Ubiquitination and proteosome-dependent degradation of the activated form of human liver-enriched transcription factor CREB-H regulated by protein kinase A

Poster Presentation - Theme 1: Cell biologyCREB-H is a membrane-bound bZIP transcription factor which is mainly expressed in liver and small intestine. CREB-H plays important roles in the regulation of lipid metabolism, iron metabolism, gluconeogenesis and acute phase response. CREB-H is proteolytically activated by regulated intramembrane proteolysis to generate a C-terminal truncated form known as ...postprin

Cognitively-inspired Agent-based Service Composition for Mobile & Pervasive Computing

Automatic service composition in mobile and pervasive computing faces many challenges due to the complex and highly dynamic nature of the environment. Common approaches consider service composition as a decision problem whose solution is usually addressed from optimization perspectives which are not feasible in practice due to the intractability of the problem, limited computational resources of smart devices, service host's mobility, and time constraints to tailor composition plans. Thus, our main contribution is the development of a cognitively-inspired agent-based service composition model focused on bounded rationality rather than optimality, which allows the system to compensate for limited resources by selectively filtering out continuous streams of data. Our approach exhibits features such as distributedness, modularity, emergent global functionality, and robustness, which endow it with capabilities to perform decentralized service composition by orchestrating manifold service providers and conflicting goals from multiple users. The evaluation of our approach shows promising results when compared against state-of-the-art service composition models.Comment: This paper will appear on AIMS'19 (International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Mobile Services) on June 2

Suppression of tumorigenesis and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma by shRNA interference targeting on homeoprotein Six1

We previously demonstrated that the overexpression of homeoprotein Six1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients is associated with venous infiltration, advanced pathologic tumor metastasis (pTNM) stage and poor overall survival rate (Ng et al. Br J Cancer 2006;95:1050-5). In this study, short hairpin RNA (shRNA) interference approach was used to suppress the expression of Six1 in a metastatic HCC cell line MHCC97L. Stable transfectant MHCC97L-shSix1 carrying Six1-specific shRNA plasmid was established to downregulate Six1 expression to about 40% when compared with MHCC97L-Control. In vitro functional assays demonstrated that the growth rate and proliferation ability of MHCC97L-shSix1 cells were markedly decreased. Moreover, significant decrease of cell motility and invasiveness were observed in MHCC97L-shSix1 cells. Data from in vivo xenograft tumorigenesis model demonstrated that the size of tumor in MHCC97L-shSix1 group was dramatically reduced. Experimental and spontaneous metastasis models indicated that targeting Six1 suppression noticeably reduced the pulmonary metastasis in MHCC97L-shSix1 group. To identify Six1-regulated targets, cDNA microarray was employed to compare the expression profiles of MHCC97L-Control and MHCC97L-shSix1 cells. Twenty-eight downregulated and 24 upregulated genes with known functions were identified in MHCC97L-shSix1. The functions of these target genes are involved in diverse biological activities. Our data suggest that Six1 may be involved in regulation of proliferation and invasiveness of HCC; thus targeting suppression of Six1 is a viable option for treating HCC patients. © 2009 UICC.postprin

Oriented porous LLZO 3D structures obtained by freeze casting for battery applications

All solid-state lithium batteries are, potentially, higher energy density and safer alternatives to conventional lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). These are particularly attractive characteristics for large-scale applications such as electric vehicles and grid energy storage systems. However, the thin film deposition techniques used to make current devices are not readily scalable, and result in low areal capacities, which translate to low practical energy densities. To overcome these deficiencies, it is necessary to design thicker electrodes similar to what are used in LIBs (30-100 μm), in which the active material is composited with an ionic conductor and an electronically conducting additive, to overcome transport limitations. In this paper, we propose a method for making such an electrode, starting with a porous scaffold, i.e. Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO), made by freeze casting, which is then infiltrated with the active material LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NMC-622) and other components. The freeze casting technique results in the formation of oriented channels with low tortuosity, which run roughly parallel to the direction of the current. The scaffolds were characterized with synchrotron X-ray micro-tomography for structural analysis, as well as synchrotron X-ray fluorescence to map the elemental distribution in the infiltrated composite. A hybrid half-cell was constructed and cycled as proof of principle, and it showed good stability. In addition, a bilayer structure consisting of a porous layer combined with a dense LLZO film was successfully made as a prototype of an all solid-state battery. A mathematical model was established to propose optimized scaffold structures for battery performance

Clinical relevance and therapeutic potential of angiopoietin-like protein 4 in hepatocellular carcinoma

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Comorbidity and Autism Spectrum Disorder Research Topics: Co-Occurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorder and Achondroplasia

This Research Topic in Frontiers aims to overcome the sparsity of studies regarding comorbidity in ASD. It asks potential participants to explore; question; and when necessary; challenge conventional knowledge regarding ASD. Are standard screening instruments capable of delineating the full range of impairment in ASD in the presence of comorbidities? Given the difficulties in communication for many autistic patients; what red flags point towards the presence of comorbidities and what should constitute appropriate medical screening? How do comorbid conditions relate to maladaptive behaviors? This Research Topic will seek answers to these and other questions while raising awareness of how comorbid conditions increase both mortality and morbidity in ASD. Appropriate contributions will include research articles; case reports as well as population-based studies; information for healthcare providers; assessments for clinical management; and position statements from relevant policy making organizations

TALEN-mediated editing of the mouse Y chromosome

The functional study of Y chromosome genes has been hindered by a lack of mouse models with specific Y chromosome mutations. We used transcription activator-like effector nuclease (TALEN)-mediated gene editing in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to produce mice with targeted gene disruptions and insertions in two Y-linked genes—Sry and Uty. TALEN-mediated gene editing is a useful tool for dissecting the biology of the Y chromosome.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (US NIH grant R01-HG000257)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (US NIH grant R01-CA084198)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (US NIH grant R37-HD045022)Croucher Foundation (Scholarship)Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Investigator

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal

Observation of associated near-side and away-side long-range correlations in √sNN=5.02 TeV proton-lead collisions with the ATLAS detector

Two-particle correlations in relative azimuthal angle (Δϕ) and pseudorapidity (Δη) are measured in √sNN=5.02  TeV p+Pb collisions using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements are performed using approximately 1  μb-1 of data as a function of transverse momentum (pT) and the transverse energy (ΣETPb) summed over 3.1<η<4.9 in the direction of the Pb beam. The correlation function, constructed from charged particles, exhibits a long-range (2<|Δη|<5) “near-side” (Δϕ∼0) correlation that grows rapidly with increasing ΣETPb. A long-range “away-side” (Δϕ∼π) correlation, obtained by subtracting the expected contributions from recoiling dijets and other sources estimated using events with small ΣETPb, is found to match the near-side correlation in magnitude, shape (in Δη and Δϕ) and ΣETPb dependence. The resultant Δϕ correlation is approximately symmetric about π/2, and is consistent with a dominant cos⁡2Δϕ modulation for all ΣETPb ranges and particle pT