Reducing Time to Reset a Stateful System Under Test (SUT)

The qualification of continuously running, stateful systems requires a full reset to initial state due to the state-altering nature of a finite workload. A full reset entails teardown and restart of the system to a known initial state, which can cause the workload to experience long downtimes for the duration of the reset. This disclosure describes techniques that reduce reset durations that occur in the context of testing stateful systems. In a one-time operation, an initial state is maintained in persistent storage, e.g., in cloud-based virtual disks. The system under test (SUT) is reset using the stored initial image. The time saved in the obviated teardown-and-restart procedure directly translates to reduced startup and qualification times and obviates other time-consuming procedures such as reinstalling dependent libraries and software. The techniques generally reduce interruptions in testing and are especially useful for narrow rollout windows

Beiträge zu Rohstoffen in Sachsen

Das neue Geoprofil 17/2023 zu Rohstoffen in Sachsen enthält einen Beitrag zur Zinnmineralisation im Westerzgebirge sowie einen über den Delitzscher Karbonatit-Komplex. Der Sn-Vererzungstyp bei Bockau und Aue-Bad Schlema ist völlig verschieden von dem der Greisen-, Trümerzonen-, Gang- und Skarntypen und ist auch nicht vergleichbar mit der Zinnvererzung der Felsitzone bei Freiberg. Die neuen Untersuchungen erbrachten erstmalig den Nachweis einer im Erzgebirge verbreiteten low-grade mineralization vom Typ einer frühvariszischen polystadialen, vorwiegend monomineralischen und metamorph geprägten Erzbildung. Insbesondere durch Bohrarbeiten der SDAG Wismut ist die Verbreitung der ultramafischen Lamprophyre (UML) und Karbonatite mit oberkretazischem Alter im Gebiet von Delitzsch gut bekannt. Auf die Geologie des Komplexes wird detailliert eingegangen. Redaktionsschluss: 11.10.202

A vision for safer food contact materials: Public health concerns as drivers for improved testing

Food contact materials (FCMs) and food contact articles are ubiquitous in today's globalized food system. Chemicals migrate from FCMs into foodstuffs, so called food contact chemicals (FCCs), but current regulatory requirements do not sufficiently protect public health from hazardous FCCs because only individual substances used to make FCMs are tested and mostly only for genotoxicity while endocrine disruption and other hazard properties are disregarded. Indeed, FCMs are a known source of a wide range of hazardous chemicals, and they likely contribute to highly prevalent non-communicable diseases. FCMs can also include non-intentionally added substances (NIAS), which often are unknown and therefore not subject to risk assessment. To address these important shortcomings, we outline how the safety of FCMs may be improved by (1) testing the overall migrate, including (unknown) NIAS, of finished food contact articles, and (2) expanding toxicological testing beyond genotoxicity to multiple endpoints associated with non-communicable diseases relevant to human health. To identify mechanistic endpoints for testing, we group chronic health outcomes associated with chemical exposure into Six Clusters of Disease (SCOD) and we propose that finished food contact articles should be tested for their impacts on these SCOD. Research should focus on developing robust, relevant, and sensitive in-vitro assays based on mechanistic information linked to the SCOD, e.g., through Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) or Key Characteristics of Toxicants. Implementing this vision will improve prevention of chronic diseases that are associated with hazardous chemical exposures, including from FCMs

Clinical applications of diffusion tensor imaging

Directionally-ordered cellular structures that impede water motion, such as cell membranes and myelin, result in water mobility that is also directionally-dependent. Diffusion tensor imaging characterizes this directional nature of water motion and thereby provides structural information that cannot be obtained by standard anatomic imaging. Quantitative apparent diffusion coefficients and fractional anisotropy have emerged from being primarily research tools to methods enabling valuable clinical applications. This review describes the clinical utility of diffusion tensor imaging, including the basic principles of the technique, acquisition, data analysis, and the major clinical applications. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2004;19:6–18. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/35153/1/10424_ftp.pd

OER-Policy Kit

Homp F, Czerwinski S, Dreyer A, Hörmann I, Legler S, Loose Y. OER-Policy Kit. twillo; 2024.Das OER-Policy Kit ist als Leitfaden zum Policy-Prozess an Hochschulen zu verstehen und umfasst sieben Schritte, die mit weiteren Materialien ergänzt werden, wie z.B. einer Muster OER-Policy oder Mailvorlagen. Das OER-Policy Kit wird über Liascript realisiert. Die dazugehörige Markdown-Datei sowie alle anderen Bild- und Textdateien finden sich im Github-Repository. Immer mehr Hochschulen bekennen sich zu Openness und wollen durch eine Richtlinie das Signal für Lehrende und andere Hochschulangehörige setzen, dass sie das Erstellen und Teilen von OER unterstützen. Obwohl diese Richtlinie – zumeist als OER-Policy bezeichnet – nicht unbedingt rechtlich verbindlich ist, wie z.B. eine Dienstanweisung, schafft sie einen hohen Grad an Verbindlichkeit für das Thema OER und öffnet damit viele Türen hin zu einer anerkannten und gelebten offenen Bildung. Das Policy Kit stellt keinen Gold-Standard-Weg hin zu einer OER-Policy dar, sondern soll an die spezifische Situation Ihrer Hochschule angepasst werden. Da der konkrete Ablauf sehr unterschiedlich sein kann, ist die Reihenfolge der Schritte nicht strikt einzuhalten. Im Policy-Prozess ist eine Linearität nicht unbedingt gegeben, so dass es einige Schleifen im Policy-Prozess geben kann und mehrere Schritte wiederholt werden bzw. zwischen den Schritten hin und her gesprungen wird

Formation of estrogenic metabolites of benzo[1]pyrene and crysene by cytochrome P450 activity and their combined and supra-maximal estrogenic activity.

Metabolism of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been studied intensively, and potential metabolites with estrogenic activity have been identified previously. However, little attention has been paid to the metabolic pathways in mammalians and to the combined effect of individual metabolites. Several hydroxylated metabolites of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and chrysene (CHN) were formed by rat liver microsomal cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity, some of which possess estrogenic activity. All mono- and several dihydroxylated metabolites of BaP and CHN were tested for ER affinity and estrogenic activity in a proliferation assay (E-screen) and in a reporter-gene assay (ER-CALUX). Twelve estrogenic metabolites were identified with EC50 values ranging from 40 nM to 0.15 mM. The combined effect of a mixture of seven PAH-metabolites was also studied in the ER binding assay. At concentrations that show little activity themselves, their joint action clearly exhibited significant estrogenic activity. BaP itself exhibited estrogenicity in the ER-CALUX assay due to bio-activation into estrogenic metabolites, probably via aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) induced CYP activity. Furthermore, 2-hydroxy-CHN (2-OHCHN) induced supra-maximal (400%) estrogenic effects in the ER-CALUX assay. This effect was entirely ER-mediated, since the response was completely blocked with the ER-antagonist ICI182,780. We showed that 2-OHCHN increased ER-concentration, using ELISA techniques, which may explain the observed supra-maximal effects. Co-treatment with the AhR-antagonist 3′,4′-dimethoxyflavone (DMF) enhanced ER-signaling, possibly via blockage of AhR-ER inhibitory cross-talk. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Proinflammatory cytokines cause FAT10 upregulation in cancers of liver and colon

The mRNA of the ubiquitin-like modifier FAT10 has been reported to be overexpressed in 90% of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and in over 80% of colon, ovary and uterus carcinomas. Elevated FAT10 expression in malignancies was attributed to transcriptional upregulation upon the loss of p53. Moreover, FAT10 induced chromosome instability in long-term in vitro culture, which led to the hypothesis that FAT10 might be involved in carcinogenesis. In this study we show that interferon (IFN)-gamma and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha synergistically upregulated FAT10 expression in liver and colon cancer cells 10- to 100-fold. Real-time RT-PCR revealed that FAT10 mRNA was significantly overexpressed in 37 of 51 (72%) of human HCC samples and in 8 of 15 (53%) of human colon carcinomas. The FAT10 cDNA sequences in HCC samples were not mutated and intact FAT10 protein was detectable. FAT10 expression in both cancer tissues correlated with expression of the IFN-gamma- and TNF-alpha-dependent proteasome subunit LMP2 strongly suggesting that proinflammatory cytokines caused the joint overexpression of FAT10 and LMP2. NIH3T3 transformation assays revealed that FAT10 had no transforming capability. Taken together, FAT10 qualifies as a marker for an interferon response in HCC and colon carcinoma but is not significantly overexpressed in cancers lacking a proinflammatory environment