Optical and Gamma-Ray Variability Behaviors of 3C 454.3 from 2006 to 2011

We present our photometric monitoring of a flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) 3C 454.3 at Yunnan observatories from 2006 to 2011. We find that the optical color of 3C 454.3 shows obvious redder-when-brighter trend, which reaches a saturation stage when the source is brighter than 15.15 mag at V band. We perform a simulation with multiple values of disk luminosity and spectral index to reproduce the magnitude-color diagram. The results show that the contamination caused by the disk radiation alone is difficult to produce the observed color variability. The variability properties during the outburst in December 2009 are also compared with $\gamma$-ray data derived from Fermi $\gamma$-ray space telescope. The flux variation of these two bands follow a linear relation with $F_{\gamma} \propto F_R^{1.14\pm0.07}$, which provides an observational evidence for external Compton process in 3C 454.3. Meanwhile, this flux correlation indicates that electron injection is the main mechanism for variability origin. We also explore the variation of the flux ratio $F_{\gamma}/F_R$ and the detailed structures in the lightcurves, and discuss some possible origins for the detailed variability behaviors.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal, 5 figures, 2 table

2-(1-Methyl­ethoxy)-5-nitro­phenyl N-methyl­carbamate

In the title compound, C11H14N2O5, the nitro group is approximately coplanar with the benzene ring, making a dihedral angle of 4.26 (17)°. The dihedral angle between the methyl­carbamate group and the benzene ring is 72.47 (6)°. There is a strong inter­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond between the N and O atoms from adjacent methyl­carbamate groups, forming a one-dimensional network along the a axis

HCCS1-armed, quadruple-regulated oncolytic adenovirus specific for liver cancer as a cancer targeting gene-viro-therapy strategy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In previously published studies, oncolytic adenovirus-mediated gene therapy has produced good results in targeting cancer cells. However, safety and efficacy, the two most important aspects in cancer therapy, remain serious challenges. The specific expression or deletion of replication related genes in an adenovirus has been frequently utilized to regulate the cancer cell specificity of a virus. Accordingly, in this study, we deleted 24 bp in E1A (bp924-bp947) and the entirety of E1B, including those genes encoding E1B 55kDa and E1B19kDa. We used the survivin promoter (SP) to control E1A in order to construct a new adenovirus vector named Ad.SP.E1A(Δ24).ΔE1B (briefly Ad.SPDD). HCCS1 (hepatocellular carcinoma suppressor 1) is a novel tumor suppressor gene that is able to specifically induce apoptosis in cancer cells. The expression cassette AFP-HCCS1-WPRE-SV40 was inserted into Ad.SPDD to form Ad.SPDD-HCCS1, enabling us to improve the safety and efficacy of oncolytic-mediated gene therapy for liver cancer.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ad.SPDD showed a decreased viral yield and less toxicity in normal cells but enhanced toxicity in liver cancer cells, compared with the cancer-specific adenovirus ZD55 (E1B55K deletion). Ad.SPDD-HCCS1 exhibited a potent anti-liver-cancer ability and decreased toxicity in vitro. Ad.SPDD-HCCS1 also showed a measurable capacity to inhibit Huh-7 xenograft tumor growth on nude mice. The underlying mechanism of Ad.SPDD-HCCS1-induced liver cancer cell death was found to be via the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results demonstrate that Ad.SPDD-HCCS1 was able to elicit reduced toxicity and enhanced efficacy both in vitro and in vivo compared to a previously constructed oncolytic adenovirus. Ad.SPDD-HCCS1 could be a promising candidate for liver cancer therapy.</p

Prostate Cancer-Specific and Potent Antitumor Effect of a DD3-Controlled Oncolytic Virus Harboring the PTEN Gene

Prostate cancer is a major health problem for men in Western societies. Here we report a Prostate Cancer-Specific Targeting Gene-Viro-Therapy (CTGVT-PCa), in which PTEN was inserted into a DD3-controlled oncolytic viral vector (OV) to form Ad.DD3.E1A.E1B(Δ55)-(PTEN) or, briefly, Ad.DD3.D55-PTEN. The woodchuck post-transcriptional element (WPRE) was also introduced at the downstream of the E1A coding sequence, resulting in much higher expression of the E1A gene. DD3 is one of the most prostate cancer-specific genes and has been used as a clinical bio-diagnostic marker. PTEN is frequently inactivated in primary prostate cancers, which is crucial for prostate cancer progression. Therefore, the Ad.DD3.D55-PTEN has prostate cancer specific and potent antitumor effect. The tumor growth rate was almost completely inhibited with the final tumor volume after Ad.DD3.D55-PTEN treatment less than the initial volume at the beginning of Ad.DD3.D55-PTEN treatment, which shows the powerful antitumor effect of Ad.DD3.D55-PTEN on prostate cancer tumor growth. The CTGVT-PCa construct reported here killed all of the prostate cancer cell lines tested, such as DU145, 22RV1 and CL1, but had a reduced or no killing effect on all the non-prostate cancer cell lines tested. The mechanism of action of Ad.DD3.D55-PTEN was due to the induction of apoptosis, as detected by TUNEL assays and flow cytometry. The apoptosis was mediated by mitochondria-dependent and -independent pathways, as determined by caspase assays and mitochondrial membrane potential

1st Workshop on Maritime Computer Vision (MaCVi) 2023: Challenge Results

The 1$^{\text{st}}$ Workshop on Maritime Computer Vision (MaCVi) 2023 focused on maritime computer vision for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV), and organized several subchallenges in this domain: (i) UAV-based Maritime Object Detection, (ii) UAV-based Maritime Object Tracking, (iii) USV-based Maritime Obstacle Segmentation and (iv) USV-based Maritime Obstacle Detection. The subchallenges were based on the SeaDronesSee and MODS benchmarks. This report summarizes the main findings of the individual subchallenges and introduces a new benchmark, called SeaDronesSee Object Detection v2, which extends the previous benchmark by including more classes and footage. We provide statistical and qualitative analyses, and assess trends in the best-performing methodologies of over 130 submissions. The methods are summarized in the appendix. The datasets, evaluation code and the leaderboard are publicly available at https://seadronessee.cs.uni-tuebingen.de/macvi.Comment: MaCVi 2023 was part of WACV 2023. This report (38 pages) discusses the competition as part of MaCV

Construction of Non-Biaryl Atropisomeric Amide Scaffolds Bearing a C&ndash;N Axis via Enantioselective Catalysis

The significant scaffold offered by atropisomeric amides with a C&ndash;N chiral axis has been extensively utilized for pharmaceuticals, agricultural science, and organic syntheses. As a result, the field of atropisomer synthesis has attracted considerable interest within chemistry communities. To date, a range of catalytic atroposelective approaches has been reported for the efficient construction of these challenging scaffolds. However, greatly concise and highly useful methodologies for the synthesis of these atropisomeric compounds, focusing on transition-metal, chiral amine, and phosphoric acid catalysis reactions, etc., are still desirable. Hence, it is indispensable to succinctly and systematically present all such reports by means of disclosing the mechanistic analysis and application, as well as the challenges and issues associated with the establishment of these atropisomers. In this review, we summarize the development of catalytic asymmetric synthetic strategies to access non-biaryl atropisomers rotating around a C&ndash;N chiral axis, including the reaction methods, mechanism, late-stage transformations, and applications

CBS-Induced H2S Generation in Hippocampus Inhibits EA-Induced Analgesia

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important mediator participating in both physiological and pathological systems and related to the inflammatory process. Acupuncture has a therapeutic effect on inflammatory pain. However, whether H2S generated in the central nervous system (CNS) is a mediator of electroacupuncture (EA) treatment for inflammatory pain is unknown. We injected complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) to induce inflammatory pain and applied EA treatment as an interventional strategy for pain relief. The results presented here show that S-adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM), an allosteric activator of cystathionine-β-synthetase (CBS), may reverse the therapeutic effect of EA. CBS-induced H2S generation might get involved in the mechanism of EA-induced analgesia in the hippocampus on chronic inflammatory pain

Mapping of Minimal Motifs of B-Cell Epitopes on Human Zona Pellucida Glycoprotein-3

The human zona pellucida glycoprotein-3 (hZP3) by virtue of its critical role during fertilization has been proposed as a promising candidate antigen to develop a contraceptive vaccine. In this direction, it is imperative to map minimal motifs of the B cell epitopes (BCEs) so as to avoid ZP-specific oophoritogenic T cell epitopes (TCEs) in the ZP3-based immunogens. In this study, based on known results of mapping marmoset and bonnet monkey ZP3 (mstZP3 and bmZP3), two predictable epitopes23–30  and  301–320 on hZP3 were first confirmed and five minimal motifs within four epitopes on hZP3 were defined using serum to recombinant hZP3a22–176 or hZP3b177–348 as well as a biosynthetic peptide strategy. These defined minimal motifs were QPLWLL23–28 for hZP323–30, MQVTDD103–108 for hZP393–110, EENW178–181 for hZP3172–190, as well as SNSWF306–310 and EGP313–315 for hZP3301–320, respectively. Furthermore, the antigenicity of two peptides for hZP3172–187 and hZP3301–315 and specificity of the antibody response to these peptides were also evaluated, which produced high-titer antibodies in immunized animals that were capable of reacting to ZP on human oocytes, r-hZP3b177–348 protein, as well as r-hZP3172–190, r-hZP3303–310, and r-hZP3313–320 epitope peptides fused with truncated GST188 protein