Readiness for return to work and its influencing factors among head and neck cancer patients: a cross-sectional study.

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the Readiness for Return-to-Work (RRTW) of patients with head and neck tumours and to analyse the relationships among self-efficacy, disease uncertainty, psychosocial adaptation, and RRTW in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 259 HNC patients with a discharge length of ≥1 month at a tertiary hospital in Liaoning Province. The research tools included a self-designed general information questionnaire, the Readiness for Return-to-Work (RRTW) Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES), the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale (MUIS), and the Self-Reporting Psychosocial Adjustment to Illness Scale (PAIS-SR). Descriptive statistical analysis, the rank sum test, Spearman correlation analysis, and ordered multiple and dichotomous logistic regression analyses were used. RESULTS: The overall RRTW among HNC patients was low (41.9%). HNC patients who did not return to work were mainly in the precontemplation stage (38.1%) and contemplation stage (29.9%). HNC patients who returned to work were mainly in the active maintenance stage (64.2%). Children's status (OR = 0.218, 95% CI 0.068-0.703), self-efficacy (OR = 1.213, 95% CI 1.012-1.454), unpredictability (OR = 0.845, 95% CI 0.720-0.990), occupational environment (OR = 0.787, 95% CI 0.625-0.990), and family environment (OR = 0.798, 95% CI 0.643-0.990) influence the RRTW of HNC patients who have not returned to work. Educational level (OR = 62.196, 95% CI 63.307-68.567), children's status (OR = 0.058, 95% CI 1.004-2.547), self-efficacy (OR = 1.544, 95% CI 3.010-8.715), unpredictability (OR = 0.445, 95% CI 1.271-2.280), and psychological status (OR = 0.340, 95% CI 1.141-2.401) influence the RRTW of HNC patients who have returned to work. CONCLUSION: Children's status, education level, self-efficacy, illness uncertainty, and psychosocial adjustment are crucial to RRTW. This study provides a theoretical basis for formulating intervention measures aimed at improving the RRTW of patients.

Health information-seeking experience in people with head and neck neoplasms undergoing treatment: a qualitative study.

PURPOSE: To describe the health information-seeking experience and its influencing factors of people with head and neck neoplasms undergoing treatment. METHODS: This was a descriptive phenomenology study. Participants were recruited by purposive sampling. The semistructured interviews and all observation results were recorded. The data were analysed using Colaizzi's method. RESULTS: Fourteen participants were selected. We identified four themes that illustrate factors that influence the health information-seeking behaviour of participants: patients' awareness of health information needs, patients' competence, doctor-patient communication, and online advertising interference. We also determined the value of different types of information and patients' information needs and sources. CONCLUSION: These findings can help professionals understand patients' behaviours and think about how to deliver practical information support in a network environment to guide patients in continuous information seeking while taking specific factors into account.

Network analysis reveals different hub genes and molecular pathways for pig in vitro fertilized early embryos and parthenogenotes.

Maternal-to-zygotic transition (MZT) occurs when maternal transcripts decay and zygotic genome is activated gradually at the early stage of embryo development. Previously, single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) has helped us to uncover the MZT-associated mRNA dynamics of in vitro-produced pig early embryos. Here, to further investigate functional modules and hub genes associated with MZT process, the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was performed on our previously generated 45 scRNA-seq datasets. For the in vitro fertilized embryo (IVF) group, 5 significant modules were identified (midnight blue/black/red and blue/brown modules, positively correlated with 1-cell (IVF1) and 8-cell (IVF8), respectively), containing genes mainly enriched in signalling pathways such as Wnt, regulation of RNA transcription, fatty acid metabolic process, poly(A) RNA binding and lysosome. For the parthenogenetically activated embryo (PA) group, 9 significant modules were identified (black/purple/red, brown/turquoise/yellow, and magenta/blue/green modules, positively correlated with MII oocytes, 1-cell (PA1) and 8-cell (PA8), respectively), mainly enriched in extracellular exosome, poly(A) RNA binding, mitochondrion and transcription factor activity. Moreover, some of identified hub genes within 3 IVF and 9 PA significant modules, including ADCY2, DHX34, KDM4A, GDF10, ABCC10, PAFAH2, HEXIM2, COQ9, DCAF11, SGK1 and ESRRB, have been reported to play vital roles in different biological processes. Our findings provide information and resources for subsequent in-depth study on the regulation and function of MZT in pig embryos.

Single-cell RNA-seq reveals mRNAs and lncRNAs important for oocytes in vitro matured in pigs.

The faithful execution of molecular programme underlying oocyte maturation and meiosis is vital to generate competent haploid gametes for efficient mammalian reproduction. However, the organization and principle of molecular circuits and modules for oocyte meiosis remain obscure. Here, we employed the recently developed single-cell RNA-seq technique to profile the transcriptomes of germinal vesicle (GV) and metaphase II (MII) oocytes, aiming to discover the dynamic changes of mRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) during oocyte in vitro meiotic maturation. During the transition from GV to MII, total number of detected RNAs (mRNAs and lncRNAs) in oocytes decreased. Moreover, 1,807 (602 up- and 1,205 down-regulated) mRNAs and 313 (177 up- and 136 down-regulated) lncRNAs were significantly differentially expressed (DE), i.e., more mRNAs down-regulated, but more lncRNAs up-regulated. During maturation of pig oocytes, mitochondrial mRNAs were actively transcribed, eight of which (ND6, ND5, CYTB, ND1, ND2, COX1, COX2 and COX3) were significantly up-regulated. Both DE mRNAs and targets of DE lncRNAs were enriched in multiple biological and signal pathways potentially associated with oocyte meiosis. Highly abundantly expressed mRNAs (including DNMT1, UHRF2, PCNA, ARMC1, BTG4, ASNS and SEP11) and lncRNAs were also discovered. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) revealed 20 hub mRNAs in three modules to be important for oocyte meiosis and maturation. Taken together, our findings provide insights and resources for further functional investigation of mRNAs/lncRNAs in in vitro meiotic maturation of pig oocytes.

TRIM37 Augments AP-2γ Transcriptional Activity and Cellular Localization via K63-linked Ubiquitination to Drive Breast Cancer Progression.

Activator Protein 2 gamma (AP-2γ) is a master transcription factor that plays a critical role in the development and progression of breast cancer. However, the underlying mechanism is still unclear. Herein, using a proteomics approach, we identified Tripartite motif-containing 37 (TRIM37) as a novel coactivator of AP-2γ-mediated transcription in breast cancer cells. We demonstrate that TRIM37 facilitates AP-2γ chromatin binding to directly regulate the AP-2γ mediated transcriptional program. We also show that TRIM37 achieves this by stimulating K63 chain-linked ubiquitination of AP-2γ, promoting protein localization from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. In clinical analyses, we find TRIM37 is upregulated in multiple breast cancer datasets, supporting our findings that the TRIM37-AP-2γ interaction is essential for breast cancer tumor growth. Overall, our work reveals that TRIM37 is an oncogenic coactivator of AP-2γ in breast cancer and provides a novel therapeutic target for treating the disease.

Common Gene Modules Identified for Chicken Adiposity by Network Construction and Comparison.

Excessive fat deposition can cause chicken health problem, and affect production efficiency by causing great economic losses to the industry. However, the molecular underpinnings of the complex adiposity trait remain elusive. In the current study, we constructed and compared the gene co-expression networks on four transcriptome profiling datasets, from two chicken lines under divergent selection for abdominal fat contents, in an attempt to dissect network compositions underlying adipose tissue growth and development. After functional enrichment analysis, nine network modules important to adipogenesis were discovered to be involved in lipid metabolism, PPAR and insulin signaling pathways, and contained hub genes related to adipogenesis, cell cycle, inflammation, and protein synthesis. Moreover, after additional functional annotation and network module comparisons, common sub-modules of similar functionality for chicken fat deposition were identified for different chicken lines, apart from modules specific to each chicken line. We further validated the lysosome pathway, and found TFEB and its downstream target genes showed similar expression patterns along with chicken preadipocyte differentiation. Our findings could provide novel insights into the genetic basis of complex adiposity traits, as well as human obesity and related metabolic diseases.