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Background and Aims: MicroRNAs including miR146a have a regulatory role on the expression of genes and act with binding to 3ʹ-UTR region of the genes. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is involved in carcinogenesis as an inflammatory marker, and microRNA-146a (miR-146a) as a negative regulatory factor. We aimed to evaluate miR146a expression as a prognostic or diagnostic biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and also an association between miR146a and COX2 expression. Materials and Methods: We quantified the level of miR-146a and COX-2 expression in cancerous and adjacent normal tissue samples obtained from 34 patients with ESCC, using real-time–PCR. Statistical analyses were conducted using one-sample t-test. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan–Meier analysis were applied to assay miR146a as a diagnostic and prognostic marker, respectively, during 4 years of the study. Furthermore, the Cox regression model was performed to assay the hazard ratio (HR). The association between miR-146a and COX2 expression level in ESCC patients was evaluated by nonparametric Spearman's rho analysis. Results: The results revealed a reduction of miR-146a expression in 50% of cancerous tissue when compared with adjacent normal regions (P-value=0.127). COX-2 expression in 80% of ESCC patients was higher than in the controls (P-value=0.001). Overall, in 60% of cases, direct association was seen between microRNA-146a and COX-2 expression level (correlation coefficient= 0.438, P-value=0.011). COX2 can be considered as a diagnostic biomarker (AUC=0.834, sensitivity=72%, specificity =83%, P-value< 0.0001) but miR146a cannot be considered as a diagnostic biomarker (AUC=0.553, sensitivity=88%, specificity =28%, P-value=0.453). Survival analysis by Kaplan–Meier method showed miR146a and COX2 expression can be probably considered as prognostic biomarkers for ESCC because patients with high expression of miR146a had 7 months shorter life span and patients with low expression of COX2 had 8 months shorter life span. Conclusion: COX2 expression is a diagnostic biomarker. MiR-146a and COX2 expression can probably be considered as prognostic biomarkers for survival in ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past few years have shown an increase in the amount of data that are being generated in all fields. This increase is due to human needs to all aspects from business to science. One of these fields is medicine with uncertain data. For these amount of data there exists computational methods and tools for analysis and it requires medical informatics researchers and specialists to choose the most appropriate method to cope with these data. This paper presents one of the common data mining tasks, association rule mining, when considering particular continuous time series measurements. The most important goal of this study is dealing with and processing time series data for the purpose of extracting linguistic rules. Also, comparing the results of this method with the results of classical statistical analysis is the second objective. A three-part analytical pipeline is used in this study as a new mining approach, consisting of data preparation, data transformation, and data analysis to elicit knowledge about the interaction of the parameters measured and the effect of different drugs on the rats. Weka data mining toolkit has been employed for extracting knowledge in the form of association rules and the important rules identified by this toolkit are interpreted for their medical significance. Discretizing time series data and linguistic representation of rules have been demonstrated. This study exhibits this new approach by analysis of the data of the cardiovascular responses to specific medications in rats that have been recorded by lab chart software in the laboratory. Once the time series was discretized, simple association rule mining methods are used to extract rules. The association rules that are discovered can provide the domain expert with new knowledge about the possible effects of injected rats or to help to improve annotation consistency1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with rising numbers of patients worldwide, presents an urgent need for effective treatments. To date, there are no therapies or vaccines that are proven to be effective against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Several potential candidates or repurposed drugs are under investigation, including drugs that inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication and block infection. The most promising therapy to date is remdesivir, which is US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for emergency use in adults and children hospitalized with severe suspected or laboratory-confirmed COVID-19. Herein we summarize the general features of SARS-CoV-2's molecular and immune pathogenesis and discuss available pharmacological strategies, based on our present understanding of SARS-CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infections. Finally, we outline clinical trials currently in progress to investigate the efficacy of potential therapies for COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The smart self-regulated drug delivery systems for insulin administration are desirable to achieve glycemic control, and decrease the long-term micro- and macro vascular complications. In this study, we developed an injectable nano-complex formulation for closed-loop insulin delivery after subcutaneous administration and release of insulin in response to increased blood glucose levels. The nano-complex was prepared by mixing oppositely charged chitosan and PLGA nanoparticles. PLGA nanoparticles were prepared using double-emulsion solvent diffusion method, and were loaded with glucose oxidase (GOx) and catalase (CAT) enzymes. These negatively charged particles decrease micro-environmental pH, by gluconic acid production in the glucose molecules presence. Positively charged chitosan nanoparticles were prepared using ionic gelation method, and were loaded with insulin. These nanoparticles (NPs) released insulin by dissociation in acidic pH caused by the GOx activity. Following in vitro studies, in vivo evaluation of nano-complex formulations in streptozocin induced diabetic rats showed significant glycemic regulation up to 98 h after subcutaneous administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: MicroRNAs have a significant role in the regulation of the transcriptome. Several miRNAs have been proposed as potential biomarkers in different malignancies. However, contradictory results have been reported on the capability of miRNA biomarkers in cancer detection. The human biological clock involves molecular mechanisms that regulate several genes over time. Therefore, the sampling time becomes one of the significant factors in gene expression studies. Method: In the present study, we have tried to find miRNAs with minimum fluctuation in expression levels at different time points that could be more accurate candidates as diagnostic biomarkers. The small RNA-seq raw data of ten healthy individuals across nine-time points were analyzed to identify miRNAs with stable expression. Results: We have found five oscillation patterns. The stable miRNAs were investigated in 779 small-RNA-seq datasets of eleven cancer types. All miRNAs with the highest differential expression were selected for further analysis. The selected miRNAs were explored for functional pathways. The predominantly enriched pathways were miRNA in cancer and the P53-signaling pathway. Finally, we have found seven miRNAs, including miR-142-3p, miR-199a-5p, miR-223-5p, let-7d-5p, miR-148b-3p, miR-340-5p, and miR-421. These miRNAs showed minimum fluctuation in healthy blood and were dysregulated in the blood of eleven cancer types. Conclusion: We have found a signature of seven stable miRNAs which dysregulate in several cancer types and may serve as potential pan-cancer biomarkers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Sabbaghian, Mussack, Kirchner, Bui, Kalani, Pfaffl and Golalipour.)

Background and Aims: MicroRNAs including miR146a have a regulatory role on the expression of genes and act with binding to 3'-UTR region of the genes. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is involved in carcinogenesis as an inflammatory marker, and microRNA-146a (miR-146a) as a negative regulatory factor. We aimed to evaluate miR146a expression as a prognostic or diagnostic biomarker for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and also an association between miR146a and COX2 expression., Materials and Methods: We quantified the level of miR-146a and COX-2 expression in cancerous and adjacent normal tissue samples obtained from 34 patients with ESCC, using real-time-PCR. Statistical analyses were conducted using one-sample t -test. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan-Meier analysis were applied to assay miR146a as a diagnostic and prognostic marker, respectively, during 4 years of the study. Furthermore, the Cox regression model was performed to assay the hazard ratio (HR). The association between miR-146a and COX2 expression level in ESCC patients was evaluated by nonparametric Spearman's rho analysis., Results: The results revealed a reduction of miR-146a expression in 50% of cancerous tissue when compared with adjacent normal regions ( P- value=0.127). COX-2 expression in 80% of ESCC patients was higher than in the controls ( P- value=0.001). Overall, in 60% of cases, direct association was seen between microRNA-146a and COX-2 expression level (correlation coefficient= 0.438, P- value=0.011). COX2 can be considered as a diagnostic biomarker (AUC=0.834, sensitivity=72%, specificity =83%, P -value<0.0001) but miR146a cannot be considered as a diagnostic biomarker (AUC=0.553, sensitivity=88%, specificity =28%, P -value=0.453). Survival analysis by Kaplan-Meier method showed miR146a and COX2 expression can be probably considered as prognostic biomarkers for ESCC because patients with high expression of miR146a had 7 months shorter life span and patients with low expression of COX2 had 8 months shorter life span., Conclusion: COX2 expression is a diagnostic biomarker. MiR-146a and COX2 expression can probably be considered as prognostic biomarkers for survival in ESCC., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2020 Sadegh Shesh Poli et al.)