The terms “eustress” and “distress” are widely used throughout the scientific literature. As of February 2020, 203 items in the Web of Science show up in a search for “eustress,” however, there are almost 16 400 items found in a search for the term “distress.” Based on the reasoning in this article, however, it is believed there is no such thing as eustress or distress. The adaptation reaction of an organism under stress is not intrinsically good or bad, and its effect on health or performance depends on a plethora of other interactions of the body with the environment as well as on the history of such interactions. The vagueness of the terms “eustress/distress” has historically led to vast differences in the perception and application of the terms across disciplines. While psychology or sociology perceive eustress as something inextricably linked to positive perception and enhanced cognition, biomedicine perceives eustress as generally associated with better survival, health, or increased longevity, no matter how the event is perceived. In this paper, the authors review the current understanding of the term “eustress” in different fields, discuss possible implications of its misleading use, and suggest that the term may be replaced by “stress” only.

Evaluation of SNPs in miR-196-a2, miR-27a and miR-146a as risk factors of colorectal cancer

• Introduction • Classification of miRNA‐related SNPs ‐ SNPs in miRNA processing machinery ‐ SNPs in pri‐, pre‐, mat‐miRNAs ‐ SNPs in miRNA‐binding sites • MiRNA‐related SNPs and solid cancer ‐ Breast cancer ‐ Colorectal cancer ‐ Lung cancer ‐ Prostate cancer ‐ Renal cell carcinoma ‐ Cervical cancer ‐ Ovarian cancer ‐ Gastric cancer ‐ Bladder cancer ‐ Oesophageal cancer ‐ Hepatocellular carcinoma ‐ Head and neck cancer ‐ Thyroid cancer ‐ Glioma • Conclusions and future directions MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non‐coding RNAs, which regulate gene expression. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may occur in miRNA biogenesis pathway genes, primary miRNA, pre‐miRNA or a mature miRNA sequence. Such polymorphisms may be functional with respect to biogenesis and actions of mature miRNA. Specific SNPs were identified in predicted miRNA target sites within 3′ untranslated regions of mRNAs. These SNPs have a potential to affect the efficiency of miRNA binding to the target sites or can create or disrupt binding sites. Resulting gene dysregulation may involve changes in phenotype and may eventually prove critical for the susceptibility to cancer and its onset as well as for estimates of prognosis and therapy response. In this review, we provide a comprehensive list of potentially functional miRNA‐related SNPs and summarize their importance as candidate cancer biomarkers.