AN INVENTIVE DIGIT-FLAT SEQUENTIAL COMPARABLE CONFIGURATION FOR MULTIPLY

Through efficient projection of signal-flow graph (SFG) from the suggested formula, a very regular processor-space flow-graph (PSFG) comes. Redundant basis (RB) multipliers over Galois Field( ) have acquired huge recognition in elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) mainly due to their minimal hardware cost for squaring and modular reduction. Within this paper, we've suggested a manuscript recursive decomposition formula for RB multiplication to acquire high-throughput digit-serial implementation. It's proven the suggested high-throughput structures are the most useful one of the corresponding designs, for FPGA and ASIC implementation. By determining appropriate cut-sets, we've modified the PSFG superbly and carried out efficient feed-forward cut-set retiming to derive three novel multipliers which not just involve considerably a shorter period-complexity compared to existing ones but additionally require less area and fewer power consumption in comparison using the others. The synthesis recent results for field programmable gate array (FPGA) and application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) realization from the suggested designs and competing existing designs are in comparison. It's proven the suggested designs are capable of as much as 94% and 60% savings of area-delay-power product (ADPP) on FPGA and ASIC implementation over the very best of the present designs, correspondingly. Both theoretical analysis and synthesis results read the efficiency of suggested multipliers within the existing ones.

Blocks to thyroid cancer cell apoptosis can be overcome by inhibition of the MAPK and PI3K/AKT pathways

Current treatment for recurrent and aggressive/anaplastic thyroid cancers is ineffective. Novel targeted therapies aimed at the inhibition of the mutated oncoprotein BRAFV600E have shown promise in vivo and in vitro but do not result in cellular apoptosis. TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) induces apoptosis in a tumor-selective manner by activating the extrinsic apoptotic pathway. Here, we show that a TRAIL-R2 agonist antibody, lexatumumab, induces apoptosis effectively in some thyroid cancer cell lines (HTh-7, TPC-1 and BCPAP), while more aggressive anaplastic cell lines (8505c and SW1736) show resistance. Treatment of the most resistant cell line, 8505c, using lexatumumab in combination with the BRAFV600E inhibitor, PLX4720, and the PI3K inhibitor, LY294002, (triple-drug combination) sensitizes the cells by triggering both the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways in vitro as well as 8505c orthotopic thyroid tumors in vivo. A decrease in anti-apoptotic proteins, pAkt, Bcl-xL, Mcl-1 and c-FLIP, coupled with an increase in the activator proteins, Bax and Bim, results in an increase in the Bax to Bcl-xL ratio that appears to be critical for sensitization and subsequent apoptosis of these resistant cells. Our results suggest that targeting the death receptor pathway in thyroid cancer can be a promising strategy for inducing apoptosis in thyroid cancer cells, although combination with other kinase inhibitors may be needed in some of the more aggressive tumors initially resistant to apoptosis

Inhibition of aldose reductase by dietary antioxidant curcumin: Mechanism of inhibition, specificity and significance

AbstractAccumulation of intracellular sorbitol due to increased aldose reductase (ALR2) activity has been implicated in the development of various secondary complications of diabetes. In this study we show that curcumin inhibits ALR2 with an IC50 of 10μM in a non-competitive manner, but is a poor inhibitor of closely-related members of the aldo-keto reductase superfamily, particularly aldehyde reductase. Results from molecular docking studies are consistent with the pattern of inhibition of ALR2 by curcumin and its specificity. Moreover, curcumin is able to suppress sorbitol accumulation in human erythrocytes under high glucose conditions, demonstrating an in vivo potential of curcumin to prevent sorbitol accumulation. These results suggest that curcumin holds promise as an agent to prevent or treat diabetic complications

Community Archetypes in the Permian Basin and Their Relationship to Energy Resources

The Permian Energy Development Lab (PEDL) is a new research coalition in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico, managed by a consortium of higher education, public sector, civic, community, and philanthropic organizations . PEDL’s mission is to catalyze advanced energy research, prepare new energy professionals and entrepreneurs, and create value for energy communities. To meet the three parts of this mission, a comprehensive facts-based understanding of the diverse communities within the large Permian region, not relying on impressions or preconceptions, is essential. Therefore, this report is intended to serve as a foundational data-focused description of Permian Basin communities at the county-level, illustrating the differences and commonalities between the communities. This report focuses on the region’s strengths and needs, especially regarding its relationship (past, present, and future) with the energy industry. The report provides a framework to simplify the study a large and diverse geographic area grounded by aligning counties based on shared properties rather than just physical location. The framework of archetypes presented can also be used to help design and implement future energy technology research, educational, and outreach programs to equitably develop and deploy advanced energy technologies that benefit the communities in the Permian Basin. The core Permian Basin is a region that covers more than 51,000 square miles and includes 50 counties in Southeastern New Mexico and Western Texas PEDL also includes counties adjacent to the Permian Basin in outreach and research efforts; thus, the analysis in this paper includes 66 counties. Through cluster and socioeconomic analyses, we identified seven distinct community archetypes in the Permian region at the county-level; values in parentheses indicate the number of counties within each archetype: • Archetype 1: High oil and gas (O&G) production (4) • Archetype 2: High renewable energy capacity (8) • Archetype 3: Very small populations and population loss (17) • Archetype 4: High percent of residents with less than high school education (9) • Archetype 5: High unemployment and high percent of residents with less than high school education (26) • Archetype 6: Exceptionally small population with high gross domestic product (GDP) and very high O&G production (1) • Archetype 7: Very high population gain (1) One goal of the clustering effort was to characterize the profile of the Permian Basin and facilitate deeper community engagement. Indeed, starting with a set 66 counties, 64 counties could be accurately described in just five archetypes with remaining two counties parsing into unique archetypes, based on population and economic dynamics. In addition to facilitating community engagement, these archetypes highlight the diversity and commonalities within the Permian, with some archetypes containing a substantial number of Permian basins (e.g., Archetypes 3 and 5) while others highlight unique nature of individual counties (e.g., Archetypes 6 and 7). The main utility of the archetypes is to allow for more informed sampling across the expanse and diversity of Permian counties for future research activities in the region. After describing the archetypes, this report suggests future research and engagement activities. By leveraging the patterns illuminated by the archetypes, PEDL can produce community-engaged research, workforce development, and in-community activities that are more tailored to the diverse community landscape of the Permian.Energy Institut

Exploring access to end of life care for ethnic minorities with end stage kidney disease through recruitment in action research

BACKGROUND: Variation in provision of palliative care in kidney services and practitioner concerns to provide equitable access led to the development of this study which focussed on the perspectives of South Asian patients and their care providers. As people with a South Asian background experience a higher risk of Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) and end stage kidney failure (ESKF) compared to the majority population but wait longer for a transplant, there is a need for end of life care to be accessible for this group of patients. Furthermore because non English speakers and people at end of life are often excluded from research there is a dearth of research evidence with which to inform service improvement. This paper aims to explore issues relating to the process of recruitment of patients for a research project which contribute to our understanding of access to end of life care for ethnic minority patients in the kidney setting. METHODS: The study employed an action research methodology with interviews and focus groups to capture and reflect on the process of engaging with South Asian patients about end of life care. Researchers and kidney care clinicians on four NHS sites in the UK recruited South Asian patients with ESKF who were requiring end of life care to take part in individual interviews; and other clinicians who provided care to South Asian kidney patients at end of life to take part in focus groups exploring end of life care issues. In action research planning, action and evaluation are interlinked and data were analysed with emergent themes fed back to care providers through the research cycle. Reflections on the process of patient recruitment generated focus group discussions about access which were analysed thematically and reported here. RESULTS: Sixteen patients were recruited to interview and 45 different care providers took part in 14 focus groups across the sites. The process of recruiting patients to interview and subsequent focus group data highlighted some of the key issues concerning access to end of life care. These were: the identification of patients approaching end of life; and their awareness of end of life care; language barriers and informal carers' roles in mediating communication; and contrasting cultures in end of life kidney care. CONCLUSIONS: Reflection on the process of recruitment in this action research study provided insight into the complex scenario of end of life in kidney care. Some of the emerging issues such as the difficulty identifying patients are likely to be common across all patient groups, whilst others concerning language barriers and third party communication are more specific to ethnic minorities. A focus on South Asian ethnicity contributes to better understanding of patient perspectives and generic concepts as well as access to end of life kidney care for this group of patients in the UK. Action research was a useful methodology for achieving this and for informing future research to include informal carers and other ethnic groups.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Tachyon: Reliable, Memory Speed Storage for Cluster Computing Frameworks

Tachyon is a distributed file system enabling reliable data sharing at memory speed across cluster computing frameworks. While caching today improves read workloads, writes are either network or disk bound, as replication is used for fault-tolerance. Tachyon eliminates this bottleneck by pushing lineage, a well-known technique, into the storage layer. The key challenge in making a long-running lineage-based storage system is timely data recovery in case of failures. Tachyon addresses this issue by introducing a checkpointing algorithm that guarantees bounded recovery cost and resource allocation strategies for recomputation under commonly used resource schedulers. Our evaluation shows that Tachyon outperforms in-memory HDFS by 110x for writes. It also improves the end-to-end latency of a realistic workflow by 4x. Tachyon is open source and is deployed at multiple companies.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CISE Expeditions Award CCF-1139158)Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Award 7076018)United States. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (XData Award FA8750-12-2-0331

Taking up the cudgels against gay rights? Trends and trajectories in African Christian theologies on homosexuality

Against the background of the HIV epidemic and the intense public controversy on homosexuality in African societies, this article investigates the discourses of academic African Christian theologians on homosexuality. Distinguishing some major strands in African theology, that is, inculturation, liberation, women’s and reconstruction theology, the article examines how the central concepts of culture, liberation, justice, and human rights function in these discourses. On the basis of a qualitative analysis of a large number of publications, the article shows that stances of African theologians are varying from silence and rejection to acceptance. Although many African theologians have taken up the cudgels against gay rights, some “dissident voices” break the taboo and develop more inclusive concepts of African identity and African Christianity

Pitfalls of Single Measurement Screening for Diabetes and Hypertension in Community-Based Settings

Background: Cross-sectional screening programs are used to detect and refer individuals with non-communicable diseases to healthcare services. We evaluated the positive predictive value of cross-sectional measurements for Diabetes Mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HTN) as part of a community-based disease screening study, ‘Vukuzazi’ in rural South Africa. Methods: We conducted community-based screening for HTN and DM using the World Health Organization STEPS protocol and glycated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) testing, respectively. Nurses conducted follow-up home visits for confirmatory diagnostic testing among individuals with a screening BP above 140/90 mmHg and/or HbA1c above 6.5% at the initial screen, and without a prior diagnosis. We assessed the positive predictive value of the initial screening, compared to the follow up measure. We also sought to identify a screening threshold for HTN and DM with greater than 90% positive predictive value. Results: Of 18,027 participants enrolled, 10.2% (1,831) had a screening BP over 140/90 mmHg. Of those without a prior diagnosis, 871 (47.6%) received follow-up measurements. Only 51.2% (451) of those with completed follow-up measurements had a repeat BP>140/90 mmHg at the home visit and were referred to care. To achieve a 90% correct referral rate, a systolic BP threshold of 192 was needed at first screening. For DM screening, 1,615 (9.0%) individuals had an HbA1c > 6.5%, and of those without a prior diagnosis, 1,151 (71.2%) received a follow-up blood glucose. Of these, only 34.1% (395) met criteria for referral for DM. To ensure a 90% positive predictive value i.e. a screening HbA1c of >16.6% was needed. Conclusions: A second home-based screening visit to confirm a diagnosis of DM and HTN reduced health system referrals by 48% and 66%, respectively. Two-day screening programmes for DM and HTN screening might save individual and healthcare resources and should be evaluated carefully in future cost effectiveness evaluations