Human neural progenitor cell models to study the antiviral effects and neuroprotective potential of approved and investigational human cytomegalovirus inhibitors

: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is the viral leading cause of congenital defects in newborns worldwide. Many aspects of congenital CMV (cCMV) infection, which currently lacks a specific treatment, as well as the main determinants of neuropathogenesis in the developing brain during HCMV infection are unclear. In this study, we modeled HCMV infection at different stages of neural development. Moreover, we evaluated the effects of both approved and investigational anti-HCMV drugs on viral replication and gene expression in two different neural progenitor cell lines, i.e., human embryonic stem cells-derived neural stem cells (NSCs) and fetus-derived neuroepithelial stem (NES) cells. Ganciclovir, letermovir, nitazoxanide, and the ozonide OZ418 reduced viral DNA synthesis and the production of infectious virus in both lines of neural progenitors. HCMV infection dysregulated the expression of genes that either are markers of neural progenitors, such as SOX2, NESTIN, PAX-6, or play a role in neurogenesis, such as Doublecortin. Treatment with antiviral drugs had different effects on HCMV-induced dysregulation of the genes under investigation. This study contributes to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of cCMV neuropathogenesis and paves the way for further consideration of anti-HCMV drugs as candidate therapeutic agents for the amelioration of cCMV-associated neurological manifestations

Dynamic Ontologies and Cooperative Learning

The process of learning, especially in creative cooperative environments, has to be properly supported. A central role is played by knowledge organization and information sharing across group members. Within the ATELIER project functionalities for giving support to architecture and design students through ontologies that are dynamically generated and maintained have been developed

UMICS'06 869 Context-aware Applications with Distributed Ontologies

Abstract. This paper presents a framework for context-aware applications, with a particular focus on collaboration and pervasiveness. The framework relies on distributed ontologies, which are shared components spread over a network. The architecture of the framework provides for the coexistence of devices with different nature and computing capabilities. The framework implements a peer-topeer model, encompassing three kinds of peer: ontology-management, contextmanagement, and interaction-management peers. The problem of supporting cooperative work practices in heterogeneous, pervasive computing environments is tackled, in particular with respect to the case of hospital settings.

Enhancing Semantic Interoperability in Collaborative Systems

A key successful factor for a knowledge management system is to promote and support semantic communication among people. This goal can be accomplished by integrating personal knowledge management tools with sharing tools that allow for merging semantic perspectives to create unified views, adapting behaviors to context, and finally learning from conversations to promote knowledge diffusion and acquisition. CADO is an open framework that provides for different levels of integration to support collaboration among members of an organization. 1 1

Designing interaction for next generation personal computing

Over two decades of research in the field of Interaction Design and Computer Supported Cooperative Work convinced us that the current design of workstations no longer fits users' needs. It is time to design new personal computers based on metaphors alternative to the desktop one. With this SIG, we are seeking to involve international HCI professionals into the challenges of designing products that are radically new and tackling the many different issues of modern knowledge workers. We would like to engage a wider cross-section of the community: our focus will be on issues of development and participation and the impact of different values in our work