Chd1 protects genome integrity at promoters to sustain hypertranscription in embryonic stem cells

Stem and progenitor cells undergo a global elevation of nascent transcription, or hyper- transcription, during key developmental transitions involving rapid cell proliferation. The chromatin remodeler Chd1 mediates hypertranscription in pluripotent cells but its mechanism of action remains poorly understood. Here we report a novel role for Chd1 in protecting genome integrity at promoter regions by preventing DNA double-stranded break (DSB) accumulation in ES cells. Chd1 interacts with several DNA repair factors including Atm, Parp1, Kap1 and Topoisomerase 2βand its absence leads to an accumulation of DSBs at Chd1-bound Pol II-transcribed genes and rDNA. Genes prone to DNA breaks in Chd1 KO ES cells are longer genes with GC-rich promoters, a more labile nucleosomal structure and roles in chromatin regulation, transcription and signaling. These results reveal a vulnerability of hypertranscribing stem cells to accumulation of endogenous DNA breaks, with important implications for developmental and cancer biology

Orally Active Multi-Functional Antioxidants Delay Cataract Formation in Streptozotocin (Type 1) Diabetic and Gamma-Irradiated Rats

Age-related cataract is a worldwide health care problem whose progression has been linked to oxidative stress and the accumulation of redox-active metals. Since there is no specific animal model for human age-related cataract, multiple animal models must be used to evaluate potential therapies that may delay and/or prevent cataract formation.Proof of concept studies were conducted to evaluate 4-(5-hydroxypyrimidin-2-yl)-N,N-dimethyl-3,5-dioxopiperazine-1-sulfonamide (compound 4) and 4-(5-hydroxy-4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)-N,N-dimethyl-3,5-dioxopiperazine-1-sulfonamide (compound 8), multi-functional antioxidants that can independently chelate redox metals and quench free radicals, on their ability to delay the progression of diabetic "sugar" cataracts and gamma radiation-induced cataracts. Prior to 15 Gy of whole head irradiation, select groups of Long Evans rats received either diet containing compound 4 or 8, or a single i.p. injection of panthethine, a radioprotective agent. Compared to untreated, irradiated rats, treatment with pantethine, 4 and 8 delayed initial lens changes by 4, 47, and 38 days, respectively, and the average formation of posterior subcapsular opacities by 23, 53 and 58 days, respectively. In the second study, select groups of diabetic Sprague Dawley rats were administered chow containing compounds 4, 8 or the aldose reductase inhibitor AL1576. As anticipated, treatment with AL1576 prevented cataract by inhibiting sorbitol formation in the lens. However, compared to untreated rats, compounds 4 and 8 delayed vacuole formation by 20 days and 12 days, respectively, and cortical cataract formation by 8 and 3 days, respectively, without reducing lenticular sorbitol. Using in vitro lens culture in 30 mM xylose to model diabetic "sugar" cataract formation, western blots confirmed that multi-functional antioxidants reduced endoplasmic reticulum stress.Multi-functional antioxidants delayed cataract formation in two diverse rat models. These studies provide a proof of concept that a general cataract treatment focused on reducing oxidative stress instead of a specific mechanism of cataractogenesis can be developed

The impact of transposable element activity on therapeutically relevant human stem cells

Human stem cells harbor significant potential for basic and clinical translational research as well as regenerative medicine. Currently ~ 3000 adult and ~ 30 pluripotent stem cell-based, interventional clinical trials are ongoing worldwide, and numbers are increasing continuously. Although stem cells are promising cell sources to treat a wide range of human diseases, there are also concerns regarding potential risks associated with their clinical use, including genomic instability and tumorigenesis concerns. Thus, a deeper understanding of the factors and molecular mechanisms contributing to stem cell genome stability are a prerequisite to harnessing their therapeutic potential for degenerative diseases. Chemical and physical factors are known to influence the stability of stem cell genomes, together with random mutations and Copy Number Variants (CNVs) that accumulated in cultured human stem cells. Here we review the activity of endogenous transposable elements (TEs) in human multipotent and pluripotent stem cells, and the consequences of their mobility for genomic integrity and host gene expression. We describe transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms antagonizing the spread of TEs in the human genome, and highlight those that are more prevalent in multipotent and pluripotent stem cells. Notably, TEs do not only represent a source of mutations/CNVs in genomes, but are also often harnessed as tools to engineer the stem cell genome; thus, we also describe and discuss the most widely applied transposon-based tools and highlight the most relevant areas of their biomedical applications in stem cells. Taken together, this review will contribute to the assessment of the risk that endogenous TE activity and the application of genetically engineered TEs constitute for the biosafety of stem cells to be used for substitutive and regenerative cell therapiesS.R.H. and P.T.R. are funded by the Government of Spain (MINECO, RYC-2016- 21395 and SAF2015–71589-P [S.R.H.]; PEJ-2014-A-31985 and SAF2015–71589- P [P.T.R.]). GGS is supported by a grant from the Ministry of Health of the Federal Republic of Germany (FKZ2518FSB403)

Diabetic ketoacidosis

Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is the most common acute hyperglycaemic emergency in people with diabetes mellitus. A diagnosis of DKA is confirmed when all of the three criteria are present — ‘D’, either elevated blood glucose levels or a family history of diabetes mellitus; ‘K’, the presence of high urinary or blood ketoacids; and ‘A’, a high anion gap metabolic acidosis. Early diagnosis and management are paramount to improve patient outcomes. The mainstays of treatment include restoration of circulating volume, insulin therapy, electrolyte replacement and treatment of any underlying precipitating event. Without optimal treatment, DKA remains a condition with appreciable, although largely preventable, morbidity and mortality. In this Primer, we discuss the epidemiology, pathogenesis, risk factors and diagnosis of DKA and provide practical recommendations for the management of DKA in adults and children

Adenoid hypertrophy in adults: Clinical and morphological characteristics

This study compared the aetiology and pathological characteristics of adult and childhood adenoid hypertrophy (AH). Clinical and morphological features and accompanying otolaryngological pathologies were recorded in 40 adults and 23 children undergoing adenoidectomy for obstructive AH. Both AH forms were similar in terms of symptomatology and associated inflammations. There were, however, significant differences in otitis media rate, with effusion and dullness, and retraction in the eardrum both more prevalent in childhood AH. Adult AH was associated with nasal septum deviation in 25.0% of patients. Histopathological features of adenoidal lymphoid tissue were dissimilar in the two groups: numerous lymph follicles with prominent germinal centres was the chief finding in childhood adenoids, whereas adult adenoids showed chronic inflammatory cell infiltration and secondary changes (e.g. squamous metaplasia). These results underline the importance of considering AH as a cause or contributing factor in nasal obstruction and related pathologies in adults and supports the theory that it represents a long-standing inflammatory process rather than being a novel clinical entity

polynuclear metal complexes containing azacrown moieties

The novel (E,E)-dioxime,7,8-bis(hydroxyimino)-1,14-bis(monoaza[8]crown-6)-benzo[f]-4,11-dioxa-1,14-diazadecane[7,8-g]quinoxaline (H2L), has been synthesized by the reaction of 6,7-diamino-1,12-bis(monoaza[18]crown-6)benzo[f]-4,9-dioxa-1,12-diazadecane (4) which has been prepared by the reduction of 6,7-dinitro-1,12-bis(mono-aza[18]crown-6)benzo[f]-4,9-dioxa-1,12-diazdecane (3) and cyanogendi-N-oxide. Mononuclear Ni-II and Cu-II complexes of H2L have a metal:ligand ratio of 1:2 and the ligand coordinates through two hydroxyimino nitrogen atoms, as do most of the (E,E)-dioximes. The hydrogen-bridged Ni-II was converted into its BF2+ capped anologue by the reaction with BF3 center dot Et2O. The reaction of the Cu-II complex with 2,2'-dipyridyl as an end-cap ligand gave the homotrinuclear complex. Structures for the ligand and its complexes are proposed in accordance with elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility measurements, H-1, C-13-n.m.r, IR and MS spectral data

BOUN-NKU in mediaeval 2017 emotional impact of movies task

2017 Multimedia Benchmark Workshop, MediaEval 2017 -- 13 September 2017 through 15 September 2017 -- -- 131670In this paper, we present our approach for the Emotional Impact of Movies task of Mediaeval 2017 Challenge, involving multimodal fusion for predicting arousal and valence for movie clips. In our system, we have two pipelines. In the first one, we extracted audio/visual features, and used a combination of PCA, Fisher vector encoding, feature selection, and extreme learning machine classifiers. In the second one, we focused on the classifiers, rather than on feature selection. © 2017 Author/owner(s).BAP 16A01P4; Bilim AkademisiThis work is supported by Bogazici University Project BAP 16A01P4 and by the BAGEP Award of the Science Academy