Avian and Emerging Human Oxyspirura Species Compared by Morphology, Pathogenicity, Intermediate Host, and Sequence Homology.

Based on sequence homology and phylogenetic tree results, the first report of eyeworm Oxyspirura species larvae has been confirmed in a human patient from Vietnam. However, important information related to Oxyspirura larvae was not presented in the case study. This comment provides a more detailed comparison of the Oxyspirura larvae found in the human case study to the avian eyeworm Oxyspirura petrowi.

Size matters: sequential mutations in tumorigenesis may reflect the stochastic effect of mutagen target sizes.

We tallied the number of possible mutant amino acids in proteins thought to be inactivated early in tumorigenesis and in proteins thought to be inactivated late in tumorigenesis, respectively. Proteins thought to be inactivated early in tumorigenesis, on average, have a greater number of alternative, mutant possibilities, which raises the possibility that the sequential order of mutations associated with cancer development reflects the random chance, throughout life, of a mutagen inactivating a larger versus a smaller target. The hypothesis that the temporal order of genetic changes in cancer reflects mutagen target sizes leads to novel considerations of 1) the mechanisms of the acquisition of cancer hallmarks and 2) cancer screening strategies.