NOMA-based improper signaling for multicell MISO RIS-assisted broadcast channels

In this paper, we study the performance of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs) in a multicell broadcast channel (BC) that employs improper Gaussian signaling (IGS) jointly with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) to optimize either the minimum-weighted rate or the energy efficiency (EE) of the network. We show that although the RIS can significantly improve the system performance, it cannot mitigate interference completely, so we have to employ other interference-management techniques to further improve performance. We show that the proposed NOMA-based IGS scheme can substantially outperform proper Gaussian signaling (PGS) and IGS schemes that treat interference as noise (TIN) in particular when the number of users per cell is larger than the number of base station (BS) antennas (referred to as overloaded networks). In other words, IGS and NOMA complement to each other as interference management techniques in multicell RIS-assisted BCs. Furthermore, we consider three different feasibility sets for the RIS components showing that even a RIS with a small number of elements provides considerable gains for all the feasibility sets.The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Prof. Sangarapillai Lambotharan. The work of Ignacio Santamaria was supported by the Project ADELE funded by MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033, under Grant PID2019-104958RB-C43. The work of Eduard Jorswieck was supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, Germany) through the Program of Souverän. Digital. Vernetzt.” joint Project 6G-RIC, under Grants 16KISK020K and 16KISK031

Significance of serum antibodies against HPV E7, Hsp27, Hsp20 and Hp91 in Iranian HPV-exposed women

Abstract Background Among different types of human papillomavirus (HPV), types 16 and 18 were known to be high-risk agents causing mainly cervical cancer. Up to now, the potential of HPV E7 protein has been proved as a diagnostic marker of cervical cancer. Moreover, the levels of anti-heat shock protein (Hsp) and anti-high mobility group box-1 (HMGB1) antibodies in cancer patients have been useful in tumor diagnosis. The goal of the present study was to determine the efficiency of the potential serologic markers including HPV E7, Hsp20, Hsp27 proteins and Hp91 peptide in Iranian HPV-exposed women, for the first time. Methods At first, the recombinant HPV E7, Hsp20 and Hsp27 proteins were expressed in E. coli system, and purified by affinity chromatography under native conditions. Then, antibody responses were detected against the recombinant proteins as well as Hp91 peptide as potential markers in 49 Iranian women who were seropositive for HPV-16 and 18 L1 capsids (i.e., HPV-exposed women) and 49 controls using indirect ELISA. Results Our data indicated that the seroreactivities of women exposed to HPV16, HPV18 and both of them against the recombinant E7, Hsp20, Hsp27 proteins and Hp91 peptide were significantly higher than those in control group (p < 0.05 for HPV16 or HPV18; p < 0.01 for both of them versus all markers). HPV-exposed women with high antibody responses to HPV-16 and 18 L1 capsids as a commercial biomarker had significant seroreactivity to HPV-16 and 18 E7 and Hsp27 (p < 0.05). The recombinant E7 and Hsp27 proteins showed higher efficiency than Hsp20 and Hp91 for detection of individuals exposed to HPV infections (p < 0.05). Conclusion Generally, the levels of serum E7 and Hsp27 were increased in HPV-16 and 18 L1- seropositive women suggesting their potential value as a diagnostic marker for HPV infections

Enhanced gene delivery in tumor cells using chemical carriers and mechanical loadings.

Intracellular delivery of DNA is considered a challenge in biological research and treatment of diseases. The previously reported transfection rate by commercially available transfection reagents in cancer cell lines, such as the mouse lung tumor cell line (TC-1), is very low. The purpose of this study is to introduce and optimize an efficient gene transfection method by mechanical approaches. The combinatory transfection effect of mechanical treatments and conventional chemical carriers is also investigated on a formerly reported hard-to-transfect cell line (TC-1). To study the effect of mechanical loadings on transfection rate, TC-1 tumor cells are subjected to uniaxial cyclic stretch, equiaxial cyclic stretch, and shear stress. The TurboFect transfection reagent is exerted for chemical transfection purposes. The pEGFP-N1 vector encoding the green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression is utilized to determine gene delivery into the cells. The results show a significant DNA delivery rate (by ~30%) in mechanically transfected cells compared to the samples that were transfected with chemical carriers. Moreover, the simultaneous treatment of TC-1 tumor cells with chemical carriers and mechanical loadings significantly increases the gene transfection rate up to ~ 63% after 24 h post-transfection. Our results suggest that the simultaneous use of mechanical loading and chemical reagent can be a promising approach in delivering cargoes into cells with low transfection potentials and lead to efficient cancer treatments

Synthesis of Novel 3-(5-(Alkyl/arylthio)-1,3,4-Oxadiazol-2-yl)-8-Phenylquinolin-4(1<i>H</i>)-One Derivatives as Anti-HIV Agents

<p>Novel quinolone derivatives featuring an 1,3,4-oxadiazole ring as a metal-chelating component and a benzyl group base on HIV-1 integrase inhibitors pharmacophore were designed and synthesized. An antiviral assay revealed that most analogues inhibited HIV-1 replication in the cell culture. Our results showed that compounds bearing small alkyl groups as R group were inactive in anti-HIV-1 assay, whereas compounds possessing benzyl or substituted benzyl at the same position showed good anti-HIV activity with the range of 20–57% at 100 μM concentration. Among them, 3-(5-((2-fluorobenzyl)thio)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl)-8-phenylquinolin-4-(1<i>H</i>)-one (compound <b>13</b>) showed reasonable cell-based antiviral activity (EC₅₀ = 50 μM) with no considerable cytotoxicity (CC₅₀ > 100 μM) in the cell viability assay, suggesting that it may be amenable to further development for identifying new anti-HIV-1 agents. Docking studies using the later crystallographic data available for PFV integrase corroborate favorable binding to the active site of HIV integrase, providing a basis for the design of more potent analogues.</p