The Prognostic Significance of Whole Blood Global and Specific DNA Methylation Levels in Gastric Adenocarcinoma

Epigenetics, particularly DNA methylation, has recently been elucidated as important in gastric cancer (GC) initiation and progression. We investigated the clinical and prognostic importance of whole blood global and site-specific DNA methylation in GC. tests. Survival analyses were carried out using the Kaplan-Meier method and log rank test. A backward conditional Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify independent predictors of survival. = 0.02) respectively.Analysis of global and site-specific DNA methylation in peripheral blood by pyrosequencing provides quantitative DNA methylation values that may serve as important prognostic indicators

Scholarly publishing depends on peer reviewers

The peer-review crisis is posing a risk to the scholarly peer-reviewed journal system. Journals have to ask many potential peer reviewers to obtain a minimum acceptable number of peers accepting reviewing a manuscript. Several solutions have been suggested to overcome this shortage. From reimbursing for the job, to eliminating pre- publication reviews, one cannot predict which is more dangerous for the future of scholarly publishing. And, why not acknowledging their contribution to the final version of the article published? PubMed created two categories of contributors: authors [AU] and collaborators [IR]. Why not a third category for the peer-reviewer

Scholarly publishing depends on peer reviewers

The peer-review crisis is posing a risk to the scholarly peer-reviewed journal system. Journals have to ask many potential peer reviewers to obtain a minimum acceptable number of peers accepting reviewing a manuscript. Several solutions have been suggested to overcome this shortage. From reimbursing for the job, to eliminating pre-publication reviews, one cannot predict which is more dangerous for the future of scholarly publishing. And, why not acknowledging their contribution to the final version of the article published? PubMed created two categories of contributors: authors [AU] and collaborators [IR]. Why not a third category for the peer-reviewer?Scopu

Experimental investigation of shrinkage and microstructural properties of date fruits at three solar drying methods

The effect of solar drying methods on shrinkage and the corresponding influence on microstructural changes of dates at three ripening stages (khalal, rutab and tamr) were investigated and evaluated shrinkage models that are best describing the shrinkage behavior. Drying was accomplished by forced convective solar dryer, greenhouse tunnel dryer and open sun drying. It was observed that, the greenhouse tunnel dryer had 37, 38 and 38% lower drying time for khalal, rutab and tamr stage dates, respectively compared to open sun drying, whereas the drying time was lower by 15, 29 and 30%, respectively in forced convective solar dryer. The drying methods and ripening stages had significant effect on shrinkage attributes of dates. Dates dried in the forced convective solar dryer had the lowest percentage of shrinkage in length (7–9%), diameter (10–27%) and volume (25–51%) at the three ripening stages followed by greenhouse tunnel dryer (7–13%, 12–27% and 29–53%, respectively) and open sun drying (8–13%, 17–32% and 37–60%, respectively). The quadratic equation was proposed as the best model to describe the volumetric shrinkage of dates as a function of moisture content or moisture ratio at the three ripening stages for all the three drying methods. Microstructural analysis of date tissue revealed that forced convective solar dryer had the least structural deformation at the three ripening stages. Overall, forced convective solar dryer produced the best quality of dried dates