Advances in novel strategies for isolation, characterization, and analysis of CTCs and ctDNA

Over the past decade, the detection and analysis of liquid biopsy biomarkers such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) have advanced significantly. They have received recognition for their clinical usefulness in detecting cancer at an early stage, monitoring disease, and evaluating treatment response. The emergence of liquid biopsy has been a helpful development, as it offers a minimally invasive, rapid, real-time monitoring, and possible alternative to traditional tissue biopsies. In resource-limited settings, the ideal platform for liquid biopsy should not only extract more CTCs or ctDNA from a minimal sample volume but also accurately represent the molecular heterogeneity of the patient's disease. This review covers novel strategies and advancements in CTC and ctDNA-based liquid biopsy platforms, including microfluidic applications and comprehensive analysis of molecular complexity. We discuss these systems' operational principles and performance efficiencies, as well as future opportunities and challenges for their implementation in clinical settings. In addition, we emphasize the importance of integrated platforms that incorporate machine learning and artificial intelligence in accurate liquid biopsy detection systems, which can greatly improve cancer management and enable precision diagnostics.

The role of microRNA-185 in the pathogenesis of human diseases: A focus on cancer

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a widely-studied class of non-coding RNAs characterized by their short length (18-25 nucleotides). The precise functions of miRNAs are not well-elucidated; however, an increasing number of studies suggest their involvement in various physiologic processes and deregulation in pathologic conditions. miRNA-185 (miR-185) is among the mostly-studied miRNAs in human diseases, which is found to play putative roles in conditions like metabolic disorders, asthma, frailty, schizophrenia, and hepatitis. Notably, many cancer studies report the downregulation of miR-185 in cell lines, tumor tissues, and plasma specimens of patients, while it demonstrates a suppressing role on the malignant properties of cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Accordingly, miR-185 can be considered a tumor suppressor miRNA in human malignancies, while a few studies also report inconsistent findings. Being suggested as a prognostic/diagnostic biomarker, mi-185 is also found to offer clinical potentials, particularly for early diagnosis and prediction of the prognosis of cancer patients. In this review, we have outlined the studies that have evaluated the functions and clinical significance of miR-185 in different human diseases with a particular focus on cancer.

Effects of excessive water extraction on groundwater ecosystem services: Vulnerability assessments using biophysical approaches

In this research, a systematic, integrated framework was developed to evaluate the biophysical state and vulnerability intensity of groundwater supply ecosystem service (GSES) regarding excessive groundwater withdrawal in the Mashhad plain located in the northeastern of Khorasan Razavi province in Iran. At first, following an indexing approach, the biophysical aspects of the ecosystem, including capacity, flow, and the benefits of GSES, were analyzed. Afterward, the relationship between the capacity and flow ecosystem service (ES) was assessed to identify ecosystem's sustainability status. Furthermore, GSES stability was spatially shown. Finally, GSES vulnerability and its associated ESs was assessed based on 3D model of vulnerability via indexing three components of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. The final map spatially indicated the zoning of groundwater ecosystem services' vulnerability intensity in Mashhad Plain. The outcomes indicate a high and very high vulnerability in more than 35% of studying area. The results indicate that about 18%, 30%, and 15% of studying land show moderate, low, and no vulnerability, respectively. Finally, it was observed that due to groundwater's over-extraction, supplying the aquifer ecosystem services was disrupted. This method can be used as a solution for the sustainable management of groundwater resources, especially in the arid and semi-arid countries facing the depletion of water resources.

Static and dynamic phase transitions in multidimensional voting models on continua

A voting model (or a generalization of the Glauber model at zero temperature) on a multidimensional lattice is defined as a system composed of a lattice, each site of which is either empty or occupied by a single particle. The reactions of the system are such that two adjacent sites, one empty, the other occupied, may evolve to a state where both of these sites are either empty or occupied. The continuum version of this model in a D-dimensional region with a boundary is studied, and two general behaviors of such systems are investigated, the stationary behavior of the system, and the dominant way of relaxation of the system toward its stationary state. Based on the first behavior, a static phase transition (discontinuous changes in the stationary profiles of the system) is studied. Based on the second behavior, a dynamical phase transition (discontinuous changes in the relaxation times of the system) is studied. It is shown that the static phase transition is induced by the bulk reactions only, while the dynamical phase transition is a result of both bulk reactions and boundary conditions.

Autonomous multispecies reaction-diffusion systems with more-than-two-site interactions

Autonomous multispecies systems with more-than-two-neighbor interactions are studied. Conditions necessary and sufficient for the closedness of the evolution equations of the n-point functions are obtained. The average numbers of the particles at each site for one species and three-site interactions, and its generalization to the more-than-three-site interactions, are explicitly obtained. Generalizations of the Glauber model in different directions, using generalized rates, generalized numbers of states at each site, and generalized numbers of interacting sites, are also investigated.

Exactly solvable models through the empty-interval method

The most general one dimensional reaction-diffusion model with nearest-neighbor interactions that can be solved exactly through empty-interval method has been introduced. Assuming translationally invariant initial conditions, the probability that n consecutive sites are empty, E(n), has been exactly obtained. Here, however, we do not consider reactions changing two empty neighboring sites. In the thermodynamic limit, the large-time behavior of the system has also been investigated. Releasing translationally invariance, the evolution equation for the probability that n consecutive sites, starting from the site k, are empty, E(k,n), is obtained. In the thermodynamic limit, the large time behavior of the system is also considered. Finally, the continuum limit of the model is considered and the empty-interval probability function is obtained.

Phase transition in an asymmetric generalization of the zero-temperature q-state Potts model

An asymmetric generalization of the zero-temperature q-state Potts model on a one-dimensional lattice, with and without boundaries, has been studied. The dynamics of the particle number, and especially the large time behavior of the system, has been analyzed. In the thermodynamic limit, the system exhibits two kinds of phase transitions, a static and a dynamic phase transition.

Solvable multispecies reaction-diffusion processes

A family of one-dimensional multispecies reaction-diffusion processes on a lattice is introduced. It is shown that these processes are exactly solvable, provided a nonspectral matrix equation is satisfied. Some general remarks on the solutions to this equation, and some special solutions are given. The large-time behavior of the conditional probabilities of such systems is also investigated.

Phase transition in an asymmetric generalization of the zero-temperature Glauber model

An asymmetric generalization of the zero-temperature Glauber model on a lattice is introduced. The dynamics of the particle-density and especially the large-time behavior of the system is studied. It is shown that the system exhibits two kinds of phase transitions, a static one and a dynamic one.

Multispecies reaction-diffusion systems

Multispecies reaction-diffusion systems, for which the time evolution equations of correlation functions become a closed set, are considered. A formal solution for the average densities is found. Some special interactions and the exact time dependence of the average densities in these cases are also studied. For the general case, the large-time behavior of the average densities has also been obtained.

Asymmetric one-dimensional exclusion processes: a two-parameter exactly solvable example

We consider a two-parameter family of asymmetric exclusion processes for particles living on a continuous one-dimensional space. Using the Bethe ansatz, the exact solution to the master equation, and from that the drift and the diffusion rate in the two particle sector, are obtained.