An Overview of C19MC Cluster Subgroup 3 and Cancer

: The primate-specific microRNA gene cluster on chromosome 19 (C19MC) is composed of 56 mature microRNAs (miRNAs), which are divided into three subgroups according to the sequence similarity. This cluster is principally expressed in the placenta but not in other tissues. C19MC is involved in the regulation of proliferation, migration, and invasion of trophoblastic cells, which are important for the development of the placenta. There is a growing number of studies that have found an altered expression of some miRNAs of the C19MC cluster in cancer, suggesting that these could play an important role in the development of this disease. Therefore, in this work, we provided an overview of the C19MC cluster’s role in cancer through a systematic review of published articles. In particular, we focused on miRNAs of subgroup 3. These studies suggest that miRNAs such as miR-512-3p, miR-512-5p, miR-516a-5p, miR-516b-5p, and miR-498-5p could play a pivotal role in the development of therapies for cancer. Future studies are necessary to elucidate the molecular processes and pathways regulated by subgroup 3 miRNAs.

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Estimation of the Inhaled Dose of Pollutants in Different Micro-Environments: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Toxics ◽

10.3390/toxics9060140 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (6) ◽

pp. 140

Author(s):

Francesca Borghi ◽

Andrea Spinazzè ◽

Simone Mandaglio ◽

Giacomo Fanti ◽

Davide Campagnolo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Residence Time ◽

Low Cost ◽

Pulmonary Ventilation ◽

Personal Exposure ◽

Ventilation Rate ◽

Atmospheric Pollutants ◽

Active Commuting ◽

Review Of The Literature ◽

Future Studies

Recently, the need to assess personal exposure in different micro-environments has been highlighted. Further, estimating the inhaled dose of pollutants is considerably one of the most interesting parameters to be explored to complete the fundamental information obtained through exposure assessment, especially if associated with a dose-response approach. To analyze the main results obtained from the studies related to the estimation of the inhaled dose of pollutants in different micro-environments (environments in which an individual spends a part of his day), and to identify the influence of different parameters on it, a systematic review of the literature was performed. The principal outcomes from the considered studies outlined that (i) exposure concentration and residence time are among the most important parameters to be evaluated in the estimation of the inhaled dose, especially in transport environments. Further, (ii) the pulmonary ventilation rate can be of particular interest during active commuting because of its increase, which increases the inhalation of pollutants. From a methodological point of view, the advent of increasingly miniaturized, portable and low-cost technologies could favor these kinds of studies, both for the measurement of atmospheric pollutants and the real-time evaluation of physiological parameters used for estimation of the inhaled dose. The main results of this review also show some knowledge gaps. In particular, numerous studies have been conducted for the evaluation (in terms of personal exposure and estimation of the inhaled dose) of different PM fractions: other airborne pollutants, although harmful to human health, are less represented in studies of this type: for this reason, future studies should be conducted, also considering other air pollutants, not neglecting the assessment of exposure to PM. Moreover, many studies have been conducted indoors, where the population spends most of their daily time. However, it has been highlighted how particular environments, even if characterized by a shorter residence time, can contribute significantly to the dose of inhaled pollutants. These environments are, therefore, of particular importance and should be better evaluated in future studies, as well as occupational environments, where the work results in a high pulmonary ventilation rate. The attention of future studies should also be focused on these categories of subjects and occupational studies.

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Patients’ adherence to smartphone apps in the management of bipolar disorder: a systematic review

International Journal of Bipolar Disorders ◽

10.1186/s40345-021-00224-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Marie-Camille Patoz ◽

Diego Hidalgo-Mazzei ◽

Bruno Pereira ◽

Olivier Blanc ◽

Ingrid de Chazeron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Bipolar Disorder ◽

Mobile Health ◽

Smartphone Apps ◽

Exclusion Criteria ◽

Future Studies ◽

Health Apps ◽

Definition Of ◽

Bipolar Patients ◽

Digital Or

Abstract Background Despite an increasing number of available mental health apps in the bipolar disorder field, these tools remain scarcely implemented in everyday practice and are quickly discontinued by patients after downloading. The aim of this study is to explore adherence characteristics of bipolar disorder patients to dedicated smartphone interventions in research studies. Methods A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Three databases (EMBASE, PsychInfo and MEDLINE) were searched using the following keywords: "bipolar disorder" or "mood disorder" or “bipolar” combined with “digital” or “mobile” or “phone” or “smartphone” or “mHealth” or “ehealth” or "mobile health" or “app” or “mobile-health”. Results Thirteen articles remained in the review after exclusion criteria were applied. Of the 118 eligible studies, 39 did not provide adherence characteristics. Among the selected papers, study length, sample size and definition of measures of adherence were strongly heterogeneous. Activity rates ranged from 58 to 91.6%. Conclusion The adherence of bipolar patients to apps is understudied. Standardised measures of adherence should be defined and systematically evaluated in future studies dedicated to these tools.

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miR-29a sensitizes the response of glioma cells to temozolomide by modulating the P53/MDM2 feedback loop

Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters ◽

10.1186/s11658-021-00266-9 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Qiudan Chen ◽

Weifeng Wang ◽

Shuying Chen ◽

Xiaotong Chen ◽

Yong Lin

Keyword(s):

Molecular Mechanism ◽

Feedback Loop ◽

Glioma Cells ◽

Luciferase Reporter ◽

Migration And Invasion ◽

Transcriptional Level ◽

Aberrant Expression ◽

Altered Expression ◽

P53 Signaling

AbstractRecently, pivotal functions of miRNAs in regulating common tumorigenic processes and manipulating signaling pathways in brain tumors have been recognized; notably, miR‐29a is closely associated with p53 signaling, contributing to the development of glioma. However, the molecular mechanism of the interaction between miR-29a and p53 signaling is still to be revealed. Herein, a total of 30 glioma tissues and 10 non-cancerous tissues were used to investigate the expression of miR‐29a. CCK-8 assay and Transwell assay were applied to identify the effects of miR-29a altered expression on the malignant biological behaviors of glioma cells in vitro, including proliferation, apoptosis, migration and invasion. A dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to further validate the regulatory effect of p53 or miR-29a on miR-29a or MDM2, respectively, at the transcriptional level. The results showed that miR-29a expression negatively correlated with tumor grade of human gliomas; at the same time it inhibited cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and promoted apoptosis of glioma cells in vitro. Mechanistically, miR-29a expression was induced by p53, leading to aberrant expression of MDM2 targeted by miR-29a, and finally imbalanced the activity of the p53-miR-29a-MDM2 feedback loop. Moreover, miR-29a regulating p53/MDM2 signaling sensitized the response of glioma cells to temozolomide treatment. Altogether, the study demonstrated a potential molecular mechanism in the tumorigenesis of glioma, while offering a possible target for treating human glioma in the future.

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Blockchain Applications in Agribusiness: A Systematic Review

Future Internet ◽

10.3390/fi13040095 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 95

Author(s):

Geneci da Silva Ribeiro Rocha ◽

Letícia de Oliveira ◽

Edson Talamini

Keyword(s):

Complex System ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Web Of Science ◽

Scientific Literature ◽

Early Stage ◽

Technological Development ◽

Economic Sectors ◽

Future Studies ◽

Blockchain Technology ◽

Near Future

Blockchain is a technology that can be applied in different sectors to solve various problems. As a complex system, agribusiness presents many possibilities to take advantage of blockchain technology. The main goal of this paper is to identify the purposes for which blockchain has been applied in the agribusiness sector, for which a PRISMA-based systematic review was carried out. The scientific literature corpus was accessed and selected from Elsevier’s Scopus and ISI of Knowledge’s Web of Science (WoS) platforms, using the PRISMA protocol procedures. Seventy-one articles were selected for analysis. Blockchain application in agribusiness is a novel topic, with the first publication dating from 2016. The technological development prevails more than blockchain applications since it has been addressed mainly in the Computer Sciences and Engineering. Blockchain applications for agribusiness management of financial, energy, logistical, environmental, agricultural, livestock, and industrial purposes have been reported in the literature. The findings suggest that blockchain brings many benefits when used in agribusiness supply chains. We concluded that the research on blockchain applications in agribusiness is only at an early stage, as many prototypes are being developed and tested in the laboratory. In the near future, blockchain will be increasingly applied across all economic sectors, including agribusiness, promoting greater reliability and agility in information with a reduced cost. Several gaps for future studies were observed, with significant value for science, industry, and society.

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Deep learning for cephalometric landmark detection: systematic review and meta-analysis

Clinical Oral Investigations ◽

10.1007/s00784-021-03990-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Falk Schwendicke ◽

Akhilanand Chaurasia ◽

Lubaina Arsiwala ◽

Jae-Hong Lee ◽

Karim Elhennawy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Deep Learning ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

High Accuracy ◽

Risk Of Bias ◽

Automated Detection ◽

Reference Test ◽

Landmark Detection ◽

Future Studies ◽

Using Data

Abstract Objectives Deep learning (DL) has been increasingly employed for automated landmark detection, e.g., for cephalometric purposes. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the accuracy and underlying evidence for DL for cephalometric landmark detection on 2-D and 3-D radiographs. Methods Diagnostic accuracy studies published in 2015-2020 in Medline/Embase/IEEE/arXiv and employing DL for cephalometric landmark detection were identified and extracted by two independent reviewers. Random-effects meta-analysis, subgroup, and meta-regression were performed, and study quality was assessed using QUADAS-2. The review was registered (PROSPERO no. 227498). Data From 321 identified records, 19 studies (published 2017–2020), all employing convolutional neural networks, mainly on 2-D lateral radiographs (n=15), using data from publicly available datasets (n=12) and testing the detection of a mean of 30 (SD: 25; range.: 7–93) landmarks, were included. The reference test was established by two experts (n=11), 1 expert (n=4), 3 experts (n=3), and a set of annotators (n=1). Risk of bias was high, and applicability concerns were detected for most studies, mainly regarding the data selection and reference test conduct. Landmark prediction error centered around a 2-mm error threshold (mean; 95% confidence interval: (–0.581; 95 CI: –1.264 to 0.102 mm)). The proportion of landmarks detected within this 2-mm threshold was 0.799 (0.770 to 0.824). Conclusions DL shows relatively high accuracy for detecting landmarks on cephalometric imagery. The overall body of evidence is consistent but suffers from high risk of bias. Demonstrating robustness and generalizability of DL for landmark detection is needed. Clinical significance Existing DL models show consistent and largely high accuracy for automated detection of cephalometric landmarks. The majority of studies so far focused on 2-D imagery; data on 3-D imagery are sparse, but promising. Future studies should focus on demonstrating generalizability, robustness, and clinical usefulness of DL for this objective.

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Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Post-mastectomy Breast Reconstruction: A Systematic Review of Development and Measurement Properties

Annals of Surgical Oncology ◽

10.1245/s10434-020-08736-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 386-404 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

C. F. Davies ◽

R. Macefield ◽

K. Avery ◽

J. M. Blazeby ◽

S. Potter

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Breast Reconstruction ◽

Content Validity ◽

Patient Reported Outcome Measures ◽

Patient Reported Outcome ◽

Measurement Properties ◽

Future Studies ◽

Patient Reported ◽

Eortc Qlq

Abstract Background Breast reconstruction (BR) is performed to improve outcomes for patients undergoing mastectomy. A recently developed core outcome set for BR includes six patient-reported outcomes that should be measured and reported in all future studies. It is vital that any instrument used to measure these outcomes as part of a core measurement set be robustly developed and validated so data are reliable and accurate. The aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the development and measurement properties of existing BR patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to inform instrument selection for future studies. Methods A PRISMA-compliant systematic review of development and validation studies of BR PROMs was conducted to assess their measurement properties. PROMs with adequate content validity were assessed using three steps: (1) the methodological quality of each identified study was assessed using the COSMIN Risk of Bias checklist; (2) criteria were applied for assessing good measurement properties; and (3) evidence was summarized and the quality of evidence assessed using a modified GRADE approach. Results Fourteen articles reported the development and measurement properties of six PROMs. Of these, only three (BREAST-Q, BRECON-31, and EORTC QLQ-BRECON-23) were considered to have adequate content validity and proceeded to full evaluation. This showed that all three PROMs had been robustly developed and validated and demonstrated adequate quality. Conclusions BREAST-Q, BRECON-31, and EORTC QLQ-BRECON-23 have been well-developed and demonstrate adequate measurement properties. Work with key stakeholders is now needed to generate consensus regarding which PROM should be recommended for inclusion in a core measurement set.

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A Systematic Review of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Treatment for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in China

The American Journal of Chinese Medicine ◽

10.1142/s0192415x08005540 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 36 (01) ◽

pp. 1-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 38

Author(s):

Tianfang Wang ◽

Qunhao Zhang ◽

Xiaolin Xue ◽

Albert Yeung

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ◽

Chronic Fatigue ◽

Future Studies ◽

Acupuncture And Moxibustion ◽

Fatigue Syndrome ◽

Collective Experience ◽

Rigorous Study ◽

The Common ◽

Study Designs

Studies on the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) with acupuncture and moxibustion in China were reviewed. All studies concluded the treatments were effective, with response rates ranging from 78.95% to 100%. However, the qualities of the studies were generally poor, and none of them used a RCT design. The common acupoints/sites used in the treatment of CFS, which may reflect the collective experience of acupuncturists in China based on Traditional Chinese Medicine theories can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of CFS in future studies using more scientifically rigorous study designs.

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Domestic incense use and lung cancer in Asia: a review

Reviews on Environmental Health ◽

10.1515/reveh-2015-0060 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Wei Jie Seow ◽

Qing Lan

Keyword(s):

Lung Cancer ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Cancer Risk ◽

Lung Cancer Risk ◽

Smoking Status ◽

Case Control ◽

Negative Association ◽

Future Studies ◽

Manual Review

AbstractWhile there is strong evidence for the association between household air pollution and lung cancer among non-smoking women, the association between domestic incense use and lung cancer risk has been inconsistent. We conducted a systematic review of PubMed articles authored between 1969 and August 25, 2015 before performing a manual review of each study, and found a total of seven published studies on this topic. Most of the studies are case-control in design and did not further stratify by sex and smoking status. Of the seven studies, three reported positive associations, three reported null associations and one study found a negative association between incense use and lung cancer. Only one study reported estimates for non-smoking women. Future studies should be larger in sample size, stratify by both sex and smoking status in their analyses, and collect more detailed information on incense use in order to facilitate the understanding of the association between domestic incense use and lung cancer risk among non-smoking women in Asia.

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A novel method to quantify gene set functional association based on gene ontology

Journal of The Royal Society Interface ◽

10.1098/rsif.2011.0551 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 9 (70) ◽

pp. 1063-1072 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Sali Lv ◽

Yan Li ◽

Qianghu Wang ◽

Shangwei Ning ◽

Teng Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Ontology ◽

Genetic Basis ◽

Protein Complexes ◽

Sequence Similarity ◽

Functional Association ◽

Future Studies ◽

Gene Set ◽

Complex Disorders ◽

Gene Sets ◽

Novel Method

Numerous gene sets have been used as molecular signatures for exploring the genetic basis of complex disorders. These gene sets are distinct but related to each other in many cases; therefore, efforts have been made to compare gene sets for studies such as those evaluating the reproducibility of different experiments. Comparison in terms of biological function has been demonstrated to be helpful to biologists. We improved the measurement of semantic similarity to quantify the functional association between gene sets in the context of gene ontology and developed a web toolkit named Gene Set Functional Similarity (GSFS; http://bioinfo.hrbmu.edu.cn/GSFS ). Validation based on protein complexes for which the functional associations are known demonstrated that the GSFS scores tend to be correlated with sequence similarity scores and that complexes with high GSFS scores tend to be involved in the same functional catalogue. Compared with the pairwise method and the annotation method, the GSFS shows better discrimination and more accurately reflects the known functional catalogues shared between complexes. Case studies comparing differentially expressed genes of prostate tumour samples from different microarray platforms and identifying coronary heart disease susceptibility pathways revealed that the method could contribute to future studies exploring the molecular basis of complex disorders.

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MicroRNAs as Diagnostic Tools in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Gastrointestinal Disorders ◽

10.3390/gidisord3040022 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 237-246

Author(s):

Jessica Evangelista ◽

Elisa Zaninotto ◽

Annalisa Gaglio ◽

Michele Ghidini ◽

Lucrezia Raimondi

Keyword(s):

Hepatocellular Carcinoma ◽

Small Sample Size ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Critical Role ◽

Measurement Techniques ◽

Small Sample ◽

Diagnostic Tools ◽

Migration And Invasion ◽

Altered Expression ◽

Liver Cancers

Liver cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) accounting for approximately 80% of all liver cancers. The serum concentration of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is the only validated biomarker for HCC diagnosis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs of 21–30 nucleotides playing a critical role in human carcinogenesis, with types of miRNAs with oncogenic (oncomiRs) or tumor suppressor features. The altered expression of miRNAs in HCC is associated with many pathological processes, such as cancer initiation, tumor growth, apoptosis escape, promotion of migration and invasion. Moreover, circulating miRNAs have been increasingly investigated as non-invasive biomarkers for HCC diagnosis. MiRNAs’ expression patterns are altered in HCC and several single miRNAs or miRNAs panels have been found significantly up or downregulated in HCC with respect to healthy controls or non-oncological patients (cirrhotic or with viral hepatitis). However, any of the investigated miRNAs or miRNAs panels has entered clinical practice so far. This has mostly to do with lack of protocols standardization, small sample size and discrepancies in the measurement techniques. This review summarizes the major findings regarding the diagnostic role of miRNAs in HCC and their possible use together with standard biomarkers in order to obtain an early diagnosis and easier differential diagnosis from non-cancerous liver disease.

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