Graph Signal Processing For Cancer Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis

Cancer heterogeneity arises from complex molecular interactions. Elucidating systems-level properties of gene interaction networks distinguishing cancer from normal cells is critical for understanding disease mechanisms and developing targeted therapies. Previous works focused only on identifying differences in network structures. In this study, we used graph frequency analysis of cancer genetic signals defined on a co-expression network to describe the spectral properties of underlying cancer systems. We demonstrated that cancer cells exhibit distinctive signatures in the graph frequency content of their gene expression signals. Applying graph frequency filtering, graph Fourier transforms, and its inverse to gene expression from different cancer stages resulted in significant improvements in average F-statistics of the genes compared to using their unfiltered expression levels. We propose graph spectral properties of cancer genetic signals defined on gene co-expression networks as cancer hallmarks with potential application for differential co-expression analysis

Effect of isolated coronary artery ectasia on left ventricular global longitudinal strain

Background: Coronary artery ectasia (CAE), known as a dilatation of coronary segment to at least 150% of the diameter of adjacent healthy segment. Despite the fact that coronary ectasia is under-treated angiographic finding, it has a tremendous impact on patients mortality and morbidity. The hypothesis that isolated CAE is a cause of subtle left ventricle (LV) systolic dysfunction needs intense and thorough research. Objective: To assess longitudinal LV functions in patients with isolated coronary ectasia using 2 dimensional (2D) speckle tracking echocardiography. Patients and Methods: This study is a case control study conducted on two groups of patients referred to our tertiary centre for elective coronary angiography. The first group included 30 consecutive symptomatic patients proved to have CAE without obstructive coronary artery disease. The second group included 30 patients with normal coronary angiography serving as a control group. Patients with any form of structural heart disease affecting LV systolic functions were excluded, echocardiographic evaluation was held for every patient targeting 2D assessment of systolic and diastolic functions, tissue Doppler measurements and finally offline 2D speckle tracking for assessment of global LV longitudinal strain. Results: Males were more dominant in CAE group. Hypertension and dyslipidemia were more prevalent in CAE group unlike diabetes that was more common among control subjects. LV volumes, dimensions, mass index, left atrium (LA) volume index and aortic root diameter were significantly higher among CAE group. Mean global longitudinal strain was significantly lower in CAE group with value of (-16.5%) versus (-19.5%) in control group. Conclusions: Global longitudinal strain is significantly reduced in patients with CAE even in the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease denoting subclinical LV systolic dysfunctio

Optimization of kojic acid production conditions from cane molasses using Plackett-Burman design

Fungal synthesis of kojic acid has gained more interest in these days as an alternative way to chemical synthetic. The aspect of the microbial fermentation process is to develop a suitable culture medium to obtain the maximum amount of kojic acid using statistical methods. In this study; different selected three isolates of Aspergillus flavus (No 1, 2 and 3) were screened for their ability to produced kojic acid and the isolate No 3 was the highest kojic acid producer one. The capability of A. flavus No 3 to produce kojic acid was improved using Plackett-Burman design. From ten different agro-industrial wastes cane molasses recorded the highest kojic acid productivity with 2.24 g/l-1 day-1 and was the most effective parameter plays a crucial role in Plackett-Burman design. Maximum kojic acid production (24.65 g/l) by A. flavus (No. 3) obtained under the fermentation conditions: incubation temperature at 25oC, incubation time 9 days, pH 3, inoculum size 0.5%, shaking rate at 150 rpm and medium constituents: Cane molasses 60 g/l, yeast extract 7 g/l, KH2PO4 2 g/l, ZnSO4·7H2O 100 µg/l and MgSO4·7H2O 1 g/l with regression analysis (R2) 99.45% and 2.33-fold increase in comparison to the production of the original level (10.6 g/l). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.121151

Defining criteria for disease activity states in systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis based on the systemic Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score

Objective To develop and validate cutoff values in the systemic Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score 10 (sJADAS10) that distinguish the states of inactive disease (ID), minimal disease activity (MiDA), moderate disease activity (MoDA), and high disease activity (HDA) in children with systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), based on subjective disease state assessment by the treating pediatric rheumatologist. Methods The cutoffs definition cohort was composed of 400 patients enrolled at 30 pediatric rheumatology centers in 11 countries. Using the subjective physician rating as an external criterion, 6 methods were applied to identify the cutoffs: mapping, calculation of percentiles of cumulative score distribution, Youden index, 90% specificity, maximum agreement, and ROC curve analysis. Sixty percent of the patients were assigned to the definition cohort and 40% to the validation cohort. Cutoff validation was conducted by assessing discriminative ability. Results The sJADAS10 cutoffs that separated ID from MiDA, MiDA from MoDA, and MoDA from HDA were ≤ 2.9, ≤ 10, and > 20.6. The cutoffs discriminated strongly among different levels of pain, between patients with or without morning stiffness, and between patients whose parents judged their disease status as remission or persistent activity/flare or were satisfied or not satisfied with current illness outcome. Conclusion The sJADAS cutoffs revealed good metrologic properties in both definition and validation cohorts, and are therefore suitable for use in clinical trials and routine practice

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

Graphene quantum dots with multi-band emission: Unraveling the molecular origin of graphene quantum dots

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have grasped the attention of researchers from many fields, mainly due to their unique optoelectronic properties. These properties made GQDs of potential use in various applications, such as photocatalysis, optoelectronics, bioimaging, solar cells, sensors, and surface-enhanced Raman scattering. However, the dependence of their fluorescence spectra on the excitation wavelength has been the focus of several recent studies. While some studies attributed their multi-chromophoric behavior to core and surface states, others related it to the differently-sized nanodomains of sp2-hybridized carbon in an amorphous matrix. Herein, colloidal GQDs were directly synthesized via low-temperature catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CVD). These graphene nanostructures were found to exhibit well-resolved multi-emission bands in the visible region. Based on the X-ray photoelectron, FT-IR and Raman spectroscopies, as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations, the role of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), was identified as the building blocks of GQDs. Also, the fluorescence spectra of GQDs thin films were investigated. Moreover, the effect of plasmonic nanomaterials, such as silver nanodisks (AgNDs), on their fluorescence was investigated. A Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) polymer is used as a dielectric material to prevent the diffusion of the AgNDs particles in the GQDs layer and minimize the quenching effect. Different four concentrations of GQDs were used (0.2%, 1%, 3% and 5%) to get the optimum conditions of GQDs/spacer/AgNDs hybrid-nanomaterial. The 1% weight concentration of GQDs shows the optimum fluorescence emission of GQDs/spacer/AgNDs composite

Prevalence and Characterization of PVL-Positive <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> Isolated from Raw Cow’s Milk

The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility profiles, and some toxin genes of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) in unpasteurized raw cow’s milk collected from retail outlets located at Mansoura, Dakahliya governorate, Egypt. In that context, a total of 700 raw cow’s milk samples were investigated for the presence of S. aureus, which was identified in 41.1% (288/700) of the samples. Among the S. aureus isolates, 113 PVL-positive S. aureus were identified and subjected for further analysis. The PVL-positive S. aureus were investigated for the existence of toxin-related genes, including hemolysin (hla), toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (tst), and enterotoxins (sea, seb, sec, see, seg, sei, and selj). Genotypic resistance of PVL-positive strains was performed for the detection of blaZ and mecA genes. Among the PVL-positive S. aureus, sea, seb, and sec were detected in 44.2, 6.2%, and 0.9%, respectively, while the hla and tst genes were identified in 54.9% and 0.9%, respectively. The blaZ and mecA genes were successfully identified in 84.9 (96/113) and 32.7% (37/113) of the total evaluated S. aureus isolates, respectively. PVL-positive S. aureus displayed a high level of resistance to penicillin, ampicillin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Multidrug resistance (resistant to ≥3 antimicrobial classes) was displayed by all methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and 38.2% of methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) isolates. The obtained findings are raising the alarm of virulent PVL-positive MRSA clones in retail milk in Egypt, suggesting the requirement for limiting the use of β-lactam drugs in food-producing animals and the importance of implementing strong hygiene procedures in dairy farms and processing plants

miR-34a: Multiple Opposing Targets and One Destiny in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Abstract Background and Aims: The role of miR-34a in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is controversial and several unresolved issues remain, including its expression pattern and relevance to tumor etiology, tumor stage and prognosis, and finally, its impact on apoptosis. Methods: miR-34a expression was assessed in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced non-metastatic HCC tissues by RT-Q-PCR. Huh-7 cells were transfected with miR-34a mimics and the impact of miR-34a was examined on 84 pro-apoptotic/anti-apoptotic genes using PCR array; its net effect was tested on cell viability via MTT assay. Results: miR34a expression was up-regulated in HCC tissues. Moreover, miR-34a induced a large set of pro-apoptotic/anti-apoptotic genes, with a net result of triggering apoptosis and repressing cell viability. Conclusions: HCC-related differential expression of miR-34a could be etiology-based or stage-specific, and low expression of miR-34a may predict poor prognosis. This study&apos;s findings also emphasize the role of miR-34a in apoptosis