Large-gap quantum spin Hall insulators in tin films

The search of large-gap quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulators and effective approaches to tune QSH states is important for both fundamental and practical interests. Based on first-principles calculations we find two-dimensional tin films are QSH insulators with sizable bulk gaps of 0.3 eV, sufficiently large for practical applications at room temperature. These QSH states can be effectively tuned by chemical functionalization and by external strain. The mechanism for the QSH effect in this system is band inversion at the \Gamma point, similar to the case of HgTe quantum well. With surface doping of magnetic elements, the quantum anomalous Hall effect could also be realized

Baicalein inhibits the invasion of human cervical cancer cells by inhibiting the hedgehog/Gli signaling pathway

Purpose: To identify the role of baicalein in human cervical cancer and to determine whether baicalein treatment affects hedgehog/Gli signaling pathway. Methods: Cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT(3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and colony formation assays. Cell death rate was assessed by PI-staining and FACS assay. Furthermore, cell invasion was assessed by Transwell assay while the levels of the key proteins were measured by western blotting analysis. Results: Baicalein suppressed the viability and proliferation of HeLa cells. The colony formation ability and relative migration rate were significantly decreased in the HeLa cells treated with 50 μM baicalein. Furthermore, the levels of Shh, Gli1, MMP-9, and VEGF declined significantly in baicalein-treated cells. Conclusion: The results demonstrate that baicalein inhibits the growth and invasiveness of cervical cancer cells partly by suppressing the activation of hedgehog/Gli signaling pathway in a concentrationdependent manner. Keywords: Cervical cancer, baicalein, hedgehog/Gli pathway, MMP-

Classic swine fever virus NS2 protein leads to the induction of cell cycle arrest at S-phase and endoplasmic reticulum stress

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Classical swine fever (CSF) caused by virulent strains of Classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is a haemorrhagic disease of pigs, characterized by disseminated intravascular coagulation, thrombocytopoenia and immunosuppression, and the swine endothelial vascular cell is one of the CSFV target cells. In this report, we investigated the previously unknown subcellular localization and function of CSFV NS2 protein by examining its effects on cell growth and cell cycle progression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Stable swine umbilical vein endothelial cell line (SUVEC) expressing CSFV NS2 were established and showed that the protein localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Cellular analysis revealed that replication of NS2-expressing cell lines was inhibited by 20-30% due to cell cycle arrest at S-phase. The NS2 protein also induced ER stress and activated the nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-κB). A significant increase in cyclin A transcriptional levels was observed in NS2-expressing cells but was accompanied by a concomitant increase in the proteasomal degradation of cyclin A protein. Therefore, the induction of cell cycle arrest at S-phase by CSFV NS2 protein is associated with increased turnover of cyclin A protein rather than the down-regulation of cyclin A transcription.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>All the data suggest that CSFV NS2 protein modulate the cellular growth and cell cycle progression through inducing the S-phase arrest and provide a cellular environment that is advantageous for viral replication. These findings provide novel information on the function of the poorly characterized CSFV NS2 protein.</p

Instruction-following Evaluation through Verbalizer Manipulation

While instruction-tuned models have shown remarkable success in various natural language processing tasks, accurately evaluating their ability to follow instructions remains challenging. Existing benchmarks primarily focus on common instructions that align well with what the model learned during training. However, proficiency in responding to these instructions does not necessarily imply strong ability in instruction following. In this paper, we propose a novel instruction-following evaluation protocol called verbalizer manipulation. It instructs the model to verbalize the task label with words aligning with model priors to different extents, adopting verbalizers from highly aligned (e.g., outputting ``postive'' for positive sentiment), to minimally aligned (e.g., outputting ``negative'' for positive sentiment). Verbalizer manipulation can be seamlessly integrated with any classification benchmark to examine the model's reliance on priors and its ability to override them to accurately follow the instructions. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of four major model families across nine datasets, employing twelve sets of verbalizers for each of them. We observe that the instruction-following abilities of models, across different families and scales, are significantly distinguished by their performance on less natural verbalizers. Even the strongest GPT-4 model struggles to perform better than random guessing on the most challenging verbalizer, emphasizing the need for continued advancements to improve their instruction-following abilities

Characterization of Enterobacter cloacae isolated from street foods

A total of 78 samples comprising different types of street foods, sold in different locations in Malaysia, were examined for the presence of Enterobacter cloacae. E. cloacae contamination was recorded in 9% of the samples examined. Tests for susceptibility to 12 different antibiotics showed that all were resistant to six or more antibiotics, but susceptible to chloramphenicol and gentamicin. Plasmids of four different sizes were detected from the three plasmid positive isolates. RAPD analysis using four primers yielded completely different banding patterns for all E. cloacae studied. In Malaysia, no published information on street foods in the epidemiological investigation of E. cloacae related disease is available. However, their occurrences have provided compelling evidence that the risk of disease transmission caused by E. cloacae through street foods is moderate

Unconventional Origin and Hybrid System for Construction of Pyrrolopyrrole Moiety in Kosinostatin Biosynthesis

SummaryKosinostatin (KST), an antitumor antibiotic, features a pyrrolopyrrole moiety spirally jointed to a five-membered ring of an anthraquinone framework glycosylated with a γ-branched octose. By a combination of in silico analysis, genetic characterization, biochemical assay, and precursor feeding experiments, a biosynthetic pathway for KST was proposed, which revealed (1) the pyrrolopyrrole moiety originates from nicotinic acid and ribose, (2) the bicyclic amidine is constructed by a process similar to the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway, and (3) a discrete adenylation enzyme and a peptidyl carrier protein (PCP) are responsible for producing a PCP-tethered building block parallel to type II polyketide synthase (PKS) rather than for the PKS priming step by providing the starter unit. These findings provide an opportunity to further explore the inexplicable enzymatic logic that governs the formation of pyrrolopyrrole moiety and the spirocyclic skeleton