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This article discusses a study published in Cell Proliferation that investigates the changes in mRNA isoforms during zygotic genome activation (ZGA) in mice. ZGA is the first transcriptional event after fertilization and involves the degradation of maternal mRNA and the transcription of new mRNAs from the zygotic genome. The study compares the transcriptomes of embryos with different parental genomes and stages of development to identify differential alternative splicing and alternative promoter usage events. The findings suggest that there are specific patterns of mRNA isoforms generated from the paternal and maternal genomes during ZGA, providing insights into how sperm and oocyte genomes regulate mammalian development. The study also examines the differences in mRNA isoforms before and after ZGA in mice and humans, identifying changes that can have functional implications beyond differences in mRNA abundance. The study provides insights into the regulatory mechanisms involved in early embryonic development and suggests that isoform changes can serve as markers for ZGA events, although further validation is needed to understand the specific functions of each isoform. The study was supported by various funding sources and the authors declare no conflicts of interest. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Inflammation is the major contributor to the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke (IS). Long non-coding ribonucleic acids (lncRNAs) metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) and tumor necrosis factor and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein L-related immunoregulatory (THRIL) have been demonstrated to be up-regulated in inflammation and atherosclerosis. Therefore, we aimed to study the expression profile of these lncRNAs after IS. Methods: This observational case-control study was conducted in Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran. The real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) measured the sequential changes in circulating levels of MALAT1 and THRIL on days 1, 3, and 5 after IS. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to estimate the diagnostic and prognostic potential of lncRNAs with the area under the curve (AUC). Results: In patients with IS, the relative MALAT1 and THRIL expressions were significantly higher than the controls (P < 0.001 and P < 0.01, respectively), on days 1, 3, and 5 after stroke. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cover image is based on the Letter to the Editor mRNA isoform switches during mouse zygotic genome activation by Fan Li et al., https://doi.org/10.1111/cpr.13655. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study was conducted to determine whether dietary chromium (1200 μg Cr/kg diet) and vitamin C (300 mg/kg) attenuate the adverse effects of heat stress on external and internal egg quality traits in Japanese quails. A total of 160 female and 64 male Japanese quails were randomly assigned to 4 treatment groups (4 replicates with 14 birds each; 10 females and 4 males) in a completely randomized design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Dietary treatments were: 1) basal diet (control; NRC recommendation), 2) basal diet supplemented with 1200 μg Cr/kg diet (Cr), 3) basal diet supplemented with 300 mg VC/kg diet (VC), and 4) basal diet supplemented with 1200 μg Cr plus 300 mg VC/kg diet (Cr-VC). After a 2-week adaptation to the diets, the birds were exposed to 36°C for 6 h/day (from 10 am to 4 pm) for a 5-wk-long period. Results showed that Cr-VC increased the egg weight and decreased the shape index (P< 0.01). The shell breaking strength and specific gravity of egg was not affected by the treatments (P> 0.05). Shell weight was increased in VC and Cr-VC groups with an increased egg shell thickness for the latter group (P< 0.05). Diets supplemented with Cr and vitamin C tended to maintain yolk color (P< 0.01), albumen weight (P< 0.01) and yolk weight (P< 0.05) better than with other dietary groups. Yolk index and albumen index, however, were not affected by dietary treatments (P> 0.05). Data suggested that supplementing the diet with 300 mg VC/kg and 1200 μg Cr/kg or their concurrent use improved external and internal egg quality traits, making them as an alternative to the current approaches to ameliorate the adverse effects of heat stress in laying quail production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Injury risk during childhood and adolescence vary depending on socio-economic factors. The aim of this study was to study if the risk of fatal and non-fatal unintentional injuries among foreign-born children was similar across parental educational level or not. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study we followed 907,335 children between 1961 and 2007 in Sweden. We established the cohort by linkage between Swedish national registers including cause of death register and in-patient register, through unique Personal Identification Numbers. The main exposure variable was parental (maternal and paternal) educational level. The cohorts was followed from start date of follow-up period, or date of birth whichever occurred last, until exit date from the cohort, which was date of hospitalization or death due to unintentional injury, first emigration, death due to other causes than injury or end of follow-up, whichever came first. We calculated hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) by Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: Overall, we found 705 and 78,182 cases of death and hospitalization due to unintentional injuries, respectively. Risk of death and hospitalization due to unintentional injuries was statistically significantly 1.48 (95% CI: 1.24-1.78) and 1.10 (95% CI: 1.08-1.12) times higher among children with lowest parental educational level (9 years and shorter years of study) compared to children with highest parental educational level (+13 years of study). We found similar results when stratified our study group by sex of children, by maternal and paternal educational level separately, and injury type (traffic-related, fall, poisoning, burn and drowning). Conclusions: It seems injury prevention work against unintentional injuries is less effective among children with low parental education compared with those with higher parental education. We recommend designing specific preventive interventions aiming at children with low parental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]