Political science meets physical science: The shared concept of stability.

A biophysical chemist and a political scientist team up to explore striking parallels between the requisites of "stability" and the causes of instability within both the cellular/molecular world of biophysical chemistry and the world of social and political organization of self-assembled, societal structures, such as sovereign states and institutions. The structure, function, and organizational similarities of such parallelisms are particularly noteworthy, given that human agency introduces greater contingency in the sociopolitical world than do the "laws of Nature" in the natural-scientific world. In this perspective piece, we critically identify and analyze these parallels between the natural and the social realms through the prism of the shared concept of stability, including causal factors that embrace the full "stability spectrum" from instability to stability.

Transcription-Driven Translocation of Cohesive and Non-Cohesive Cohesin In Vivo.

Cohesin is a central architectural element of chromosomes that regulates numerous DNA-based events. The complex holds sister chromatids together until anaphase onset and organizes individual chromosomal DNAs into loops and self-associating domains. Purified cohesin diffuses along DNA in an ATP-independent manner but can be propelled by transcribing RNA polymerase.

Community engagement education in academic health centers, colleges, and universities.

Community engagement (CE) is critical for advancing health equity and a key approach for promoting inclusive clinical and translational science. However, it requires a workforce trained to effectively design, implement, and evaluate health promotion and improvement strategies through meaningful collaboration with community members. This paper presents an approach for designing CE curricula for research, education, clinical care, and public health learners.

Propensity score methods in the surgical oncology literature.

The use of propensity score methods in the surgical literature is increasing. Randomized, controlled clinical trials are the gold standard of medical research, allowing for accurate measurement and analysis of treatment effects. Use of propensity score methods allows researchers to mimic randomization when true randomization may not be possible.

Treatment of Patients with Malignant Peritoneal Mesothelioma.

Malignant peritoneal mesothelioma is a rare malignancy arising from the serosa of the peritoneal cavity. It is diagnosed based on suspicious findings on cross sectional imaging and a tissue biopsy showing confirmatory histologic and immunohistochemical features. The disease is hallmarked by its propensity to progress mainly in the peritoneal cavity.

Differential repair enzyme-substrate selection within dynamic DNA energy landscapes.

We demonstrate that reshaping of the dynamic, bulged-loop energy landscape of DNA triplet repeat ensembles by the presence of an abasic site alters repair outcomes by the APE1 enzyme. This phenomenon depends on the structural context of the lesion, despite the abasic site always having the same neighbors in sequence space. We employ this lesion-induced redistribution of DNA states and a kinetic trap to monitor different occupancies of the DNA bulge loop states.

The shaping of a molecular linguist: How a career studying DNA energetics revealed the language of molecular communication.

My personal and professional journeys have been far from predictable based on my early childhood. Owing to a range of serendipitous influences, I miraculously transitioned from a rebellious, apathetic teenage street urchin who did poorly in school to a highly motivated, disciplined, and ambitious academic honors student. I was the proverbial "late bloomer.

Adverse perioperative outcomes among patients undergoing gastrointestinal cancer surgery: Quantifying attributable risk from malnutrition.

Background: Preoperative malnutrition adversely impacts perioperative outcomes among patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer. The attributable risk (AR) that nutrition status contributes towards negative outcomes is poorly understood.

Methods: Adults undergoing GI cancer surgeries were identified within the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database (2005-2017).

Structured Review of the Value Added by the Registered Dietitian to the Care of Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients.

Background: Malnutrition is common among patients with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer and contributes to their morbidity and mortality. Nutrition interventions provided by a registered dietitian (RD) or dietitian may improve nutrition status and patient outcomes; however, there are few studies that attempt to define the contribution of the dietitian to these outcomes.

Objective: Our objective was to identify the value added by the dietitian to the care of patients with GI malignancies.

Heat Capacity Changes (Δ) for Interconversions between Differentially-Ordered DNA States within Physiological Temperature Domains: Implications for Biological Regulatory Switches.

Knowledge of differences in heat capacity changes (Δ) between biopolymer states provides essential information about the temperature dependence of the thermodynamic properties of these states, while also revealing insights into the nature of the forces that drive the formation of functional and dysfunctional biopolymer "order." In contrast to proteins, for nucleic acids there is a dearth of direct experimental determination of this information-rich parameter, a deficiency that compromises interpretations of the ever-increasing thermodynamic analyses of nucleic acid properties; particularly as they relate to differential nucleic acid (meta)stability states and their potential biological functions. Here we demonstrate that such heat capacity differences, in fact, exist not only between traditionally measured native to fully unfolded (assumed "random coil") DNA states, but also between competing order-to-order transformations.

Dynamic DNA Energy Landscapes and Substrate Complexity in Triplet Repeat Expansion and DNA Repair.

DNA repeat domains implicated in DNA expansion diseases exhibit complex conformational and energy landscapes that impact biological outcomes. These landscapes include ensembles of entropically driven positional interchanges between isoenergetic, isomeric looped states referred to as rollamers. Here, we present evidence for the position-dependent impact on repeat DNA energy landscapes of an oxidative lesion (8oxodG) and of an abasic site analogue (tetrahydrofuran, F), the universal intermediate in base excision repair (BER).

Current Management and Future Opportunities for Peritoneal Metastases: Peritoneal Mesothelioma.

Purpose: Diffuse malignant peritoneal mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare and ultimately fatal cancer that was first described just over a century ago. It is a diffuse malignancy arising from the mesothelial lining of the peritoneum; morbidity and mortality from MPM is due to its propensity to progress locoregionally within the abdominal cavity.

Methods: The purpose of this article is to review the current state-of-the-science related to the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of MPM.

Binding, sliding, and function of cohesin during transcriptional activation.

The ring-shaped cohesin complex orchestrates long-range DNA interactions to mediate sister chromatid cohesion and other aspects of chromosome structure and function. In the yeast , the complex binds discrete sites along chromosomes, including positions within and around genes. Transcriptional activity redistributes the complex to the 3' ends of convergently oriented gene pairs.

Low Reporting Quality of the Meta-Analyses in Diagnostic Pathology.

Context: - Little is known regarding the reporting quality of meta-analyses in diagnostic pathology.

Objective: - To compare reporting quality of meta-analyses in diagnostic pathology and medicine and to examine factors associated with reporting quality of diagnostic pathology meta-analyses.

Design: - Meta-analyses were identified in 12 major diagnostic pathology journals without specifying years and 4 major medicine journals in 2006 and 2011 using PubMed.

NAD+ Kinase as a Therapeutic Target in Cancer.

NAD kinase (NADK) catalyzes the phosphorylation of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP) using ATP as the phosphate donor. NADP is then reduced to NADPH by dehydrogenases, in particular glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and the malic enzymes. NADPH functions as an important cofactor in a variety of metabolic and biosynthetic pathways.

A Novel Role of Chromodomain Protein CBX8 in DNA Damage Response.

Induction of DNA damage induces a dynamic repair process involving DNA repair factors and epigenetic regulators. Chromatin alterations must occur for DNA repair factors to gain access to DNA lesions and restore original chromatin configuration to preserve the gene expression profile. We characterize the novel role of CBX8, a chromodomain-containing protein with established roles in epigenetic regulation in DNA damage response.

Increasing mortality in the United States from cholangiocarcinoma: an analysis of the National Center for Health Statistics Database.

Background: While mortality in the United States has decreased for most cancers, mortality from combined hepatocellular liver cancer and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) has increased and ranked 1st in annual percent increase among cancer sites. Because reported statistics combine ICC with other liver cancers, mortality rates of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) remain unknown. This study is to determine CCA mortality trends and variation based on national data.

Consumption of whole grains and cereal fiber in relation to cancer risk: a systematic review of longitudinal studies.

Context: Evidence from previous reviews is supportive of the hypothesis that whole grains may protect against various cancers. However, the reviews did not report risk estimates for both whole grains and cereal fiber and only case-control studies were evaluated. It is unclear whether longitudinal studies support this conclusion.

Biomarkers for Immunotherapy: Current Developments and Challenges.

Immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer therapy and has been named the cancer advance of the year for 2016. Checkpoint inhibitors have demonstrated unprecedented rates of durable responses in some of the most difficult-to-treat cancers; however, many treated patients do not respond, and the potential for serious side effects exists. There is a growing need to identify biomarkers that will improve the selection of patients who will best respond to therapy, further elucidate drug mechanisms of action, and help tailor therapy regimens.