Circular RNA—Is the Circle Perfect?

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a distinct class of non-coding RNA produced, in principle, using a back-splicing mechanism, conserved during evolution, with increased stability and a tissue-dependent expression. Circular RNA represents a functional molecule with roles in the regulation of transcription and splicing, microRNA sponge, and the modulation of protein–protein interaction. CircRNAs are involved in essential processes of life such as apoptosis, cell cycle, and proliferation. Due to the regulatory role (upregulation/downregulation) in pathogenic mechanisms of some diseases (including cancer), its potential roles as a biomarker or therapeutic target in these diseases were studied. This review focuses on the importance of circular RNA in cancer.

Autoinflammation It Is!

In recent years, we have entered a new era full of insights into exciting pathways and improved management of a distinct class of inflammatory conditions [...]

Two parallel sRNA amplification cycles contribute to RNAi inheritance in C. elegans

RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) is a conserved mechanism that uses small RNAs (sRNAs) to tune gene expression. In C. elegans, exposure to dsRNA induces the production of gene-specific sRNAs that are propagated to progeny not exposed to the dsRNA trigger. We present evidence that RNAi inheritance is mediated by two parallel sRNA amplification loops. The first loop, dependent on the nuclear Argonaute HRDE-1, targets nascent transcripts, and reduces but does not eliminate productive transcription at the locus. The second loop, dependent on the conserved helicase ZNFX-1, targets mature transcripts and concentrates them in perinuclear condensates (nuage). Each amplification loop generates a distinct class of sRNAs, with the ZNFX-1 loop responsible for the bulk of sRNA production on the region targeted by the trigger. By independently targeting nascent and mature transcripts, the HRDE-1 and ZNFX-1 loops ensure maximum silencing in progeny not exposed to the trigger.

Religion without doctrine or clergy: the case of Ancient Greece

The paper examines doctrinal and political reasons to explain why the Ancient Greek religion did not feature a distinct class of professional priests as suppliers of religious goods. Doctrinal reasons relate to worshiping a multitude of powerful anthropomorphic gods with flawed characters; absence of a founder of religion and of a scripture; lack of religious doctrine and of a code of moral behaviour and piety manifested as mass participation in rituals. These factors denied religious suppliers the opportunity to form a monopoly acting as an autonomous intermediary between humans and gods. Political reasons relate to the supremacy of the demos which watchfully guarded its decision-making powers and prevented other actors like a priestly interest group to challenge its authority.

Herpetological higher taxa nomina. 6. Gymnophiona Rafinesque, 1814

A taxon, traditionally referred to the rank order, encompassing all recent taxa of caecilians and their close fossil relatives, is highly supported as holophyletic in all recent cladistic analyses of Amphibia. Under the Duplostensional Nomenclatural System, among 12 nomina available in the literature, only one, Gymnophiona Rafinesque, 1814, qualifies as a sozodiaphonym and should be used for this amphibian taxon. We show here that the authorship of this nomen, as well as of 32 other nomina published in 1814, is ‘Rafinesque’, not ‘Rafinesque-Schmaltz’. The nomen Apoda Oppel, 1811, that has often been used for this taxon, proves to be a distagmonym and a junior homonym of Apodes Linnaeus, 1758 and five other distagmonyms, and as such it is invalid under DONS. In total, we identified 34 distinct class-series nomina derived from the stems ἄπους (apous) or Apus in 13 distinct zoological groups, only two of which are valid under DONS Criteria: Apodiformia Wetmore, 1947, for the suborder of Aves currently known as Apodi Wetmore, 1947, and Apodomorpha Sibley, Ahlquist & Monroe, 1988 for the order of Aves currently known as Apodiformes Peters, 1940. Several other nomenclatural findings were made in the course of this study: [1] in the Teleostei, the nomina "Eupercaria" and "Syngnatharia", like all the other new nomina proposed in the paper by Betancur-R. et al. (2017) are anoplonyms and cannot be used as valid; [2] in the Mammalia, the nomina Cetus and Cetacea should be credited to Brisson (1759); [3] in the Holothuroidea, the nomen Apoda Claus, 1868, currently considered valid under the apograph Apodida, is invalid and should be replaced by the nomen Paractinopoda Ludwig, 1891; [4] in the Isopoda, the subordinal nomen Cymothoida Wägele, 1989 should be replaced by its senior synonym Darwinida Lakshminarayana & Rama Rao, 1977.

Quantum Dots Based Material for Drug Delivery Applications

Quantum dots (QDs) have shown promising potential to many biomedical and biological applications, mainly in drug delivery or activation and cellular imaging. These semiconductor nanoparticles, QDs, whose particle size is in the range of 2-10 nanometer with unique photo-chemical and -physical properties that are not possessed by any other isolated molecules, have become one of the distinct class of imaging probes and worldwide platforms for manufacturing of multifunctional nanodevices. In this chapter, properties, applications of QDs, and importance in the biomedical field especially in drug delivery is presented.

Investigating the past of the futurate present

Using a corpus of 1118 future-referring clauses from each of five versions of the Christian Gospels, this paper explores the effect that the development of English modals as a distinct class had on the range of meanings expressed by the simple present tense. It is shown that in Old English, the simple present tense was the primary form used to express future meanings, while by Early Modern English modals were obligatory in such clauses. In late Middle English, modals were very frequently used, but are shown not to be obligatory. The change is attributed to the advent, in the late 1500s, of a contrastive interpretable feature modality, spelled out by the modals. Thereafter, a clause lacking this contrastive feature could not be interpreted as future-referring except in planned or scheduled contexts. The featural implications of the present-day decline of the true modals are then briefly considered.