Retraction Note to: Downregulation of microRNA-217 and microRNA-646 acts as potential predictor biomarkers in progression, metastasis, and unfavorable prognosis of human osteosarcoma (Tumor Biol, (2016), 37, (5769-5773), 10.1007/s13277-015-3821-4)

This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief, the International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM) and the Publisher per the Committee on Publication Ethics guidelines. The article shows evidence of irregularities in authorship during the submission process, there is strong reason to believe that the peer review process was compromised and there are similarities with the following articles which were all submitted within a close timeframe: Masoomeh Dadpay, Mojtaba Zarea, Rahman Ghaffarzadegan Rabati, Bijan Rezakhaniha, Babak Barari, Vahid Behnod, Katayoun Ziari, Upregulation of miR-21 and downregulation of miR-494 may serve as emerging molecular biomarkers for prediagnostic samples of subjects who developed nasopharyngeal carcinoma associates with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis. Tumor Biol. First Online: 21 August 2015 DOI: 10.1007/s13277-015-3905-1 Date received: 27 June 2015 Seyyed Hasan Karbasy, Afshin Taheriazam, Alireza Mirghasemi, Farnoush Sedaghati, Mohammadreza Shakeri, Emad Yahaghi, Reza Bahador, Upregulation of miR-300 and downregulation of miR-125b act as potential predictor biomarkers in progression, metastasis, and poor prognosis of osteosarcoma. Tumor Biol. First Online: 02 September 2015 DOI: 10.1007/s13277-015-4000-3. © 2016, International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM)

Downregulation of microRNA-217 and microRNA-646 acts as potential predictor biomarkers in progression, metastasis, and unfavorable prognosis of human osteosarcoma

Despite the progress in therapeutic targets, it remains dissatisfactory for most osteosarcoma patients with metastasis or recurrence osteosarcoma. Therefore, it is required to determine the involved mechanisms of osteosarcoma. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression level of MiR-217 and miR-646 and also their association with clinicopathological features in patients with osteosarcoma. Total RNA was purified from patients with osteosarcoma and noncancerous bone tissues, and then quantitative real-time PCR was applied to evaluate the expression level of microRNAs. Our result suggested that miR-217 expression was remarkably deceased in osteosarcoma bone tissue when compared with noncancerous bone tissues (mean ± SD 5.32 ± 1.231, 2.01 ± 0.78; P = 0.024) and miR-646 expression decreased in osteosarcoma bone tissue in comparison with normal tissues (mean ± SD 4.56 ± 1.45, 1.76 ± 1.24; P = 0.041). Our findings indicated that decreased expression of MiR-217 and miR-646 was strongly correlated with high tumor, node, and metastasis (TNM) stage (P = 0.015, P = 0.002) and large cancer diameter (P = 0.041, P = 0.053). Kaplan-Meier survival and log-rank analysis indicated that shorter overall survival was strongly linked to decreased expression of miR-217 and miR-646 (log-rank test P = 0.034, P = 0.026). In terms of miR-217, multivariate Cox proportional hazards model analysis has showed that reduction of miR-217 expression (P = 0.001), TNM stage (P = 0.046), and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.006) were independently linked to a short-time survival of patients. In terms of miR-646, low expression of miR-646 (P = 0.021), TNM stage (P = 0.052), and tumor size (P = 0.043) were independently associated with poor survival of patients as prognostic factors. Our findings suggested that downregulation of MiR-217 and miR-646 was associated with progression of osteosarcoma. MiR-217 and miR-646 may play a key role in suppression of tumor in osteosarcoma and would be applied as a novel therapeutic agent. © 2015, International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM)

Development of novel 2D and 3D correlative microscopy to characterise the composition and multiscale structure of suspended sediment aggregates.

Suspended cohesive sediments form aggregates or 'flocs' and are often closely associated with carbo, nutrients, pathogens and pollutants, which makes understanding their composition, transport and fate highly desirable. Accurate prediction of floc behaviour requires the quantification of 3-dimensional (3D) properties (size, shoe and internal structure) that span several scales (i.e. nanometre [nm] to millimetre [mm]-scale). Traditional techniques (optical cameras and electron microscopy [EM]), however, can only provide 2-dimensional (2D) simplifications of 3D floc geometries. Additionally, the existence of a resolution gap between conventional optical microscopy (COM) and transmission EM (TEM) prevents an understanding of how floc nm-scale constituents and internal structure influence mm-scale floc properties. Here, we develop a novel correlative imaging workflow combining 3D X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT), 3D focused ion beam nanotomography (FIB-nt) and 2D scanning EM (SEM) and TEM (STEM) which allows us to stabilise, visualise and quantify the composition and multi scale structure of sediment flocs for the first time. This new technique allowed the quantification of 3D floc geometries, the identification of individual floc components (e.g., clays, non-clay minerals and bacteria), and characterisation of particle-particle and structural associations across scales. This novel dataset demonstrates the truly complex structure of natural flocs at multiple scales. The integration of multiscale, state-of-the-art instrumentation/techniques offers the potential to generate fundamental new understanding of floc composition, structure and behaviour

Socioeconomic inequalities in food insecurity and malnutrition among under-five children: within and between-group inequalities in Zimbabwe

Background Food insecurity and malnutrition in children are pervasive public health concerns in Zimbabwe. Previous studies only identified determinants of food insecurity and malnutrition with very little efforts done in assessing related inequalities and decomposing the inequalities across household characteristics in Zimbabwe. This study explored socioeconomic inequalities trend in child health using regression decomposition approach to compare within and between group inequalities. Methods The study used Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data sets of 2010\11 and 2015. Food insecurity in under-five children was determined based on the WHO dietary diversity score. Minimum dietary diversity was defined by a cut- off point of > 4 therefore, children with at least 3 of the 13 food groups were defined as food insecure. Malnutrition was assessed using weight for age (both acute and chronic under-nutrition) Z-scores. Children whose weight-for-age Z-score below minus two standard deviations (- 2 SD) from the median were considered malnourished. Concentration curves and indices were computed to understand if malnutrition was dominant among the poor or rich. The study used the Theil index and decomposed the index by population subgroups (place of residence and socioeconomic status). Results Over the study period, malnutrition prevalence increased by 1.03 percentage points, while food insecurity prevalence decreased by 4.35 percentage points. Prevalence of malnutrition and food insecurity increased among poor rural children. Theil indices for nutrition status showed socioeconomic inequality gaps to have widened, while food security status socioeconomic inequality gaps contracted for the period under review. Conclusion The study concluded that unequal distribution of household wealth and residence status play critical roles in driving socioeconomic inequalities in child food insecurity and malnutrition. Therefore, child food insecurity and malnutrition are greatly influenced by where a child lives (rural/urban) and parental wealth

Enabling informed policymaking for chronic kidney disease with a registry: Initiatory steps in Iran and the path forward

Objectives: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) registries have been used for more than half a century. Iran lacks a comprehensive registry to capture data of all CKD patients for an informed care planning and policy making. We aimed to identify the objectives and possible challenges for developing a CKD registry and also to define its minimum data set (MDS) in our healthcare context. Methods: This was a mixed-method study conducted in Iran from fall 2016 till summer 2017. The qualitative part included document analysis and 26 semi-structured interviews with 17 clinicians and managers involved in CKD care. This data was analyzed using the "grounded theory". Then, a modified Delphi survey was conducted. Percentages and mode values were used for analysis. Results: Our participants' leading interest in a CKD registry was centered on providing a coordinated, good-quality care for all CKD stages with particular emphasis to capture events and monitor trends for patients in earlier stages. They highlighted the required financial, technical and human resources as main challenges for a smooth registry implementation. Furthermore, a clinically oriented MDS comprising of 168 elements (with a majority having more than 90% agreement with mode 2) was extracted. It mainly collects demographics, medical history, encounter sessions, diagnostic examinations, medications, vaccinations and mortality data. Conclusions: We reported the initiatory steps taken to establish a CKD registry in an Iranian healthcare context. We focused on the information needs and priorities of our main stakeholders and based our intended registry on addressing those needs. We hope this approach will facilitate its endorsement and advance the efforts for a sustainable, good-quality CKD care

DNA Methylation Profiling of Uniparental Disomy Subjects Provides a Map of Parental Epigenetic Bias in the Human Genome

Genetics of disease, diagnosis and treatmen