FPSA: A Full System Stack Solution for Reconfigurable ReRAM-based NN Accelerator Architecture

Neural Network (NN) accelerators with emerging ReRAM (resistive random access memory) technologies have been investigated as one of the promising solutions to address the \textit{memory wall} challenge, due to the unique capability of \textit{processing-in-memory} within ReRAM-crossbar-based processing elements (PEs). However, the high efficiency and high density advantages of ReRAM have not been fully utilized due to the huge communication demands among PEs and the overhead of peripheral circuits. In this paper, we propose a full system stack solution, composed of a reconfigurable architecture design, Field Programmable Synapse Array (FPSA) and its software system including neural synthesizer, temporal-to-spatial mapper, and placement & routing. We highly leverage the software system to make the hardware design compact and efficient. To satisfy the high-performance communication demand, we optimize it with a reconfigurable routing architecture and the placement & routing tool. To improve the computational density, we greatly simplify the PE circuit with the spiking schema and then adopt neural synthesizer to enable the high density computation-resources to support different kinds of NN operations. In addition, we provide spiking memory blocks (SMBs) and configurable logic blocks (CLBs) in hardware and leverage the temporal-to-spatial mapper to utilize them to balance the storage and computation requirements of NN. Owing to the end-to-end software system, we can efficiently deploy existing deep neural networks to FPSA. Evaluations show that, compared to one of state-of-the-art ReRAM-based NN accelerators, PRIME, the computational density of FPSA improves by 31x; for representative NNs, its inference performance can achieve up to 1000x speedup.Comment: Accepted by ASPLOS 201

7-Chloro-4-(2,5-dichloro­phen­yl)-1-phenyl-1H-thio­chromeno[2,3-b]pyridine-2,5(3H,4H)-dione

In the crystal structure of the title compound, C24H14Cl3NO2S, the tetra­hydro­pyridine ring adopts a half-chair conformation and both pendant benzene rings are oriented nearly perpendicular to the thio­chromeno[2,3-b]pyridine system

Cytosine Modifications and Distinct Functions of TET1 on Tumorigenesis

Vast emerging evidences are linking the base modifications and gene expression involved in essential metabolic pathways. Among the base modification markers extensively studied, 5-methylcytosine (5mC) and its oxidative derivatives (5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), 5-formylcytosine (5-fC), and 5-carboxylcytosine (5-caC)) dynamically occur in DNA and RNA and have been acknowledged as the important epigenetic markers involved in regulation of cellular biological processes. The modification of C has been characterized biochemically, molecularly, and phenotypically, including elucidation of its methyltransferase complexes (writer), demethylases (eraser), 10-11 translocation proteins (TETs), and direct interaction proteins (readers). The levels and the landscapes of these epigenetic markers in the epitranscriptomes and epigenomes are precisely and dynamically regulated by the fine-tuned coordination of the writers and erasers in accordance with stages of the growth, development, and reproduction as naturally programmed during the life span. In mammalian genome, the TET family is consisted of three members, including TET1, TET2, and TET3. The link between aberrant modifications and diseases, such as cancers, neurodegenerative disorders, and heart diseases, has been appreciated. This review article will highlight the research advances in the writers and erasers for the modifications of cytosine in genome, as well as the dual function of TET1 in tumorigenesis as a tumor suppressor and a promoter. Additionally, the future research directions are addressed

2-Anilino-3-benzoyl-4-(2,5-dichloro­phen­yl)-7,7-dimethyl-5-oxo-5,6,7,8-tetra­hydro-4H-benzo[b]pyran

The title compound, C30H25Cl2NO3, was prepared by the reaction of 3-oxo-N,3-diphenyl­propane­thio­amide, 2,5-dichloro­benzaldehyde and 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclo­hexa­nedione (1:1:1) in ethanol. The cyclohexene ring adopts a half-chair conformation. The crystal structure exhibits intra­molecular N—H⋯O and C—H⋯O, and inter­molecular C—H⋯O inter­actions

Cholesterol Derivatives Based Charged Liposomes for Doxorubicin Delivery: Preparation, In Vitro and In Vivo Characterization

Cholesterol plays a critical role in liposome composition. It has great impact on the behavior of liposome in vitro and in vivo. In order to verify the possible effects from cholesterol charge, surface shielding and chemical nature, two catalogs of liposomes with charged and PEGylated cholesterols were synthesized. Anionic liposomes (AL) and cationic liposomes (CL) were prepared, with charges from hemisuccinate and lysine in cholesterol derivatives, respectively. Characteristics of different formulated liposomes were investigated after doxorubicin encapsulation, using neutral liposomes (NL) as control. Results showed that after PEGylation, AL and CL liposomes displayed prolonged retention release profile, while kept similar size distribution, encapsulation efficiency, low cytotoxicity and hemolysis comparing with NL. Confocal laser scanning microscopy and flow cytometry experiments confirmed the significantly higher cell uptake from AL and CL vesicles than the NL in mouse breast carcinoma and melanoma cells, human epithelial carcinoma and hepatoma cells. It was in accordance with our corresponding cellular mortality studies of DOX-loaded liposomes. The in vivo anti-tumor effect experiments from charged liposomes also presented much higher tumor inhibition effect (70% vs 45%, p \u3c 0.05) than NL liposomes. This is the first time reporting anti-cancer effect from charged cholesterol liposome with/without PEGylation. It may give deeper understanding on the liposome formulation which is critical for liposome associated drug research and development

Pharmacokinetic comparisons of S-oxiracetam and R-oxiracetam in beagle dogs

A pharmacokinetic comparison and conformational stability study of S-oxiracetam (S-ORT) and R-oxiracetam (R-ORT) in beagle dogs was used to investigate the possible mechanism of different effects of two oxiracetam enantiomers through a random crossover design. After drug administration to beagle dogs, blood samples were collected at different time points for pharmacokinetic analysis using the UPLC-ESI-MS/MS method. Parts of plasma samples were used for conformation transformation studies using a normal phase high performance liquid chromatographic (NP HPLC) method. The study showed that oxiracetam enantiomers maintained their original conformation when administered orally to beagle dogs. Concentrations of S-ORT were significantly higher than R-ORT 1.5 and 2 h after administration; the AUC0-∞ of S-ORT after oral administration tended to be higher than that of R-ORT, which showed that the different effects between S-ORT and R-ORT may be partly associated with their distinctive absorption at least