Genome-Wide Transcriptional Reorganization Associated with Senescence-to-Immortality Switch during Human Hepatocellular Carcinogenesis

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Senescence is a permanent proliferation arrest in response to cell stress such as DNA damage. It contributes strongly to tissue aging and serves as a major barrier against tumor development. Most tumor cells are believed to bypass the senescence barrier (become "immortal") by inactivating growth control genes such as TP53 and CDKN2A. They also reactivate telomerase reverse transcriptase. Senescence-to-immortality transition is accompanied by major phenotypic and biochemical changes mediated by genome-wide transcriptional modifications. This appears to happen during hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in patients with liver cirrhosis, however, the accompanying transcriptional changes are virtually unknown. We investigated genome-wide transcriptional changes related to the senescence-to-immortality switch during hepatocellular carcinogenesis. Initially, we performed transcriptome analysis of senescent and immortal clones of Huh7 HCC cell line, and identified genes with significant differential expression to establish a senescence-related gene list. Through the analysis of senescence-related gene expression in different liver tissues we showed that cirrhosis and HCC display expression patterns compatible with senescent and immortal phenotypes, respectively; dysplasia being a transitional state. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that cirrhosis/senescence-associated genes were preferentially expressed in non-tumor tissues, less malignant tumors, and differentiated or senescent cells. In contrast, HCC/immortality genes were up-regulated in tumor tissues, or more malignant tumors and progenitor cells. In HCC tumors and immortal cells genes involved in DNA repair, cell cycle, telomere extension and branched chain amino acid metabolism were up-regulated, whereas genes involved in cell signaling, as well as in drug, lipid, retinoid and glycolytic metabolism were down-regulated. Based on these distinctive gene expression features we developed a 15-gene hepatocellular immortality signature test that discriminated HCC from cirrhosis with high accuracy. Our findings demonstrate that senescence bypass plays a central role in hepatocellular carcinogenesis engendering systematic changes in the transcription of genes regulating DNA repair, proliferation, differentiation and metabolism

How has internet addiction research evolved since the advent of internet gaming disorder? An overview of cyberaddictions from a psychological perspective

During the past two decades, Internet addiction (IA) has been the most commonly used term in research into online activities and their influence on the development of behavioral addictions. The aim of this review is to assess the impact of the concept of Internet gaming disorder (IGD), proposed by the American Psychiatric Association, on the scientific literature regarding IA. It presents a bibliometric analysis of the IA literature starting from the time IGD was first proposed, with the objective of observing and comparing the topics that have arisen during this period among the different IA themes researched. The findings demonstrate a steady evolution, particularly regarding publications related to the general aspects of IA: its clinical component, its prevalence and psychometric measures, the growing interest in the contextual factors promoting this addictive behavior, scientific progress in its conceptualization based on existing theoretical models, and neuropsychological studies. Nevertheless, many of the studies (22 %) focus on specific IA behaviors and show heterogeneity among the cyberaddictions, with online gaming (related to IGD) most common, followed by cybersex and social networking. Although research on the general concept of IA continues, investigators have begun to pay attention to the diverse spectrum of specific cyberaddictions and their psychological components

A Quantitative Study on Optimum Parameters Selection in Adaptive Unsharp Masking Technique for Infrared Images

Infrared image processing has been the focal point of considerable research activity in the last decade mainly because of its wide application areas in security and defense. With the aid of an existing image enhancement technique, we propose an optimum parameters selection procedure which delivers better performance in sharpness and contrast adjustment for the detection of targets in interest in objective quality metrics. Hence, proposed method ensures that the edges of the targets in infrared images are sharper and that the quality of contrast adjustment has its optimum level with minimum error

Immobilization Of Laccase Onto A Porous Nanocomposite: Application For Textile Dye Degradation

Poly(MA-alt-MVE)-g-PLA/ODA-MMT nanocomposite was prepared by self-catalytic interlamellar graft copolymerization of L-lactic acid (LA) onto poly(maleic anhydride-alt-methyl vinyl ether) copolymer in the presence of octadecyl amine-montmorillonite (ODA-MMT) organoclay. FTIR, H-1 (C-13) NMR, XRD, and SEM-TEM were utilized for characterizing the resultant nanocomposite. Lactase from Trametes versicolor was immobilized onto the prepared nanocomposite by adsorption or covalent coupling. Decolorization of Reactive Red 3 from aqueous solution by laccase immobilized on the nanocomposite was studied in different conditions (pH, temperature, dye concentration, and reaction time) to investigate the decolorization activity with repeated use and storage. The results indicated that more than 77% of the activity of laccase immobilized systems was retained at the end of 10 cycles. The final decolorization capacity of the immobilized laccase was significantly higher (65%) than that of free laccase (33%) in the chosen optimized conditions (pH 5, 20 degrees C, 0.05 mg/mL laccase concentration, and 90 min).WoSScopu