34 research outputs found
Tourists as Mobile Gamers: Gamification for Tourism Marketing
Gaming as a cutting-edge concept has recently been used by some innovative tourism sectors as a marketing tool and as a method of deeper engagement with visitors. This research aims to explore the gamification trend and its potential for experience development and tourism marketing. Using a focus group, this paper discusses gaming and tourism, and explores what drives tourists to play games. The results suggest tourists’ game playing motivation is multidimensional. Players tend to start with purposive information seeking, then move on to an intrinsic stimulation. Socialization is also an important dimension. The research demonstrates several implications for tourism marketing
Genome-wide microRNA screening in Nile tilapia reveals pervasive isomiRs’ transcription, sex-biased arm switching and increasing complexity of expression throughout development
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key regulators of gene expression in multicellular organisms. The elucidation of miRNA function and evolution depends on the identification and characterization of miRNA repertoire of strategic organisms, as the fast-evolving cichlid fishes. Using RNA-seq and comparative genomics we carried out an in-depth report of miRNAs in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), an emergent model organism to investigate evo-devo mechanisms. Five hundred known miRNAs and almost one hundred putative novel vertebrate miRNAs have been identified, many of which seem to be teleost-specific, cichlid-specific or tilapia-specific. Abundant miRNA isoforms (isomiRs) were identified with modifications in both 5p and 3p miRNA transcripts. Changes in arm usage (arm switching) of nine miRNAs were detected in early development, adult stage and even between male and female samples. We found an increasing complexity of miRNA expression during ontogenetic development, revealing a remarkable synchronism between the rate of new miRNAs recruitment and morphological changes. Overall, our results enlarge vertebrate miRNA collection and reveal a notable differential ratio of miRNA arms and isoforms influenced by sex and developmental life stage, providing a better picture of the evolutionary and spatiotemporal dynamics of miRNAs
MicroRNA Genes Derived from Repetitive Elements and Expanded by Segmental Duplication Events in Mammalian Genomes
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene
expression by targeting mRNAs for translation repression or mRNA degradation.
Many miRNAs are being discovered and studied, but in most cases their origin,
evolution and function remain unclear. Here, we characterized miRNAs derived
from repetitive elements and miRNA families expanded by segmental duplication
events in the human, rhesus and mouse genomes. We applied a comparative genomics
approach combined with identifying miRNA paralogs in segmental duplication pair
data in a genome-wide study to identify new homologs of human miRNAs in the
rhesus and mouse genomes. Interestingly, using segmental duplication pair data,
we provided credible computational evidence that two miRNA genes are located in
the pseudoautosomal region of the human Y chromosome. We characterized all the
miRNAs whether they were derived from repetitive elements or not and identified
significant differences between the repeat-related miRNAs (RrmiRs) and
non-repeat-derived miRNAs in (1) their location in protein-coding and intergenic
regions in genomes, (2) the minimum free energy of their hairpin structures, and
(3) their conservation in vertebrate genomes. We found some lineage-specific
RrmiR families and three lineage-specific expansion families, and provided
evidence indicating that some RrmiR families formed and expanded during
evolutionary segmental duplication events. We also provided computational and
experimental evidence for the functions of the conservative RrmiR families in
the three species. Together, our results indicate that repetitive elements
contribute to the origin of miRNAs, and large segmental duplication events could
prompt the expansion of some miRNA families, including RrmiR families. Our study
is a valuable contribution to the knowledge of evolution and function of
non-coding region in genome
Identifikation alterstraumatologischer Risikopatienten für eine erhöhte Inhouse-Mortalität nach Indikatorfrakturen der oberen und unteren Extremität mittels Maschinellen Lernens
Modeling the Effect of Time-adjusted Exposure to Hyperoxemia during Intracranial Surgery on Clinical Outcomes - a Preliminary Analysis
MicroRNAs 143 and 150 in whole blood enable detection of T-cell immunoparalysis in sepsis
Abstract Background Currently, no suitable clinical marker for detection of septic immunosuppression is available. We aimed at identifying microRNAs that could serve as biomarkers of T-cell mediated immunoparalysis in sepsis. Methods RNA was isolated from purified T-cells or from whole blood cells obtained from septic patients and healthy volunteers. Differentially regulated miRNAs were identified by miRNA Microarray (n = 7). Validation was performed via qPCR (n = 31). Results T-cells of septic patients revealed characteristics of immunosuppression: Pro-inflammatory miR-150 and miR-342 were downregulated, whereas anti-inflammatory miR-15a, miR-16, miR-93, miR-143, miR-223 and miR-424 were upregulated. Assessment of T-cell effector status showed significantly reduced mRNA-levels of IL2, IL7R and ICOS, and increased levels of IL4, IL10 and TGF-β. The individual extent of immunosuppression differed markedly. MicroRNA-143, − 150 and − 223 independently indicated T-cell immunoparalysis and significantly correlated with patient’s IL7R-/ICOS-expression and SOFA-scores. In whole blood, composed of innate and adaptive immune cells, both traits of immunosuppression and hyperinflammation were detected. Importantly, miR-143 and miR-150 – both predominantly expressed in T-cells – retained strong power of discrimination also in whole blood samples. Conclusions These findings suggest miR-143 and miR-150 as promising markers for detection of T-cell immunosuppression in whole blood and may help to develop new approaches for miRNA-based diagnostic in sepsis
Retro-miRs: novel and functional miRNAs originating from mRNA retrotransposition
Abstract Background Reverse-transcribed gene copies (retrocopies) have emerged as major sources of evolutionary novelty. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small and highly conserved RNA molecules that serve as key post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. The origin and subsequent evolution of miRNAs have been addressed but not fully elucidated. Results In this study, we performed a comprehensive investigation of miRNA origination through retroduplicated mRNA sequences (retro-miRs). We identified 17 retro-miRs that emerged from the mRNA retrocopies. Four of these retro-miRs had de novo origins within retrocopied sequences, while 13 retro-miRNAs were located within exon regions and duplicated along with their host mRNAs. We found that retro-miRs were primate-specific, including five retro-miRs conserved among all primates and two human-specific retro-miRs. All retro-miRs were expressed, with predicted and experimentally validated target genes except miR-10527. Notably, the target genes of retro-miRs are involved in key biological processes such as metabolic processes, cell signaling, and regulation of neurotransmitters in the central nervous system. Additionally, we found that these retro-miRs play a potential oncogenic role in cancer by targeting key cancer genes and are overexpressed in several cancer types, including liver hepatocellular carcinoma and stomach adenocarcinoma. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that mRNA retrotransposition is a key mechanism for the generation of novel miRNAs (retro-miRs) in primates. These retro-miRs are expressed, conserved, have target genes with important cellular functions, and play important roles in cancer