Patent Damage Strategies and the Enterprise License: Constructive Notice, Actual Notice, No Notice

For the patent owner, early provision of patent notice can help maximize recoverable infringement damages during subsequent litigation. This iBrief recognizes a growing trend of infringement suits predicated on patented enterprise software technology, and analyzes application of patent notice principles against industry convention. This iBrief examines the licensing paradigm of enterprise software and questions whether mechanical compliance with the marking statute should qualify as constructive notice. Borrowing from analogous Federal Circuit principles, this iBrief concludes by proposing alternate notice theories that would empower patentees to seek increased remedies consistent with industry reality, case law, and fundamental statutory purpose

The role of EZH2 and DNA methylation in the silencing of the tumour suppressor RUNX3 in colorectal cancer

In gastric cancer, a new epigenetic mechanism of tumour suppressor loss has been suggested where the histone methyltransferase enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is responsible for loss of expression of RUNX3. This is consistent with EZH2 upregulation in multiple cancer types being associated with poor prognosis. We investigated whether EZH2 influences the expression of RUNX3 in colorectal cancer (CRC) and whether this is independent of methylation. We determined protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of EZH2 and RUNX3 and assessed RUNX3 methylation with methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction using 72 human CRCs and 8 CRC cell lines. We assessed the effect of efficient RNA interference-mediated knockdown of EZH2 on RUNX3 levels, cell viability and H3K27 trimethylation of the RUNX3 promoter using chromatin immunoprecipitation. Despite higher levels of EZH2 and lower levels of RUNX3 in CRC specimens in general, no inverse correlation between EZH2 and RUNX3 in paired samples was found arguing against a major role for histone methylation in silencing RUNX3 in CRC. Conversely, downregulation of RUNX3 mRNA in the same tumours was associated with RUNX3 DNA methylation (P < 0.05). In cell lines, knockdown of EZH2 removed the repressive chromatin marks from RUNX3 but did not result in RUNX3 re-expression. However, it prevented the re-silencing of RUNX3 after the removal of demethylating agents. In conclusion, DNA methylation is primarily responsible for the transcriptional silencing of RUNX3 in CRC, but EZH2 and histone methylation are necessary for its methylation-dependent re-silencing after the removal of demethylating agents. These results would predict that inhibitors of EZH2 and histone methylation would enhance the effects of demethylating agents in cancer therapy

Soil carbon loss in warmed subarctic grasslands is rapid and restricted to topsoil

Global warming may lead to carbon transfers from soils to the atmosphere, yet this positive feedback to the climate system remains highly uncertain, especially in subsoils (Ilyina and Friedlingstein, 2016; Shi et al., 2018). Using natural geothermal soil warming gradients of up to +6.4 degrees C in subarctic grasslands (Sigurdsson et al., 2016), we show that soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks decline strongly and linearly with warming (-2.8 t ha(-1) degrees C-1). Comparison of SOC stock changes following medium-term (5 and 10 years) and long-term (> 50 years) warming revealed that all SOC stock reduction occurred within the first 5 years of warming, after which continued warming no longer reduced SOC stocks. This rapid equilibration of SOC observed in Andosol suggests a critical role for ecosystem adaptations to warming and could imply short-lived soil carbon-climate feedbacks. Our data further revealed that the soil C loss occurred in all aggregate size fractions and that SOC stock reduction was only visible in topsoil (0-10 cm). SOC stocks in subsoil (10-30 cm), where plant roots were absent, showed apparent conservation after > 50 years of warming. The observed depth-dependent warming responses indicate that explicit vertical resolution is a prerequisite for global models to accurately project future SOC stocks for this soil type and should be investigated for soils with other mineralogies

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012

Interbilayer-crosslinked multilamellar vesicles as synthetic vaccines for potent humoral and cellular immune responses

available in PMC 2011 September 1Vaccines based on recombinant proteins avoid the toxicity and antivector immunity associated with live vaccine (for example, viral) vectors, but their immunogenicity is poor, particularly for CD8+ T-cell responses. Synthetic particles carrying antigens and adjuvant molecules have been developed to enhance subunit vaccines, but in general these materials have failed to elicit CD8+ T-cell responses comparable to those for live vectors in preclinical animal models. Here, we describe interbilayer-crosslinked multilamellar vesicles formed by crosslinking headgroups of adjacent lipid bilayers within multilamellar vesicles. Interbilayer-crosslinked vesicles stably entrapped protein antigens in the vesicle core and lipid-based immunostimulatory molecules in the vesicle walls under extracellular conditions, but exhibited rapid release in the presence of endolysosomal lipases. We found that these antigen/adjuvant-carrying vesicles form an extremely potent whole-protein vaccine, eliciting endogenous T-cell and antibody responses comparable to those for the strongest vaccine vectors. These materials should enable a range of subunit vaccines and provide new possibilities for therapeutic protein delivery.Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and HarvardBill & Melinda Gates FoundationUnited States. Dept. of Defense (contract W911NF-07-D-0004)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (P41RR002250)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (RC2GM092599

Chemicals released by male sea cucumber mediate aggregation and spawning behaviours

The importance of chemical communication in reproduction has been demonstrated in many marine broadcast spawners. However, little is known about the use of chemical communication by echinoderms, the nature of the compounds involved and their mechanism(s) of action. Here, the hypothesis that the sea cucumber Holothuria arguinensis uses chemical communication for aggregation and spawning was tested. Water conditioned by males, but not females, attracted both males and females; gonad homogenates and coelomic fluid had no effect on attraction. Male spawning water, but not female spawning water, stimulated males and females to release their gametes; the spermatozoa alone did not induce spawning. H. arguinensis male spawning water also induced spawning in the phylogenetically related H. mammata. This indicates that males release pheromones together with their gametes that induce spawning in conspecifics and possibly sympatric species. Finally, the male pheromone seems to be a mixture with at least one labile compound (biological activity is lost after four hours at ambient temperature) possibly including phosphatidylcholines. The identification of pheromones in sea cucumbers offers a new ecological perspective and may have practical applications for their aquaculture.FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology [UID/Multi/04326/2013, SFRH/BD/90761/2012]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integrative genomic analyses in adipocytes implicate DNA methylation in human obesity and diabetes

DNA methylation variations are prevalent in human obesity but evidence of a causative role in disease pathogenesis is limited. Here, we combine epigenome-wide association and integrative genomics to investigate the impact of adipocyte DNA methylation variations in human obesity. We discover extensive DNA methylation changes that are robustly associated with obesity (N = 190 samples, 691 loci in subcutaneous and 173 loci in visceral adipocytes, P 500 target genes, and identify putative methylation-transcription factor interactions. Through Mendelian Randomisation, we infer causal effects of methylation on obesity and obesity-induced metabolic disturbances at 59 independent loci. Targeted methylation sequencing, CRISPR-activation and gene silencing in adipocytes, further identifies regional methylation variations, underlying regulatory elements and novel cellular metabolic effects. Our results indicate DNA methylation is an important determinant of human obesity and its metabolic complications, and reveal mechanisms through which altered methylation may impact adipocyte functions

Trans-ancestry genome-wide association study identifies 12 genetic loci influencing blood pressure and implicates a role for DNA methylation

We carried out a trans-ancestry genome-wide association and replication study of blood pressure phenotypes among up to 320,251 individuals of East Asian, European and South Asian ancestry. We find genetic variants at 12 new loci to be associated with blood pressure (P = 3.9 × 10−11 to 5.0 × 10−21). The sentinel blood pressure SNPs are enriched for association with DNA methylation at multiple nearby CpG sites, suggesting that, at some of the loci identified, DNA methylation may lie on the regulatory pathway linking sequence variation to blood pressure. The sentinel SNPs at the 12 new loci point to genes involved in vascular smooth muscle (IGFBP3, KCNK3, PDE3A and PRDM6) and renal (ARHGAP24, OSR1, SLC22A7 and TBX2) function. The new and known genetic variants predict increased left ventricular mass, circulating levels of NT-proBNP, and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (P = 0.04 to 8.6 × 10−6). Our results provide new evidence for the role of DNA methylation in blood pressure regulation