Predicting Neoadjuvant Treatment Response in Rectal Cancer Using Machine Learning: Evaluation of MRI-Based Radiomic and Clinical Models.

Background: Radiomics is an approach to medical imaging that quantifies the features normally translated into visual display. While both radiomic and clinical markers have shown promise in predicting response to neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (nCRT) for rectal cancer, the interrelationship is not yet clear.

Methods: A retrospective, single-institution study of patients treated with nCRT for locally advanced rectal cancer was performed.

Co-occupancy identifies transcription factor co-operation for axon growth.

Transcription factors (TFs) act as powerful levers to regulate neural physiology and can be targeted to improve cellular responses to injury or disease. Because TFs often depend on cooperative activity, a major challenge is to identify and deploy optimal sets. Here we developed a bioinformatics pipeline, centered on TF co-occupancy of regulatory DNA, and used it to predict factors that potentiate the effects of pro-regenerative Klf6 in vitro.

Use of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer.

Background: Current treatment for locally advanced rectal cancer includes neoadjuvant chemoradiation followed by surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy. With neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NC), both chemoradiation and chemotherapy are given in the neoadjuvant setting. This study aims to assess patterns of NC utilization and differences in treatment response compared with standard treatment at our institution.

KLF6 and STAT3 co-occupy regulatory DNA and functionally synergize to promote axon growth in CNS neurons.

The failure of axon regeneration in the CNS limits recovery from damage and disease. Members of the KLF family of transcription factors can exert both positive and negative effects on axon regeneration, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here we show that forced expression of KLF6 promotes axon regeneration by corticospinal tract neurons in the injured spinal cord.

Standardizing your approach to dizziness and vertigo.

First, determine whether the sensation the patient is experiencing is dizziness or true vertigo. Then eliminate ominous causes from the array of benign ones.

The application of CRISPR technology to high content screening in primary neurons.

Axon growth is coordinated by multiple interacting proteins that remain incompletely characterized. High content screening (HCS), in which manipulation of candidate genes is combined with rapid image analysis of phenotypic effects, has emerged as a powerful technique to identify key regulators of axon outgrowth. Here we explore the utility of a genome editing approach referred to as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspersed Palindromic Repeats) for knockout screening in primary neurons.

Epigenetic profiling reveals a developmental decrease in promoter accessibility during cortical maturation .

Axon regeneration in adult central nervous system (CNS) is limited in part by a developmental decline in the ability of injured neurons to re-express needed regeneration associated genes (RAGs). Adult CNS neurons may lack appropriate pro-regenerative transcription factors, or may display chromatin structure that restricts transcriptional access to RAGs. Here we performed epigenetic profiling around the promoter regions of key RAGs, and found progressive restriction across a time course of cortical maturation.

The tumor suppressor HHEX inhibits axon growth when prematurely expressed in developing central nervous system neurons.

Neurons in the embryonic and peripheral nervous system respond to injury by activating transcriptional programs supportive of axon growth, ultimately resulting in functional recovery. In contrast, neurons in the adult central nervous system (CNS) possess a limited capacity to regenerate axons after injury, fundamentally constraining repair. Activating pro-regenerative gene expression in CNS neurons is a promising therapeutic approach, but progress is hampered by incomplete knowledge of the relevant transcription factors.

Reactivity of recombinant and mutant vanadium bromoperoxidase from the red alga Corallina officinalis.

Vanadium bromoperoxidase (VBPO) from the marine red alga Corallina officinalis has been cloned and heterologously expressed in Esherichia coli. The sequence for the full-length cDNA of VBPO from C. officinalis is reported.