Transport of magnetic flux and mass in Saturn's inner magnetosphere

It is well accepted that cold plasma sourced by Enceladus is ultimately lost to the solar wind, while the magnetic flux convecting outward with the plasma must return to the inner magnetosphere. However, whether the interchange or reconnection, or a combination of the two processes is the dominant mechanism in returning the magnetic flux is still under debate. Initial Cassini observations have shown that the magnetic flux returns in the form of flux tubes in the inner magnetosphere. Here we investigate those events with 10 year Cassini magnetometer data and confirm that their magnetic signatures are determined by the background plasma environments: inside (outside) the plasma disk, the returning magnetic field is enhanced (depressed) in strength. The distribution, temporal variation, shape, and transportation rate of the flux tubes are also characterized. The flux tubes break into smaller ones as they convect in. The shape of their cross section is closer to circular than fingerlike as produced in the simulations based on the interchange mechanism. In addition, no sudden changes in any flux tube properties can be found at the “boundary” which has been claimed to separate the reconnection and interchange-dominant regions. On the other hand, reasonable cold plasma loss rate and outflow velocity can be obtained if the transport rate of the magnetic flux matches the reconnection rate, which supports reconnection alone as the dominant mechanism in unloading the cold plasma from the inner magnetosphere and returning the magnetic flux from the tail

Developing an EEG-based on-line closed-loop lapse detection and mitigation system

© 2014 Wang, Huang, Wei, Huang, Ko, Lin, Cheng and Jung. In America, 60% of adults reported that they have driven a motor vehicle while feeling drowsy, and at least 15-20% of fatal car accidents are fatigue-related. This study translates previous laboratory-oriented neurophysiological research to design, develop, and test an On-line Closed-loop Lapse Detection and Mitigation (OCLDM) System featuring a mobile wireless dry-sensor EEG headgear and a cell-phone based real-time EEG processing platform. Eleven subjects participated in an event-related lane-keeping task, in which they were instructed to manipulate a randomly deviated, fixed-speed cruising car on a 4-lane highway. This was simulated in a 1st person view with an 8-screen and 8-projector immersive virtual-reality environment. When the subjects experienced lapses or failed to respond to events during the experiment, auditory warning was delivered to rectify the performance decrements. However, the arousing auditory signals were not always effective. The EEG spectra exhibited statistically significant differences between effective and ineffective arousing signals, suggesting that EEG spectra could be used as a countermeasure of the efficacy of arousing signals. In this on-line pilot study, the proposed OCLDM System was able to continuously detect EEG signatures of fatigue, deliver arousing warning to subjects suffering momentary cognitive lapses, and assess the efficacy of the warning in near real-time to rectify cognitive lapses. The on-line testing results of the OCLDM System validated the efficacy of the arousing signals in improving subjects' response times to the subsequent lane-departure events. This study may lead to a practical on-line lapse detection and mitigation system in real-world environments

Genomic Expansion of Magnetotactic Bacteria Reveals an Early Common Origin of Magnetotaxis with Lineage-specific Evolution

The origin and evolution of magnetoreception, which in diverse prokaryotes and protozoa is known as magnetotaxis and enables these microorganisms to detect Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and navigation, is not well understood in evolutionary biology. The only known prokaryotes capable of sensing the geomagnetic field are magnetotactic bacteria (MTB), motile microorganisms that biomineralize intracellular, membrane-bounded magnetic single-domain crystals of either magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4) called magnetosomes. Magnetosomes are responsible for magnetotaxis in MTB. Here we report the first large-scale metagenomic survey of MTB from both northern and southern hemispheres combined with 28 genomes from uncultivated MTB. These genomes expand greatly the coverage of MTB in the Proteobacteria, Nitrospirae, and Omnitrophica phyla, and provide the first genomic evidence of MTB belonging to the Zetaproteobacteria and “Candidatus Lambdaproteobacteria” classes. The gene content and organization of magnetosome gene clusters, which are physically grouped genes that encode proteins for magnetosome biosynthesis and organization, are more conserved within phylogenetically similar groups than between different taxonomic lineages. Moreover, the phylogenies of core magnetosome proteins form monophyletic clades. Together, these results suggest a common ancient origin of iron-based (Fe3O4 and Fe3S4) magnetotaxis in the domain Bacteria that underwent lineage-specific evolution, shedding new light on the origin and evolution of biomineralization and magnetotaxis, and expanding significantly the phylogenomic representation of MTB

A Pilot Study Comparing HPV-Positive and HPV-Negative Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas by Whole Exome Sequencing.

Background. Next-generation sequencing of cancers has identified important therapeutic targets and biomarkers. The goal of this pilot study was to compare the genetic changes in a human papillomavirus- (HPV-)positive and an HPV-negative head and neck tumor. Methods. DNA was extracted from the blood and primary tumor of a patient with an HPV-positive tonsillar cancer and those of a patient with an HPV-negative oral tongue tumor. Exome enrichment was performed using the Agilent SureSelect All Exon Kit, followed by sequencing on the ABI SOLiD platform. Results. Exome sequencing revealed slightly more mutations in the HPV-negative tumor (73) in contrast to the HPV-positive tumor (58). Multiple mutations were noted in zinc finger genes (ZNF3, 10, 229, 470, 543, 616, 664, 638, 716, and 799) and mucin genes (MUC4, 6, 12, and 16). Mutations were noted in MUC12 in both tumors. Conclusions. HPV-positive HNSCC is distinct from HPV-negative disease in terms of evidence of viral infection, p16 status, and frequency of mutations. Next-generation sequencing has the potential to identify novel therapeutic targets and biomarkers in HNSCC

Plasma environment at Titan's orbit with Titan present and absent

To understand the possible large scale influence of Titan on its plasma environment, we study the magnetic fields and plasma measurements, both when Cassini flies close to Titan and when Cassini crosses the moon's orbit far from it. Using 98 Cassini passes from 06/2004 to 12/2008, we examine the plasma environments at the orbit of Titan with the moon present and absent. In particular, the presence of Titan appears to affect the magnetopause location. Near noon, the Saturn magnetopause is more frequently inside of Titan's orbit with the moon absent than with it present. Titan's presence near noon appears to locally enhance the total pressure and reduce the magnetosphere compressibility, possibly by mass-loading. Near local midnight, the stretching and sweepback angles for cases with Titan present and absent suggest that the moon enhances the tail reconnection rate, in agreement with previous studies of the moon's influence on the Saturnian magnetosphere

Transfer learning with large-scale data in brain-computer interfaces

© 2016 IEEE. Human variability in electroencephalogram (EEG) poses significant challenges for developing practical real-world applications of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The intuitive solution of collecting sufficient user-specific training/calibration data can be very labor-intensive and time-consuming, hindering the practicability of BCIs. To address this problem, transfer learning (TL), which leverages existing data from other sessions or subjects, has recently been adopted by the BCI community to build a BCI for a new user with limited calibration data. However, current TL approaches still require training/calibration data from each of conditions, which might be difficult or expensive to obtain. This study proposed a novel TL framework that could nearly eliminate requirement of subject-specific calibration data by leveraging large-scale data from other subjects. The efficacy of this method was validated in a passive BCI that was designed to detect neurocognitive lapses during driving. With the help of large-scale data, the proposed TL approach outperformed the within-subject approach while considerably reducing the amount of calibration data required for each individual (∼1.5 min of data from each individual as opposed to a 90 min pilot session used in a standard within-subject approach). This demonstration might considerably facilitate the real-world applications of BCIs

MiR-200b/200c/429 subfamily negatively regulates Rho/ROCK signaling pathway to suppress hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis

MiR-200 family is an important regulator of epithelial-mesenchymal transition and has been implicated in human carcinogenesis. However, their expression and functions in human cancers remain controversial. In the work presented here, we showed that miR-200 family members were frequently down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although all five members of miR-200 family inhibited ZEB1/2 expression in HCC cell lines, we showed that overexpression only of the miR-200b/200c/429 subfamily, but not the miR-200a/141 subfamily, resulted in impeded HCC cell migration. Further investigations led to the identification of RhoA and ROCK2 as specific down-stream targets of the miR-200b/200c/429 subfamily. We demonstrated that the miR-200b/200c/429 subfamily inhibited HCC cell migration through modulating Rho/ROCK mediated cell cytoskeletal reorganization and cell-substratum adhesion. Re-expression of miR-200b significantly suppressed lung metastasis of HCC cells in an orthotopic liver implantation model in vivo. In conclusion, our findings identified the miR-200b/200c/429 subfamily as metastasis suppressor microRNAs in human HCC and highlighted the functional discrepancy among miR-200 family members.published_or_final_versio

Folate cycle enzyme MTHFD1L confers metabolic advantages in hepatocellular carcinoma

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A Novel Strategy to Screen Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Protein Antigen Recognized by γδ TCR

BACKGROUND: Phosphoantigen was originally identified as the main γδ TCR-recognized antigen that could activate γδ T cells to promote immune protection against mycobacterial infection. However, new evidence shows that the γδ T cells activated by phosphoantigen can only provide partial immune protection against mycobacterial infection. In contrast, whole lysates of Mycobacterium could activate immune protection more potently, implying that other γδ TCR-recognized antigens that elicit protective immune responses. To date, only a few distinct mycobacterial antigens recognized by the γδ TCR have been characterized. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study, we established a new approach to screen epitopes or protein antigens recognized by the γδ TCR using Bacillus Calmette-Guérin- (BCG-) specific γ TCR transfected cells as probes to pan a 12-mer random-peptide phage-displayed library. Through binding assays and functional analysis, we identified a peptide (BP3) that not only binds to the BCG-specific γδ TCR but also effectively activates γδ T cells isolated from human subjects inoculated with BCG. Importantly, the γδ T cells activated by peptide BP3 had a cytotoxic effect on THP-1 cells infected with BCG. Moreover, the oxidative stress response regulatory protein (OXYS), a BCG protein that matches perfectly with peptide BP3 according to bioinformatics analysis, was confirmed as a ligand for the γδ TCR and was found to activate γδ T cells from human subjects inoculated with BCG. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In conclusion, our study provides a novel strategy to identify epitopes or protein antigens for the γδ TCR, and provides a potential means to screen mycobacterial vaccines or candidates for adjuvant