DNA strand breaks induced by nuclear hijacking of neuronal NOS as an anti-cancer effect of 2-methoxyestradiol

2-Methoxyestradiol (2-ME) is a physiological metabolite of 17β-estradiol. At pharmacological concentrations, 2-ME inhibits colon, breast and lung cancer in tumor models. Here we investigated the effect of physiologically relevant concentrations of 2-ME in osteosarcoma cell model. We demonstrated that 2-ME increased nuclear localization of neuronal nitric oxide synthase, resulting in nitro-oxidative DNA damage. This in turn caused cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in osteosarcoma cells. We suggest that 2-ME is a naturally occurring hormone with potential anti-cancer properties

Distinctive expansion of potential virulence genes in the genome of the oomycete fish pathogen Saprolegnia parasitica.

Oomycetes in the class Saprolegniomycetidae of the Eukaryotic kingdom Stramenopila have evolved as severe pathogens of amphibians, crustaceans, fish and insects, resulting in major losses in aquaculture and damage to aquatic ecosystems. We have sequenced the 63 Mb genome of the fresh water fish pathogen, Saprolegnia parasitica. Approximately 1/3 of the assembled genome exhibits loss of heterozygosity, indicating an efficient mechanism for revealing new variation. Comparison of S. parasitica with plant pathogenic oomycetes suggests that during evolution the host cellular environment has driven distinct patterns of gene expansion and loss in the genomes of plant and animal pathogens. S. parasitica possesses one of the largest repertoires of proteases (270) among eukaryotes that are deployed in waves at different points during infection as determined from RNA-Seq data. In contrast, despite being capable of living saprotrophically, parasitism has led to loss of inorganic nitrogen and sulfur assimilation pathways, strikingly similar to losses in obligate plant pathogenic oomycetes and fungi. The large gene families that are hallmarks of plant pathogenic oomycetes such as Phytophthora appear to be lacking in S. parasitica, including those encoding RXLR effectors, Crinkler's, and Necrosis Inducing-Like Proteins (NLP). S. parasitica also has a very large kinome of 543 kinases, 10% of which is induced upon infection. Moreover, S. parasitica encodes several genes typical of animals or animal-pathogens and lacking from other oomycetes, including disintegrins and galactose-binding lectins, whose expression and evolutionary origins implicate horizontal gene transfer in the evolution of animal pathogenesis in S. parasitica

A computational study on outliers in world music

The comparative analysis of world music cultures has been the focus of several ethnomusicological studies in the last century. With the advances of Music Information Retrieval and the increased accessibility of sound archives, large-scale analysis of world music with computational tools is today feasible. We investigate music similarity in a corpus of 8200 recordings of folk and traditional music from 137 countries around the world. In particular, we aim to identify music recordings that are most distinct compared to the rest of our corpus. We refer to these recordings as ‘outliers’. We use signal processing tools to extract music information from audio recordings, data mining to quantify similarity and detect outliers, and spatial statistics to account for geographical correlation. Our findings suggest that Botswana is the country with the most distinct recordings in the corpus and China is the country with the most distinct recordings when considering spatial correlation. Our analysis includes a comparison of musical attributes and styles that contribute to the ‘uniqueness’ of the music of each country

Changes in yielding potatoes in relation to their concentration in crop rotation, cultivars and forecrops

The investigation covers a three-year (1993-1995) period of many years field experiments with six-coarse crop rotations with different proportions of potatoes: fodder cereal crop rotation 16,7%; potato-cereal crop rotation 33,3%; and potato crop rotation 50,0% G. rostochiensis, Ro 1 non-resistant cvs. Bronka and Lena and resistant cvs. Fala and Ibis were used. Potatoes followed both non-cereal and cereal forecrops. A static experiment has been continued since 1987 on a grey-brown podsolic soil, developed from sandy loam on fine sandy soil, rich in available nutrients. A negative reaction of potatoes to their percentage increase in crop rotation was found, higher in non-resistant than in resistant cultivars to G. rostochiensis. In the fodder-cereal rotation, after lucerne with red clover, all cultivars produced yields which approximated each other, averaging 38,6 t/ha. A drop in yields in non-resistant cultivars was 13,3% in the potato-cereal rotation and 20,2% in the potato rotation, and in resistant cultivars it was 1,1% and in non-resistentl2,0%, respectively. There was also a relationship between yield quality, population of G. rostochiensis and cultivars

Small RNAs, Big Diseases

The past two decades have seen extensive research done to pinpoint the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) that have led to discovering thousands of miRNAs in humans. It is not, therefore, surprising to see many of them implicated in a number of common as well as rare human diseases. In this review article, we summarize the progress in our understanding of miRNA-related research in conjunction with different types of cancers and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as their potential in generating more reliable diagnostic and therapeutic approaches

Porównanie efektywności uprawy jęczmienia ozimego i jarego w stanowisku po ziemniaku

W pracy podjęto próbę określenia i porównania efektywności ekonomicznej uprawy jęczmienia ozimego i jarego w rejonie Ostródy (województwo warmińsko- mazurskie). Analizę oparto na wynikach wieloletniego doświadczenia płodozmianowego, z uwzględnieniem poziomu cen zbóż z II kwartału 2003 r. Zysk z jednostki powierzchni był o 88,7% wyższy w przypadku jęczmienia ozimego niż jarego. Wskaźnik opłacalności produkcji jęczmienia ozimego wynosił 1,70, a jarego – 1,30. Nieco mniejsze dysproporcje charakteryzowały wskaźnik efektywności energetycznej. Parametr ten obliczony dla jęczmienia ozimego wynosił 2,94, natomiast dla jęczmienia jarego – 2,37. Analiza porównawcza produkcji jęczmienia ozimego i jarego w stanowisku po ziemniaku wskazuje na wyższą efektywność energetyczną oraz korzystniejsze wyniki ekonomiczne uzyskane z uprawy jęczmienia ozimego niż jarego.This paper attempts at defining and comparing winter and spring barley economic effectiveness. The analysis was based on long-term crop rotation experiment and grain prices in the second quarter of 2003. The profits obtained per area unit were 88.7% higher for winter barley. The profitability ratio for winter barley reached 1.70; and for spring barley – 1.3. Smaller differences were found for energy efficiency index; 2.94 for winter barley and 2.37 for spring barley. The comparative analysis of winter and spring barley production on the stand after potato shows a higher energy efficiency and more favourable economic results for winter barley

Subjective well-being among psychotherapists during the coronavirus disease pandemic: A cross-cultural survey from 12 European countries

Objective The aim of this study to examine the amount of the total variance of the subjective well-being (SWB) of psychotherapists from 12 European countries explained by between-country vs. between-person differences regarding its cognitive (life satisfaction) and affective components (positive affect [PA] and negative affect [NA]). Second, we explored a link between the SWB and their personal (self-efficacy) and social resources (social support) after controlling for sociodemographics, work characteristics, and COVID-19-related distress. Methods In total, 2915 psychotherapists from 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Great Britain, Serbia, Spain, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Switzerland) participated in this study. The participants completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short Form (I-PANAS-SF), the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Results Cognitive well-being (CWB; satisfaction with life) was a more country-dependent component of SWB than affective well-being (AWB). Consequently, at the individual level, significant correlates were found only for AWB but not for CWB. Higher AWB was linked to being female, older age, higher weekly workload, and lower COVID-19-related distress. Self-efficacy and social support explained AWB only, including their main effects and the moderating effect of self-efficacy. Conclusions The results highlight more individual characteristics of AWB compared to CWB, with a more critical role of low self-efficacy for the link between social support and PA rather than NA. This finding suggests the need for greater self-care among psychotherapists with regard to their AWB and the more complex conditions underlying their CWB