platform for users and developers planning to include ENVRI services in their workflows.The ENVRI community objectives of sharing FAIRness experience, technologies and training as well as research products and services will be realized by means of the ENVRI-Hub. The architecture, design features, technology developments and associated policies will highlight this example of how ENVRI-FAIR is promoting FAIRness, openness and multidisciplinarity of an entire scientific area by joint developments and implementation efforts.Acknowledgment: ENVRI-FAIR has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824068.[1] Petzold, A., Asmi, A., Vermeulen, A., Pappalardo, G., Bailo, D., Schaap, D., Glaves, H. M., Bundke, U., and Zhao, Z.: ENVRI-FAIR - Interoperable environmental FAIR data and services for society, innovation and research, 15th IEEE International Conference on eScience 2019, 1-4, doi: http://doi.org/10.1109/eScience.2019.00038, 2019.
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