MiRNA let-7g regulates skeletal myoblast motility via Pinch-2

AbstractPost-transcriptional regulation of gene expression by RNA-binding proteins and by small non-coding RNAs plays an important role in cell biology. Our previous results show that in murine skeletal myoblasts, the expression of Pinch-2, a focal adhesion remodeling factor that regulates cell motility, is repressed by an RNA-binding protein IMP-2/Igf2bp2. We now show that the expression of Pinch-2 is also regulated by the miRNA let-7g. Let-7g and IMP-2 repress Pinch-2 expression independently of each other. A knock-down of let-7g leads to an increase in Pinch-2 expression, and to a decrease of cell motility, which can be reversed by a simultaneous knock-down of Pinch-2. We conclude that let-7g controls the motility of mouse myoblasts in cell culture by post-transcriptionally regulating the expression of Pinch-2

Some studies on the deformation of the membrane in an RF MEMS switch

Radio Frequency (RF) switches of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are appealing to the mobile industry because of their energy efficiency and ability to accommodate more frequency bands. However, the electromechanical coupling of the electrical circuit to the mechanical components in RF MEMS switches is not fully understood. In this paper, we consider the problem of mechanical deformation of electrodes in RF MEMS switch due to the electrostatic forces caused by the difference in voltage between the electrodes. It is known from previous studies of this problem, that the solution exhibits multiple deformation states for a given electrostatic force. Subsequently, the capacity of the switch that depends on the deformation of electrodes displays a hysteresis behaviour against the voltage in the switch. We investigate the present problem along two lines of attack. First, we solve for the deformation states of electrodes using numerical methods such as finite difference and shooting methods. Subsequently, a relationship between capacity and voltage of the RF MEMS switch is constructed. The solutions obtained are exemplified using the continuation and bifurcation package AUTO. Second, we focus on the analytical methods for a simplified version of the problem and on the stability analysis for the solutions of deformation states. The stability analysis shows that there exists a continuous path of equilibrium deformation states between the open and closed state

Photonic-based integrated sources and antenna arrays for broadband wireless links in terahertz communications

This paper analyzes integrated components for ultra-broadband millimeter-wave wireless transmitters enabling the 5 G objective to increase the wireless data rates 10x to 100x . We have pursued the photonic-based approach to generate the millimeter-wave carrier (approximate to 97GHz in this paper) through photomixing. We have achieved up to 10 Gb s(-1) data rate using an OOK modulation format (to reduce latency) and either direct detection (DD) or coherent detection. We show that coherent detection enables a sensitivity improvement of 17 dB over DD. We also demonstrate in this work that such improvement can be achieved using as the transmitter a novel integrated antenna array-the self-complementary chessboard array. This avoids the use of complex coherent schemes at the receiver, enabling simple DD for ultra-broadband links.The authors acknowledge Dr David Gonzalez Ovejero for fruitful discussions on antenna simulation. This work has been financially supported by Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad iTWIT Proyect with references TEC2016-76 997-C3-2-R and TEC2016-76 997-C3-3-R. Authors also acknowledge Ayuda Fundacion BBVA a Investigadores y Creadores Culturales 2016' and 'Estancias de movilidad de profesores PRX16/00 021'

Sistema de enfoque basado en dos espejos elípticos y un espejo plano rotatorio para un radar a 300 GHz

A focusing system for a 300 GHz radar with two target distances (5m and 10m) is proposed, having 1cm resolution in both cases. The focusing system is based on a gaussian telescope scheme and it has been designed using gaussian beam quasi-optical propagation theory with a homemade Matlab analysis tool. It has been translated into a real focusing system based on two elliptical mirrors and a plane mirror in order to have scanning capabilities and validated using the commercial antenna software GRAS

Wilms Tumor Chromatin Profiles Highlight Stem Cell Properties and a Renal Developmental Network

Wilms tumor is the most common pediatric kidney cancer. To identify transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms that drive this disease, we compared genome-wide chromatin profiles of Wilms tumors, embryonic stem cells (ESCs), and normal kidney. Wilms tumors prominently exhibit large active chromatin domains previously observed in ESCs. In the cancer, these domains frequently correspond to genes that are critical for kidney development and expressed in the renal stem cell compartment. Wilms cells also express “embryonic” chromatin regulators and maintain stem cell-like p16 silencing. Finally, Wilms and ESCs both exhibit “bivalent” chromatin modifications at silent promoters that may be poised for activation. In Wilms tumor, bivalent promoters correlate to genes expressed in specific kidney compartments and point to a kidney-specific differentiation program arrested at an early-progenitor stage. We suggest that Wilms cells share a transcriptional and epigenetic landscape with a normal renal stem cell, which is inherently susceptible to transformation and may represent a cell of origin for this disease

Total RNA quality of lyophilized and cryopreserved dormant grapevine buds

Background: Plant tissues must be preserved in their collection state, especially for genome-wide expression profile studies. Lyophilization is a feasible, affordable tool when fresh tissues cannot be shipped at ultralow temperatures from their origin to the place of analysis. In this study, the total RNA quality of dormant grapevine buds ( Vitis vinifera L. cv. \u2018Flame Seedless\u2019) of freeze-dried samples stored at room temperature conditions was evaluated and compared to that of cryopreserved (-80\ub0C) grapevine buds. Results: Good yield and quality of RNA were obtained from freeze-dried dormant buds stored at room temperature for 0, 3 and 6 weeks after they were lyophilized. Further experiments confirmed that the extracted total RNA could be used for actin and \u3b2-tubulin PCR gene amplification. Conclusion: High-quality RNA that is useful for downstream applications was obtained from freeze-dried dormant grapevine bud tissue, similarly to the RNA obtained from cryopreserved dormant grapevine buds

All-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum measured by the HAWC experiment from 10 to 500 TeV

We report on the measurement of the all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory in the energy range 10 to 500 TeV. HAWC is a ground based air-shower array deployed on the slopes of Volcan Sierra Negra in the state of Puebla, Mexico, and is sensitive to gamma rays and cosmic rays at TeV energies. The data used in this work were taken from 234 days between June 2016 to February 2017. The primary cosmic-ray energy is determined with a maximum likelihood approach using the particle density as a function of distance to the shower core. Introducing quality cuts to isolate events with shower cores landing on the array, the reconstructed energy distribution is unfolded iteratively. The measured all-particle spectrum is consistent with a broken power law with an index of $-2.49\pm0.01$ prior to a break at $(45.7\pm0.1$) TeV, followed by an index of $-2.71\pm0.01$. The spectrum also respresents a single measurement that spans the energy range between direct detection and ground based experiments. As a verification of the detector response, the energy scale and angular resolution are validated by observation of the cosmic ray Moon shadow's dependence on energy.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures, 4 tables, submission to Physical Review

Constraining the pˉ/p\bar{p}/p Ratio in TeV Cosmic Rays with Observations of the Moon Shadow by HAWC

An indirect measurement of the antiproton flux in cosmic rays is possible as the particles undergo deflection by the geomagnetic field. This effect can be measured by studying the deficit in the flux, or shadow, created by the Moon as it absorbs cosmic rays that are headed towards the Earth. The shadow is displaced from the actual position of the Moon due to geomagnetic deflection, which is a function of the energy and charge of the cosmic rays. The displacement provides a natural tool for momentum/charge discrimination that can be used to study the composition of cosmic rays. Using 33 months of data comprising more than 80 billion cosmic rays measured by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory, we have analyzed the Moon shadow to search for TeV antiprotons in cosmic rays. We present our first upper limits on the $\bar{p}/p$ fraction, which in the absence of any direct measurements, provide the tightest available constraints of $\sim1\%$ on the antiproton fraction for energies between 1 and 10 TeV.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Physical Review