CONSTITUENTS OF THE FRUIT OF SOUTH-AFRICAN COMBRETUM SPECIES .1

The fruit of Combretum species are poisonous to human beings. In an attempt to isolate the toxin(s), a total of 16 compounds from four species have thus far been isolated and identified

Turbo-like Synchronization for UWB-IR links

This contribution deals with the Turbo-like noncoherent data-aided (e.g., no blind) synchronization of Ultra-Wideband Impulse-Radio (UWB-IR) terminals operating over broadband channels affected by multipath fading with "a priori" unknown number of paths. The synchronizer we develop achieves the data-aided joint estimate of the number of paths and their arrival times without requiring any a priori knowledge of the amplitude (module and sign) of the channel-gains. The ultimate performance of the proposed synchronizer is evaluated by considering the number of pilots needed to estimate the channel delays and, more, the Bit Error Rate achievable on the basis of delays and amplitude estimation. The idea behind this approach is to use a turbo-like structure to improve performance so to allow a SNR gain even if channel models are considered in the presence of Inter Pulse Interference (IPI). © 2008 IEEE

Long non-coding RNA NEAT1 targeting impairs the DNA repair machinery and triggers anti-tumor activity in multiple myeloma

The biological role and therapeutic potential of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in multiple myeloma (MM) are still open questions. Herein, we investigated the functional significance of the oncogenic lncRNA nuclear paraspeckle assembly transcript 1 (NEAT1) in MM. Our study demonstrates that NEAT1 expression level is higher in MM than in the majority of hematological malignancies. NEAT1 silencing by novel LNA-gapmeR antisense oligonucleotide inhibits MM cell proliferation and triggers apoptosis in vitro and in vivo murine MM model as well. By transcriptome analyses, we found that NEAT1 targeting downregulates genes involved in DNA repair processes including the Homologous Recombination pathway, which in turn results in massive DNA damage. These findings may explain the synergistic impact on apoptosis observed in MM cell lines co-treated with inhibitors of both NEAT1 and PARP. The translational significance of NEAT1 targeting is further underlined by its synergistic effects with the most common drugs administered for MM treatment, including bortezomib, carfilzomib, and melphalan. Overall, NEAT1 silencing is associated with a chemo-sensitizing effect of both conventional and novel therapies, and its targeting could therefore represent a promising strategy for novel anti-MM therapeutic options