Accumulated evidence has shown that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) act as a widespread layer in gene regulatory networks and are involved in a wide range of biological processes. The dysregulation of lncRNA has been implicated in various complex human diseases. Although several computational methods have been developed to predict disease-related lncRNA, this still remains a considerable challenging task. In this study, we tried to construct an lncRNA-lncRNA crosstalk network by examining the significant co-occurrence of shared miRNA response elements on lncRNA transcripts from the competing endogenous RNAs viewpoint. As expected, functional analysis showed that lncRNA sharing significantly enriched interacting miRNAs tend to be involved in similar diseases and have more functionally related flanking gene sets. We further proposed a novel rank-based method, RWRHLD, to prioritize candidate lncRNA-disease associations by integrating three networks (miRNA-associated lncRNA-lncRNA crosstalk network, disease-disease similarity network and known lncRNA-disease association network) into a heterogeneous network and implementing a random walk with restart on this heterogeneous network. We used leave-one-out cross-validation to test the performance of this rank-based method in this study based on known experimentally verified lncRNA-disease associations and obtained a reliable AUC value of 0.871, which is much higher than RWR merely based on an lncRNA network, hypergeometric test and random situation. Furthermore, several novel lncRNA-disease associations predicted in case studies of ovarian cancer and prostate cancer have been confirmed in new studies by literature surveys.

ObjectivesSince the third century CE, a series of nomadic tribes have been active on the eastern part of the Mongolian Plateau. Characterizing the genetic compositions of past nomadic people is significant for research on the nomadic cultures of the Eurasian Steppe region. Ancient DNA analysis facilitates a deeper understanding of the relationship between historical and modern nomadic populations.Materials and methodsWhole‐genome shotgun sequencing and capture sequencing of the nonrecombining region of the Y chromosome were performed for six ancient Hg C2/M217 individuals. The individuals were interred at six separate sites on the Mongolian Plateau and represent dates spanning the late Neolithic to Yuan Dynasty (~3,500–700 BP).ResultsAfter NRY capture sequencing, three of the six ancient samples were attributed to C2b1b/F845 and the other three ancient samples belonged to C2a1a1b1a/F3830. Analysis of whole‐genome shotgun sequencing data shows that the ancient C2b1b/F845 individuals are closely related to She, Han and other East Asian populations, while the ancient C2a1a1b1a/F3830 individuals are more similar to modern Northeast Asian peoples, such as the Ulchi and Yakut.DiscussionHg C2/M217, widely distributed in the eastern part of the Eurasian continent, was discovered in the ancient Central Steppe and Baikal region. This study shows that there were two important subclades of Hg C2/M217 among the ancient nomadic peoples: C2a1a1b1a/F3830, which has made important genetic contributions to modern Mongolic‐ and Manchu‐speaking populations, and C2b1b/F845, which probably originated in the farming populations of southern East Asia and made certain genetic contributions to past nomadic peoples on the Mongolian Plateau.

Objectives: As the political, economic, military, and cultural center of the early Yuan Dynasty, Xanadu attracted people from all over the world. It was thriving and prosperous, composed of residents with different customs and religious beliefs from different social strata. Genetic analysis of Xanadu's residents provides a valuable approach for inferring processes of population movement and exchange during the Yuan period.Materials and Methods: Nine skeletons from Zhenzishan cemetery, the largest cemetery near Xanadu, were selected for the whole-genome shotgun sequencing and capture sequencing of the nonrecombining region of the Y chromosome, three of whom were identified as likely being of European descent based on cranio-facial morphology.Results: There were nine mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes (F1a1, D5b1,