Social media, rituals, and long-distance family relationship maintenance: a mixed-methods systematic review

For families with limited opportunities for face-to-face interaction, social media can be a vital communication medium to help shape the family identity, maintain bonds, and accomplish shared tasks. This mixed-methods systematic review of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method empirical studies published between 1997 and 2019, uses a convergent data-based framework to explore how long-distance families engage in family practices using various modes of social media. Fifty-one papers were synthesised into four domains: (1) doing family in a social media environment, (2) performing family through stories and rituals, (3) the nature of online communication practices, and (4) privacy, conflict, and the quality of family relationships. Given the value of patterned routines to families, research into the role of family kinkeepers is suggested. Finally, families use chat (messages) extensively for both assuring behaviour and conflict resolution so further investigation of the impact of this asynchronous mode is recommended

GATA2 monoallelic expression underlies reduced penetrance in inherited GATA2-mutated MDS/AML.

Saudi Arabian Ministry of Higher Education through a doctoral scholarship awarded to A.F.A.S. and a Bloodwise Programme grant (14032) awarded to J.F., T.V., and I.D

Protection from ultraviolet damage and photocarcinogenesis by vitamin d compounds

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020. Exposure of skin cells to UV radiation results in DNA damage, which if inadequately repaired, may cause mutations. UV-induced DNA damage and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species also cause local and systemic suppression of the adaptive immune system. Together, these changes underpin the development of skin tumours. The hormone derived from vitamin D, calcitriol (1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3) and other related compounds, working via the vitamin D receptor and at least in part through endoplasmic reticulum protein 57 (ERp57), reduce cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers and oxidative DNA damage in keratinocytes and other skin cell types after UV. Calcitriol and related compounds enhance DNA repair in keratinocytes, in part through decreased reactive oxygen species, increased p53 expression and/or activation, increased repair proteins and increased energy availability in the cell when calcitriol is present after UV exposure. There is mitochondrial damage in keratinocytes after UV. In the presence of calcitriol, but not vehicle, glycolysis is increased after UV, along with increased energy-conserving autophagy and changes consistent with enhanced mitophagy. Reduced DNA damage and reduced ROS/RNS should help reduce UV-induced immune suppression. Reduced UV immune suppression is observed after topical treatment with calcitriol and related compounds in hairless mice. These protective effects of calcitriol and related compounds presumably contribute to the observed reduction in skin tumour formation in mice after chronic exposure to UV followed by topical post-irradiation treatment with calcitriol and some, though not all, related compounds

Cdc14 phosphatase promotes segregation of telomeres through repression of RNA polymerase II transcription

Kinases and phosphatases regulate messenger RNA synthesis through post-translational modification of the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (ref. 1). In yeast, the phosphatase Cdc14 is required for mitotic exit2,3 and for segregation of repetitive regions4. Cdc14 is also a subunit of the silencing complex RENT (refs 5, 6), but no roles in transcriptional repression have been described. Here we report that inactivation of Cdc14 causes silencing defects at the intergenic spacer sequences of ribosomal genes during interphase and at Y′ repeats in subtelomeric regions during mitosis. We show that the role of Cdc14 in silencing is independent of the RENT deacetylase subunit Sir2. Instead, Cdc14 acts directly on RNA polymerase II by targeting CTD phosphorylation at Ser 2 and Ser 5. We also find that the role of Cdc14 as a CTD phosphatase is conserved in humans. Finally, telomere segregation defects in cdc14 mutants4 correlate with the presence of subtelomeric Y′ elements and can be rescued by transcriptional inhibition of RNA polymerase II