Non-Coding RNAs and Brain Tumors: Insights Into Their Roles in Apoptosis

A major terrifying ailment afflicting the humans throughout the world is brain tumor, which causes a lot of mortality among pediatric and adult solid tumors. Several major barriers to the treatment and diagnosis of the brain tumors are the specific micro-environmental and cell-intrinsic features of neural tissues. Absence of the nutrients and hypoxia trigger the cells’ mortality in the core of the tumors of humans’ brains: however, type of the cells’ mortality, including apoptosis or necrosis, has been not found obviously. Current studies have emphasized the non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) since their crucial impacts on carcinogenesis have been discovered. Several investigations suggest the essential contribution of such molecules in the development of brain tumors and the respective roles in apoptosis. Herein, we summarize the apoptosis-related non-coding RNAs in brain tumors.

Exosomes: the key of sophisticated cell–cell communication and targeted metastasis in pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most common malignancies. Unfortunately, the lack of effective methods of treatment and diagnosis has led to poor prognosis coupled with a very high mortality rate. So far, the pathogenesis and progression mechanisms of pancreatic cancer have been poorly characterized. Exosomes are small vesicles secreted by most cells, contain lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, and are involved in diverse functions such as intercellular communications, biological processes, and cell signaling. In pancreatic cancer, exosomes are enriched with multiple signaling molecules that mediate intercellular communication with control of immune suppression, mutual promotion between pancreas stellate cells and pancreatic cancer cells, and reprogramming of normal cells. In addition, exosomes can regulate the pancreatic cancer microenvironment and promote the growth and survival of pancreatic cancer. Exosomes can also build pre-metastatic micro-ecological niches and facilitate the targeting of pancreatic cancer. The ability of exosomes to load cargo and target allows them to be of great clinical value as a biomarker mediator for targeted drugs in pancreatic cancer.

The Valuable Role of Armc1 in Invasive Breast Cancer as a Novel Biomarker

Background: Invasive breast carcinoma (BRCA) is a common type of breast cancer with high incidence in clinics, so it is significant to find an effective biomarker for BRCA diagnosis and treatment. Although some Armadillo (Arm)-repeat proteins families are confirmed to be biomarkers in cancers, the role of Armadillo repeat-containing 1 (ARMC1) in BRCA remains unknown.Methods: We analyzed the ARMC1 expression in normal breast tissues and BRCA samples, and its association with overall survival by the public database. χ² test evaluated the risks associated with ARMC1 expression in TCGA-BRCA patient samples. The ARMC1 mutations in BRCA were explored in the cBioportal database. Besides, the GO and KEGG analysis was used to explore the potential signaling pathways of ARMC1 in BRCA. Lastly, Immunohistochemistry and immunohistochemistry were performed to validate the ARMC1 expression in BRCA.Results: ARMC1 level in tumor sample was significantly higher than that in normal tissue, and it was also related to lower survival. The factors in clinical patients such as tumor stage and grade and histology were associated with ARMC1 expression. There were 32% of ARMC1 genetic mutations in BRCA, and the amplification and high expression made up the majority of them. Also, ARMC1 might regulate BRCA by involving in the cell cycle. Increased ARMC1 expression was found in clinical breast carcinoma tissues by our confirmatory experiments.Conclusions: All the results revealed that ARMC1 may play a significant role in BRCA as a biomarker, it provides valuable clues for the treatment and diagnosis of invasive breast cancer.

Indigenous Communication and Traditional Health Practices Among the Yoruba During Pregnancy, Child Delivery, and Baby Caring

Communication is a vital aspect of human existence. It pervades man's existence and society, forming an integral part of human life. Communication is the means through which human beings express their feelings. Indigenous communication serves as the traditional means of conveying messages, all social and value exchanges of indigenous practice like the health practices. Traditional health practices include the use of knowledge skills, practices based on indigenous belief, experiences of culture used in maintenance of health-prevention, treatment and diagnosis in traditional health practices. This chapter examines and documents traditional health practices on how Yorùbás care for pregnancy, child delivery, and their babies. Such traditional health practices have existed since before the advent of modern health practices, thereby using indigenous communication for preservation and dissemination of valuable information that is significant for Yorùbá generations.

Application of Nanomaterials in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and Huntington's disease are very harmful brain lesions. Due to the difficulty in obtaining therapeutic drugs, the best treatment for neurodegenerative diseases is often not available. In addition, the bloodbrain barrier can effectively prevent the transfer of cells, particles and macromolecules (such as drugs) in the brain, resulting in the failure of the traditional drug delivery system to provide adequate cellular structure repair and connection modes, which are crucial for the functional recovery of neurodegenerative diseases. Nanomaterials are designed to carry drugs across the blood-brain barrier for targets. Nanotechnology uses engineering materials or equipment to interact with biological systems at the molecular level to induce physiological responses through stimulation, response and target site interactions, while minimizing the side effects, thus revolutionizing the treatment and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. Some magnetic nanomaterials play a role as imaging agents or nanoprobes for Magnetic Resonance Imaging to assist in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. Although the current research on nanomaterials is not as useful as expected in clinical applications, it achieves a major breakthrough and guides the future development direction of nanotechnology in the application of neurodegenerative diseases. This review briefly discusses the application and advantages of nanomaterials in neurodegenerative diseases. Data for this review were identified by searches of PubMed, and references from relevant articles published in English between 2015 and 2019 using the search terms “nanomaterials”, “neurodegenerative diseases” and “blood-brain barrier”.

Application of Nanomaterials in the Treatment and Diagnosis of Ophthalmology Diseases

Eye diseases often lead to impaired vision and seriously affect the daily life of patients. Local administration of ophthalmic drugs is one of the most important approaches for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases. However, due to the special biochemical environment of the ocular tissue and the existence of many barriers, the bioavailability of conventional ophthalmic preparations in the eye is very low. Nanomaterials can be utilized as carriers of drugs, which can improve the absorption, distribution, metabolism and bioavailability of drugs in eyes. Nanomaterials have also the advantages of small size, simple preparation, good degradability, strong targeting, and little stimulation to biological tissues, providing an innovative and practical method for the drug delivery of ophthalmic diseases. In addition, nanomaterials can be used as an auxiliary means for early diagnosis of ophthalmic diseases by improving the specificity and accuracy of detection methods. Nanomaterials help clinicians and researchers delve deeper into the physiology and pathology of the eye at the nanoscale. We summarize the application of nanomaterials in the diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmic diseases in this review.

An Insight into the Polymeric Nanoparticles Applications in Diabetes Diagnosis and Treatment

: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a type of chronic metabolic disease that has affected millions of people worldwide and is known with a defect in the amount of insulin secretion, insulin functions, or both. This deficiency leads to an increase in the amounts of glucose, which could be accompanied by long-term damages to other organs such as eyes, kidneys, heart, and nervous system. Thus, introducing an appropriate approach for diagnosis and treatment of different types of DM is the aim of several researches. By the emergence of nanotechnology and its application in medicine, new approaches were presented for these purposes. The object of this review article is to introduce different types of polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs), as one of the most important classes of nanoparticles, for diabetic management. To achieve this goal, at first, some of the conventional therapeutic and diagnostic methods of DM will be reviewed. Then, different types of PNPs, in two forms of natural and synthetic polymers with different properties, as a new method for DM treatment and diagnosis will be introduced. In the next section, the transport mechanisms of these types of nano-carriers across the epithelium, via paracellular and transcellular pathways will be explained. Finally, the clinical use of PNPs in the treatment and diagnosis of DM will be summarized. Based on the results of this literature review, PNPs could be considered one of the most promising methods for DM management.

Mutation hotspots of SARS-CoV-2 RNA motifs conserved in betacoronaviruses

The pandemic of the coronavirus infection COVID-19, which began at the end of 2019 and caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has led to unprecedented consequences in the world. By the end of May 2021, in the world there were 167 million infected and 3.5 million died directly from infection [1]. SARS-CoV-2 is a beta coronavirus, so it shares many conserved fragments with other known viruses of this type [2]. Since the beginning of the spread of the COVID-19, one of the important issues of research of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been the search for its conserved RNA motifs and their functional annotation. These motifs are potential targets for the treatment and diagnosis of a disease caused by the virus. This report examines the structural RNA fragments of SARS-CoV-2, similar to the corresponding fragments in other beta coronaviruses [2]. For these RNA motifs the nucleotide variability during the spread of the virus, depending on their secondary structure, was investigated. All the motifs display the similar background variability although contain hypervariable positions.

Implementations of digital technologies in COVID -19 pandemic and other health threats: multi nationals responses

COVID-19 has created enormous challenges for health systems around the world. An immense range of digital health technologies has been considered as strategies. The aim of this article is to describe the implementation of digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic in prevention, diagnosis and treatment globally. Relevant articles published electronically in English using the following terms "COVID-19", "2019-nCov", "coronavirus", terminologies, "severe acute respiratory syndrome 2", SARS-CoV-2", "access to digital health, telemedicine and e-health, challenges and opportunities, in different data sources were researched. A total of 455 articles were found, and 46 published articles about prevention, treatment, and diagnosis approaches were selected. Digital technologies were useful in holistic control, care management and prevention, digital information, data collection, transfer and storage, frontline protection, risk reduction, analysis and adequate system of monitoring information during the pandemic situation, applying teleservice, consultations to specialists via online/offline, intelligent health system, which decreased the burden of patients to health professionals in institutions. In addition, it helped provide safe, rapidly and adequate patient data; and to avoid contamination for healthcare providers, the general population and patients. Still, the use of digital technologies in health is insufficient in many countries. It is essential to expand alternative ways of adapting digital technologies in health practices, but also to implement other studies on the use of digital health technologies beyond the focus on COVID-19.