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Migraine is a highly prevalent disease worldwide, imposing enormous clinical and economic burdens on individuals and societies. Current treatments exhibit limited efficacy and acceptability, highlighting the need for more effective and safety prophylactic approaches, including the use of nutraceuticals for migraine treatment. Migraine involves interactions within the central and peripheral nervous systems, with significant activation and sensitization of the trigeminovascular system (TVS) in pain generation and transmission. The condition is influenced by genetic predispositions and environmental factors, leading to altered sensory processing. The neuroinflammatory response is increasingly recognized as a key event underpinning the pathophysiology of migraine, involving a complex neuro-glio-vascular interplay. This interplay is partially mediated by neuropeptides such as calcitonin gene receptor peptide (CGRP), pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) and/or cortical spreading depression (CSD) and involves oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, nucleotide-binding domain-like receptor family pyrin domain containing-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome formation, activated microglia, and reactive astrocytes. Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), particularly eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), crucial for the nervous system, mediate various physiological functions. Omega-3 PUFAs offer cardiovascular, neurological, and psychiatric benefits due to their potent anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive, antioxidant, and neuromodulatory properties, which modulate neuroinflammation, neurogenic inflammation, pain transmission, enhance mitochondrial stability, and mood regulation. Moreover, specialized pro-resolving mediators (SPMs), a class of PUFA-derived lipid mediators, regulate pro-inflammatory and resolution pathways, playing significant anti-inflammatory and neurological roles, which in turn may be beneficial in alleviating the symptomatology of migraine. Omega-3 PUFAs impact various neurobiological pathways and have demonstrated a lack of major adverse events, underscoring their multifaceted approach and safety in migraine management. Although not all omega-3 PUFAs trials have shown beneficial in reducing the symptomatology of migraine, further research is needed to fully establish their clinical efficacy and understand the precise molecular mechanisms underlying the effects of omega-3 PUFAs and PUFA-derived lipid mediators, SPMs on migraine pathophysiology and progression. This review highlights their potential in modulating brain functions, such as neuroimmunological effects, and suggests their promise as candidates for effective migraine prophylaxis.

This study investigates the mechanisms of virtual reality (VR) tourism’s impact on the well-being of residents in long-term care facilities (LTCFs). It aims to understand how presence and flow during VR experiences can enhance well-being. This experimental study used a quantitative approach with structured questionnaires to investigate VR experiences among LTCF residents in Taiwan. After obtaining ethical approval, 145 eligible participants from four LTCFs completed a full five-week VR tourism experience. Data collection took place from June to November 2022. This study employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with Smart PLS software to analyze the causal relationships between latent variables. The results confirm that the more vivid the virtual reality image (β = 0.240, p < 0.05), the more immersive the experience (β = 0.267, p < 0.05), the greater the ability to control the experience (β = 0.465, p < 0.001), and the greater the ability to stimulate curiosity during the experience (β = 0.290, p < 0.05), the greater the sense of presence. Increased presence leads to user engagement and a state of flow (β = 0.556, p < 0.001), which is essential for personal hedonia (β = 0.453, p < 0.001) and eudaimonia (β = 0.220, p < 0.001). This study elucidates the mechanisms through which VR tourism experiences enhance well-being among LTCF residents, emphasizing the critical roles of presence and flow in promoting both hedonic and eudaimonic dimensions of well-being.

Background: Small population group-based cohorts have found that perinatal factors may contribute to the development of asthma in children. We aimed to investigate maternal and neonatal risk factors for the asthma phenotypes using two databases from the Taiwan's Maternal and Child Health Database (TMCHD) and the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Methods: Perinatal data was obtained from 2004 to 2008 in the TMCHD and linked the NHIRD to obtain relevant medical information regarding maternal and neonatal risk factors of three asthma phenotypes which were identified as transient early asthma, persistent asthma, and late-onset asthma. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to adjust for covariates. Results: The percentage of non-asthmatic patients was 77.02% and asthmatic (transient early asthma, late onset asthma, and persistent asthma) patients were 8.96%, 11.64%, and 2.42%, respectively. Maternal risk factors—including Cesarean section, maternal asthma, maternal allergic rhinitis (AR), and premature rupture of membranes—and neonatal risk factors, such as male gender, gestational age 29–37 weeks, ventilator use, antibiotics use, AR, and atopic dermatitis, were associated with the development of these three asthma phenotypes. Twins and a gestational age of 28 weeks or less premature were associated with the development of transient early asthma and persistent asthma, but not late onset asthma. Triplets and above were associated with the development of transient early asthma, but not late onset or persistent asthma. Conclusion: Various asthma phenotypes have different risk factors; therefore, their distinct risk factors should be identified in order to early diagnosis and treatment.

BackgroundMigraine is a common disabling disorder, and its substantial burden is associated with a considerable negative impact on the patients’ quality of life. Moreover, aging patients with migraine have more cognitive complaints. Additionally, the elderly are more likely to have sleep disturbances, which may also predict the risk of incident dementia. Migraines are reported to be closely associated with sleep and circadian rhythms. Sleep disturbance is a well-known trigger for migraine episodes; moreover, shift work or jet lag reportedly triggers some migraines. The hypothalamus is thought to be the migraine generator; sleep and circadian activity rhythm are also controlled by the hypothalamus. Evidence suggests an influence of both sleep and circadian system on migraine. Previously, light therapy has been show to stabilize sleep architecture and further improve insomnia related to circadian rhythm disorders. However, the beneficial effect of light therapy on migraine with sleep disturbance has not yet been determined. We aim to explore the effects of light therapy for migraine combined with sleep disturbance.Methods and analysisThis project is a 2-year, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The study design includes a 4-week monitoring period (baseline and pretest), a 4-week treatment period, and a posttest. The study participants will undergo assessments on headache frequency and severity and subjective and objective (wrist actigraphy and polysomnography) sleep disturbances, and quality of life and a series of blood tests for serum biomarkers.DiscussionThis study will establish evidence-based alternative medicine for the preventive effect of bright light therapy in migraine patients with sleep disturbances. Moreover, our data will be useful to comprehend the biochemical mechanism of light therapy in migraine prevention.Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT04890691.

Abstract Aims/Introduction Maternal hyperglycemia leads to adverse pregnancy outcomes, and also subsequently affects both mothers and their offspring in later life. The prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide, and gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is also believed to be increasing. More precise nationwide and up‐to‐date data on GDM are required. Materials and Methods A population‐based retrospective cohort study was carried out with the Birth Certificate Application database and linked to the National Health Insurance Research Database to explore trends in the annual crude prevalence of GDM in all women who gave birth between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2015 in Taiwan and their pregnancy outcomes. The registry is considered complete, reliable and accurate. Results A total of 2,468,793 births from 2,430,307 pregnancies were reported between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2015. Finally, 2,053,305 pregnancies were included for further analysis. The annual prevalence of GDM increased by 1.8‐fold during the 12 years from 2004 to 2015, with a significant continuous increasing trend (from 7.6% to 13.4%, P

ObjectiveThis study investigated the psychological impact on, coping behaviors of, and traumatic stress experienced by healthcare workers during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic and formulated effective support strategies that can be implemented by hospitals and government policymakers to help healthcare staff overcome the pandemic.MethodsThis cross-sectional study recruited clinical healthcare workers at a regional hospital in Nantou County, Taiwan. The questionnaire collected personal characteristics, data on the impact and coping behaviors of the pandemic, and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R). A total of 354 valid questionnaires were collected. The statistical methods employed were univariate and multivariate stepwise regression, and logistic regression.ResultsPerceived impact and coping behaviors were found to be moderate in degree, and traumatic stress was lower than that in other countries. However, our data identified the following subgroups that require special attention: those with young age, those living with minor children, nurses, those with self-rated poor mental health, and those with insufficient COVID-19-related training.ConclusionManagers should pay particular attention to helping healthcare workers in high-risk groups, strengthen COVID-19 training, provide adequate protective equipment and shelter, and offer psychological counseling.

Exposing nursing staff to workplace violence workplace violence (WV) affects their psychological, emotional, and physical health; engenders increased workload; affects the medical reciprocity between nurses and patients; and ultimately leads to staff turnover intention. To preventing WV, development of intervention strategies and WV prevention measures are crucial. This study discusses the mediating effect of job control, psychological needs, and social support on WV and turnover intention. Through this discussion, this study aims to aid medical institutions in reducing their nursing staff turnover rate and to provide a reference for hospital management and decision making. A cross-sectional research method was adopted and conducted quantitative research to prove the complexity of the relationship between WV and turnover intention. Participants comprised clinical nurses working in 2 regional teaching hospital in central Taiwan. A total of 268 questionnaires were distributed, and 213 completed questionnaires were returned. Of the returned questionnaires, 198 contained valid responses, yielding a response rate of 73.9%. Our results demonstrated the mechanisms through which psychological demands and social support mediate the relationship between WV and turnover intention. This study determined the mediating effects of psychological demands and social support. The results expand the findings of previous research and demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between WV and turnover intention. Hospitals should formulate effective mechanisms for preventing and addressing incidents of WV, improve their ability to address and regulate violent incidents in clinics, reduce the psychological pressure exerted on employees, and establish communication channels for social support.

The role of oral steroids in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) remains elusive. This study aims to depict the ultrasound findings and conceivable mechanisms in relation to the efficacy of oral steroids for patients with CTS by measuring the morphological and motion changes in the median nerve. In this study, CTS patients were randomized to the oral steroid group (14 participants and 22 wrists) or nicergoline group (22 participants and 35 wrists) for 4 weeks. Both treatment arms were given global symptom score (GSS) measurements and completed an ultra-sound at baseline and at 2- and 4-weeks post-treatment. In the nerve conduction study (NCS), distal motor latency (DML) was used to assess the treatment response at baseline and 4 weeks post-treatment. The cross-sectional area (CSA) and amplitude (AMP) evaluated by the maximum lateral sliding displacement represented the morphological and dynamic changes in the median nerve, respectively. The results showed that AMP, CSA, GSS, and DML were significantly im-proved in the steroid group, as compared to the nicergoline group at weeks 2 and 4 (p < 0.05). The mean improvement in ultrasound parameters CSA (15.03% reduction) and AMP (466.09% increase) was better than the DML (7.88% reduction) parameter of NCS, and ultrasound changes were detectable as early as 2 weeks after oral steroid administration. Ultrasounds can serve as a tool for the quantitative measurement of treatment effects and can potentially elucidate the pathogenesis of CTS in a non-invasive and more effective manner.

Abstract Background SUMOylation, as part of the epigenetic regulation of transcription, has been intensively studied in lower eukaryotes that contain only a single SUMO protein; however, the functions of SUMOylation during mammalian epigenetic transcriptional regulation are largely uncharacterized. Mammals express three major SUMO paralogues: SUMO-1, SUMO-2, and SUMO-3 (normally referred to as SUMO-1 and SUMO-2/3). Herpesviruses, including Kaposi’s sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV), seem to have evolved mechanisms that directly or indirectly modulate the SUMO machinery in order to evade host immune surveillance, thus advancing their survival. Interestingly, KSHV encodes a SUMO E3 ligase, K-bZIP, with specificity toward SUMO-2/3 and is an excellent model for investigating the global functional differences between SUMO paralogues. Results We investigated the effect of experimental herpesvirus reactivation in a KSHV infected B lymphoma cell line on genomic SUMO-1 and SUMO-2/3 binding profiles together with the potential role of chromatin SUMOylation in transcription regulation. This was carried out via high-throughput sequencing analysis. Interestingly, chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) experiments showed that KSHV reactivation is accompanied by a significant increase in SUMO-2/3 modification around promoter regions, but SUMO-1 enrichment was absent. Expression profiling revealed that the SUMO-2/3 targeted genes are primarily highly transcribed genes that show no expression changes during viral reactivation. Gene ontology analysis further showed that these genes are involved in cellular immune responses and cytokine signaling. High-throughput annotation of SUMO occupancy of transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) pinpointed the presence of three master regulators of immune responses, IRF-1, IRF-2, and IRF-7, as potential SUMO-2/3 targeted transcriptional factors after KSHV reactivation. Conclusion Our study is the first to identify differential genome-wide SUMO modifications between SUMO paralogues during herpesvirus reactivation. Our findings indicate that SUMO-2/3 modification near protein-coding gene promoters occurs in order to maintain host immune-related gene unaltered during viral reactivation.

Background: Although aromatherapy is considered an adjuvant therapy to promote sleep quality, few objective sleep testing instruments can confirm the effects of aromatherapy on sleep physiology. The purpose of this study was to confirm and compare the immediate effects of a single lavender essential oil (SLEO) group to a complex lavender essential oil (CLEO) group by objective polysomnography (PSG) recordings. Methods: Participants were randomly divided into the SLEO group and CLEO group in this single-blind trial to explore the sleep effect of essential oil aroma. All the participants completed the sleep-related questionnaires and underwent two consecutive nights of PSG recordings, who had one night without aromatherapy and one night with one of the two aromas randomly assigned to them. Results: Total of 53 participants were recruited for this study, 25 participants were in the SLEO group, and 28 were in the CLEO group. Baseline characteristics and sleep-related questionnaires were similar in both groups. Both SLEO and CLEO extended the total sleep time (TST) (Δ = 43.42 and 23.75 minutes, respectively) and sleep period time (SPT) (Δ = 38.86 and 24.07 minutes, respectively). The SLEO group further improved sleep efficiency and increased the amounts of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and decreased spontaneous arousals. However, there was no significant difference in PSG parameters between the SLEO and CLEO groups. Conclusion: Both SLEO and CLEO extended TST and SPT, with no significant differences between these two groups. These results warrant practical applications and merit future studies (Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03933553). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both Flexi-Bar and Multi-Component exercises can improve an individual's physical fitness and musculoskeletal discomfort. However, determining which is more effective in enhancing the physical fitness, and musculoskeletal discomfort of older adults remains controversial. Objective: This study aims to investigate differences in the effectiveness of Flexi-Bar and Multi-Component exercises in improving the frailty, physical fitness, and musculoskeletal discomfort of older adults after 12 weeks of intervention. Methods: A single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted to collect data in central Taiwan. Participants were randomly assigned into a Flexi-Bar group (FB group) and a Multi-Component exercise group (MCE group). Participants in the FB group performed a 60-minute Flexi-Bar exercise every week for 12 consecutive weeks; participants in the MCE group performed a 60-minute Multi-Component exercise everyweek for 12 consecutiveweeks. Before and after the intervention, the assessmentwas conducted using the Kihon Checklist, Senior Fitness Test, and Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. Results: A total of 80 participants (16 males) were recruited (age = 75.7 ≥ 7.3 years). The results showed that the improvements of the FB group participants in the 2-minute step test, back scratch test, and number of body parts with discomfort were more significant than those of the participants in the MCE group. Conclusion: This study found that the cardiopulmonary function, upper body flexibility, and musculoskeletal discomfort of the FB group participants improved more significantly than those in the MCE group. This finding indicated that a Flexi-Bar exercise was a more effective intervention for older adults than a Multi-Component exercise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Migraine is the most prevalent neurological disorder and the leading cause of disability in individuals under 50 years of age. Two types of migraine therapies have been defined: acute therapy (abortive or symptomatic treatment), the purpose of which is to interrupt migraine attacks, and preventive treatment (prophylactic treatment), the purpose of which is to reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks.Objective: This paper reviews research advances in new agents for acute therapy of migraine.Material and Methods: This review provides an overview of emerging new drugs for acute treatment of migraine based on clinical evidence and summarizes the milestones of different stages of clinical development.Results: Two new formulations of sumatriptan, DFN-11 (3 mg doses of subcutaneous sumatriptan) and DFN-02 (a nasal spray of sumatriptan 10 mg and a permeation-enhancing excipient), have been developed, and both of them showed a fast-onset action with efficacy for acute treatment of migraine with fewer adverse events. New drug discovery programs shifted the focus to the development of ditans, a group of antimigraine drugs targeting 5-HT1F receptors. Only lasmiditan has progressed to phase III clinical trials and was finally approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for acute migraine treatment. The other target for acute therapy is CGRP receptor antagonists, namely, gepants. Ubrogepant and rimegepant demonstrated statistically significant efficacy, and both were recently approved by the FDA. These 5-HT1F receptor agonists and CGRP receptor antagonists did not cause vasoconstriction, offering advantages over the current mainstay of specific acute migraine treatment.Conclusions: Overall, these new agents have expanded the available acute therapies for migraine treatment and will likely change the strategy with which we treat patients with migraine in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For undersea activities, underwater vehicles usually carry optical imaging systems for recording. The captured images and videos frequently suffer from two displeasing problems: First, color distortion; and second, poor visibility. This is mainly because that the light is exponentially attenuated while penetrating through water and the strength of attenuation is color dependent. This paper develops an effective single underwater image restoration framework based on the depth estimation and the transmission compensation. To address the consequences of scattering and absorption, our restoration scheme consists of five major phases: 1) background light estimation; 2) submerged dark channel prior; 3) transmission refinement and radiance recovery; 4) point spread function deconvolution; and 5) transmission and color compensation. A wide variety of underwater images with various scenarios were exploited to assess the restoration performance of the proposed algorithm. Various evaluation metrics were employed to analyze the experimental results. It was suggested that this new restoration algorithm outperformed many state-of-the-art methods both qualitatively and quantitatively. In addition, potential applications regarding autopilot and three-dimensional visualization were demonstrated. We believe that our underwater image restoration technique is promising in many undersea activities that require high-quality images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMOylation is associated with epigenetic regulation of chromatin structure and transcription. Epigenetic modifications of herpesviral genomes accompany the transcriptional switch of latent and lytic genes during the virus life cycle. Here, we report a genome-wide comparison of SUMO paralog modification on the KSHV genome. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation in conjunction with high-throughput sequencing, our study revealed highly distinct landscape changes of SUMO paralog genomic modifications associated with KSHV reactivation. A rapid and widespread deposition of SUMO-2/3, compared with SUMO-1, modification across the KSHV genome upon reactivation was observed. Interestingly, SUMO-2/3 enrichment was inversely correlated with H3K9me3 mark after reactivation, indicating that SUMO-2/3 may be responsible for regulating the expression of viral genes located in low heterochromatin regions during viral reactivation. RNA-sequencing analysis showed that the SUMO-2/3 enrichment pattern positively correlated with KSHV gene expression profiles. Activation of KSHV lytic genes located in regions with high SUMO-2/3 enrichment was enhanced by SUMO-2/3 knockdown. These findings suggest that SUMO-2/3 viral chromatin modification contributes to the diminution of viral gene expression during reactivation. Our previous study identified a SUMO-2/3-specific viral E3 ligase, K-bZIP, suggesting a potential role of this enzyme in regulating SUMO-2/3 enrichment and viral gene repression. Consistent with this prediction, higher K-bZIP binding on SUMO-2/3 enrichment region during reactivation was observed. Moreover, a K-bZIP SUMO E3 ligase dead mutant, K-bZIP-L75A, in the viral context, showed no SUMO-2/3 enrichment on viral chromatin and higher expression of viral genes located in SUMO-2/3 enriched regions during reactivation. Importantly, virus production significantly increased in both SUMO-2/3 knockdown and KSHV K-bZIP-L75A mutant cells. These results indicate that SUMO-2/3 modification of viral chromatin may function to counteract KSHV reactivation. As induction of herpesvirus reactivation may activate cellular antiviral regimes, our results suggest that development of viral SUMO E3 ligase specific inhibitors may be an avenue for anti-virus therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Inherited cardiac conduction diseases (CCD) are rare but are caused by mutations in a myriad of genes. Recently, whole-exome sequencing has successfully led to the identification of causal mutations for rare monogenic Mendelian diseases. Objective:To investigate the genetic background of a family affected by inherited CCD. Methods and Results:We used whole-exome sequencing to study a Chinese family with multiple family members affected by CCD. Using the pedigree information, we proposed a heterozygous missense mutation (c.G695T, Gly232Val) in the lamin A/C (LMNA) gene as a candidate mutation for susceptibility to CCD in this family. The mutation is novel and is expected to affect the conformation of the coiled-coil rod domain of LMNA according to a structural model prediction. Its pathogenicity in lamina instability was further verified by expressing the mutation in a cellular model. Conclusions:Our results suggest that whole-exome sequencing is a feasible approach to identifying the candidate genes underlying inherited conduction diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostate cancer (PCa) with neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) is tightly associated with hormone refractory PCa (HRPC), an aggressive form of cancer that is nearly impossible to treat. Determining the mechanism of the development of NED may yield novel therapeutic strategies for HRPC. Here, we first demonstrate that repressor element-1 silencing transcription factor (REST), a transcriptional repressor of neuronal genes that has been implicated in androgen-deprivation and IL-6 induced NED, is essential for hypoxia-induced NED of PCa cells. Bioinformatics analysis of transcriptome profiles of REST knockdown during hypoxia treatment demonstrated that REST is a master regulator of hypoxia-induced genes. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) of hypoxia and REST knockdown co-upregulated genes revealed their correlation with HRPC. Consistently, gene ontology (GO) analysis showed that REST reduction potential associated with hypoxia-induced tumorigenesis, NE development, and AMPK pathway activation. Emerging reports have revealed that AMPK activation is a potential mechanism for hypoxia-induced autophagy. In line with this, we demonstrate that REST knockdown alone is capable of activating AMPK and autophagy activation is essential for hypoxia-induced NED of PCa cells. Here, making using of in vitro cell-based assay for NED, we reveal a new role for the transcriptional repressor REST in hypoxia-induced NED and characterized a sequential molecular mechanism downstream of REST resulting in AMPK phosphorylation and autophagy activation, which may be a common signaling pathway leading to NED of PCa., Competing Interests: The authors disclose no potential conflicts of interest.

Background: Post-translational modification (PTM) of transcriptional factors and chromatin remodelling proteins is recognized as a major mechanism by which transcriptional regulation occurs. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) in combination with high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) is being applied as a gold standard when studying the genome-wide binding sites of transcription factor (TFs). This has greatly improved our understanding of protein-DNA interactions on a genomic-wide scale. However, current ChIP-seq peak calling tools are not sufficiently sensitive and are unable to simultaneously identify post-translational modified TFs based on ChIP-seq analysis; this is largely due to the wide-spread presence of multiple modified TFs. Using SUMO-1 modification as an example; we describe here an improved approach that allows the simultaneous identification of the particular genomic binding regions of all TFs with SUMO-1 modification., Results: Traditional peak calling methods are inadequate when identifying multiple TF binding sites that involve long genomic regions and therefore we designed a ChIP-seq processing pipeline for the detection of peaks via a combinatorial fusion method. Then, we annotate the peaks with known transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) using the Transfac Matrix Database (v7.0), which predicts potential SUMOylated TFs. Next, the peak calling result was further analyzed based on the promoter proximity, TFBS annotation, a literature review, and was validated by ChIP-real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) and ChIP-reChIP real-time qPCR. The results show clearly that SUMOylated TFs are able to be pinpointed using our pipeline., Conclusion: A methodology is presented that analyzes SUMO-1 ChIP-seq patterns and predicts related TFs. Our analysis uses three peak calling tools. The fusion of these different tools increases the precision of the peak calling results. TFBS annotation method is able to predict potential SUMOylated TFs. Here, we offer a new approach that enhances ChIP-seq data analysis and allows the identification of multiple SUMOylated TF binding sites simultaneously, which can then be utilized for other functional PTM binding site prediction in future.

Unlabelled: In the past years, identification of alternative splicing (AS) variants has been gaining momentum. We developed AVATAR, a database for documenting AS using 5,469,433 human EST sequences and 26,159 human mRNA sequences. AVATAR contains 12000 alternative splicing sites identified by mapping ESTs and mRNAs with the whole human genome sequence. AVATAR also contains AS information for 6 eukaryotes. We mapped EST alignment information into a graph model where exons and introns are represented with vertices and edges, respectively. AVATAR can be queried using, (1) gene names, (2) number of identified AS events in a gene, (3) minimal number of ESTs supporting a splicing site, etc. as search parameters. The system provides visualized AS information for queried genes., Availability: The database is available for free at http://avatar.iecs.fcu.edu.tw/