Extracellular Vesicles as a Potential Biomarker of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Systemic Sclerosis.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and interstitial lung disease (ILD) are severe complications of patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). Currently, there are a few tests for early identification of these conditions, although they are invasive and time-consuming. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) offer a promising possibility for gathering information on tissue health.

RNAs anchoring replication complex control initiation and firing of DNA replication.

Coordinated initiation of DNA replication is essential to ensure efficient and timely DNA synthesis. Yet, molecular mechanism describing how replication initiation is coordinated in eukaryotic cells is not completely understood. Herein, we present data demonstrating a novel feature of RNAs transcribed in the proximity of actively replicating gene loci.

Measuring behavioral responses to a social stressor: Does the Social Performance Rating Scale have utility beyond social anxiety disorder?

The observer-rated Social Performance Rating Scale (SPRS) indexes anxious behaviors exhibited in social contexts. Although the SPRS has been used almost exclusively to study social anxiety disorder (SAD), other emotional disorders are also characterized by heightened responses to social stressors, hinting that the SPRS could serve as a transdiagnostic state measure of behavioral anxiety. To explore this possibility, adults with generalized anxiety disorder or major depressive disorder (n = 105) and adults with no psychopathology (n = 35) delivered a speech to a committee of mock behavioral experts.

Methylation Mesa define functional regulatory elements for targeted gene activation.

DNA methylation and mRNA expression correlations are often presented with inconsistent evidence supporting causal regulation. We hypothesized that causal regulatory methylation elements would exhibit heightened demethylation sensitivity. To investigate, we analyzed 20 whole-genomic bisulfite sequenced samples before and after demethylation and identified narrow-width (45-294 bp) elements within a short plateau, termed Methylation Mesa (MM).