DNET: A communications facility for distributed heterogeneous computing

This document describes DNET, a heterogeneous data communications networking facility. DNET allows programs operating on hosts on dissimilar networks to communicate with one another without concern for computer hardware, network protocol, or operating system differences. The overall DNET network is defined as the collection of host machines/networks on which the DNET software is operating. Each underlying network is considered a DNET 'domain'. Data communications service is provided between any two processes on any two hosts on any of the networks (domains) that may be reached via DNET. DNET provides protocol transparent, reliable, streaming data transmission between hosts (restricted, initially to DECnet and TCP/IP networks). DNET also provides variable length datagram service with optional return receipts

Unification of bulk and interface electroresistive switching in oxide systems

We demonstrate that the physical mechanism behind electroresistive switching in oxide Schottky systems is electroformation, as in insulating oxides. Negative resistance shown by the hysteretic current-voltage curves proves that impact ionization is at the origin of the switching. Analyses of the capacitance-voltage and conductance-voltage curves through a simple model show that an atomic rearrangement is involved in the process. Switching in these systems is a bulk effect, not strictly confined at the interface but at the charge space region.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted in PR

Morphology-controlled growth of magnetic iron oxide components on gold nanoparticles as bi-functional agents

Summary form only given. Hybrid nanostructure can inherit the physiochemical properties of its individual components to realize its multi-functionality. The coupling of plasmonic effect of gold nanoparticles with magnetic properties of iron oxide nanoparticles has shown great promise as bi-functional agents allowing simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/computed tomography (CT) imaging and magnetic/photonic thermal therapy. However, since gold and iron oxide are two dissimilar materials, the precise morphology and structure control for the hybrid nanostructure remains a great challenge, and there are few published studies on the correlation between composites morphologies and the optical/magnetic properties. In this work, we aim to fabricate gold/iron oxide hybrid nano-structures using less toxic precursors, control the morphology growth of iron oxide component on gold nanoparticles surface, and study the effects on optical and magnetic properties of final products. Here, nearly monodisperse gold/iron oxide hybrid nanoparticles were fabricated through thermal decomposition method. Spherical gold nanoparticles were pre-synthesized and used as seeds for the reduction of iron precursor to produce hybrid nanostructures. Various morphologies of iron oxide grown on the gold nanospheres surfaces were realized, including nano-shell, nano-octahedron, nano-flower, and dumbbell-shaped end. Pure gold nanospheres and iron oxide nanospheres were synthesized for comparison. The morphology and structure of obtained products were characterized by using TEM, EDX, electron diffraction pattern, and SEM. Their optical and magnetic properties were studied using UV-Vis spectroscopy and VSM. The plasmonic property of gold nanoparticles was shown to be affected by the optical index of its environment, and its absorbance peak was right-shifted after iron oxide shell coating. The gold/iron oxide dumbbell-shaped nanostructures displayed typical superparamagnetic behavior with no coerc- vity while the coercivity of gold/iron oxide nano-octahedron was about 45 Oe. The morphology-related blocking temperatures of the gold/iron oxide nano-structured samples were also studied through their ZFC/FC curves.postprin

High-quality all-oxide Schottky junctions fabricated on heavily Nb-doped SrTiO3 substrates

We present a detailed investigation of the electrical properties of epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrTi0.98Nb0.02O3 Schottky junctions. A fabrication process that allows reduction of the junction dimensions to current electronic device size has been employed. A heavily doped semiconductor has been used as a substrate in order to suppress its series resistance. We show that, unlike standard semiconductors, high-quality oxide-based Schottky junctions maintain a highly rectifying behavior for doping concentration of the semiconductor larger than 10^20 cm^(-3). Moreover, the junctions show hysteretic current-voltage characteristics.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Ion uptake and YSL1 gene identification in tomato

Tomato breeder are using wild tomato relatives, even non-cross compatibles ones, in order to obtain cultivars with highly commercial values bearing new traits. However, the introgression of a wild genome into the cultivated one produces a new gene combinations that may lead to the expression of undeliverable traits, perhaps not so easy to recognise; even more, phenotypic variations may escape during the selection procedure when minor genes or non-abnormal phenotypes are involved. In the frame of the “GenoPom” project funded by MIUR, we have focused our interest on the alteration of heavy metals uptake from the soil and their loading into edible organs in commercial lines coming from Solanum interspecific crosses. Our final aim is to put together data coming from ion homeostasis and gene expression analyses, thus obtaining a ionomic map of tomato. To pursue our goal, we have started to study the cv M82 of Solanum lycopersicon, the wild relative Solanum pennelli and their introgression lines IL. Regarding the experiments on ion homeostasis, S. lycopersicon M82 and the introgression line IL 6-4-2 were grown in hydroponics under controlled environmental conditions. Twenty day-old plants were left to grow for 10 days in the presence of non-toxic concentration of Cd (10 mM), Pb (3 mM), Zn (100 mM) given separately or combined. Control and treated roots and leaves were then harvested and stored at -80°C for ionic and gene expression analyses. Ions analysis of Solanum lycopersicon M82 and IL 6-4-2 showed that traits correlated to ionic homeostasis is significantly modified in response to all metals and to the genotype. The analysis of ions data, obtained by ICP-MS, give a pictures of the different responses performed both to different stress and to combined stress, probably correlated to the up-regulation and/or down regulation of metal uptake proteins. Performed experiments demonstrate that the introgression of the wild genome into the cultivated one produces a new phenotype, perhaps due to the expression of traits linked to uptake, translocation and accumulation of useful and/or toxic metal into plant tissues and organs. Regarding the functional genomics approach for gaining insight into gene networks involved in mineral-ion accumulation in tomato plants, in literature has been reported that at least 25 major family genes are involved for metal homeostasis in plants. Among them, the genes ysl, hma, mtp, znt, zrt have been already studied at least in the plant species Arabidopsis thaliana, A. halleri and Thlaspi caerulescens. So far, no such genes have been reported to be cloned in Solanum species. We have focused our study on the genes YSL1, ZNT1 and MTP1 responsible for uptake, translocation and accumulation of metal such as zinc, cadmium, and iron into plant compartment. For all of them, consensous sequences from nucleotide multialignment have been obtained. Then, each of those were blasted in a Solanum EST collection databank and an assembled UniGene sequence was obtained.. Finally, we have designed primers and performed PCR analysis on S. lycopersicon and S. pennelli genomic DNA. So far, we have cloned a putative ysl1 sequence from tomato, that has shown that a very high percentage of identity (92%) with whole ysl1 gene of Nicotiana tabacum; the in silico translated sequence of this sequence has shown a 89% of identity with the same tobacco protein

Cardiovascular events and treatment of children with high risk medulloblastoma

Background: Children with high-risk medulloblastoma are treated with chemotherapeutic protocols which may affect heart function. We aimed to assesscardiovascular events (CVE) in children with medulloblastoma/primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET). Methods: We retrospectively collected data from a case series of 22 children with high-risk medulloblastoma/PNET admitted to the Santobono-Pausilipon Hospital, Naples, Italy from 2008 to 2016. All patients received the Milan HART protocol for high-risk brain malignancies as first line treatment (induction phase), followed by a consolidation phase with Thiotepa and hematopoietic stem cells transplantation, except for 1 patient who received the Milan HART as second line therapy. Four patients also received second line treatment, while 4 patients also received maintenance therapy. Patients underwent cardiac examination, including ECG, echocardiography and serum biomarkers, before antineoplastic treatment initiation and then when clinically needed. Six patients developed CVE (CVE group); 16 patients had no CVE (NO-CVE group). Findings: In the CVE group, 3 patients presented acute CVE during chemotherapy (2 patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, 1 patient with arterial hypertension), while 3 patients presented chronic CVE after chemotherapy completion (2 patients with LV dysfunction, 1 patient with ectopic atrial tachycardia). After a 51 months median follow-up, 9 patients died: 4 from the CVE group (in 2 cases heart failure-related deaths) and 5 from the NO-CVE group (progression of disease). Interpretation: A relevant percentage of children treated for medulloblastoma/PNET develops CVE. Heart failure potentially due to chemotherapy may represent a cause of death. Hence, in these patients, strict cardiac surveillance is essential. Funding: No funding was associated with this study

New lysosomal acid lipase gene mutants explain the phenotype of Wolman disease and cholesteryl ester storage disease.

Deficiency of lysosomal acid lipase (LAL) leads to either Wolman disease(WD) or the more benign cholesteryl ester storage disease (CESD). To identifythe molecular basis of the different phenotypes we have characterised the LALgene mutations in three new patients with LAL deficiency. A patient with WD washomozygote for a null allele Y303X. The other two patients, with CESD, presentedeither homozygosity for T267I or compound heterozygosity consisting of Q64R andan exon 8 donor splice site substitution (G→A in position–1). The mutants T267I and Q64R and the previously reported L273S, G66V,and H274Y CESD substitutions, overexpressed in stable clones, were found to befully glycosylated and show an enzymatic activity of 3–8% of that ofnormal LAL. On the other hand, the Δ254–277 mutant proteinderived from exon 8 skipping and the Y303X protein were totally inactive. Bytransient transfection of hybrid minigene constructs, the CESD G→A(–1) substitution resulted in partial exon inclusion, thus allowing theproduction of a small amount of normal LAL mRNA and hence of a functionalenzyme. In contrast, a G→Asubstitution observed in WD at position +1 of the same exon 8 donor siteresulted in complete exon skipping and the sole production of an inactiveΔ254–277 protein.In conclusion,LAL genotypes determine the level of residual enzymatic activity, thusexplaining the severity of the phenotype.—Pagani, F., R. Pariyarath, R.Garcia, C. Stuani, A. B. Burlina, G. Ruotolo, M. Rabusin, and F. E. Baralle. Newlysosomal acid lipase gene mutants explain the phenotype of Wolman disease andcholesteryl ester storage disease. J. Lipid Res. 1998. 39:1382–1388

Ionome variations in tomato Introgressed Lines (Solanum Pennellii x S. Lycopersicum cv. M82) following metal treatements shed new light on food health.

A tomato introgression line population that combines single chromosomal segments introgressed from the wild, green fruited species Solanum pennelli in the background of the domesticated tomato, S. lycopersicum cv. M82, was used in this study. Results shed light both on the metal accumulation of ILs tomato plants and on theirs ionome modifications

Changes in CD4+ cells’ miRNA expression following exposure to HIV-1

Background: MiRNAs inhibit HIV-1 expression by either modulating host innate immunity or by directly interfering with viral mRNAs. Here, we investigated the miRNA profile that discriminates different classes of HIV-1 infected patients from multiple exposed uninfected individuals. Methods: The expression levels of 377 miRNAs were selectively analyzed in CD4+ cells isolated from whole blood of HIV-1 \ue9lite LTNP (\ue9LTNP), naive, and multiply exposed uninfected individuals (MEU). MiRNA extraction was performed by the mirVana miRNA Isolation Kit (Ambion) and their expression was subsequently examined by real-time PCR-based arrays. The expression of miRNAs was also determined in primary culture of CD4+T cells and monocyte-macrophages infected in vitro by R5 strains. Expression of Dicer and Drosha was evaluated by real-time PCR. Results: We only considered miRNAs that were expressed in the 70% of patients of at least one class and varied by at least 1 log10 from healthy controls. Out of 377 miRNAs, 26 were up-regulated, while 88 were down-regulated. Statistical analysis showed that 21 miRNAs significantly differentiated \ue9LTNP from MEU and 23 miRNAs distinguished naive from MEU, while only 1 (miR-155) discriminated \ue9LTNP from naive. By hierarchical clustering of the miRNAs according to patient class, \ue9LTNP clustered with naive whereas all MEU subjects grouped together. The Dicer and Drosha expression in the patient classes correlated with miRNA profile changes. Among miRNAs differentially expressed in patient classes, 32 were detected in in vitro infection model: the most of the up-regulated miRNAs were expressed in monocyte-macrophages, whereas the most of the down-regulated miRNAs were expressed in T lymphocytes. Conclusions: These findings support that miRNA profile could be the result not only of a productive infection, but also of the exposure to HIV products that leave a signature in immune cells. These data provide some intriguing issues relative to the development of HIV vaccines targeting viral proteins