Active regulator of SIRT1 is required for cancer cell survival but not for SIRT1 activity

The NAD+-dependent deacetylase SIRT1 is involved in diverse cellular processes, and has also been linked with multiple disease states. Among these, SIRT1 expression negatively correlates with cancer survival in both laboratory and clinical studies. Active regulator of SIRT1 (AROS) was the first reported post-transcriptional regulator of SIRT1 activity, enhancing SIRT1-mediated deacetylation and downregulation of the SIRT1 target p53. However, little is known regarding the role of AROS in regulation of SIRT1 during disease. Here, we report the cellular and molecular effects of RNAi-mediated AROS suppression, comparing this with the role of SIRT1 in a panel of human cell lines of both cancerous and non-cancerous origins. Unexpectedly, AROS is found to vary in its modulation of p53 acetylation according to cell context. AROS suppresses p53 acetylation only following the application of cell damaging stress, whereas SIRT1 suppresses p53 under all conditions analysed. This supplements the original characterization of AROS but indicates that SIRT1 activity can persist following suppression of AROS. We also demonstrate that knockdown of AROS induces apoptosis in three cancer cell lines, independent of p53 activation. Importantly, AROS is not required for the viability of three non-cancer cell lines indicating a putative role for AROS in specifically promoting cancer cell survival

Cyber-pseudepigraphy: A New Challenge for Higher Education Policy and Management

There is no lack of critical literature dealing with cyber-plagiarism and the implications for assessment in higher education. The practice of the selling of academic papers through the Internet is generally included under the category of plagiarism, although it is suggested that this ought to be considered under the separate category of cyber-pseudepigraphy. Pseudepigraphy is defined in this essay as the deliberate ascription of false authorship to a piece of writing, and cyber-pseudepigraphy is defined as using the Internet to have another person write an academic essay or paper, without this authorship being acknowledged. It is suggested that cyber-pseudepigraphy has widespread implications, and five critical issues are discussed. The essay finally raises the prospect of a return to some form of unseen examination as a method of student assessment as a way of dealing with this problem

A Description Logic of Typicality for Conceptual Combination

We propose a nonmonotonic Description Logic of typicality able to account for the phenomenon of combining prototypical concepts, an open problem in the fields of AI and cognitive modelling. Our logic extends the logic of typicality ALC + TR, based on the notion of rational closure, by inclusions p :: T(C) v D (“we have probability p that typical Cs are Ds”), coming from the distributed semantics of probabilistic Description Logics. Additionally, it embeds a set of cognitive heuristics for concept combination. We show that the complexity of reasoning in our logic is EXPTIME-complete as in ALC

Delineating the polarized and unpolarized photon distributions of the nucleon in eN collisions

The production rates of lepton-photon and dimuon pairs at the HERA collider and the HERMES experiment are evaluated in the leading order equivalent photon approximation. It is shown that the production rates are sufficient to facilitate the extraction of the polarized and unpolarized equivalent photon distributions of the proton and neutron in the available kinematical regions. It is pointed out that these results indicate the possibility of additional, independent, tests concerning the unpolarized and polarized structure functions F_{1,2}^N and g_{1,2}^N, respectively, of the nucleon.Comment: Final version, to appear in Eur. Phys.

Two phase galaxy formation: The Evolutionary Properties of Galaxies

We use our model for the formation and evolution of galaxies within a two-phase galaxy formation scenario, showing that the high-redshift domain typically supports the growth of spheroidal systems, whereas at low redshifts the predominant baryonic growth mechanism is quiescent and may therefore support the growth of a disc structure. Under this framework we investigate the evolving galaxy population by comparing key observations at both low and high-redshifts, finding generally good agreement. By analysing the evolutionary properties of this model, we are able to recreate several features of the evolving galaxy population with redshift, naturally reproducing number counts of massive star-forming galaxies at high redshifts, along with the galaxy scaling relations, star formation rate density and evolution of the stellar mass function. Building upon these encouraging agreements, we make model predictions that can be tested by future observations. In particular, we present the expected evolution to z=2 of the super-massive black hole mass function, and we show that the gas fraction in galaxies should decrease with increasing redshift in a mass, with more and more evolution going to higher and higher masses. Also, the characteristic transition mass from disc to bulge dominated system should decrease with increasing redshift.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Version polished for publication in MNRA

Numerical characterization of silicon DC electro-osmotic pumps: the role of the micro channel geometry

This paper was presented at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011), which was held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute.A numerical analysis of silicon DC open channel EOPs is presented to show which parameters should be taken into account in the design of these devices. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the channel cross-section geometry on pump behavior, especially in relation to the electrical properties of the fluid. Rectangular and trapezoidal, micro and nano channels chemically etched on silicon wafers are considered and a broad range of operative conditions are analyzed. In order to make all the results available, two user-friendly correlations that predict the characteristic curves of the pumps are given as functions of the relevant parameters. The EOP model used to obtain the results is explained extensively, as well as the method used to solve it. A brief discussion on the domain in which it applies is also presented

Poiseuille and Nusselt numbers for laminar flow in microchannels with rounded corners

This paper was presented at the 2nd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2009), which was held at Brunel University, West London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IPEM, the Italian Union of Thermofluid dynamics, the Process Intensification Network, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.This work investigates the frictional and heat transfer behaviour of laminar, fully-developed flow in microchannels with trapezoidal and rectangular cross-section and rounded corners under H1 boundary conditions. The equations of momentum and energy are solved numerically, and the results validated with analytical data, when available. The runs have been carried out for different aspect ratios and nondimensional radii of curvature Rc, with either all sides or three sides heated, one short side adiabatic for rectangular geometries and three sides heated, the longest one adiabatic for trapezoidal geometries. The Poiseuille and Nusselt numbers are reported and show, for the rectangular cross-section heated on all sides, a maximum increase for the highest value of the aspect ratio (β=1) with increments in the Poiseuille and Nusselt numbers of about 11% and 16% respectively for values of Rc * of 0.5, increasing as the geometry approaches the circular duct (12.5% and 21%). The increase is less pronounced as β decreases and also when only three sides are heated (maximum increase of Nu around 10%); in the case of the trapezoidal geometry the effects of rounding the corners are almost negligible (a maximum increase in Nu of around 2%)

BPS black holes, the Hesse potential, and the topological string

The Hesse potential is constructed for a class of four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric effective actions with S- and T-duality by performing the relevant Legendre transform by iteration. It is a function of fields that transform under duality according to an arithmetic subgroup of the classical dualities reflecting the monodromies of the underlying string compactification. These transformations are not subject to corrections, unlike the transformations of the fields that appear in the effective action which are affected by the presence of higher-derivative couplings. The class of actions that are considered includes those of the FHSV and the STU model. We also consider heterotic N=4 supersymmetric compactifications. The Hesse potential, which is equal to the free energy function for BPS black holes, is manifestly duality invariant. Generically it can be expanded in terms of powers of the modulus that represents the inverse topological string coupling constant, $g_s$, and its complex conjugate. The terms depending holomorphically on $g_s$ are expected to correspond to the topological string partition function and this expectation is explicitly verified in two cases. Terms proportional to mixed powers of $g_s$ and $\bar g_s$ are in principle present.Comment: 28 pages, LaTeX, added comment