Oncogenic Roles of Small Nucleolar RNA Host Gene 7 (SNHG7) Long Noncoding RNA in Human Cancers and Potentials

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of noncoding transcripts characterized with more than 200 nucleotides of length. Unlike their names, some short open reading frames are recognized for them encoding small proteins. LncRNAs are found to play regulatory roles in essential cellular processes such as cell growth and apoptosis. Therefore, an increasing number of lncRNAs are identified with dysregulation in a wide variety of human cancers. SNHG7 is an lncRNA with upregulation in cancer cells and tissues. It is frequently reported with potency of promoting malignant cell behaviors in vitro and in vivo. Like oncogenic/tumor suppressor lncRNAs, SNHG7 is found to exert its tumorigenic functions through interaction with other biological substances. These include sponging target miRNAs (various numbers are identified), regulation of several signaling pathways, transcription factors, and effector proteins. Importantly, clinical studies demonstrate association between high SNHG7 expression and clinicopathological features in cancerous patients, worse prognosis, and enhanced chemoresistance. In this review, we summarize recent studies in three eras of cell, animal, and human experiments to bold the prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic potentials.

Coupled exoskeleton assistance simplifies control and maintains metabolic benefits: A simulation study

Assistive exoskeletons can reduce the metabolic cost of walking, and recent advances in exoskeleton device design and control have resulted in large metabolic savings. Most exoskeleton devices provide assistance at either the ankle or hip. Exoskeletons that assist multiple joints have the potential to provide greater metabolic savings, but can require many actuators and complicated controllers, making it difficult to design effective assistance. Coupled assistance, when two or more joints are assisted using one actuator or control signal, could reduce control dimensionality while retaining metabolic benefits. However, it is unknown which combinations of assisted joints are most promising and if there are negative consequences associated with coupled assistance. Since designing assistance with human experiments is expensive and time-consuming, we used musculoskeletal simulation to evaluate metabolic savings from multi-joint assistance and identify promising joint combinations. We generated 2D muscle-driven simulations of walking while simultaneously optimizing control strategies for simulated lower-limb exoskeleton assistive devices to minimize metabolic cost. Each device provided assistance either at a single joint or at multiple joints using massless, ideal actuators. To assess if control could be simplified for multi-joint exoskeletons, we simulated different control strategies in which the torque provided at each joint was either controlled independently or coupled between joints. We compared the predicted optimal torque profiles and changes in muscle and total metabolic power consumption across the single joint and multi-joint assistance strategies. We found multi-joint devices–whether independent or coupled–provided 50% greater metabolic savings than single joint devices. The coupled multi-joint devices were able to achieve most of the metabolic savings produced by independently-controlled multi-joint devices. Our results indicate that device designers could simplify multi-joint exoskeleton designs by reducing the number of torque control parameters through coupling, while still maintaining large reductions in metabolic cost.

Rapid Enhancement of Subcortical Neural Responses to Sine-Wave Speech

The efferent auditory nervous system may be a potent force in shaping how the brain responds to behaviorally significant sounds. Previous human experiments using the frequency following response (FFR) have shown efferent-induced modulation of subcortical auditory function online and over short- and long-term time scales; however, a contemporary understanding of FFR generation presents new questions about whether previous effects were constrained solely to the auditory subcortex. The present experiment used sine-wave speech (SWS), an acoustically-sparse stimulus in which dynamic pure tones represent speech formant contours, to evoke FFRSWS. Due to the higher stimulus frequencies used in SWS, this approach biased neural responses toward brainstem generators and allowed for three stimuli (/bɔ/, /bu/, and /bo/) to be used to evoke FFRSWSbefore and after listeners in a training group were made aware that they were hearing a degraded speech stimulus. All SWS stimuli were rapidly perceived as speech when presented with a SWS carrier phrase, and average token identification reached ceiling performance during a perceptual training phase. Compared to a control group which remained naïve throughout the experiment, training group FFRSWS amplitudes were enhanced post-training for each stimulus. Further, linear support vector machine classification of training group FFRSWS significantly improved post-training compared to the control group, indicating that training-induced neural enhancements were sufficient to bolster machine learning classification accuracy. These results suggest that the efferent auditory system may rapidly modulate auditory brainstem representation of sounds depending on their context and perception as non-speech or speech.

Emerging Impact of Non-coding RNAs in the Pathology of Stroke

Ischemic stroke (IS) is an acute cerebral vascular event with high mortality and morbidity. Though the precise pathophysiologic routes leading to this condition are not entirely clarified, growing evidence from animal and human experiments has exhibited the impact of non-coding RNAs in the pathogenesis of IS. Various lncRNAs namely MALAT1, linc-SLC22A2, linc-OBP2B-1, linc_luo_1172, linc-DHFRL1-4, SNHG15, linc-FAM98A-3, H19, MEG3, ANRIL, MIAT, and GAS5 are possibly involved in the pathogenesis of IS. Meanwhile, lots of miRNAs contribute in this process. Differential expression of lncRNAs and miRNAs in the sera of IS patients versus unaffected individuals has endowed these transcripts the aptitude to distinguish at risk patients. Despite conduction of comprehensive assays for evaluation of the influence of lncRNAs/miRNAs in the pathogenesis of IS, therapeutic impacts of these transcripts in IS have not been clarified. In the present paper, we review the impact of lncRNAs/miRNAs in the pathobiology of IS through assessment of evidence provided by human and animal studies.

Baclofen-Associated Neurophysiologic Target Engagement Across Species in Fragile X Syndrome

Background: Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited form of neurodevelopmental disability. It is often characterized, especially in males, by intellectual disability, anxiety, repetitive behavior, social communication deficits, delayed language development and abnormal sensory processing. Recently, we identified electroencephalographic (EEG) biomarkers that are conserved between the mouse model of FXS (Fmr1 KO mice) and humans with FXS. Methods: In this report, we evaluate small molecule target engagement utilizing multielectrode array electrophysiology in the Fmr1 KO mouse and in humans with FXS. Neurophysiologic target engagement was evaluated using single doses of the GABAB selective agonist racemic baclofen (RBAC). Results: In Fmr1 KO mice and in humans with FXS, baclofen use was synchronously associated with suppression of elevated gamma power and increase in theta power at rest. In the Frm1 KO mice, a baclofen-associated improvement in auditory chirp synchronization was also noted. Conclusions: Overall, we noted synchronized target engagement of RBAC on resting state electrophysiology, in particular the reduction of aberrant high frequency gamma activity, across species in FXS. This finding holds promise for translational medicine approaches to drug development for FXS, synchronizing treatment study across species using well-established EEG biological markers in this field. Trial Registration: The human experiments are registered under NCT02998151.

Intramedullary nail holes laser indicator, a non-invasive technique for interlocking of intramedullary nails

Interlocking of intramedullary nails is a challenging procedure in orthopedic trauma surgery. Numerous methods have been described to facilitate this process. But they are exposed patient and surgical team to X-rays or involves trial and error. An accurate and non-invasive method has been provided to easily interlocking intramedullary nails. By transferring a safe visible light inside the nail, a drilling position appears which use to drilling bone toward the nail hole. The wavelength of this light was obtained from ex-vivo spectroscopy on biological tissues which has optimal transmission, reflectance, and absorption properties. Moreover, animal and human experiments were performed to evaluate performance of the proposed system. Ex-vivo performance experiments were performed successfully on two groups of cow and sheep samples. Output parameters were procedure time and drilling quality which there were significant differences between the two groups in procedure time (P < 0.05). But no significant differences were observed in drilling quality (P > 0.05). Moreover, an In-vivo performance experiment was performed successfully on a middle-aged man. To compare the provided method, targeting-arm, and free-hand techniques, two human experiments were performed on a middle-aged and a young man. The results indicate the advantage of the proposed technique in the procedure time (P < 0.05), while the drilling quality is equal to the free-hand technique (P = 0.05). Intramedullary nail holes laser indicator is a safe and accurate method that reduced surgical time and simplifies the process. This new technology makes it easier to interlocking the intramedullary nail which can have good clinical applications.

Measuring How Decision Support Systems Improve Newsvendors’ Performance: The Subjects’ Version

Despite the emerging contribution of machine automation, artificial intelligence and information systems, humans remain yet the most fragile ring of any organization. Decision support systems are widespread, supporting us to decide among uncertainties, such as weather conditions, suppliers’ performances and financial opportunities, but how humans take into account this information and, most of all, how they trust their own management knowledge is a controversial issue. This paper assesses, by means of a controlled experiment and ex post interviews, how individuals consider and use decision support systems in the context of the Newsvendor Problem. In accordance with prior research, the results show that individuals’ order quantities are pull-to-center biased. Moreover, ex post direct interviews suggest that (i) the individuals’ trust in decision support systems is not blind; (ii) individuals do not play the business game as a real task, (iii) they are biased by the type of incentive promised and (iv) they seem not skilled or trained enough. Ex post interviews shed a new light on controlled human experiments: they should be better analyzed and re-engineered.

Effects of Human Personal Space on the Robot Obstacle Avoidance Be havior: A Human-in-the-loop Assessment

To ensure both the physical and mental safety of humans during human-robot interaction (HRI), a rich body of literature has been accumulated, and the notion of socially acceptable robot behaviors has arisen. To be specific, it requires the motion of robots not only to be physically collision-free but also to consider and respect the social conventions developed and enforced in the human social contexts. Among these social conventions, personal space, or proxemics, is one of the most commonly considered in the robot behavioral design. Nevertheless, most previous research efforts assumed that robots could generate human-like motions by merely mimicking a human. Rarely are the robot’s behavioral algorithms assessed and verified by human participants. Therefore, to fill the research gap, a Turing-like simulation test, which contains the interaction of two agents (each agent could be a human or a robot) in a shared space was conducted. Participants (33 in total) were asked to identify and label the category of those agents followed by questionnaires. Results revealed that people who had different attitudes and prior expectations of appropriate robot behaviors responded to the algorithm differently, and their identification accuracy varied significantly. In general, by considering personal space in the robot obstacle avoidance algorithm, robots could demonstrate more humanlike motion behaviors which are confirmed by human experiments.

The early bonobo gets the juice? The evolutionary roots of pre-crastination in bonobos (Pan paniscus)

This paper is to appear in Animal Behavior and Cognition. ----- Pre-crastination refers to the propensity to initiate tasks at the earliest possible moment. Research with human adults has found that some individuals consistently chose to transport a nearby object a further distance rather than delay initiation of the transport to select an object closer to the target. This phenomenon has never been tested in animals using analogous methods. Consequently, we tested bonobos – the species most closely related to humans - using two versions of a comparable transport task. Overall, we found that all five bonobos tended to select the first object they encountered to transport to the goal. Unlike humans, the bonobos sometimes transported both available objects. Two of the five bonobos consistently pre-crastinated, a similar proportion to that found in human experiments. However, if the pre-crastination choice was non-functional, the bonobos chose the motorically efficient choice. In sum, our findings provide an existence proof for pre-crastination tendencies in some bonobos, akin to the distribution of this trait in humans. We discuss the possibility that the pre-crastination choice represents an automatic response triggered by the affordances of the objects encountered.