DDX54 regulates transcriptome dynamics during DNA damage response.

The cellular response to genotoxic stress is mediated by a well-characterized network of DNA surveillance pathways. The contribution of post-transcriptional gene regulatory networks to the DNA damage response (DDR) has not been extensively studied. Here, we systematically identified RNA-binding proteins differentially interacting with polyadenylated transcripts upon exposure of human breast carcinoma cells to ionizing radiation (IR).

c-Si/n-ZnO-based flexible solar cells with silica nanoparticles as a light trapping metamaterial.

Herein, we report the fabrication of flexible solar cells based on a crystalline p-Si/n-ZnO heterostructure for the first time. An enhancement of ∼52% in the base efficiency was achieved by the application of spherical SiO nanoparticles as light trapping structures on the top. The use of ZnO not only offers a facile route of synthesis, but also provides an additional advantage of large band bending, leading to notable open circuit voltage and formation of an intermediate ultra-thin barrier layer of ZnSiO for minimized carrier recombination.

Study of association and molecular analysis of human papillomavirus in breast cancer of Indian patients: Clinical and prognostic implication.

Objectives: Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes tumors primarily Cervical cancer. Recently, inconsistent reports came up in Breast cancer (BC) too. In India, despite treatment 70,218 BC patients die each year.

From molecular insight to therapeutic strategy: The holistic approach for treating triple negative breast cancer.

Aim of the present study was to analyze the molecular pathogenesis of TNBC, therapeutic practice, challenges, and future goals in treatment strategies. Based on the alterations of distinct pathways, Lehmann's subgroups of TNBCs were further categorized. Those with defective DNA damage repair and replication pathways, viz.

SETD6 regulates NF-κB signaling in urothelial cell survival: Implications for bladder cancer.

Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer has a high recurrence rate of 45-70%, progressing to muscle invasive disease in about 15% of those patients over a 5-year period. Administration of the mycobacterium, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) that induces local inflammation resulting in tumor remission in responsive patients is frequently used for treatment. BCG-treated patients with NF-κB del/del genotype have an increased risk of recurrence suggesting an important role of NF-κB in bladder cancer.

Microbial Diversity of Source and Point-of-Use Water in Rural Haiti - A Pyrosequencing-Based Metagenomic Survey.

Haiti endures the poorest water and sanitation infrastructure in the Western Hemisphere, where waterborne diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality. Most of these diseases are reported to be caused by waterborne pathogens. In this study, we examined the overall bacterial diversity of selected source and point-of-use water from rural areas in Central Plateau, Haiti using pyrosequencing of 16s rRNA genes.

Integrative classification of human coding and noncoding genes through RNA metabolism profiles.

Pervasive transcription of the human genome results in a heterogeneous mix of coding RNAs and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Only a small fraction of lncRNAs have demonstrated regulatory functions, thus making functional lncRNAs difficult to distinguish from nonfunctional transcriptional byproducts. This difficulty has resulted in numerous competing human lncRNA classifications that are complicated by a steady increase in the number of annotated lncRNAs.

Tetanus vaccination is associated with differential DNA-methylation: Reduces the risk of asthma in adolescence.

Background: Vaccinations have been suggested to be associated with increased risk of allergic diseases. Tetanus vaccination is one of the most frequently administered vaccines as a part of wound management and was also found to be associated with increased serum IgE levels. We hypothesized that the vaccination modifies the risk of allergic diseases through epigenetic changes such as DNA methylation.

Combining a GSI and BCL-2 inhibitor to overcome melanoma's resistance to current treatments.

Major limitations of current melanoma treatments are for instances of relapse and the lack of therapeutic options for BRAF wild-type patients who do not respond to immunotherapy. Many studies therefore focus on killing resistant subpopulations, such as Melanoma Initiating Cells (MICs) to prevent relapse. Here we examined whether combining a GSI (γ-Secretase Inhibitor) with ABT-737 (a small molecule BCL-2/BCL-XL/BCL-W inhibitor) can kill both the non-MICs (bulk of melanoma) and MICs.

The microbiome of neotropical ticks parasitizing on passerine migratory birds.

Seasonal migration of passerine birds between temperate North America and tropical Central and South America is an ecological phenomenon. Migration of birds has been associated with the introduction of ectoparasites like ticks or tick-borne pathogens across the avian migration routes. In this study, the microbial diversity was determined in the ticks and bird DNA samples using 454 pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene.

Preparation of a selected high vibrational energy level of isolated molecules.

Stark induced adiabatic Raman passage (SARP) allows us to prepare an appreciable concentration of isolated molecules in a specific, high-lying vibrational level. The process has general applicability, and, as a demonstration, we transfer nearly 100 percent of the HD (v = 0, J = 0) in a supersonically expanded molecular beam of HD molecules to HD (v = 4, J = 0). This is achieved with a sequence of partially overlapping nanosecond pump (355 nm) and Stokes (680 nm) single-mode laser pulses of unequal intensities.

Metabolic Inhibitors as Antiparasitic Drugs: Pharmacological, Biochemical and Molecular Perspectives.

Background: Human diseases caused by the infectious parasites have been one of the major problems throughout the evolutionary journey. Protozoan and metazoan parasitic infections result in a large number of deaths, disabilities and socio-economic loss worldwide to date. Despite the best efforts for developing suitable antiparasitics, these infections take a massive toll on human health.

Frequent alterations of SLIT2-ROBO1-CDC42 signalling pathway in breast cancer: clinicopathological correlation.

The aim of the study was to understand the role of SLIT2-ROBO1/2-CDC42 signalling pathways in development of breast cancer (BC). Primary BC samples (n = 150), comprising of almost equal proportion of four subtypes were tested for molecular alterations of SLIT2, ROBO1, ROBO2 and CDC42, the key regulator genes of this pathway. Deletion and methylation frequencies of the candidate genes were seen in the following order: deletion, SLIT2 (38.

Characterization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates from fitness centers in the Memphis metropolitan area, Tennessee.

Indoor skin-contact surfaces of public fitness centers may serve as reservoirs of potential human transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We found a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) MRSA of clonal complex 59 lineage harboring a variety of extracellular toxin genes from surface swab samples collected from inanimate surfaces of fitness centers in the Memphis metropolitan area, Tennessee. Our findings underscore the role of inanimate surfaces as potential sources of transmission of MDR MRSA strains with considerable genetic diversity.

Frequent alterations of homologous recombination repair pathway in primary and chemotolerant breast carcinomas: clinical importance.

Aim: To understand the importance of homologous recombination repair pathway in development of breast carcinoma (BC), alterations of some key regulatory genes like BRCA1, BRCA2, FANCC and FANCD2 were analyzed in pretherapeutic/neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT)-treated BC samples.

Materials & Methods: Alterations (deletion/methylation/expression) of the genes were analyzed in 118 pretherapeutic and 41 NACT-treated BC samples.

Results: High deletion/methylation (29-68%) and 64-78% overall alterations of the genes were found in the samples.

A snapshot of the microbiome of Amblyomma tuberculatum ticks infesting the gopher tortoise, an endangered species.

The gopher tortoise tick, Amblyomma tuberculatum, has a unique relationship with the gopher tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, found in sandy habitats across the southeastern United States. We aimed to understand the overall bacterial community associated with A. tuberculatum while also focusing on spotted fever group Rickettsia.

Targeted photocytotoxicity by copper(II) complexes having vitamin B6 and photoactive acridine moieties.

Copper(II) pyridoxal Schiff base complexes [Cu(L(1)/L(2))(B)]ClO4 (1-4), where HL(1) is 4-(((2-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)ethyl)imino)methyl)-5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methylpyridin-3-ol (in 1 and 2), HL(2) is 2-(((2-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)ethyl)imino)methyl)phenol (in 3, 4), B is 11-(9-acridinyl)dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine (acdppz in 1 and 3), dipyrido[3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine (in 2) and 1,10-phenanthroline (in 4), were synthesized, characterized and their photocytotoxicity in visible light, intracellular localization, cellular uptake and DNA photocleavage activity were studied. Complex 4 was characterized by X-ray crystallography. Complexes 1 and 3 having acdppz as photosensitizer showed significant photocytotoxicity in visible light in HeLa and MCF7 cells giving IC50 value of <0.

Escherichia coli O157:H7 Cells Exposed to Lettuce Leaf Lysate in Refrigerated Conditions Exhibit Differential Expression of Selected Virulence and Adhesion-Related Genes with Altered Mammalian Cell Adherence.

Contamination by and persistence of pathogenic bacteria in ready-to-eat produce have emerged as significant food safety and public health concerns. Viable produceborne pathogens cope with several stresses (e.g.

Angular and internal state distributions of H2 (+) generated by (2 + 1) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization of H2 using time-of-flight mass spectrometry.

We report direct measurement of the anisotropy parameter β for the angular distribution of the photoelectron and photoion in (2 + 1) resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization process of H2 X (1)Σg (+) (v = 0, J = 0) molecules through the intermediate H2 E,F (1)Σg (+) (v' = 0, J' = 0) level (λ = 201.684 nm) using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The time-of-flight spectra were recorded as the direction of polarization of the ionizing laser was varied with respect to the flight axis of the H2 molecular beam and were fitted to an angular distribution in an appropriately rotated coordinate system with the z-axis oriented along the time-of-flight axis.

Frequent inactivation of MCC/CTNNBIP1 and overexpression of phospho-beta-catenin(Y654) are associated with breast carcinoma: Clinical and prognostic significance.

Transcriptional activation of β-catenin is a hallmark of Wnt/β-catenin pathway activation. The MCC (Mutated in colorectal cancers) and CTNNBIP1 (catenin, beta interacting protein 1) are two candidate genes which inhibit the transcriptional activity of nuclear β-catenin. The importance of MCC and CTNNBIP1 in breast cancer (BC) development has not yet been studied in detail.

DNA methylation and genetic polymorphisms of the Leptin gene interact to influence lung function outcomes and asthma at 18 years of age.

The leptin gene (LEP) plays a regulatory role in satiety, inflammation, and allergy. Prior findings linking leptin to asthma motivated us to investigate whether DNA methylation (DNA-M) of CpG (cytosine-phosphate-guanine) sites in concert with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of LEP can explain the risk of asthma and lung function. Methylation of CpG sites was assessed using the Illumina Infinium Human Methylation 450 beadchip in blood samples collected from 10- and 18-year-old boys and girls from the Isle of Wight (IOW) birth cohort (UK).

Use of a MCL-1 inhibitor alone to de-bulk melanoma and in combination to kill melanoma initiating cells.

MCL-1 (BCL-2 family anti-apoptotic protein) is responsible for melanoma's resistance to therapy. Cancer initiating cells also contribute to resistance and relapse from treatments. Here we examined the effects of the MCL-1 inhibitor SC-2001 in killing non melanoma-initiating-cells (bulk of melanoma), and melanoma-initiating-cells (MICs).

Improving Medicare's Hospital Compare Mortality Model.

Objective: To improve the predictions provided by Medicare's Hospital Compare (HC) to facilitate better informed decisions regarding hospital choice by the public.

Data Sources/setting: Medicare claims on all patients admitted for Acute Myocardial Infarction between 2009 through 2011.

Study Design: Cohort analysis using a Bayesian approach, comparing the present assumptions of HC (using a constant mean and constant variance for all hospital random effects), versus an expanded model that allows for the inclusion of hospital characteristics to permit the data to determine whether they vary with attributes of hospitals, such as volume, capabilities, and staffing.