GC-52 KSU Spring Capstone - IT Security Solution for Small Business – Group 1

For this project, we decided to use the nopCommerce open-source eCommerce solution for our simulated small business. Leveraging the pre-configured web server provide to our group, we installed the nopCommerce solution package and built our security program around the web site. Our security program consists of nginx configured web server and load balancer, SSL certificate for encryption, firewall and a secure backend SQL server.Advisors(s): Project Sponsor: Dr. Lei Li Course Professor: Dr. Meng HanTopic(s): SecurityIT 799

Phosphofructokinase 1 Glycosylation Regulates Cell Growth and Metabolism

Cancer cells must satisfy the metabolic demands of rapid cell growth within a continually changing microenvironment. We demonstrated that the dynamic posttranslational modification of proteins by O-linked β-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAcylation) is a key metabolic regulator of glucose metabolism. O-GlcNAcylation was induced at serine 529 of phosphofructokinase 1 (PFK1) in response to hypoxia. Glycosylation inhibited PFK1 activity and redirected glucose flux through the pentose phosphate pathway, thereby conferring a selective growth advantage on cancer cells. Blocking glycosylation of PFK1 at serine 529 reduced cancer cell proliferation in vitro and impaired tumor formation in vivo. These studies reveal a previously uncharacterized mechanism for the regulation of metabolic pathways in cancer and a possible target for therapeutic intervention

Comparison of the effects of myristrolated and transactivating peptide (TAT) conjugated mitochondrial fission peptide inhibitor (P110) in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury

During myocardial I/R, cardiac mitochondrial fission-fusiondynamics are altered towards mitochondrial fission which during I/R is associated with a shortening of mitochondria, decreased ATP production, and increased reactive oxygen species, factors known to promote cardiomyocyte death. Therefore, inhibiting mitochondrial fission may be a strategy to salvage damaged cardiac myocytes during I/R and limit infarct size. Given that cell membrane permeability of peptides is crucial for efficacy, we compared theeffects of a novel mitochondrial fission peptide inhibitor, P110 (DLLPRGT) that was conjugated to either a TAT carrier peptide YGRKKRRQRRR-GG-DLLPRGT (MW=2427 g/mol) or myristic acid myr-DLLPRGT (MW=981 g/mol) to determine which of these peptide formulations would be more potent to attenuate cardiac contractile dysfunction and infarct size in isolated perfused rat hearts subjected to I (30 min)/R (90 min). We found that myr-P110 (1 M; n=6) given for 10 min before ischemia and for 20 min post-reperfusion, significantly restored the maximal rate of left ventricular developed pressure (dP/dtmax) to 49 ± 7% compared to TAT-conjugated P110 (1 M; n=6) and untreated controls (n=9), which only recovered to 26 ± 5% and 28 ± 4% of baseline values at 90 min post-reperfusion, respectively (p\u3c0.05). Myr-P110 also significantly reduced infarct size to 28± 2% compared to controls which had an infarct size of 46±3% (p\u3c0.01). Whereas, TAT-conjugated P110 had an infarct size of 35 ± 3% and was not statistically different from controls using ANOVA analysis. Preliminary results suggest myr-P110 would be a more effective formulation to salvage heart tissue after myocardial infarction

Cdk1 inactivation terminates mitotic checkpoint surveillance and stabilizes kinetochore attachments in anaphase

Two mechanisms safeguard the bipolar attachment of chromosomes in mitosis. A correction mechanism destabilizes erroneous attachments that do not generate tension across sister kinetochores [1]. In response to unattached kinetochores, the mitotic checkpoint delays anaphase onset by inhibiting the anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/CCdc20) [2]. Upon satisfaction of both pathways, the APC/CCdc20 elicits the degradation of securin and cyclin B [3]. This liberates separase triggering sister chromatid disjunction and inactivates cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1) causing mitotic exit. How eukaryotic cells avoid the engagement of attachment monitoring mechanisms when sister chromatids split and tension is lost at anaphase is poorly understood [4]. Here we show that Cdk1 inactivation disables mitotic checkpoint surveillance at anaphase onset in human cells. Preventing cyclin B1 proteolysis at the time of sister chromatid disjunction destabilizes kinetochore-microtubule attachments and triggers the engagement of the mitotic checkpoint. As a consequence, mitotic checkpoint proteins accumulate at anaphase kinetochores, the APC/CCdc20 is inhibited, and securin reaccumulates. Conversely, acute pharmacological inhibition of Cdk1 abrogates the engagement and maintenance of the mitotic checkpoint upon microtubule depolymerization. We propose that the simultaneous destruction of securin and cyclin B elicited by the APC/CCdc20 couples chromosome segregation to the dissolution of attachment monitoring mechanisms during mitotic exit

Orbital decay of satellites crossing an accretion disc

Motion of stellar-mass satellites is studied around a massive compact body which is surrounded by a gaseous slab of a stationary accretion disc. The satellites suffer an orbital decay due to hydrodynamical interaction with the disc medium (transitions across the disc, gap opening in the disc, density waves) and gravitational radiation. Arbitrary orbital eccentricities and inclinations are considered, and it is observed how the competing effects depend on the parameters of the model, namely, the mass and compactness of the orbiters, the osculating elements of their trajectories, and surface density of the disc. These effects have a visible impact on the satellites long-term motion, and they can produce observational consequences with respect to galactic central clusters. It is shown that the satellite-disc collisions do not impose serious restrictions on the results of gravitational wave experiments if the disc medium is diluted and the orbiter is compact but they are important in the case of environments with relatively high density. We thus concentrate on application to accretion flows in which the density is not negligible. We discuss the expected quasi-stationary structure of the cluster that is established on sub-parsec scales within the sphere of gravitational influence of the central object. Relevant to this region, we give the power-law slopes defining the radial profile of modified clusters and we show that their values are determined by satellite interaction with the accretion flow rather than their initial distribution.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press; 11 pages and 6 figures, LaTeX2e (aa501.cls

G 1 -smooth splines on quad meshes with 4-split macro-patch elements

We analyze the space of smooth spline functions on quad-meshes. These functions are composed of 4-split spline macro-patch elements on each quadrangular face. We describe explicit transition maps across shared edges so that the space of smooth splines is ample on a quad-mesh of arbitrary topology. These transition maps define a finite dimensional vector space of G1 spline functions on each quadrangular face of the mesh. We determine the dimension of this space of G1 spline functions for degree big enough and provide explicit constructions of basis functions attached respectively to vertices, edges and faces. This construction requires the analysis of the module of syzygies of univariate b-spline functions with b-spline function coefficients. We provide new results on their generators and the dimension of the graded pieces.Examples of bases of G1 splines of small degree for simple topological surfaces are detailed and illustrated by parametric surface constructions

Double-double radio galaxies: remnants of merger of supermassive binary black holes

The activity of active galaxy may be triggered by the merge of galaxies and present-day galaxies are probably the product of successive minor mergers. The frequent galactic merges at high redshift imply that active galaxy harbors supermassive unequal-mass binary black holes in its center at least once during its life time. In this paper, we showed that the recently discovered double-lobed FR II radio galaxies are the remnants of such supermassive binary black holes. The inspiraling secondary black hole opens a gap in the accretion disk and removes the inner accretion disk when it merges into the primary black hole, leaving a big hole of about several hundreds of Schwarzschild radius in the vicinity of the post-merged supermassive black hole and leading to an interruption of jet formation. When the outer accretion disk slowly refills the big hole on a viscous time scale, the jet formation restarts and the interaction of the recurrent jets and the inter-galactic medium forms a secondary pair of lobes. We applied the model to a particular double-lobed radio source B1834+620 and showed that the orbit of the secondary is elliptical with a typical eccentricity $e \simeq 0.68$ and the mass ratio $q$ of the secondary and the primary is 0.01 \la q \la 0.4. The accretion disk is a standard $\alpha$-disk with 0.01 \la \alpha \la 0.04 and the ratio of disk half height $H$ and radius $r$ is $\delta \simeq 0.01$. The model predicates that double-lobed radio structure forms only in FR II radio galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Diet and Survival in Black Women With Epithelial Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer survival among Black women is the lowest across all racial and ethnic groups. Poor dietary quality also disproportionately affects Black populations, but its association with ovarian cancer survival in this population remains largely unknown.To examine associations between dietary patterns and survival among Black women diagnosed with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC).This prospective cohort study was conducted among self-identified Black women aged 20 to 79 years newly diagnosed with histologically confirmed EOC in the African American Cancer Epidemiology Study (AACES) between December 2010 and December 2015, with follow-up until October 2022. AACES is a population-based study of ovarian cancer risk and survival among Black women in 11 US regions. Data were analyzed from March 2023 to June 2024.Dietary patterns were assessed by the Healthy Eating Index-2020 (HEI-2020) and Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010), with scores calculated based on dietary intake in the year prior to diagnosis and collected via the validated Block 2005 Food Frequency Questionnaire. Higher scores indicate better dietary quality.Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC).Among 483 Black women with EOC (mean [SD] age, 58.1 [10.5] years), 310 deaths were recorded during a median (IQR) follow-up of 4.3 (2.0-8.2) years. No association of dietary patterns with mortality was found among women with EOC overall. However, among 325 women with HGSOC, better adherence to HEI-2020 was associated with decreased mortality in later quartiles compared with the first quartile (HR, 0.63; 95 0.44-0.92 for quartile 2; HR, 0.67; 95 0.46-0.97 for quartile 3; HR, 0.63; 95 0.44-0.91 for quartile 4 ). Similar results were observed with AHEI-2010 among women with HGSOC for the second (HR, 0.62; 95 0.43-0.89) and fourth (HR, 0.67; 95 0.45-0.98) quartiles compared with quartile 1.In this study, women with moderate and high prediagnosis dietary quality had significantly lower mortality rates from HGSOC compared with women with the lowest prediagnosis dietary quality. These findings suggest that even moderate adherence to dietary guidelines prior to diagnosis may be associated with improved survival among Black women with HGSOC, the most lethal form of ovarian cancer

Vaccines for the Leishmaniases: Proposals for a Research Agenda

The International Symposium on Leishmaniasis Vaccines, held in Olinda, Brazil, on March 9–11, 2009, congregated international experts who conduct research on vaccines against the leishmaniases. The questions that were raised during that meeting and the ensuing discussions are compiled in this report and may assist in guiding a research agenda. A group to further discussion on issues raised in this policy platform has been set up at http://groups.google.com/group/leishvaccines-l