Single-cell transcriptional landscape of long non-coding RNAs orchestrating mouse heart development.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) comprise the most representative transcriptional units of the mammalian genome. They are associated with organ development linked with the emergence of cardiovascular diseases. We used bioinformatic approaches, machine learning algorithms, systems biology analyses, and statistical techniques to define co-expression modules linked to heart development and cardiovascular diseases. We also uncovered differentially expressed transcripts in subpopulations of cardiomyocytes. Finally, from this work, we were able to identify eight cardiac cell-types; several new coding, lncRNA, and pcRNA markers; two cardiomyocyte subpopulations at four different time points (ventricle E9.5, left ventricle E11.5, right ventricle E14.5 and left atrium P0) that harbored co-expressed gene modules enriched in mitochondrial, heart development and cardiovascular diseases. Our results evidence the role of particular lncRNAs in heart development and highlight the usage of co-expression modular approaches in the cell-type functional definition.

Colorectal Cancer Screening in the Elderly: Is Age Just a Number?

INTRODUCTION: Colorectal cancer screening improved outcomes for patients diagnosed between the age of 45-75. Present life expectancy is beyond this limit, yet there are no guidelines for these ages. We aim to identify outcomes after screening and intervention in patients ≥75 years and correlate with frailty. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Records between 2011 and 2019 were queried. Patients ≥75 screened and treated for colorectal cancer were included. Patient demographics, perioperative mortality, age at last colonoscopy and frailty score were calculated. A Modified Frailty Index from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging Frailty Index was used. A score of 1 to 11 was calculated based on patient comorbidities. The MFI was assigned from 0 to 11: 0 signified absence of frailty and 11 indicated maximum frailty. RESULTS: Of 179 patients were identified, 46.3% males. 171(95%) had elective and 8 (5%) had emergent surgery. The average age was 81.8 years. All colonoscopies were performed for symptoms. A modified frailty index was retrospectively calculated; 75% of patients scored between 0 and 2 and 1% scored >6. CONCLUSION: Older patients who underwent colonoscopy and surgery for symptomatic colon cancer had a low mortality, 2%. The average age was 6.8 years older than the recommended cutoff for colonoscopy screening. Most patients scored 0 to 2 on the modified frailty index, suggesting that not only are older patients more fit than previously thought, but also able to tolerate colorectal interventions more liberally. Utilizing frailty indices to identify screening patterns beyond 75 years of age might prove beneficial for this patient population. Further studies are recommended.

Anti-inflammatory potential of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum IDCC 3501 and its safety evaluation.

This study investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum IDCC 3501 isolated from kimchi (Korean fermented food) and its safety. When lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages were treated with cell-free supernatant from L. plantarum IDCC 3501, the mRNA expression level of inflammatory markers (i.e., TNF-α, IL-1ß, and IL-6) was significantly reduced. In addition, the decreased cell viability by LPS was recovered and NO production in LPS-induced cell was also decreased. For the safety assessment, the genes responsible for antibiotic resistance and virulence were not detected from the genome analysis of this strain. Consistent with this, minimal inhibitory concentrations against various antibiotics, biogenic amines, and D-lactate production, as well as enzymatic and hemolysis activities, indicated that L. plantarum IDCC 3501 did not produce any harmful compounds during fermentation. Furthermore, no acute toxicity and mortality were observed in a murine mouse model. Based on our findings, L. plantarum IDCC 3501 is safe and beneficial for human consumption.

(-)-α-Bisabolol Production in Engineered Escherichia coli Expressing a Novel (-)-α-Bisabolol Synthase from the Globe Artichoke Cynara cardunculus var. Scolymus.

(-)-α-Bisabolol is a functional ingredient in various health and cosmetic products and has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and wound healing properties. (-)-α-Bisabolol is chemically synthesized and produced by steam distillation of essential oils extracted from Brazilian Candeia (Eremanthus erythropappus). To sustainably produce pure (-)-α-bisabolol, we previously engineered Escherichia coli to produce 9.1 g/L (-)-α-bisabolol via heterologous mevalonate pathways and (-)-α-bisabolol synthase (BOS) from German chamomile, Matricaria recutita (MrBOS). BOS has only been reported in MrBOS and Brazilian Candeia (EeBOS). The limited availability of BOS has made it difficult to achieve high titer and yield and large-scale (-)-α-bisabolol production. We identified a novel BOS in globe artichoke (CcBOS) and examined its functionality in vitro and in vivo. CcBOS showed higher catalytic efficiency and (-)-α-bisabolol production rates than those from MrBOS or EeBOS. In fed-batch fermentation, CcBOS generated the highest reported (-)-α-bisabolol titer to date (23.4 g/L). These results may facilitate economically viable industrial (-)-α-bisabolol production.

Clinical behavior and outcome of papillary T1 thyroid cancers: South Korea vs. Turkey vs. Colombia in a cohort study analyzing oncological outcomes.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: There has not been an international multicentric study to examine the relationship between thyroid cancer clinical outcomes and geographic location for South Korea, Colombia, and Turkey, whereas thyroid cancer is amongst the highest three cancer types seen in South Korea and Turkey. The aim of the study was to assess regional differences of T1 papillary thyroid cancer outcomes in Korea, Turkey and Colombia. METHODS: This is an observational non-randomized study. A total of 2720 patients who have been operated for T1 papillary thyroid cancer between 2011 and 2014 and are on routine follow-up have been recruited. The mean follow-up was 46.4 ± 10.7 months. Data were collected in a commonly used database and analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Patients participated in South Korea (88.2%), Turkey (9.1%) and Colombia (2.6%). Eighty percent were female. Female dominance tended to be higher in Colombia (p = 0.01). Mean age at diagnosis was 45.2 years. There was no mortality. Recurrence tended to be higher in Colombia (p < 0.001). Moreover, statistical analysis revealed differences among patients regarding symptoms (p < 0.001), family history (p < 0.001), euthyroidism (p < 0.001), anti-Tg and/or anti-TPO positivity (p < 0.001), FNAB results (p < 0.001), type of resection (p < 0.001), prophylactic central node dissection (p < 0.001), tumor size (p < 0.001), multifocality (p < 0.001), bilaterality (p < 0.001), tumor subtype (p < 0.001) and radioactive iodine treatment (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Thyroid cancer is becoming more commonly diagnosed worldwide. This international multicentric study has identified differences in disease presentation, treatment approaches and outcome, which need to be investigated, especially by increasing the number of participating countries. Future comparisons will facilitate developments in treatment for the benefit of patient outcomes.

Korean Youth with Comorbid Allergic Disease and Obesity Show Heightened Psychological Distress.

OBJECTIVE: To explore psychological distress in Korean adolescents having allergic disease comorbid with obesity. STUDY DESIGN: A total of 703 869 adolescents who completed the Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey between 2007 and 2016 were analyzed. Participants were divided into 4 groups-healthy control, allergic disease only, obesity only, and comorbidity of allergic disease and obesity-and compared them to determine whether they showed differences in mental health. RESULTS: Adolescents with both atopic dermatitis and obesity had significantly greater odds of experiencing unhappiness (OR, 1.17), stress (OR, 1.32), and suicidal ideation (OR, 1.25) than those without both conditions. The same was true of adolescents with obesity and allergic rhinitis (OR, 1.21, 1.37, and 1.27, respectively) or bronchial asthma (OR, 1.37, 1.39, and 1.37). The comorbidity groups also showed significantly greater odds of stress and suicidal ideation than the allergic disease-only (atopic dermatitis with obesity, 1.21 and 1.15, respectively; allergic rhinitis with obesity, 1.11 and 1.09; bronchial asthma with obesity, 1.17 and 1.14) and obesity-only groups (atopic dermatitis with obesity, 1.13 and 1.09; allergic rhinitis with obesity, 1.18 and 1.10; bronchial asthma with obesity, 1.18 and 1.21). CONCLUSIONS: Allergic disease and obesity negatively and additively influence mental health in adolescents.

[10]-gingerol induces apoptosis and inhibits metastatic dissemination of triple negative breast cancer in vivo.

There is increasing interest in the use of non-toxic natural products for the treatment of various pathologies, including cancer. In particular, biologically active constituents of the ginger oleoresin (Zingiber officinale Roscoe) have been shown to mediate anti-tumour activity and to contribute to the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiemetic properties of ginger. Here we report on the inhibitory properties of [10]-gingerol against metastatic triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) in vitro and in vivo. We show that [10]-gingerol concentration-dependently induces apoptotic death in mouse and human TNBC cell lines in vitro. In addition, [10]-gingerol is well tolerated in vivo, induces a marked increase in caspase-3 activation and inhibits orthotopic tumour growth in a syngeneic mouse model of spontaneous breast cancer metastasis. Importantly, using both spontaneous and experimental metastasis assays, we show for the first time that [10]-gingerol significantly inhibits metastasis to multiple organs including lung, bone and brain. Remarkably, inhibition of brain metastasis was observed even when treatment was initiated after surgical removal of the primary tumour. Taken together, these results indicate that [10]-gingerol may be a safe and useful complementary therapy for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and warrant further investigation of its efficacy, either alone or in combination with standard systemic therapies, in pre-clinical models of metastatic breast cancer and in patients.

Motifs in Schizosaccharomyces pombe ars3002 important for replication origin activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Ars3002 is an efficient single-copy replication origin in the fission yeast, Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In a previous study, we tested the effects of consecutive approximately 50-bp deletions throughout ars3002 on the replication efficiency of those origins in S. pombe. Here we report the results of our use of the same approximately 50-bp deletions to test the hypothesis that some of the cis-acting sequences important for replication origin activity in fission yeast might be conserved in the evolutionarily distant budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We found that in most cases there was no correlation between the effects of particular mutations in S. pombe and in S. cerevisiae. We conclude that it is unlikely that any of the cis-acting sequences recognised by homologous replication proteins is conserved between these two yeast species.

Detection of parasite eggs from archaeological excavations in the Republic of Korea.

Excavations at two sites dating from 2000 BC-1900 AD in southeastern areas of the Republic of Korea, revealed the remains of several structures. Examination of the contents suspected privies revealed the presence of eggs from 5 kinds of parasite: Ascaris, Trichuris, Clonorchis, and two species of unknown trematodes. Clonorchis sinensis eggs were found in a soil dating from around AD 668-935. This is the first record of C. sinensis eggs in archaeological materials in the Republic of Korea.

Detection of parasite eggs from archaeological excavations in the Republic of Korea

Excavations at two sites dating from 2000 BC-1900 AD in southeastern areas of the Republic of Korea, revealed the remains of several structures. Examination of the contents suspected privies revealed the presence of eggs from 5 kinds of parasite: Ascaris, Trichuris, Clonorchis, and two species of unknown trematodes. Clonorchis sinensis eggs were found in a soil dating from around AD 668-935. This is the first record of C. sinensis eggs in archaeological materials in the Republic of Korea