Cell-free seminal mRNA of DDX4 and TNP1 Genes as Potential Biomarkers of the Presence of Sperm in the Testicular Tissue

Introduction: Non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA) is one of the reasons for infertility in men, and different factors including genetic factors are involved in its development. Since taking biopsies of the testicular tissue for assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) is invasive and time-consuming, and the testicular tissue is heterogeneous, introducing a biomarker for predicting the possibility of the presence of sperm in the testicle can increase the ART efficiency. Accordingly, Cell-free seminal mRNA (CFs-mRNA), which is found in many fluids of the body including the seminal fluid of NOA individuals, can be employed as a biomarker for this purpose. Materials and methods: This study was conducted on 15 men suffering NOA, candidates for testicular sperm extraction (TESE), along with 15 healthy men as control. The testicular tissue of 10 patients was examined using hematoxylin and eosin staining and then classified according to Johnsen scoring. RNA was extracted from the cell-free plasma of semen samples and cDNA was synthesized. The Expression level of TNP1 and DDX4 genes was investigated using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: The expression of CFS-mRNA of the DDX4 gene was observed in only one sample of NOA individuals (10%), showing a score of 8. Further, the expression of CFS-mRNA of the TNP1 gene was observed only in two samples (20%) of NOA patients whose scores were 3 and 8. Conclusion: Insufficiency or lack of expression of CFS-mRNA of TNP1 and DDX4 genes may be helpful in predicting the absence of sperm in the testicular tissue of NOA patients in terms of sperm retrieval for ART. Yet, further studies with more specific and sensitive techniques are required to achieve a more solid and precise conclusion

Consciousness of Inanimate Objects in the Transcendent Wisdom

One of the issues discussed among philosophers and mystics, is perception of material creatures. Human beings have understood by all philosophers as capable of perception. But that materials have such perception, there is no consensus. Some philosophers believe that because material objects are absent from each other, this absence means no perception of self and others. But others, such as Mulla Sadra, believe that all beings are conscious, because since existence and knowledge are correlated, every being is conscious because of its being existent. In this paper, we try to show differences between Mulla Sadra and his predecessors; and the most important difference is that he believes in the priority of existence. And it rejects any difference in nature between organisms. In contrast to his predecessors, Mulla Sadra does not divide beings to simple and complex, material and immaterial, live and non-live, abstract and concrete, and etc. Therefore, there are no fundamental differences between creatures. But what that indicates the difference between creatures is their gradational difference. Thus, there is no essential difference between them. Therefore, the existence and attributes of existence are correlated and the material objects are conscious because they are existent and participate some grade of it

Comparison of Naïve Bayes Algorithm and Decision Tree C4.5 for Hospital Readmission Diabetes Patients using HbA1c Measurement

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder disease in which the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body cannot use insulin produced effectively. The HbA1c examination, which measures the average glucose level of patients during the last 2-3 months, has become an important step to determine the condition of diabetic patients. Knowledge of the patient's condition can help medical staff to predict the possibility of patient readmissions, namely the occurrence of a patient requiring hospitalization services back at the hospital. The ability to predict patient readmissions will ultimately help the hospital to calculate and manage the quality of patient care. This study compares the performance of the Naïve Bayes method and C4.5 Decision Tree in predicting readmissions of diabetic patients, especially patients who have undergone HbA1c examination. As part of this study we also compare the performance of the classification model from a number of scenarios involving a combination of preprocessing methods, namely Synthetic Minority Over-Sampling Technique (SMOTE) and Wrapper feature selection method, with both classification techniques. The scenario of C4.5 method combined with SMOTE and feature selection method produces the best performance in classifying readmissions of diabetic patients with an accuracy value of 82.74 %, precision value of 87.1 %, and recall value of 82.7 %

Implementasi Trauma Healing melalui Media Boneka pada Anak-anak Korban Erupsi Gunung Semeru

Bencana erupsinya gunung Semeru menyisakan duka yang mendalam. Terdapat kerugian fisik berupa hilangnya nyawa, bangunan, dan sumber mata pencaharian seperti ladang dan sawah. Selain itu, ada kerugian yang jarang diperhatikan, yaitu non-fisik berupa trauma yang dialami oleh korban, khususnya anak-anak. Trauma ini tidak dapat kita biarkan begitu saja karena dapat menggangu aktivitas mereka sehari-hari. Oleh sebab itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memaparkan kegiatan Trauma Healing melalui media boneka yang dikhususkan untuk anak-anak korban erupsi Semeru. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah studi kasus, didekati secara kualitatif dengan jenis penelitian deskriptif. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan metode wawancara, observasi, dan dokumentasi. Sementara teknis analisis data menggunakan display data dan triangulasi data. Temuan penelitian ini di antaranya; bahwa dampak psikis yang dialami oleh anak-anak di Desa Supiturang Kecamatan Pronojiwo Kabupaten Lumajang cukup berat. Itu sebabnya perlu diadakan kegiatan Trauma Healing untuk membantu menghilangkan rasa takut dan cemas akibat bencana tersebut. Tahapan-tahapannya harus dilakukan secara sistematis dan variatif, agar Trauma Healing memberikan dampak efektif. Dalam kegiatan ini membutuhkan support dari pemerintah setempat, terlebih saat kejadian erupsi tempat/posko tidak kondusif

Network-based genetic profiling reveals cellular pathway differences between follicular thyroid carcinoma and follicular thyroid adenoma

Molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis and progression of malignant thyroid cancers, such as follicular thyroid carcinomas (FTCs), and how these differ from benign thyroid lesions, are poorly understood. In this study, we employed network-based integrative analyses of FTC and benign follicular thyroid adenoma (FTA) lesion transcriptomes to identify key genes and pathways that differ between them. We first analysed a microarray gene expression dataset (Gene Expression Omnibus GSE82208, n = 52) obtained from FTC and FTA tissues to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Pathway analyses of these DEGs were then performed using Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) resources to identify potentially important pathways, and protein-protein interactions (PPIs) were examined to identify pathway hub genes. Our data analysis identified 598 DEGs, 133 genes with higher and 465 genes with lower expression in FTCs. We identified four significant pathways (one carbon pool by folate, p53 signalling, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation signalling, and cell cycle pathways) connected to DEGs with high FTC expression; eight pathways were connected to DEGs with lower relative FTC expression. Ten GO groups were significantly connected with FTC-high expression DEGs and 80 with low-FTC expression DEGs. PPI analysis then identified 12 potential hub genes based on degree and betweenness centrality; namely, TOP2A, JUN, EGFR, CDK1, FOS, CDKN3, EZH2, TYMS, PBK, CDH1, UBE2C, and CCNB2. Moreover, transcription factors (TFs) were identified that may underlie gene expression differences observed between FTC and FTA, including FOXC1, GATA2, YY1, FOXL1, E2F1, NFIC, SRF, TFAP2A, HINFP, and CREB1. We also identified microRNA (miRNAs) that may also affect transcript levels of DEGs; these included hsa-mir-335-5p, -26b-5p, -124-3p, -16-5p, -192-5p, -1-3p, -17-5p, -92a-3p, -215-5p, and -20a-5p. Thus, our study identified DEGs, molecular pathways, TFs, and miRNAs that reflect molecular mechanisms that differ between FTC and benign FTA. Given the general similarities of these lesions and common tissue origin, some of these differences may reflect malignant progression potential, and include useful candidate biomarkers for FTC and identifying factors important for FTC pathogenesis

NF-κB Restricts Inflammasome Activation via Elimination of Damaged Mitochondria

Nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), a key activator of inflammation, primes the NLRP3-inflammasome for activation by inducing pro-IL-1β and NLRP3 expression. NF-κB, however, also prevents excessive inflammation and restrains NLRP3-inflammasome activation through a poorly defined mechanism. We now show that NF-κB exerts its anti-inflammatory activity by inducing delayed accumulation of the autophagy receptor p62/SQSTM1. External NLRP3-activating stimuli trigger a form of mitochondrial (mt) damage that is caspase-1- and NLRP3-independent and causes release of direct NLRP3-inflammasome activators, including mtDNA and mtROS. Damaged mitochondria undergo Parkin-dependent ubiquitin conjugation and are specifically recognized by p62, which induces their mitophagic clearance. Macrophage-specific p62 ablation causes pronounced accumulation of damaged mitochondria and excessive IL-1β-dependent inflammation, enhancing macrophage death. Therefore, the "NF-κB-p62-mitophagy" pathway is a macrophage-intrinsic regulatory loop through which NF-κB restrains its own inflammation-promoting activity and orchestrates a self-limiting host response that maintains homeostasis and favors tissue repair

NGOs' strategies and the challenge of development and democracy in Bangladesh

Recent research Bangladesh has come to embody an interesting paradox. On the one hand, it has experienced rising rates of growth, a slow but steady decline in poverty and impressive progress in terms of social development, outperforming some of its richer neighbours on a number of Millennium Development Goals. On the other hand, it has an abysmal record on governance and was ranked as the world’s most corrupt country for five consecutive years by Transparency International. There is an emerging view that the country’s extremely active development NGO sector has contributed to some of the more positive achievements. The question that this paper sets out to address is why these organisations have not made an equivalent contribution on the governance front. The paper argues that while Bangladesh is reported to have more NGOs per capita than other developing countries, those organisations have gradually abandoned social mobilising and collective action strategies for a narrower focus on service delivery and microcredit provision. Our research with the members of six organisations that straddle the continuum between microfinance and social mobilisation suggests that the specific developmental strategies of these membership-based groups do indeed have consequences for both development and democracy in the country

Solar geoengineering: The case for an international non-use agreement

Solar geoengineering is gaining prominence in climate change debates as an issue worth studying; for some it is even a potential future policy option. We argue here against this increasing normalization of solar geoengineering as a speculative part of the climate policy portfolio. We contend, in particular, that solar geoengineering at planetary scale is not governable in a globally inclusive and just manner within the current international political system. We therefore call upon governments and the United Nations to take immediate and effective political control over the development of solar geoengineering technologies.Specifically, we advocate for an International Non-Use Agreement on Solar Geoengineering and outline the core elements of this proposal