[en] Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in microRNA (miRNA) genes (miR-SNPs) have attracted increasing attention in recent years due to their involvement in the development of various types of cancer. Therefore, a systematic review on this topic was needed. From 55 scientific publications we collected 20 SNPs, which are located within 18 miRNA encoding genes and have been associated with 16 types of cancer. Among 20 miRNA gene polymorphisms 13 are located within the premature miRNA region, five within mature, and two within mature seed miRNA region. We graphically visualized a network of miRNA-cancer associations which revealed miRNA genes and cancer types with the highest number of connections. Our study showed that, despite a large number of variations currently known to be located within miRNA genes in humans, most of them have not yet been tested for association with cancer. MicroRNA SNPs collected in this study represent only 0.43% of known miRNA gene variations (20/4687). Results of the present study will be useful to researchers investigating the clinical use of miRNAs, such as the roles of miRNAs as diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets

[en] We present the analysis of 34 light curves in V and I of 17 giant stars in the globular cluster NGC 3201 to check if such stars are variable and if their variability has some kind of impact on the iron abundance as obtained from spectroscopic measurements. First, we computed the generalized Lomb–Scargle and phase dispersion minimization periodograms of the sample to check if the stars were variables. In this way, seven stars of the sample were found to be nonvariable, two stars are considered as possible variables, and eight stars were found to be variable, with periods ranging from 0.0881 ± 0.0001 to 0.5418 ± 0.0027 days. According to the literature, the variables have distinct values of [Fe I/H]: the three most metal-rich stars are in the red giant branch (RGB) stage, one has [Fe I/H] = −1.37 dex, while the other two have [Fe I/H] = −1.31 dex. The two most metal-poor variables have [Fe I/H] = −1.61 dex and [Fe I/H] = −1.62 dex, and are AGB stars; the remaining variables have [Fe I/H] = −1.44, −1.48, and −1.50 dex, the first two being RGB stars while the last is an AGB star. On the other hand, stars that appear to be nonvariable have −1.56 ≤ [Fe I/H] ≤ −1.40. We conclude that variability somehow affects the spectroscopic determination of the iron content of giant stars in NGC 3201, increasing the iron spread of the cluster. If variability is not taken into account, this spread could be incorrectly interpreted as due to an intrinsic iron spread affecting the stars of the cluster.

[en] A formula expressing the fermionic determinant as an infinite product of smaller determinants is derived and discussed. These smaller determinants are of a fixed size, independent of the size of the lattice and are indexed by loops of increasing length. (paper)

[en] Multiple primary neoplasms in surviving cancer patients are relatively common, with an increasing incidence. Their impact on survival has not been clearly defined. This was a retrospective review of clinical data for all consecutive patients with histologically confirmed cancer, with emphasis on single versus multiple primary neoplasms. Second primaries discovered at the workup of the index (first) primary were termed simultaneous, if discovered within 6 months of the index primary were called synchronous, and if discovered after 6 months were termed metachronous. Between 2005 and 2012, of 1,873 cancer patients, 322 developed second malignancies; these included two primaries (n=284), and three or more primaries (n=38). Forty-seven patients had synchronous primaries and 275 had metachronous primaries. Patients with multiple primaries were predominantly of Caucasian ancestry (91.0%), with a tendency to develop thrombosis (20.2%), had a strong family history of similar cancer (22.3%), and usually presented with earlier stage 0 through stage II disease (78.9%). When compared with 1,551 patients with a single primary, these figures were 8.9%, 15.6%, 18.3%, and 50.9%, respectively (P≤0.001). Five-year survival rates were higher for metachronous cancers (95%) than for synchronous primaries (59%) and single primaries (59%). The worst survival rate was for simultaneous concomitant multiple primaries, being a median of 1.9 years. The best survival was for patients with three or more primaries (median 10.9 years) and was similar to the expected survival for the age-matched and sex-matched general population (P=0.06991). Patients with multiple primaries are usually of Caucasian ancestry, have less aggressive malignancies, present at earlier stages, frequently have a strong family history of similar cancer, and their cancers tend to have indolent clinical behavior with longer survival rates, possibly related to genetic predisposition

[en] Nowadays, the media have reported an increasing number of cases where children are accidentally being trapped in vehicles while they parents and guardians are away attending to other matters. In this paper we discuss the feasibility of applying Mechatronics to improve the safety of children in vehicles with the ultimate goal of developing a means for parents,guardians and authorities to be informed if ever there is a child trapped in a vehicle and in need of urgent assistance. We have also presented some preliminary experiments we have carried out for a safety alert system which is currently being developed in our lab. (paper)

[en] The aim of this paper was to review the temperature changes in Danubian lowland in Nitra locality in years from 1961 to 2010. Average temperatures were evaluated for decades with using mathematical statistical methods. In conclusion can be stated that it was recorded the increasing of average temperatures after decades for years 1960-2010, especially in vegetation period (April - September). The highest increase of average temperatures evaluated over decades was recorded in months May (1, 6°C), July (2, 1°C) and August (1, 6°C).

[en] This article is about increasing yields for smallholder farmers in the Peruvian Andes.

[en] This article is about increasing yields for smallholder farmers in the Peruvian Andes.

[en] Evidence is presented for a systematic text-length dependence of the power-law index γ of a single book. The estimated γ values are consistent with a monotonic decrease from 2 to 1 with increasing text length. A direct connection to an extended Heap's law is explored. The infinite book limit is, as a consequence, proposed to be given by γ=1 instead of the value γ=2 expected if Zipf's law is universally applicable. In addition, we explore the idea that the systematic text-length dependence can be described by a meta book concept, which is an abstract representation reflecting the word-frequency structure of a text. According to this concept the word-frequency distribution of a text, with a certain length written by a single author, has the same characteristics as a text of the same length extracted from an imaginary complete infinite corpus written by the same author.

[en] Contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) is one of the most widely discussed and debated topics in cardiovascular medicine. With increasing number of contrast-media- (CM-) enhanced imaging studies being performed and growing octogenarian population with significant comorbidities, incidence of CI-AKI remains high. In this review, pathophysiology of CI-AKI, its relationship with different types of CM, role of serum and urinary biomarkers for diagnosing CI-AKI, and various prophylactic strategies used for nephroprotection against CI-AKI are discussed in detail