3DPortraitGAN: Learning One-Quarter Headshot 3D GANs from a Single-View Portrait Dataset with Diverse Body Poses

3D-aware face generators are typically trained on 2D real-life face image datasets that primarily consist of near-frontal face data, and as such, they are unable to construct one-quarter headshot 3D portraits with complete head, neck, and shoulder geometry. Two reasons account for this issue: First, existing facial recognition methods struggle with extracting facial data captured from large camera angles or back views. Second, it is challenging to learn a distribution of 3D portraits covering the one-quarter headshot region from single-view data due to significant geometric deformation caused by diverse body poses. To this end, we first create the dataset 360{\deg}-Portrait-HQ (360{\deg}PHQ for short) which consists of high-quality single-view real portraits annotated with a variety of camera parameters (the yaw angles span the entire 360{\deg} range) and body poses. We then propose 3DPortraitGAN, the first 3D-aware one-quarter headshot portrait generator that learns a canonical 3D avatar distribution from the 360{\deg}PHQ dataset with body pose self-learning. Our model can generate view-consistent portrait images from all camera angles with a canonical one-quarter headshot 3D representation. Our experiments show that the proposed framework can accurately predict portrait body poses and generate view-consistent, realistic portrait images with complete geometry from all camera angles

Chiral metallo-supramolecular complexes selectively recognize human telomeric G-quadruplex DNA

Here, we report the first example that one enantiomer of a supramolecular cylinder can selectively stabilize human telomeric G-quadruplex DNA. The P-enantiomer of this cylinder has a strong preference for G-quadruplex over duplex DNA and, in the presence of sodium, can convert G-quadruplexes from an antiparallel to a hybrid structure. The compound's chiral selectivity and its ability to discriminate quadruplex DNA have been studied by DNA melting, circular dichroism, gel electrophoresis, fluorescence spectroscopy and S1 nuclease cleavage. The chiral supramolecular complex has both small molecular chemical features and the large size of a zinc-finger-like DNA-binding motif. The complex is also convenient to synthesize and separate enantiomers. These results provide new insights into the development of chiral anticancer agents for targeting G-quadruplex DNA

Generation of multi-site stochastic daily rainfall with four weather generators:a case study of Gloucester catchment in Australia

Four weather generators, namely, R-package version of the Generalised Linear Model for daily Climate time series (RGLIMCLIM), Stochastic Climate Library (SCL), R-package multi-site precipitation generator (RGENERATRPREC) and R-package Multi-site Auto-regressive Weather GENerator (RMAWGEN), were used to generate multi-sites stochastic daily rainfall for a small catchment in Australia. The results show the following: (1) All four models produced reasonable results in terms of annual, monthly and daily rainfall occurrence and amount, as well as daily extreme, multi-day extremes and dry/wet spell length. However, they also simulated a large range of variability, which not only demonstrates the advantages of multiple weather generators rather than a single model but also is more suitable for climate change and variability impact studies. (2) Every model has its own advantages and disadvantages due to their different theories and principles. This enhances the benefits of using multiple models. (3) The models can be further calibrated/improved to have a “better” performance in comparison with observations. However, it was chosen not to do so in this case study for two reasons: to obtain a full range of climate variability and to acknowledge the uncertainties associated with observation data. The latter are interpolated from limited stations and therefore have high pairwise correlations—ranging from 0.69 to 0.99 with a median and mean value of 0.87 and 0.88, respectively, for daily rainfall. These conclusions were drawn from a case study in Australia, but could be extended to general guidelines of using weather generators for climate change and variability studies

Inhibition of Proteasomal Degradation of Rpn4 Impairs Nonhomologous End-Joining Repair of DNA Double-Strand Breaks

BACKGROUND: The proteasome homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae is regulated by a negative feedback circuit in which the transcription factor Rpn4 induces the proteasome genes and is rapidly degraded by the assembled proteasome. The integrity of the Rpn4-proteasome feedback loop is critical for cell viability under stressed conditions. We have demonstrated that inhibition of Rpn4 degradation sensitizes cells to DNA damage, particularly in response to high doses of DNA damaging agents. The underlying mechanism, however, remains unclear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using yeast genetics and biochemical approach we show that inhibition of Rpn4 degradation displays a synthetic growth defect with deletion of the MEC1 checkpoint gene and sensitizes several checkpoint mutants to DNA damage. In addition, inhibition of Rpn4 degradation leads to a defect in repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs) by nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ). The expression levels of several key NHEJ genes are downregulated and the recruitment of Yku70 to a DSB is reduced by inhibition of Rpn4 degradation. We find that Rpn4 and the proteasome are recruited to a DSB, suggesting their direct participation in NHEJ. Inhibition of Rpn4 degradation may result in a concomitant delay of release of Rpn4 and the proteasome from a DSB. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This study provides the first evidence for the role of proteasomal degradation of Rpn4 in NHEJ