......................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................... xiii Acronyms..............................................................................................................

In the recently published paper, no direct claims were made since only relatively indirect global ambient radioactivity levels are available [1]. However, available data from reputable sources clearly shows a global annual average population radiation exposure that peaked in 1962 and 1963 shortly after a spike in atomic bomb testing that pre-empted the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963 [2]. Ambie...

BACKGROUND Schizophrenia is a highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorder. A genetic variant of microRNA-137 (miR-137) has yielded significant genome-wide association with schizophrenia, suggesting that this miRNA plays a key role in its etiology. Therefore, a molecular network of interacting miR-137 targets may provide insights into the biological processes underlying schizophrenia. METHODS...

Evolutionary and physiological considerations argue that study of hyperthermophilic archaea should reveal new molecular aspects of DNA stabilization and repair. So far, these unusual prokaryotes have yielded a number of genes and enzymatic activities consistent with known mechanisms of excision repair, photo-reversal, and trans-lesion synthesis. However, other DNA enzymes of hyperthermophilic a...

Curriculum Change in South Africa Since 1994 The development of a national curriculum is a major challenge for any nation, and when a whole country depends on it to transform society in one broad stroke, it imposes tremendous expectations on such a curriculum. South Africa’s democratic government has inherited a divided and unequal system of education and must recognise that apartheid is not th...

In the present study, we evaluated the mechanisms of CDC42 in association with the microRNA-137 (miR-137)-induced inhibition of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The gene expression levels of miR-137 were evaluated in HCC cell lines. Direct association of miR-137 with its downstream target, cell division control protein 42 (CDC42), was evaluated by dual-luciferase assay, western blot analys...

microRNAs, frequently deregulated in human cancer, have been implicated in the progression of hepatocarcinogenesis. Here, we show that microRNA (miR)-137 is significantly down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Its decreased expression is associated with vein invasion, incomplete Involucrum, and distant metastasis. Multivariate analysis suggests that miR-137 is an independent indicato...

MicroRNA-137 (miR-137) was reported to be dysregulated in several human cancers. However, the function and mechanism of miR-137 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still unclear. In the current study, we explored the role of miR-137 in NSCLC progression. Using qRT-PCR, our data showed that miR-137 was significantly down-regulated in NSCLC tissues and cell lines. In vitro functional assay, ...