Y RNA: an overview of their role as potential biomarkers and molecular targets in human cancers

Y RNA are a class of small non-coding RNA that are largely conserved. Although their discovery was almost 40 years ago, their function is still under investigation. This is evident in cancer biology, where their role was first studied just a dozen years ago. Since then, only a few contributions were published, mostly scattered across different tumor types and, in some cases, also suffering from methodological limitations. Nonetheless, these sparse data may be used to make some estimations and suggest routes to better understand the role of Y RNA in cancer formation and characterization. Here we summarize the current knowledge about Y RNA in multiple types of cancer, also including a paragraph about tumors that might be included in this list in the future, if more evidence becomes available. The picture arising indicates that Y RNA might be useful in tumor characterization, also relying on non-invasive methods, such as the analysis of the content of extracellular vesicles (EV) that are retrieved from blood plasma and other bodily fluids. Due to the established role of Y RNA in DNA replication, it is possible to hypothesize their therapeutic targeting to inhibit cell proliferation in oncological patients

Non-coding RNAs and endometrial cancer

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are involved in the regulation of cell metabolism and neoplastic transformation. Recent studies have tried to clarify the significance of these information carriers in the genesis and progression of various cancers and their use as biomarkers for the disease; possible targets for the inhibition of growth and invasion by the neoplastic cells have been suggested. The significance of ncRNAs in lung cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, and melanoma has been amply investigated with important results. Recently, the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) has also been included in cancer studies. Studies on the relation between endometrial cancer (EC) and ncRNAs, such as small ncRNAs or micro RNAs (miRNAs), transfer RNAs (tRNAs), ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), antisense RNAs (asRNAs), small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs), Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs), lncRNAs, and long intergenic ncRNAs (lincRNAs) have been published. The recent literature produced in the last three years was extracted from PubMed by two independent readers, which was then selected for the possible relation between ncRNAs, oncogenesis in general, and EC in particular

Preparedness and response to the covid-19 emergency: Experience from the teaching hospital of Pisa, Italy

In Italy, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emergency took hold in Lombardy and Veneto at the end of February 2020 and spread unevenly among the other regions in the following weeks. In Tuscany, the progressive increase of hospitalized COVID-19 patients required the set-up of a regional task force to prepare for and effectively respond to the emergency. In this case report, we aim to describe the key elements that have been identified and implemented in our center, a 1082-bed hospital located in the Pisa district, to rapidly respond to the COVID-19 outbreak in order to guarantee safety of patients and healthcare workers

An integrated approach to extra-urban crew and vehicle scheduling

Vehicle scheduling and crew scheduling are the two major steps in public mass transit management. Their integration provides great opportunities for improving efficiency, but the size of the integrated problem poses a challenge. This is the first paper addressing integration in the context of ex-urban mass transit, where most is needed, due to few interconnections among lines. A Lagrangean based heuristic is proposed and computational results on real life instances are presented

Watching a movie or going for a walk? Testing different Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) occupancy monitoring schemes

Size and distribution of wild populations are key elements in determining their conservation status, especially for vulnerable and elusive species, therefore choosing the proper monitoring method is fundamental to estimate population indices and consequently address conservation actions. In this study we worked in Rakhine State (Myanmar) applying and comparing two occupancy-based sampling methods to evaluate Sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) presence: camera traps and sign survey (line transects). Moreover to apply occupancy models it is necessary to establish length (time or space) of sampling occasion, therefore we tested for both methodologies four different sampling intensities to explore if results are affected by different temporal or spatial replicates. Both occupancy and detectability values varied between the two methods: we found lower values from camera traps analysis with no differences between different sampling occasions/segment lengths. Sign survey showed higher values for both parameters but changes in spatial segment lengths (line transects) affects occupancy estimates. Overall camera traps represent a more appropriate tool to study Sun bears in tropical forests as in our study area. Our results provide useful information to plan an appropriate monitoring scheme for bears in tropical forests