Figure 1: Mechanism for miRNA regulation of target miRNA levels. Stress signals (such as homodynamic overload activate signal transduction pathways that lead to either the up regulation or downregulation of specific miRNAs. Stress signals that increase the expression levels of miRNAs can result in the down regulation of several target miRNAs through gene silencing or, more commonly a translational blockade of the target miRNA. Alternatively a stress-induced decrease in the expression levels of inhibitory miRNAs can lead to upregulation of previously suppressed target genes. Ultimately it is the miRNA-induced pattern of change in gene expression that contributes to the resultant disease phenotype [7].