Improvement of current-control induced by oxide crenel in very short field-effect-transistor

A 2D quantum ballistic transport model based on the non-equilibrium Green's function formalism has been used to theoretically investigate the effects induced by an oxide crenel in a very short (7 nm) thin-film metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect-transistor. Our investigation shows that a well adjusted crenel permits an improvement of on-off current ratio Ion/Ioff of about 244% with no detrimental change in the drive current Ion. This remarkable result is explained by a nontrivial influence of crenel on conduction band-structure in thin-film. Therefore a well optimized crenel seems to be a good solution to have a much better control of short channel effects in transistor where the transport has a strong quantum behavior

P16-17. Antigen sensitivity is a major determinant of CD8+ T-cell polyfunctionality and HIV suppressive activity

International audiencen.

P16-11. HLA-B57/5801 induces preferential CD27 expression on HIV-Gag but not Nef specific central memory CD8+T cells controlling HIV

International audiencen.

Human immunodeficiency virus type I-specific CD8+ T cell subset abnormalities in chronic infection persist through effective antiretroviral therapy

Background: Effective highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) reduces human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication, restores CD4 +T lymphocyte counts and greatly reduces the incidence of opportunistic infections. While this demonstrates improved generalized immune function, rapid rebound to pre-treatment viral replication levels following treatment interruption indicates little improvement in immune control of HIV replication. The extent to which HAART can normalize HIV-specific CD8 +T cell function over time in individuals with chronic infection remains an important unresolved issue. In this study, we evaluated the magnitude, general specificity and character of HIV specific CD8 +T cell responses at four time points across 2-9 years in 2 groups of chronically infected individuals separated on the basis of either effective antiretroviral suppression or ongoing replication of HIV.Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were stimulated with overlapping 15mer peptides spanning HIV Gag, Pol, Env and Nef proteins. Cells producing interferon-γ (IFN-γ) or interleukin-2 (IL-2) were enumerated by ELISPOT and phenotyped by flow cytometry.Results and Conclusions: The magnitude of the HIV-specific CD8 +T cell response ranged from < .01 to approximately 1.0% of PBMC and was significantly greater in the group with detectable viral replication. Stronger responses reflected higher numbers of CD8 +CD45RA -effector memory cells producing IFN-γ, but not IL-2. Magnitude, general specificity and character of the HIV-specific CD8 +T cell response changed little over the study period. While antiretroviral suppression of HIV in chronic infection reduces HIV-specific CD8 +T cell response magnitude in the short term, it had no significant effect on response character over periods up to 9 years

Destructive arthritis in a patient with chikungunya virus infection with persistent specific IgM antibodies

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Chikungunya fever is an emerging arboviral disease characterized by an algo-eruptive syndrome, inflammatory polyarthralgias, or tenosynovitis that can last for months to years. Up to now, the pathophysiology of the chronic stage is poorly understood.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the first case of CHIKV infection with chronic associated rheumatism in a patient who developed progressive erosive arthritis with expression of inflammatory mediators and persistence of specific IgM antibodies over 24 months following infection.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Understanding the specific features of chikungunya virus as well as how the virus interacts with its host are essential for the prevention, treatment or cure of chikungunya disease.</p

Molecular Foundations of Reproductive Lethality in Arabidopsis thaliana

The SeedGenes database (www.seedgenes.org) contains information on more than 400 genes required for embryo development in Arabidopsis. Many of these EMBRYO-DEFECTIVE (EMB) genes encode proteins with an essential function required throughout the life cycle. This raises a fundamental question. Why does elimination of an essential gene in Arabidopsis often result in embryo lethality rather than gametophyte lethality? In other words, how do mutant (emb) gametophytes survive and participate in fertilization when an essential cellular function is disrupted? Furthermore, why do some mutant embryos proceed further in development than others? To address these questions, we first established a curated dataset of genes required for gametophyte development in Arabidopsis based on information extracted from the literature. This provided a basis for comparison with EMB genes obtained from the SeedGenes dataset. We also identified genes that exhibited both embryo and gametophyte defects when disrupted by a loss-of-function mutation. We then evaluated the relationship between mutant phenotype, gene redundancy, mutant allele strength, gene expression pattern, protein function, and intracellular protein localization to determine what factors influence the phenotypes of lethal mutants in Arabidopsis. After removing cases where continued development potentially resulted from gene redundancy or residual function of a weak mutant allele, we identified numerous examples of viable mutant (emb) gametophytes that required further explanation. We propose that the presence of gene products derived from transcription in diploid (heterozygous) sporocytes often enables mutant gametophytes to survive the loss of an essential gene in Arabidopsis. Whether gene disruption results in embryo or gametophyte lethality therefore depends in part on the ability of residual, parental gene products to support gametophyte development. We also highlight here 70 preglobular embryo mutants with a zygotic pattern of inheritance, which provide valuable insights into the maternal-to-zygotic transition in Arabidopsis and the timing of paternal gene activation during embryo development