Self-Sustaining Caching Stations: Towards Cost-Effective 5G-Enabled Vehicular Networks

In this article, we investigate the cost-effective 5G-enabled vehicular networks to support emerging vehicular applications, such as autonomous driving, in-car infotainment and location-based road services. To this end, self-sustaining caching stations (SCSs) are introduced to liberate on-road base stations from the constraints of power lines and wired backhauls. Specifically, the cache-enabled SCSs are powered by renewable energy and connected to core networks through wireless backhauls, which can realize "drop-and-play" deployment, green operation, and low-latency services. With SCSs integrated, a 5G-enabled heterogeneous vehicular networking architecture is further proposed, where SCSs are deployed along roadside for traffic offloading while conventional macro base stations (MBSs) provide ubiquitous coverage to vehicles. In addition, a hierarchical network management framework is designed to deal with high dynamics in vehicular traffic and renewable energy, where content caching, energy management and traffic steering are jointly investigated to optimize the service capability of SCSs with balanced power demand and supply in different time scales. Case studies are provided to illustrate SCS deployment and operation designs, and some open research issues are also discussed.Comment: IEEE Communications Magazine, to appea

Expression of Vaccinia E3L and K3L Genes by a Novel Recombinant Canarypox HIV Vaccine Vector Enhances HIV-1 Pseudovirion Production and Inhibits Apoptosis in Human Cells

AbstractPoxviruses that are attenuated for growth in human cells provide a safe means of HIV antigen expression and are capable of eliciting HIV-specific immune responses, including CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses. HIV-1 antigen expression in human cells by attenuated poxvirus vectors may be limited by interferon-mediated host defense mechanisms. To enhance HIV antigen expression in human cells, the vaccinia virus E3L and K3L genes were inserted into a canarypox vector that expresses HIV-1 Gag, Env, and a Nef/Pol polyepitope string. E3L and K3L markedly reduced the activation of the double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase, PKR, and led to a significant reduction in apoptosis in HeLa cells. Production and release of HIV-1 antigen in the form of pseudovirions was enhanced in both duration and magnitude by this vector modification. The addition of immunomodulatory genes to attenuated poxviruses represents a novel strategy for enhancing antigen production by live vector HIV vaccine candidates

Optimization of Extraction Process of Elaeagnus angustifolia Flower Polysaccharide and Its Proliferation on Probiotic

The study aimed to explore the optimal conditions for the extraction of polysaccharide from Elaeagnus angustifolia flower and its effect on probiotic proliferation in vitro. Polysaccharide was extracted from Elaeagnus angustifolia flower using hot water and ultrasonication. The effects of the material-liquid ratio, duration of ultrasonication, extraction time and extraction temperature on the polysaccharide yield were analyzed. The extraction conditions were optimized by response surface methodology, and the effects of different polysaccharide concentrations (0, 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, and 3.0%) on the proliferation and acid production of three probiotics were compared. The results showed that the optimal extraction conditions of Elaeagnus angustifolia flower polysaccharide were as follows: Material-liquid ratio, 1:25 g/mL, duration of ultrasonication, 21 min, extraction temperature, 72℃, extraction time, 62 min. The polysaccharide yield was 12.45%±0.15%, which was close to the theoretical predicted yield (12.587%). The highest OD values of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidobacterium bifidum, and Bifidobacterium adolescentis were obtained at a polysaccharide mass concentration of 2%, being 1.23±0.01, 1.06±0.02, and 1.22±0.02, respectively, and the lowest pH values (5.17±0.04, 5.95±0.04, and 5.52±0.02, respectively). The growth of the three probiotics stabilized after the incubation time reached to 40 h. It indicated that Elaeagnus angustifolia flower polysaccharide promoted the proliferation and acid production of three probiotics. These findings indicate the potential of the polysaccharide from Elaeagnus angustifolia flower as a prebiotic and provide a theoretical basis for further research and the utilization of Elaeagnus angustifolia flower resources

Constrained Path Search with Submodular Function Maximization

In this paper, we study the problem of constrained path search with submodular function maximization (CPS-SM). We aim to find the path with the best submodular function score under a given constraint (e.g., a length limit), where the submodular function score is computed over the set of nodes in this path. This problem can be used in many applications. For example, tourists may want to search the most diversified path (e.g., a path passing by the most diverse facilities such as parks and museums) given that the traveling time is less than 6 hours. We show that the CPS-SM problem is NP-hard. We first propose a concept called “submodular α -dominance” by utilizing the submodular function properties, and we develop an algorithm with a guaranteed error bound based on this concept. By relaxing the submodular α -dominance conditions, we design another more efficient algorithm that has the same error bound. We also utilize the way of bi-directional path search to further improve the efficiency of the algorithms. We finally propose a heuristic algorithm that is efficient yet effective in practice. The experiments conducted on several real datasets show that our proposed algorithms can achieve high accuracy and are faster than one state-of-the-art method by orders of magnitude

In vivo transcriptional profiling of Plasmodium falciparum

BACKGROUND: Both host and pathogen factors contribute to disease outcome in Plasmodium falciparum infection. The feasibility of studying the P. falciparum in vivo transcriptome to understand parasite transcriptional response while it resides in the human host is presented. METHODS: A custom made oligonucleotide array with probes based on the P. falciparum 3D7 laboratory strain chromosome 2 sequence was used to detect in vivo P. falciparum transcripts. This study analyzed transcripts from total RNA derived from small blood samples of P. falciparum infected patients and compared the in vivo expression profile to the in vitro cultivated 3D7 strain transcriptome. RESULTS: The data demonstrated that in vivo transcription can be studied from a small blood sample, despite the abundance of human RNA. The in vivo transcriptome is similar to the 3D7 ring stage transcriptome, but there are significant differences in genes encoding a sexual stage antigen and surface proteins. CONCLUSIONS: Whole genome transcription analysis of P. falciparum can be carried out successfully and further studies in selected patient cohorts may provide insight into parasite in vivo biology and defense against host immunity

Regulation mechanisms of disulfidptosis-related genes in ankylosing spondylitis and inflammatory bowel disease

IntroductionDisulfidptosis is a recently identified form of cell death that contributes to maintaining the internal environment balance of an organism. However, the molecular basis of disulfidptosis in ulcerative colitis (UC), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), and Crohn’s disease (CD) has not been thoroughly explored.MethodsFirstly, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and disulfidptosis-associated genes (DAGs) were obtained through differential analysis between diseases (AS, CD, and UC) and control groups. After the disulfidptosis score was acquired using the single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) algorithm, the DE-DAGs were screened by overlapping DAGs and DEGs of the three diseases. Next, the feature genes were selected through a combination of machine learning algorithms, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and expression analysis. Based on these feature genes, nomograms were created for AS, CD and UC. The co-feature genes were then identified by taking the intersections of the genes featured in all three diseases. Meanwhile, single-gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and the TF-mRNA-miRNA network were utilized to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the co-feature genes. To validate the expression differences of the co-feature genes between healthy controls and patients (AS and IBD), RT-PCR was performed. Lastly, mendelian randomization (MR) analysis was utilized to explore the causality between genetic variants of S100A12 with AS, UC and CD.ResultsIn this study, 11 DE-DAGs were obtained. Functional enrichment analysis revealed their involvement in cytokine production and fatty acid biosynthesis. Latterly, AS/CD/UC -feature genes were derived, and they all had decent diagnostic performance. Through evaluation, the performance of the nomogram was decent for three diseases. Then, 2 co-feature genes (S100A12 and LILRA5) were obtained. The GSEA enrichment results indicated that the co-feature genes were mainly enriched in the cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction and drug metabolism cytochrome P450. As shown by functional experiments, there was a correlation between the mRNA expression of S100A12 with AS, UC and CD. Additionally, a causal connection between S100A12 and IBD was detected through MR analysis.DiscussionIn this study, 2 co-feature genes (S100A12 and LILRA5) were screened, and their functions were investigated in AS, CD and UC, providing a basis for further research into diagnosis and treatment