- Two recent studies found that fungi grow inside some tumors in people with different cancer types. Each cancer type was associated with its own unique collection of fungal species; some of them harmless and some that can cause diseases. In addition to fungi, particular bacteria were present within the tumor, but possible interactions between them are not yet understood. Both studies, one published by a group of Israeli and U.S. researchers and another one by a group of U.S. researchers, were published in the same issue of Cell.
- Another research conducted in Israel targeted glioblastoma, the deadly brain cancer. In an animal study, they used a unique approach to eradicate the astrocytes (brain cells) around the tumor, which caused cancer to disappear. The study was published in Brain.
- New research undertaken at the University of California at Berkeley suggested that in people over 50 years old, genetics played a lesser role than in younger people in the development of age-related diseases such as cancer. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
- A team of U.K. and U.S. researchers made a surprising discovery by identifying a protein, called NALCN, that regulated not only how cancer metastasized but also normal cells travel around the body. The discovery paves the way to a potential new target for antimetastatic therapies. The study was published in Nature Genetics.
Author Archives: Marina
The RIS (File Format) Explained
The RIS (file format) is a standardized tag format developed by Research Information Systems company. The tag includes two letters, two spaces, and a hyphen to express bibliographic citation information. Each tag supports a different field. Below are some examples of tags for various field codes in a reference.
TY - "Type of reference" (eg. JOUR - always first tag)
AU - "Author"
PY - "Publication Year"
T1 - "Primary Title"
T2 - "Secondary Title" (eg. journal title)
SP - "Start Page"
EP - "End Page"
VL - "Volume"
IS - "Issue"
Most citation management tools use the RIS file format to properly tag information to the correct field (i.e. Author, Title, Journal Title, etc.). Most scholarly databases also include RIS format as one of their export options. See below for a list of RIS compatible tools and databases.
Therefore, the RIS file format can be used to transfer references to and from different programs. The most common use of RIS format is for exporting search results from a database into a citation management tool. In this example, the search results from an RIS-compatible database are exported by selecting RIS format, or occasionally a format specific for a software program (e.g. EndNote, RefWorks). In the latter case, it is using RIS format behind the scenes, but making it clearer to the user which option should be chosen. The database then converts the selected references into a raw format that the citation management tool can interpret. The user than either imports the file into their software program or they have their browser settings set to open an RIS file automatically in a specified program.
RIS files (file extension is .ris) are also a great option for long-term preservation. You may want to archive an EndNote Library you no longer use to save space, by preserving the citation records in an RIS file, if needed in the future, the file can simply be imported and repopulated in EndNote (or another software program). The same goes for if somebody sends you an RIS file of references, you can keep it in your records and, when needed, simply import it into an EndNote Library.
When doing this, it is best to have the target EndNote Library (most often a newly created one) already open on your computer so that when you double click on the RIS file the references are imported directly into that Library, otherwise EndNote may default to the most recent used library. If you want to preserve your own RIS files you can get them from Downloads (for example, in Chrome go to Downloads and then click Show in Folder, then copy to/save the RIS file where you want it to be) and rename it as needed.
What about PubMed??
One notable database that does NOT use RIS file format is PubMed. PubMed uses their own proprietary file format created by the National Library of Medicine. This “PubMed format” also known as MEDLINE tagged format, replaced RIS format so that it could better accommodate specific fields of information only found in PubMed (such as PMID). The file extension for the PubMed format is .nbib and it is essentially a .txt file format that can be opened and modified – this is not advised!
Still, you can easily convert Pubmed references to the .ris file format, if need be. To do that you need to export the references from PubMed to an Endnote Library first, then, in Endnote go to File>Export.. Type a file name in a File Name box and replace the extension .txt with .ris, Then choose Text File (*.txt) from Save as Type and RefMan (RIS) Export from Output Style drop down boxes. If you don’t see the RefMan (RIS) Export in the Output Style drop down box, click on Select Another Style and scroll to select it. Then Save your .ris file where you’d like it to be located. This .ris file can be now used for keeping and for export to and import by other software.
There are also other file formats that can be used to import and export to and from various products, such as BibTex (.bib), and EndNote format files (.enl, .enlx, .enlp, and .xml).
Takeaways: The RIS file format is a tagged file format used for bibliographic information, in both a variety of scholarly databases, journals, and library catalogs, as well as in certain citation management programs.
RIS-Compatible Citation Management Software Programs (*not exhaustive)
- EndNote
- RefWorks
- Zotero
- Mendeley
- Papers
- PaperPile
- SciWheel
RIS-Compatible Scholarly Databases (*not exhaustive)
- Embase
- CINAHL
- Scopus
- Web of Science
- PsycINFO
Sugar Metabolism in Cancer New Research, “Forever Chemicals” and Liver Cancer and More
- A new study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis challenged an established view of sugar as a cancer driver because of the cancer cells’ high glucose uptake.. The study demonstrated that cancer cells don’t use all the energy from glucose but discard most of it as waste. Until now, the rate of glucose consumption by cancer cells was used in cancer diagnosis and staging. Also, avoiding access to dietary sugar has been viewed as one of the anti-cancer strategies. The new findings don’t support the role of glucose metabolism as a good therapeutic target in cancer. The study was published in Molecular Cell.
- An international group of researchers, funded by Cancer Research UK, have developed a technique called spatial transcriptomics, which allows non-invasive mapping of tumors at a very high-resolution depth. The researchers have created a detailed three-dimensional prostate map, including both healthy and cancerous cell areas. The study also discovered that individual prostate tumors have multiple genetic variations and revealed that healthy tissue in a prostate already had genetic characteristics associated with cancer. The new technique will help study the characteristics and development of cancer on a cellular level. The technique and the finding of the study will have a significant impact on cancer diagnosis and treatment. The study was published in Nature.
- Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology developed a revolutionary detection method that shows how cancers metastasize and what stage they are. They created a new type of chip called the Cluster-Well, which can capture circulating tumor cell (CTC) clusters in blood, which are the vehicles of tumor spread. According to the Principal Investigator on the study, this new technology allows circulating tumor cell clusters “virtually in any cancer to be accessed with precision and practicality that has not been possible before.” The study was published in Nature Communications.
- A researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the long-term relationship between cancer and Alzheimer’s Disease. The findings supported the pattern already established by the prior research into a short term relationship, that of the inverse relationship between the two conditions: “…dementia patients with cancer history demonstrated better cognition at dementia diagnosis and declined slower than dementia patients without cancer history”. The study was published in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
- Researchers at the University of Southern California have found that exposure to “forever chemicals,” also known as PFAS, which are chemicals used in nonstick cookware and certain types of makeup, is associated with elevated liver cancer risk. The study was published in JHEP Reports.