Homologous recombination suppresses transgenerational DNA end resection and chromosomal instability in fission yeast.

Chromosomal instability (CIN) drives cell-to-cell heterogeneity, and the development of genetic diseases, including cancer. Impaired homologous recombination (HR) has been implicated as a major driver of CIN, however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Using a fission yeast model system, we establish a common role for HR genes in suppressing DNA double-strand break (DSB)-induced CIN.

Endothelial cell death after ionizing radiation does not impair vascular structure in mouse tumor models.

The effect of radiation therapy on tumor vasculature has long been a subject of debate. Increased oxygenation and perfusion have been documented during radiation therapy. Conversely, apoptosis of endothelial cells in irradiated tumors has been proposed as a major contributor to tumor control.

Impact of Using the Intelligent Physical Health Measurement System on Active Aging: A Survey in Taiwan.

Background: In Taiwan, the Chiayi City Government and Industrial Development Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs have worked together to promote smart health management in the community and encourage people to use the intelligent physical health measurement system (IPHMS) with Smart Body Health Measuring Machine. Volunteers help participants in the community to use the IPHMS to ensure that measurements are taken correctly.

Objectives: This study aimed to explore volunteers' satisfaction with using the IPHMS and the effects of the measurement service on the participants' measurement behavior intention, and further explore the impact on their active aging.

Hypoxia-induced SETX links replication stress with the unfolded protein response.

Tumour hypoxia is associated with poor patient prognosis and therapy resistance. A unique transcriptional response is initiated by hypoxia which includes the rapid activation of numerous transcription factors in a background of reduced global transcription. Here, we show that the biological response to hypoxia includes the accumulation of R-loops and the induction of the RNA/DNA helicase SETX.

A Stress Relief App Intervention for Newly Employed Nursing Staff: Quasi-Experimental Design.

Background: Most newly employed nurses have limited practical experience, lack problem-solving abilities, and have low resistance to stress, and therefore often opt to resign from the nursing profession.

Objective: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a stress relief app (SR_APP) to monitor the stress levels of newly employed nurses.

Methods: We conducted a quasi-experiment to assess changes in stress levels of newly employed nurses at a case hospital, in which the experimental group used the SR_APP and the control group did not.

Transcriptomic analysis of human primary breast cancer identifies fatty acid oxidation as a target for metformin.

Background: Epidemiological studies suggest that metformin may reduce the incidence of cancer in patients with diabetes and multiple late phase clinical trials assessing the potential of repurposing this drug are underway. Transcriptomic profiling of tumour samples is an excellent tool to understand drug bioactivity, identify candidate biomarkers and assess for mechanisms of resistance to therapy.

Methods: Thirty-six patients with untreated primary breast cancer were recruited to a window study and transcriptomic profiling of tumour samples carried out before and after metformin treatment.

Hypoxia-induced switch in SNAT2/SLC38A2 regulation generates endocrine resistance in breast cancer.

Tumor hypoxia is associated with poor patient outcomes in estrogen receptor-α-positive (ERα) breast cancer. Hypoxia is known to affect tumor growth by reprogramming metabolism and regulating amino acid (AA) uptake. Here, we show that the glutamine transporter, SNAT2, is the AA transporter most frequently induced by hypoxia in breast cancer, and is regulated by hypoxia both in vitro and in vivo in xenografts.

Guidelines for using sigQC for systematic evaluation of gene signatures.

With the increased use of next-generation sequencing generating large amounts of genomic data, gene expression signatures are becoming critically important tools for the interpretation of these data, and are poised to have a substantial effect on diagnosis, management, and prognosis for a number of diseases. It is becoming crucial to establish whether the expression patterns and statistical properties of sets of genes, or gene signatures, are conserved across independent datasets. Conversely, it is necessary to compare established signatures on the same dataset to better understand how they capture different clinical or biological characteristics.

Integrated Pharmacodynamic Analysis Identifies Two Metabolic Adaption Pathways to Metformin in Breast Cancer.

Late-phase clinical trials investigating metformin as a cancer therapy are underway. However, there remains controversy as to the mode of action of metformin in tumors at clinical doses. We conducted a clinical study integrating measurement of markers of systemic metabolism, dynamic FDG-PET-CT, transcriptomics, and metabolomics at paired time points to profile the bioactivity of metformin in primary breast cancer.

Development and Validation of a 28-gene Hypoxia-related Prognostic Signature for Localized Prostate Cancer.

Background: Hypoxia is associated with a poor prognosis in prostate cancer. This work aimed to derive and validate a hypoxia-related mRNA signature for localized prostate cancer.

Method: Hypoxia genes were identified in vitro via RNA-sequencing and combined with in vivo gene co-expression analysis to generate a signature.

Structural complexity of DNA sequence.

In modern bioinformatics, finding an efficient way to allocate sequence fragments with biological functions is an important issue. This paper presents a structural approach based on context-free grammars extracted from original DNA or protein sequences. This approach is radically different from all those statistical methods.

Group factor analysis for Alzheimer's disease.

For any neuroimaging study in an institute, brain images are normally acquired from healthy controls and patients using a single track of protocol. Traditionally, the factor analysis procedure analyzes image data for healthy controls and patients either together or separately. The former unifies the factor pattern across subjects and the latter deals with measurement errors individually.

Segmentation of DNA using simple recurrent neural network.

We report the discovery of strong correlations between protein coding regions and the prediction errors when using the simple recurrent network to segment genome sequences. We are going to use SARS genome to demonstrate how we conduct training and derive corresponding results. The distribution of prediction error indicates how the underlying hidden regularity of the genome sequences and the results are consistent with the finding of biologists: predicated protein coding features of SARS genome.

Manifold construction based on local distance invariance.

This paper presents a distance invariant manifold that preserves the neighborhood relations among data patterns. All patterns have their corresponding cells in the manifold space. The constellation of neighborhood cells closely resembles that of patterns.

A web-based breastfeeding education program.

Two Web-based breastfeeding programs were developed to provide new parents with necessary information on proper breastfeeding techniques. One version was plain text and the other version combined text with graphics. The computer was viewed as a valuable learning tool.