The Impact of Deep Learning on Organizational Agility

Artificial intelligence advances business model, strategizes competitive resources, and impacts on organizational agility. Deep learning as a subset of AI brings changes in different aspects that substantially influences organizational capabilities. We argue that deep learning enables new conceptualization of organizational agility. We will conduct a case study in a leading Chinese FinTech company to inductively ground these impacts

A Novelty Method for Identifying Risk Factors of Sudden Food Safety Event

Food is the basic material basis for human survival. Sudden food safety event risks mainly derive from accidental or natural food safety risks, poor food storage environments, and inefficient government regulation policies. The factor identification of sudden food safety risks is the key to controlling such risks. Therefore, the efficient and scientific identification of risk sources and types will be very important in managing sudden food safety risks. In this study, 16 sudden food safety event risk factors were identified through a literature review, and their interactive relationships were clarified using an interpretive structural model (ISM). Then, the weights of influencing factors were calculated through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and the combined weight of indices was determined. Results show that the 16 sudden food safety event risk factors can be divided into four levels. The quality standard for food safety (S5) and food storage (S14) is at the bottom layer of risks of sudden food safety events (the first-layer index weight is 36.899%). The judgment matrices at the four levels passed the consistency check. The influence weight of the factor "whether it contains transgenic raw materials" (S9) ranks second (the total weight is 18.151%). This index system for sudden food safety event risk factors is highly effective, with good operability for managing sudden food safety event risks. The obtained conclusions are important reference values for identifying the factors influencing food safety risk management, determining the emphasis of food safety supervision, realizing food risk prevention and control, and strengthening and guaranteeing the food safety level

Calnuc plays a role in dynamic distribution of Gαi but not Gβ subunits and modulates ACTH secretion in AtT-20 neuroendocrine secretory cells

In AtT-20 cells ACTH secretion is regulated by both Ca2+ and G proteins. We previously demonstrated that calnuc, an EF-hand Ca2+ binding protein which regulates Alzheimer's β-amyloid precursor protein (APP) biogenesis, binds both Ca2+ as well as Gα subunits. Here we investigate calnuc's role in G protein-mediated regulation of ACTH secretion in AtT-20 neuroendocrine secretory cells stably overexpressing calnuc-GFP. Similar to endogenous calnuc, calnuc-GFP is mainly found in the Golgi, on the plasma membrane (PM), and associated with regulated secretion granules (RSG). By deconvolution immunofluorescence, calnuc-GFP partially colocalizes with Gαi1/2 and Gαi3 at the PM and on RSG. Cytosolic calnuc(ΔSS)-CFP with the signal sequence deleted also partially colocalizes with RSG and partially cosediments with Gαi1/2 in fractions enriched in RSG. Overexpression of calnuc-GFP specifically increases the distribution of Gαi1/2 on the PM whereas the distribution of Gβ subunits and synaptobrevin 2 (Vamp 2) is unchanged. Overexpression of calnuc-GFP or cytosolic calnuc(ΔSS)-CFP enhances ACTH secretion two-fold triggered by mastoparan or GTPγS but does not significantly affect glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chain secretion along the constitutive pathway or basal secretion of ACTH. Calnuc's facilitating effects on ACTH secretion are decreased after introducing anti-Gαi1/2, Gαi3, Gβ or calnuc IgG into permeabilized cells but not when Gα12 or preimmune IgG is introduced. The results suggest that calnuc binds to Gα subunits on the Golgi and on RSG and that overexpression of calnuc causes redistribution of Gαi subunits to the PM and RSG, indicating that calnuc plays a role in dynamic distribution of only Gα but not Gβ subunits. Thus calnuc may connect G protein signaling and calcium signaling during regulated secretion

Dynamic Cycling of t-SNARE Acylation Regulates Platelet Exocytosis

Platelets regulate vascular integrity by secreting a host of molecules that promote hemostasis and its sequelae. Given the importance of platelet exocytosis, it is critical to understand how it is controlled. The t-SNAREs, SNAP-23 and syntaxin-11, lack classical transmembrane domains (TMDs), yet both are associated with platelet membranes and redistributed into cholesterol-dependent lipid rafts when platelets are activated. Using metabolic labeling and hydroxylamine (HA)/HCl treatment, we showed that both contain thioester-linked acyl groups. Mass spectrometry mapping further showed that syntaxin-11 was modified on cysteine 275, 279, 280, 282, 283, and 285, and SNAP-23 was modified on cysteine 79, 80, 83, 85, and 87. Interestingly, metabolic labeling studies showed incorporation of [3H]palmitate into the t-SNAREs increased although the protein levels were unchanged, suggesting that acylation turns over on the two t-SNAREs in resting platelets. Exogenously added fatty acids did compete with [3H]palmitate for t-SNARE labeling. To determine the effects of acylation, we measured aggregation, ADP/ATP release, as well as P-selectin exposure in platelets treated with the acyltransferase inhibitor cerulenin or the thioesterase inhibitor palmostatin B. We found that cerulenin pretreatment inhibited t-SNARE acylation and platelet function in a dose- and time-dependent manner whereas palmostatin B had no detectable effect. Interestingly, pretreatment with palmostatin B blocked the inhibitory effects of cerulenin, suggesting that maintaining the acylation state is important for platelet function. Thus, our work shows that t-SNARE acylation is actively cycling in platelets and suggests that the enzymes regulating protein acylation could be potential targets to control platelet exocytosis in vivo

Frontotemporal Dementia Nonsense Mutation of Progranulin Rescued by Aminoglycosides

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is an early onset dementia and is characterized by progressive atrophy of the frontal and/or temporal lobes. FTD is highly heritable with mutations in progranulin accounting for 5-26% of cases in different populations. Progranulin is involved in endocytosis, secretion and lysosomal processes, but its function under physiological and pathological conditions remains to be defined. Many FTD-causing nonsense progranulin mutations contain a premature termination codon (PTC), thus progranulin haploinsufficiency has been proposed as a major disease mechanism. Currently, there is no effective FTD treatment or therapy. Aminoglycosides are a class of antibiotics that possess a less known function to induce eukaryotic ribosomal readthrough of PTCs to produce a full-length protein. The aminoglycoside-induced readthrough strategy has been utilized to treat multiple human diseases caused by PTCs. In this study, we tested the only clinically approved readthrough small molecule PTC124 and eleven aminoglycosides in a cell culture system on four PTCs responsible for FTD or a related neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We found that the aminoglycosides G418 and gentamicin B1 rescued the expression of the progranulin R493X mutation. G418 was more effective than gentamicin B1 (~50% rescue vs \u3c 10%), and the effect was dose and time-dependent. The proganulin readthrough protein displayed similar subcellular localization as the wild-type proganulin protein. These data provide an exciting proof-of-concept that aminoglycosides or other readthrough-promoting compounds are a therapeutic avenue for familial FTD caused by proganulin PTC mutations

Reflection-Based Phase-Shifted Long Period Fiber Grating for Simultaneous Measurement of Temperature and Refractive Index

We report a reflection-based phase-shifted long period fiber grating (PS-LPFG) and demonstrate its capability for simultaneous measurement of temperature and external reflective index (RI). The sensor device comprises a grating directly written by CO2 laser and silver-coated end face. A π-shifted LPFG is presented with two attenuation bands through its reflection spectrum. These two bands have different sensitivity towards temperature and external RI that can be used for simultaneous measurement of the two variables. The experimental results show that this probe-type PS-LPFG performs well in terms of linearity and sensitivity

Tumor Necrosis Factor- α

Neonatal sepsis (NS) is an important cause of mortality in newborns and life-threatening disorder in infants. The meta-analysis was performed to investigate the diagnosis value of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) test in NS. Our collectible studies were searched from PUBMED, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library between March 1994 and August 2013. Accordingly, 347 studies were collected totally, in which 15 articles and 23 trials were selected to study the NS in our meta-analysis. The TNF-α test showed moderate accuracy of the diagnosis of NS both in early-onset neonatal sepsis (sensitivity = 0.66, specificity = 0.76, Q* = 0.74) and in late-onset neonatal sepsis (sensitivity = 0.68, specificity = 0.89, Q* = 0.87). We also found the northern hemisphere group in the test has higher sensitivity (0.84) and specificity (0.83). A diagnostic OR analysis found that the study population may be the major reason for the heterogeneity. Accordingly, we suggest that TNF-α is also a valuable marker in the diagnosis of NS

Fiber Pigtailed Thin Wall Capillary Coupler for Excitation of Microsphere WGM Resonator

In this paper, we demonstrate a fiber pigtailed thin wall capillary coupler for excitation of Whispering Gallery Modes (WGMs) of microsphere resonators. The coupler is made by fusion-splicing an optical fiber with a capillary tube and consequently etching the capillary wall to a thickness of a few microns. Light is coupled through the peripheral contact between inserted microsphere and the etched capillary wall. The coupling efficiency as a function of the wall thickness was studied experimentally. WGM resonance with a Q-factor of 1.14 x 104 was observed using a borosilicate glass microsphere with a diameter of 71 µm. The coupler operates in the reflection mode and provides a robust mechanical support to the microsphere resonator. It is expected that the new coupler may find broad applications in sensors, optical filters and lasers

Carbon nanotubes affect the toxicity of CuO nanoparticles to denitrification in marine sediments by altering cellular internalization of nanoparticle

Denitrification is an important pathway for nitrate transformation in marine sediments, and this process has been observed to be negatively affected by engineered nanomaterials. However, previous studies only focused on the potential effect of a certain type of nanomaterial on microbial denitrification. Here we show that the toxicity of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) to denitrification in marine sediments is highly affected by the presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). It was found that the removal efficiency of total NOX−-N (NO3−-N and NO2−-N) in the presence of CuO NPs was only 62.3%, but it increased to 81.1% when CNTs appeared in this circumstance. Our data revealed that CuO NPs were more easily attached to CNTs rather than cell surface because of the lower energy barrier (3.5 versus 36.2 kT). Further studies confirmed that the presence of CNTs caused the formation of large, incompact, non-uniform dispersed, and more negatively charged CuO-CNTs heteroaggregates, and thus reduced the nanoparticle internalization by cells, leading to less toxicity to metabolism of carbon source, generation of reduction equivalent, and activities of nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase. These results indicate that assessing nanomaterial-induced risks in real circumstances needs to consider the “mixed” effects of nanomaterials

Ubisol-Q10 Prevents Glutamate-Induced Cell Death by Blocking Mitochondrial Fragmentation and Permeability Transition Pore Opening

Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are the major events that lead to the formation of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP) during glutamate-induced cytotoxicity and cell death. Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) has widely been used for the treatment of mitochondrial disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. Comparing to traditional lipid-soluble CoQ10, water soluble CoQ10 (Ubisol-Q10) has high intracellular and intra-mitochondrial distribution. The aims of the present study are to determine the neuroprotective effects of Ubisol-Q10 on glutamate-induced cell death and to explore its functional mechanisms. HT22 neuronal cells were exposed to glutamate. Cell viability was measured and mitochondrial fragmentation was assessed by mitochondrial imaging. The mPTP opening was determined by mitochondrial membrane potential and calcium retention capacity. The results revealed that the anti-glutamate toxicity effects of Ubisol-Q10 was associated with its ability to block mitochondrial fragmentation, to maintain calcium retention capacity and mitochondrial membrane potential, and to prevent mPTP formation, AIF release, and DNA fragmentation. We concluded that Ubisol-Q10 protects cells from glutamate toxicity by preserving the integrity of mitochondrial structure and function. Therefore, adequate CoQ10 supplementation may be beneficial in preventing cerebral stroke and other disorders that involve mitochondrial dysfunction