Biophysical characterisation of human LincRNA-p21 sense and antisense Alu inverted repeats

Open access article. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0) appliesHuman Long Intergenic Noncoding RNA-p21 (LincRNA-p21) is a regulatory noncoding RNA that plays an important role in promoting apoptosis. LincRNA-p21 is also critical in down-regulating many p53 target genes through its interaction with a p53 repressive complex. The interaction between LincRNA-p21 and the repressive complex is likely dependent on the RNA tertiary structure. Previous studies have determined the two-dimensional secondary structures of the sense and antisense human LincRNA-p21 AluSx1 IRs using SHAPE. However, there were no insights into its three-dimensional structure. Therefore, we in vitro transcribed the sense and antisense regions of LincRNA-p21 AluSx1 Inverted Repeats (IRs) and performed analytical ultracentrifugation, size exclusion chromatography, light scattering, and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies. Based on these studies, we determined low-resolution, three-dimensional structures of sense and antisense LincRNA-p21. By adapting previously known two-dimensional information, we calculated their sense and antisense high-resolution models and determined that they agree with the low-resolution structures determined using SAXS. Thus, our integrated approach provides insights into the structure of LincRNA-p21 Alu IRs. Our study also offers a viable pipeline for combining the secondary structure information with biophysical and computational studies to obtain high-resolution atomistic models for long noncoding RNAs.Ye

Prevention of eating disorders: A systematic review of randomized, controlled trials

Objective: This systematic review evaluated the efficacy of universal, selective, and indicated eating disorder prevention. Method: A systematic literature search was conducted in Medline, PsycINFO, Embase, Scopus, and the Cochrane Collaboration Library databases to January 2016. Studies were included if they were randomized, controlled trials (RCT) and tested an eating disorder prevention program. We retrieved 13 RCTs of universal prevention (N = 3,989 participants, 55% female, M age = 13.0 years), 85 RCTs of selective prevention (N = 11,949 participants, 99% female, M age = 17.6 years), and 8 RCTs of indicated prevention (N = 510 participants, 100% female, M age = 20.1 years). Meta-analysis was performed with selective prevention trials. As there were a limited number of universal and indicated trials, narrative synthesis was conducted. Results: Media literacy had the most support for universal prevention. Most universal approaches showed significant modest effects on risk factors. Dissonance-based was the best supported approach for selective prevention. Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), a healthy weight program, media literacy, and psychoeducation, were also effective for selective prevention and effects were maintained at follow-up. CBT was supported for indicated prevention and effects were maintained at follow-up. Discussion: The modest effects for universal prevention were likely due to floor effects. The evidence for selective prevention suggests that empirically supported approaches should be disseminated on a wider basis. Our findings suggest CBT should be offered for indicated populations. Overall, results suggest efficacy of several prevention programs for reducing risk for eating disorders, and that wider dissemination is required