Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of a gene regulatory network associated with prion replication

Prions consist of aggregates of abnormal conformers of the cellular prion protein (PrPC). They propagate by recruiting host‐encoded PrPC although the critical interacting proteins and the reasons for the differences in susceptibility of distinct cell lines and populations are unknown. We derived a lineage of cell lines with markedly differing susceptibilities, unexplained by PrPC expression differences, to identify such factors. Transcriptome analysis of prion‐resistant revertants, isolated from highly susceptible cells, revealed a gene expression signature associated with susceptibility and modulated by differentiation. Several of these genes encode proteins with a role in extracellular matrix (ECM) remodelling, a compartment in which disease‐related PrP is deposited. Silencing nine of these genes significantly increased susceptibility. Silencing of Papss2 led to undersulphated heparan sulphate and increased PrPC deposition at the ECM, concomitantly with increased prion propagation. Moreover, inhibition of fibronectin 1 binding to integrin α8 by RGD peptide inhibited metalloproteinases (MMP)‐2/9 whilst increasing prion propagation. In summary, we have identified a gene regulatory network associated with prion propagation at the ECM and governed by the cellular differentiation state.
Fully&#8211;integrated active&#8211;quenching circuit for single&#8211;photon detection

A monolithic active-quenching and active-reset circuit is presented, designed for avalanche photodiodes that detect single-photons by operating above the breakdown voltage (VB) in a digital mode, known as SPAD's. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first fully-integrated circuit of this kind ever reported. It operates with any existing SPAD, also with very high VB, since the quenching pulse is high enough to operate a SPAD up to 30V above VB. The deadtime after each photon detection is adjustable; the minimum value is 50ns, i.e. the maximum saturated counting rate is 20Mcounts/s. Free-running and gated-detector operation are provided; the minimum gate-on time is about 20ns. The small size, low power dissipation (20mW stand-by) and high reliability of the circuit make it possible to develop miniaturized detection modules, for single detectors and for detector-arrays. Various applications are interested: DNA sequencing, photon-correlation spectroscopy, laser ranging, CMOS circuit testing by electroluminescence measurements, etc.
Magnetic Recording Materials

•' It was more than a century ago, in 1888, when Oberlin Smith vyrote an article for The Electrical World, describing his idea for storing electrical information by means of magnetized particles. Magnetic tapes hâve since become one of the most accurate, convenient ways to store information as diverse as sound and video signais, controlling impulses for machinery, or data from business and scientific apparatus. In fact, anything that can be converted to an electrical signal can be stored magnetically and later reproduced. Because magnetic storage média can be erased and re-used many times over, such materials also hâve a great économie advantage over other recording methods.
Parameter estimation in Bayesian Blind Deconvolution with super Gaussian image priors

Super Gaussian (SG) distributions have proven to be very powerful prior models to induce sparsity in Bayesian Blind Deconvolution (BD) problems. Their conjugate based representations make them specially attractive when Variational Bayes (VB) inference is used since their variational parameters can be calculated in closed form with the sole knowledge of the energy function of the prior model. In this work we show how the introduction in the SG distribution of a global strength (not necessary scale) parameter can be used to improve the quality of the obtained restorations as well as to introduce additional information on the global weight of the prior. A model to estimate the new unknown parameter within the Bayesian framework is provided. Experimental results, on both synthetic and real images, demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
ER and vacuoles: never been closer

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) represents the gateway for intracellular trafficking of membrane proteins, soluble cargoes and lipids. In all eukaryotes, the best described mechanism of exiting the ER is via COPII-coated vesicles, which transport both membrane proteins and soluble cargoes to the cis-Golgi. The vacuole, together with the plasma membrane, is the most distal point of the secretory pathway, and many vacuolar proteins are transported from the ER through intermediate compartments. However, past results and recent findings demonstrate the presence of alternative transport routes from the ER towards the tonoplast, which are independent of Golgi- and post-Golgi trafficking. Moreover, the transport mechanism of the vacuolar proton pumps VHA-a3 and AVP1 challenges the current model of vacuole biogenesis, pointing to the endoplasmic reticulum for being the main membrane source for the biogenesis of the plant lytic compartment. This review gives an overview of the current knowledge on the transport routes towards the vacuole and discusses the possible mechanism of vacuole biogenesis in plants.
Actions of insulin-like growth factors.

Three different lines of research and three entirely different observations have led to the discovery of the insulin-like growth factors (IGFs). In 1957, Salmon & Daughaday carried out an important experiment (44). They observed that serum stimulated the incorporation of 35S into incubated cartilage. Serum of hypophysectomized rats was devoid of this sulfation activity. It could not be reconstituted by addition of growth hormone to the incubation medium but reappeared after administration of growth hormone to hypophysectomized rats (44). These observations led Daughaday to postulate that growth hormone itself does not stimulate growth processes in vitro and in vivo, but rather induces the formation of factors that mediate the message of growth hormone. These factors-first called sulfation factors, later soma­ tomedins-Iead to sulfation of cartilage in vitro, which reflects growth in vivo. As we shall see, this hypothesis has been proven to be valid. Most cultured cells need serum to grow. Several growth factors in serum are responsible for growth-promoting effects, an aspect that will be discussed below in more detail. In 1972, Pierson & Temin extracted factors from serum, which they called multiplication-stimulating activity (MSA) (37). These fac­ tors had molecular weights below 10,000. When added to culture medium, they stimulated cells to replicate. Later it was found that cultured liver cells secrete MSA into the culture medium (10). This was the first demonstration that MSA is produced in the liver and that MSA may lead to autocrine stimulation of the same cells by which it is secreted. The third road towards the discovery of insulin-like growth factors departed from an entirely different observation: Serum exerts insulin-like effects on
Effects of Metal Doping on Thermoelectric Properties of Arc-Melted and Hot-Pressed β-Rhombohedral Boron

Thermoelectric properties of metal (V, Co, Zr, Sr, W)-doped (cid:1) -rhombohedral boron ( (cid:1) -Boron) were examined in the temperature range from 353K to 1073K. Doping with V (V 1 : 5 B 105 ), which preferentially occupy the A 1 sites, results in a great increase of electrical conductivity (cid:2) and a negative Seebeck coeﬃcient S, while doping Co, Zr, Sr or W (M 1 : 0 B 105 , M ¼ Co, Zr, Sr or W) also increases the (cid:2) though S remains positive. By crushing and hot pressing as-melted samples, the thermal conductivity (cid:3) was decreased to almost half of that of arc-melted samples. As a result, V-doped and hot-pressed n-type (cid:1) -Boron had a ZT value of about 0.01 at 885K, which approaches that of boron carbide, which exhibits the maximum ZT value among the boron-rich icosahedral cluster solids. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.E-MRA2007890] (Received
The role of feasibility and desirability considerations in near and distant future decisions: A test of temporal construal theory.

Temporal construal theory states that distant future situations are construed on a higher level (i.e., using more abstract and central features) than near future situations. Accordingly, the theory suggests that the value associated with the high-level construal is enhanced over delay and that the value associated with the low-level construal is discounted over delay. In goal-directed activities, desirability of the activity's end state represents a high-level construal, whereas the feasibility of attaining this end state represents a low-level construal. Study 1 found that distant future activities were construed on a higher level than near future activities. Studies 2 and 3 showed that decisions regarding distant future activities, compared with decisions regarding near future activities, were more influenced by the desirability of the end state and less influenced by the feasibility of attaining the end state. Study 4 presented students with a real-life choice of academic assignments varying in difficulty (feasibility) and interest (desirability). In choosing a distant future assignment, students placed relatively more weight on the assignment's interest, whereas in choosing a near future assignment, they placed relatively more weight on difficulty. Study 5 found that distant future plans, compared with near future plans, were related to desirability of activities rather than to time constraints. In everyday life, people judge and make decisions about events that will take place either in the relatively near future or in the distant future. For example, one may need to decide whether to take a vacation, give a lecture, or attend a conference a few months in advance or just a few days in advance. This article addresses the question of how temporal distance from an event affects people's decisions regarding that event. We argue that distant future events are construed on a higher level (i.e., by using more central and abstract features of the event) than near future events. Therefore, decisions regarding distant future events are likely to be based on relatively central and
A36-dependent Actin Filament Nucleation Promotes Release of Vaccinia Virus

Cell-to-cell transmission of vaccinia virus can be mediated by enveloped virions that remain attached to the outer surface of the cell or those released into the medium. During egress, the outer membrane of the double-enveloped virus fuses with the plasma membrane leaving extracellular virus attached to the cell surface via viral envelope proteins. Here we report that F-actin nucleation by the viral protein A36 promotes the disengagement of virus attachment and release of enveloped virus. Cells infected with the A36YdF virus, which has mutations at two critical tyrosine residues abrogating localised actin nucleation, displayed a 10-fold reduction in virus release. We examined A36YdF infected cells by transmission electron microscopy and observed that during release, virus appeared trapped in small invaginations at the plasma membrane. To further characterise the mechanism by which actin nucleation drives the dissociation of enveloped virus from the cell surface, we examined recombinant viruses by super-resolution microscopy. Fluorescently-tagged A36 was visualised at sub-viral resolution to image cell-virus attachment in mutant and parental backgrounds. We confirmed that A36YdF extracellular virus remained closely associated to the plasma membrane in small membrane pits. Virus-induced actin nucleation reduced the extent of association, thereby promoting the untethering of virus from the cell surface. Virus release can be enhanced via a point mutation in the luminal region of B5 (P189S), another virus envelope protein. We found that the B5P189S mutation led to reduced contact between extracellular virus and the host membrane during release, even in the absence of virus-induced actin nucleation. Our results posit that during release virus is tightly tethered to the host cell through interactions mediated by viral envelope proteins. Untethering of virus into the surrounding extracellular space requires these interactions be relieved, either through the force of actin nucleation or by mutations in luminal proteins that weaken these interactions.
QoS impact on user perception and understanding of multimedia video clips

L ABSTIL4CT The widespread and increasing advent of multimedia technologies means that there must be a departure from the viewpoint that users expect a Quality of Service (QoS) which will only satisfy them perceptually. What should be expected of multimedia clips is that the QoS with which they are shown is such that it will enable the users to assimilate and understand the informational content of such clips. In this paper we present experimental resuks Iiiking users’ understanding and perception of multimedia ctips with the presentation QoS. Results show that the quality of video clips can be severely degraded without the user having to perceive any significant 10ss of informational content 1.1
Organophilic Nano Clay: A Comprehensive Review

Organophilic nano clay is an important organic-inorganic hybrid derived from intelligent combination of two dissimilar components, viz. clays and organic molecules, at the nanometric and molecular level. The clay component of this hybrid provides a 2-D lamellar structure with interesting surface chemistry, which can be engineered by organic molecules. 2:1 layered clay minerals with high cation exchange capacity, e.g. montmorillonite, possess cation exchange sites on the siloxane surface which can be exchanged with suitable organic molecules. Key aspect of this organic treatment is to swell the interlayer space of the clay mineral up to a certain extent reducing interlayer interaction, to produce nanoplatelet of aluminosilicate materials. Those engineered nanoplatelets are used in various fields of applications, viz. polymer nano clay composite, rheological modifier, thickening and gelling agent in paints and lubricants, in waste water treatment, and also as drug delivery vehicle. Intensive research activity in this complex system is attested by evergrowing number of symposia, books and specialized journals devoted to this subject. This present article is an updated review of organophilic nano clay preparation, characterization and application of the material. Important information available in the protected domain of patent is also included.
Multi-objective data placement for multi-cloud socially aware services

Socially aware services often have a large user base and data of users have to be partitioned and replicated over multiple geographically distributed clouds. Choosing in which cloud to place data, however, is difficult. Effective data placements entail meeting multiple system objectives, including reducing the usage of cloud resources, providing good service quality to users, and even minimizing the carbon footprint, while facing critical challenges such as the interconnection of social data, the conflicting requirements of different objectives, and the customized multi-cloud data access policies. In this paper, we study multi-objective optimization for placing users' data over multiple clouds for socially aware services. We build a model framework that can accommodate a range of different objectives, and based on this model we formulate the optimization problem. Leveraging graph cuts, we propose an optimization approach that decomposes our original problem into two simpler subproblems and solves them alternately in multiple rounds. We carry out evaluations using a large group of real-world geographically distributed users with realistic interactions, and place users' data over 10 clouds all across the US. We demonstrate results that are significantly superior to standard and de facto methods in all objectives, and also show that our approach is capable of exploring trade-offs among objectives, converges fast and scales to a huge user base.
Snapping Mechanical Metamaterials under Tension

A snapping mechanical metamaterial is designed, which exhibits a sequential snap-through behavior under tension. The tensile response of this mechanical metamaterial can be altered by tuning the architecture of the snapping segments to achieve a range of nonlinear mechanical responses, including monotonic, S-shaped, plateau, and non-monotonic snap-through behavior.
Investigation on Energy Absorption of Slab Foamed Concrete Reinforced by Polypropylene Fibre Subjected to Impact Loading

Polypropylene Fibre (PF) as reinforcement has contributed to the intensity of Foamed Concrete (FC) slab when subjected to impact loading. The presence of PF in the admixture reduces the micro-porosity that generates the micro-crack of the slab. However, the fibrillation of PF in the admixture enhances the bonding mechanism system between PF and the FC matrix. The impact test conducted uses an instrumented drop-weight impact tower. Results show that FC without PF produces a distinct radial crack and clear fragments within the crater field unlike FC with PF. However, both slab materials did not generate spalling nor scabbing upon impact and the influence of porosity produces only local damage due to the mechanism of brittle crushing effect of porous walls. In this study, the energy absorption between FC with and without PF was investigated and from observation produces only minor differences. Results also verify that FC with PF did not loss its ability to absorb energy upon impact.
A novel reconfigurable logic device base on 3D stack technology

In recent years, as the VLSI process scale had been developed into deep sub-micro dimension, the problem of the routing delay becomes critical. Especially for reconfigurable logic devices (RLDs) like Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), the routing resources occupy approximately 90% of area and delay performance. In this paper, we propose a novel 3D routing architecture based on building 3D connections on the input and output pins of Logic Block to improve routing performance of reconfigurable logic devices (RLDs). The evaluation shows that the novel RLD with two layers of 3D routing architecture reduced 51.11% on borad area than conventional 2D 4-LUT island style FPGA.
Synthesis and Evaluation of Some New Aza-B-homocholestane Derivatives as Anticancer Agents

Using analogues of some marine steroidal oximes as precursors, a series of aza-B-homocholestane derivatives possessing different substituted groups at the 3-position of the steroidal nucleus were synthesized. Their biological activity against cancer cell proliferation was determined with multiple cancer cell lines. Aza-B-homocholestane derivatives possessing 3-hydroxyl, 3-hydroximino and 3-thiosemicarbazone groups displayed remarkable cytotoxicity to cancer cells via apoptosis inducing mechanism. Compounds 5, 10, 12, 15 and 18 exhibited better potency to inhibit cancer cell proliferation. In addition, compound 15 was further evaluated with three dimensional (3D) multicellular spheroids assay to determine its potency against spheroid growth. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) generated in the studies is valuable for the design of novel chemotherapeutic agents.
RNAi-mediated knockdown of mouse melanocortin-4 receptor in vitro and in vivo, using an siRNA expression construct based on the mir-187 precursor

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful tool for the study of gene function in mammalian systems, including transgenic mice. Here, we report a gene knockdown system based on the human mir-187 precursor. We introduced small interfering RNA (siRNA) sequences against the mouse melanocortin-4 receptor (mMc4r) to alter the targeting of miR-187. The siRNA-expressing cassette was placed under the control of the cytomegalovirus (CMV) early enhancer/chicken β-actin promoter. In vitro, the construct efficiently knocked down the gene expression of a co-transfected mMc4r-expression vector in cultured mammalian cells. Using this construct, we generated a transgenic mouse line which exhibited partial but significant knockdown of mMc4r mRNA in various brain regions. Northern blot analysis detected transgenic expression of mMc4r siRNA in these regions. Furthermore, the transgenic mice fed a normal diet ate 9% more and were 30% heavier than wild-type sibs. They also developed hyperinsulinemia and fatty liver as do mMc4r knockout mice. We determined that this siRNA expression construct based on mir-187 is a practical and useful tool for gene functional studies in vitro as well as in vivo.
Long-Distance Effects of Insertional Mutagenesis

Background Most common systems of genetic engineering of mammalian cells are associated with insertional mutagenesis of the modified cells. Insertional mutagenesis is also a popular approach to generate random alterations for gene discovery projects. A better understanding of the interaction of the structural elements within an insertional mutagen and the ability of such elements to influence host genes at various distances away from the insertion site is a matter of considerable practical importance. Methodology/Principal Findings We observed that, in the context of a lentiviral construct, a transcript, which is initiated at an internal CMV promoter/enhancer region and incorporates a splice donor site, is able to extend past a collinear viral LTR and trap exons of host genes, while the polyadenylation signal, which is naturally present in the LTR, is spliced out. Unexpectedly, when a vector, which utilizes this phenomenon, was used to produce mutants with elevated activity of NF-κB, we found mutants, which owed their phenotype to the effect of the insert on a gene located tens or even hundreds of kilobases away from the insertion site. This effect did not result from a CMV-driven transcript, but was sensitive to functional suppression of the insert. Interestingly, despite the long-distance effect, expression of loci most closely positioned to the insert appeared unaffected. Conclusions/Significance We concluded that a polyadenylation signal in a retroviral LTR, when occurring within an intron, is an inefficient barrier against the formation of a hybrid transcript, and that a vector containing a strong enhancer may selectively affect the function of genes far away from its insertion site. These phenomena have to be considered when experimental or therapeutic transduction is performed. In particular, the long-distance effects of insertional mutagenesis bring into question the relevance of the lists of disease-associated retroviral integration targets, which did not undergo functional validation.