Background The "dark matter" of the genome harbors several non-coding RNA species including Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which have been implicated in neoplasia but remain understudied. RNA-seq has provided deep insights into the nature of lncRNAs in cancer but current RNA-seq data are rarely accompanied by longitudinal patient survival information. In contrast, a plethora of microarray studies have collected these clinical metadata that can be leveraged to identify novel associations between gene expression and clinical phenotypes. Methods In this study, we developed an analysis framework that computationally integrates RNA-seq and microarray data to systematically screen 9,463 lncRNAs for association with mortality risk across 20 cancer types. Results In total, we identified a comprehensive list of associations between lncRNAs and patient survival and demonstrate that these prognostic lncRNAs are under selective pressure and may be functional. Our results provide valuable insights that facilitate further exploration of lncRNAs and their potential as cancer biomarkers and drug targets. © 2020 Ung et al.Background Extensive milling processes have deprived wheat flour from essential nutrients. The objective of the current study was to assess the nutritive quality of commercial wheat flour (soft flour (SF)) through analyses of proximate composition and functional properties as well as quantification of benzoyl peroxide (BPO; added as bleaching agent in the SF) by comparing the results with whole wheat flour (WF; never received any additives). Methods The samples included commercial SF purchased from the local supplier of different flour mills (who use BPO as additive) and a control sample without additives was prepared by grinding the seeds harvested from wheat (Triticum aestivum L.; Inqulab 91) crop grown in the experimental field of University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, under optimized field conditions without any fertilizers and insecticides. Functional properties (including bulk density, water absorption capacity, oil absorption capacity, emulsifying activity, foaming capacity, least gelatinization concentration and gelatinization temperature) and proximate composition (including moisture content, ash contents, crude protein, gluten and starch contents) were determined and compared for all the samples. Benzoyl peroxide (BPO) and Benzoic Acid (BA) quantification was performed through High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Finally dietary intake was estimated for BPO and BA. Results Results showed that SF had lesser fiber, protein and ash contents, whereas, higher damaged starch, fat, gluten and bulk density. A parallel experiment under selected conditions (temperature, time and solute concentration) showed dissociation of BPO into BA soon after the exposure. Observed BA range (13.77 mg/g after 16 h) in SF and exposure level assessment (44.3 ± 1.36 mg/kg/BW) showed higher intake of BA on the consumption of SF. The results revealed the superiority of WF over SF in nutritive qualities as well as free of toxicants such as BA. © 2020 Nisar et al.Background The practical application of the Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA) has been reported in some Western countries. However, a few studies reported the application of the CAMSA in Chinese children. In addition, given that the CAMSA was designing to incorporate both movement skills and agility assessment, the value and validity of the timing component of the CAMSA are worth discussing. Methods By choosing the Illinois Agility Test, Repeated Side Step-1 m distance, and the newly designed Repeated Side Step-half of height as the benchmark, we evaluate the performance of the CAMSA, further establish the concurrent validity of the CAMSA timing components (completion time and time score). In total, 149 male children (mean age 9.0 ± 0.8 years) from public schools in Shanghai, China, participated in the study. Results The mean CAMSA completion time was 19.3 ± 5.3 (s), and mean time score was 8.7 ± 3.9 (range of 1-14) for all participants (n = 149). After adjusted the sprint speed, older ag study were able to reach the recommended level of the total CAMSA score referring to the Canadian criterion. The strong concurrent validity was found between the CAMSA timing components and three selected agility tests, respectively. ©2020 Cao et al.Background Microbial source tracking methods are used to determine the origin of contaminating bacteria and other microorganisms, particularly in contaminated water systems. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/loxo-101.html The Bayesian SourceTracker approach uses deep-sequencing marker gene libraries (16S ribosomal RNA) to determine the proportional contributions of bacteria from many potential source environments to a given sink environment simultaneously. Since its development, SourceTracker has been applied to an extensive diversity of studies, from beach contamination to human behavior. Methods Here, we demonstrate a novel application of SourceTracker to work with metagenomic datasets and tested this approach using sink samples from a study of coastal marine environments. Source environment metagenomes were obtained from metagenomics studies of gut, freshwater, marine, sand and soil environments. As part of this effort, we implemented features for determining the stability of source proportion estimates, including precision visualizations for performance optimization, and performed domain-specific source-tracking analyses (i.e., Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryota and viruses). We also applied SourceTracker to metagenomic libraries generated from samples collected from the International Space Station (ISS). Results SourceTracker proved highly effective at predicting the composition of known sources using shotgun metagenomic libraries. In addition, we showed that different taxonomic domains sometimes presented highly divergent pictures of environmental source origins for both the coastal marine and ISS samples. These findings indicated that applying SourceTracker to separate domains may provide a deeper understanding of the microbial origins of complex, mixed-source environments, and further suggested that certain domains may be preferable for tracking specific sources of contamination. ©2020 McGhee et al.