Inter-individual methylation variation and its relationship with evolution and cancer

Background: In recent years, epigenetics has gained interest among scientists involved in different research areas (e.g. cancer, molecular medicine, behavior, development). It is now clear that the environment influences the methylome by promoting methylation variation with possible effects on both healthy and disease-related phenotypes. I studied inter-individual DNA methylation variation in healthy individuals and in cancer tissues to identify possible factors influencing this variation. Results: Using the EPIC-Italy dataset (1 tissue, 83 males and 83 age-matched healthy females), I analyzed methylation variation values in relation to CpG cluster density and I found a strong association between them (p-value < 2.2*10-16). Furthermore, I found that genes related to CpGs with high methylation variation values were enriched for immunological pathways; instead, those associated with low variation were enriched for pathways related to basic cellular functions. Finally, I found an association between methylation variation values and signals of both ancient (p-value < 2.2*10-16) and recent selective pressure (p-value < 1*10-4). Furthermore, using TCGA datasets (4 healthy and cancer tissues), I analyzed methylation variation correlation in several tissues and in different conditions. I found that cancer tissues show higher methylation variation than healthy tissues (p-value < 2.2*10-16). Finally, I used a linear regression model to calculate Differentially Methylated CpGs (DM-CpGs) and I found that DM-CpGs always display higher inter-individual methylation variation especially in cancer (p-value < 2.2*10-16). Conclusion: These results indicate the presence in healthy subjects of an intricate interplay between genetics, epigenetics and evolutionary constraints that influence the inter-individual methylation variation. Furthermore, my results show an increase of inter-individual variation in cancer

Does make-up make you feel smarter? The "lipstick effect" extended to academic achievement.

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that higher levels of self-esteem are associated with better academic performance. However, there is no evidence if make-up can indirectly influence academic achievement and cognition through self-esteem. In this study, we examined the possibility that make-up can affect academic performance by asking 186 female undergraduate students to take a simulated university examination. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups, which consisted of wearing make-up, listening to positive music, and face coloring. Results showed that female students who had put make-up on received higher grades compared to those who did not. In addition, these students outperformed students with positive mood only and students who were engaged in a control activity. These findings underline the necessity of adopting a multidimensional approach to learning and memory and attest to the importance of studying further the interaction between physical self-esteem and cosmetics in cognition

ALEAS: a tutoring system for teaching and assessing statistical knowledge

Over the years, several studies have shown the relevance of one-to-one compared to one-to-many tutoring, shedding light on the need for technology-based platforms to assist traditional learning methodologies. Therefore, in recent years, tutoring systems that collect and analyse responses during the user interaction for an automated assessment and profiling were developed as a new standard to improve the learning out- come. In this framework, the tutoring system Adaptive LEArning system for Statistics (ALEAS) is aimed at providing an adaptive assessment of undergraduate students’ statistical abilities enrolled in social and human sciences courses. ALEAS is developed in the contest of the ERAS- MUS+ Project (KA+ 2018-1-IT02-KA203-048519). The article describes the ALEAS workflow; in particular, it focuses on the students’ categorisation according to their abilities. The student follows a learning process defined according to the Knowledge Space Theory, and she/he is classified at the end of each learning unit. The proposed classification method is based on the multidimensional latent class item response theory, where the dimensions are defined according to the Dublin learning dimensions. In this work, results from a simulation study support our approach’s effectiveness and encourage its future use with students

The Management of Psychomotor Agitation Associated with Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder. A Brief Review

The early and correct assessment of psychomotor agitation (PMA) is essential to ensure prompt intervention by healthcare professionals to improve the patient's condition, protect healthcare staff, and facilitate future management. Proper training for recognizing and managing agitation in all care settings is desirable to improve patient outcomes. The best approach is one that is ethical, non-invasive, and respectful of the patient's dignity. When deemed necessary, pharmacological interventions must be administered rapidly and avoid producing an excessive state of sedation, except in cases of severe and imminent danger to the patient or others. The purpose of this brief review is to raise awareness about best practices for the management of PMA in emergency care situations and consider the role of new pharmacological interventions in patients with agitation associated with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia

The Management of Psychomotor Agitation Associated with Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder: A Brief Review

The early and correct assessment of psychomotor agitation (PMA) is essential to ensure prompt intervention by healthcare professionals to improve the patient’s condition, protect healthcare staff, and facilitate future management. Proper training for recognizing and managing agitation in all care settings is desirable to improve patient outcomes. The best approach is one that is ethical, non-invasive, and respectful of the patient’s dignity. When deemed necessary, pharmacological interventions must be administered rapidly and avoid producing an excessive state of sedation, except in cases of severe and imminent danger to the patient or others. The purpose of this brief review is to raise awareness about best practices for the management of PMA in emergency care situations and consider the role of new pharmacological interventions in patients with agitation associated with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia

The Relation between Self-Reported Empathy and Motor Identification with Imagined Agents

Background:In a previous study, we found that when required to imagine another person performing an action, participants reported a higher correspondence between their own handedness and the hand used by the imagined person when the agent was seen from the back compared to when the agent was seen from the front. This result was explained as evidence of a greater involvement of motor areas in the back-view perspective, possibly indicating a greater proneness to put oneself in the agent's shoes in such a condition. In turn, the proneness to put oneself in another's shoes could also be considered as a cue of greater identification with the other, that is a form of empathy. If this is the case, the proportion of lateral matches vs mismatches should be different for subjects with high and low self-reported empathy. In the present study, we aimed at testing this hypothesis.Methodology/Principal Findings:Participants were required to imagine a person performing a single manual action in a back view and to indicate the hand used by the imagined person during movement execution. Consistent with our hypothesis, the proportion of matching between the handedness of participants and the handedness of agents imagined was higher for participants scoring high in a self-report measure of empathy. Importantly, this relationship was specific for females.Conclusions/Significance:At least for females, our data seem to corroborate the idea of a link between self-reported empathy and motor identification with imagined agents. This sex-specific result is consistent with neuroimaging studies indicating a stronger involvement of action representations during emotional and empathic processing in females than in males. In sum, our findings underline the possibility of employing behavioral research as a test-bed for theories deriving from functional studies suggesting a link between empathic processing and the activation of motor-related areas

Separase prevents genomic instability by controlling replication fork speed

Proper chromosome segregation is crucial for preserving genomic integrity, and errors in this process cause chromosome mis-segregation, which may contribute to cancer development. Sister chromatid separation is triggered by Separase, an evolutionary conserved protease that cleaves the cohesin complex, allowing the dissolution of sister chromatid cohesion. Here we provide evidence that Separase participates in genomic stability maintenance by controlling replication fork speed. We found that Separase interacted with the replication licensing factors MCM2-7, and genome-wide data showed that Separase co-localized with MCM complex and cohesin. Unexpectedly, the depletion of Separase increased the fork velocity about 1.5-fold and caused a strong acetylation of cohesin's SMC3 subunit and altered checkpoint response. Notably, Separase silencing triggered genomic instability in both HeLa and human primary fibroblast cells. Our results show a novel mechanism for fork progression mediated by Separase and thus the basis for genomic instability associated with tumorigenesis

A new-concept gamma calorimeter at ELI-NP

ELI-NP is an European Research Infrastructure that will provide a monochromatic,high brilliance gamma beam with tunable energy up to 19.5 MeV. The time structure of the beamconsists of 32 high intensity gamma bunches separated by a time interval of 16 ns and deliveredat a repetition rate of 100 Hz. In order to match such unprecedented beam specifications, specificdevices and techniques have been developed to measure and monitor the beam parameters duringthe commissioning and the operational phase. This paper presents an overview of the gammabeam characterization system, with particular focus on a new-concept sampling calorimeter madeof silicon detectors and polyethylene absorbers

Separase prevents genomic instability by controlling replication fork speed

Proper chromosome segregation is crucial for preserving genomic integrity, and errors in this process cause chromosome mis-segregation, which may contribute to cancer development. Sister chromatid separation is triggered by Separase, an evolutionary conserved protease that cleaves the cohesin complex, allowing the dissolution of sister chromatid cohesion. Here we provide evidence that Separase participates in genomic stability maintenance by controlling replication fork speed. We found that Separase interacted with the replication licensing factors MCM2-7, and genome-wide data showed that Separase co-localized with MCM complex and cohesin. Unexpectedly, the depletion of Separase increased the fork velocity about 1.5-fold and caused a strong acetylation of cohesin's SMC3 subunit and altered checkpoint response. Notably, Separase silencing triggered genomic instability in both HeLa and human primary fibroblast cells. Our results show a novel mechanism for fork progression mediated by Separase and thus the basis for genomic instability associated with tumorigenesis

OXTR Gene DNA Methylation Levels Are Associated with Discounting Behavior with Untrustworthy Proposers

Individual differences in temporal and probabilistic discounting are associated with a wide range of life outcomes in literature. Traditional approaches have focused on impulsiveness and cognitive control skills, on goal-oriented personality traits as well as on the psychological perception of time. More recently, literature started to consider the role of social and contextual factors in discounting behavior. Between others, higher generalized trust in human beings and specific trust in people who will deliver the future/probabilistic rewards have been related to a stronger willingness to wait and to assume risk. Moreover, the tendency to trust others has been associated with the oxytocin receptor gene regulation that can be modified by life experiences. In this perspective, we hypothesized that differences in the tendency to wait and to take risks for a more desirable reward according to the proposer’s trustworthiness could be related to a different level of DNA methylation at the oxytocin receptor gene. Findings confirmed that participants are less willing to wait and to risk when the proposer is considered highly untrustworthy and revealed how higher oxytocin receptor gene DNA methylation is associated with a stronger effect due to the presence of an untrustworthy proposer. Limits and future directions are outlined