Sex differences in oncogenic mutational processes.

Sex differences have been observed in multiple facets of cancer epidemiology, treatment and biology, and in most cancers outside the sex organs. Efforts to link these clinical differences to specific molecular features have focused on somatic mutations within the coding regions of the genome. Here we report a pan-cancer analysis of sex differences in whole genomes of 1983 tumours of 28 subtypes as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium. We both confirm the results of exome studies, and also uncover previously undescribed sex differences. These include sex-biases in coding and non-coding cancer drivers, mutation prevalence and strikingly, in mutational signatures related to underlying mutational processes. These results underline the pervasiveness of molecular sex differences and strengthen the call for increased consideration of sex in molecular cancer research

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

CORTISOL PRODUCTION RATE

Treatment of pregnant mothers with pharmacologic doses of prednisone and triamcinolone did not suppress the CPR of their offspring. Babies of diabetic mothers and infants with autosomal trisomy had normal CPR's. Two infants with anencephaly had a CPR in the lower range of normal.</jats:p

A Learning Model Based on the Elderly Philosophy for A Happy Life in Thai Social Context

The objectives of this research were divided into two phases: Phase 1: To synthesize and design learning activities based on the elderly philosophy for a happy life in Thai social context; the target group consisted of 8 key informants, 6 casual Informants, and 6 general informants; instruments used were an unstructured interview form, a non-participant observation form, and a diary form, data were analyzed by content analysis and thematically analysis. Phase 2: To study a learning model based on the elderly philosophy for a happy life in Thai social context, key informants consisted of 9 experts selected by purposive sampling, instruments used were a draft model and an evaluation form, data were analyzed by mean and standard deviation. The research results were as follows: Phase 1: The synthesis and designed results consisted of 4 aspects, 4 relationships, 4 developing dimensions, 5 standards, and 6 indicators in learning activities based on the elderly philosophy. Phase 2: The learning model based on the elderly philosophy for a happy life in Thai social context consisted of POCO&amp;A+L(PAORS). The details were: a principle (P), an objective (O), conditions for achievement (C), operations and activities (O&amp;A), and learning processes based on the elderly philosophy consisted of planning (P), action (A), organizing (O), reflection (R), and sustainability (S). The suitability and the possibility of the learning model were at the highest level (mean = 4.76 and 4.68) respectively

The Effects of Fat Content on the Shelf-Life of Vacuum-Packed Red Meat

When stored at chill temperatures, vacuum-packed (VP) lamb has a much shorter shelf-life than VP beef, primarily due to its higher pH, which could be linked to the higher fat content. The higher pH would create more favourable conditions for the growth of spoilage bacteria, resulting in a shorter shelf-life of meat. To determine the effects of fat on meat shelf-life as it relates to pH, a series of shelf-life trials at 2 &deg;C were conducted using VP beef and lamb mince with varying fat contents (i.e., control with ~5%, 20%, and 50%) as a model system to red meat primal cuts. The results showed that higher fat content reduced the shelf-life of VP beef mince by 24% and lamb mince by 12.5%. This reduction was accompanied by significantly (p &lt; 0.05) decreased glucose and lactic acid levels. Throughout storage, a higher fat content in beef and lamb mince generally resulted in a higher pH by 0.1 (p &lt; 0.05) compared to the respective controls. Higher fat content mince also had faster lactic acid bacteria growth rates (by up to 0.13 Log10 CFU/g/day) and higher maximum populations of presumptive enteric bacteria up to 1.3 Log10 CFU/g (p &lt; 0.05). These results suggest that fat content can negatively influence the shelf-life of VP red meat through lowering glucose and lactic acid levels, raising the pH, and increasing LAB growth rate and maximum population levels of presumptive enteric bacteria

Cr/MCM-22 catalyst for the synthesis of levulinic acid from green hydrothermolysis of renewable biomass resources

The novel Cr-loaded MCM-22 zeolite (Cr/MCM-22) was successfully synthesized, fully characterized, and applied as a heterogeneous catalyst for the transformation of biomass-derived materials (glucose, sucrose, cellulose, starch, agricultural residues, and other municipal wastes) into levulinic acid via hydrothermolysis. The novel Cr/MCM-22 gives higher yields of levulinic acid compared to other reported catalysts. Specifically, Cr/MCM-22 produced 73.2% levulinic acid yield from glucose at relatively high concentrations (solvent:biomass 20:1). For starting materials with higher structural complexity, pretreatment was required to maintain a high yield of levulinic acid. The novel catalyst was studied and compared to other related catalysts. The high efficiency is attributed to the synergistic effect induced by confinement control of the microporous material as well as Lewis and Brønsted acid sites of Cr/MCM-22. A reaction mechanism including all reaction steps has been proposed. The Cr/MCM-22 was successfully recycled three times.</p