Turning off the switch in medulloblastoma. The inhibitory acetylation of an oncogene

[No abstract available

Subitizing as pattern recognition: evidence for automaticity when non-symbolic number stimuli are canonically arranged

Subitizing allows detecting the quantity of a small set of elements (up to four) with the accuracy of counting and the velocity of estimation. Recent studies have supported a theory which considers subitizing as a visual mechanism of pattern recognition, sensitive to spatial disposition of elements. These studies have found an increase in response rate and accuracy in the assessment of quantity when elements to be enumerated are arranged in an orderly fashion. Whether the numerosity of orderly arranged elements is accessed automatically, without the requirement of attentional resources, is a relevant issue not yet empirically investigated. The current study investigated the relation between subitizing and automaticity in a target detection task where distractors were non-symbolic number stimuli (dot patterns), with two different arrangements, random or canonical (like dice faces), having the same or different numerosity in the number target. We found that with canonical patterns, in the subitizing range, response times were faster in compatible trials, and slower in incompatible trials, compared to random patterns which did not influence response times in any condition. This result revealed that when elements in a visual display form easily recognizable patterns, their numerosity is accessed automatically

Therapeutic approaches with intravitreal injections in geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration: current drugs and potential molecules

The present review focuses on recent clinical trials that analyze the efficacy of intravitreal therapeutic agents for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), such as neuroprotective drugs, and complement inhibitors, also called immunomodulatory or anti-inflammatory agents. A systematic literature search was performed to identify randomized controlled trials published prior to January 2019. Patients affected by dry AMD treated with intravitreal therapeutic agents were included. Changes in the correct visual acuity and reduction in geographic atrophy progression were evaluated. Several new drugs have shown promising results, including those targeting the complement cascade and neuroprotective agents. The potential action of the two groups of drugs is to block complement cascade upregulation of immunomodulating agents, and to prevent the degeneration and apoptosis of ganglion cells for the neuroprotectors, respectively. Our analysis indicates that finding treatments for dry AMD will require continued collaboration among researchers to identify additional molecular targets and to fully interrogate the utility of pluripotent stem cells for personalized therapy

Extensive Tandem Duplication Events Drive the Expansion of the C1q-Domain-Containing Gene Family in Bivalves

C1q-domain-containing (C1qDC) proteins are rapidly emerging as key players in the innate immune response of bivalve mollusks. Growing experimental evidence suggests that these highly abundant secretory proteins are involved in the recognition of microbe-associated molecular patterns, serving as lectin-like molecules in the bivalve proto-complement system. While a large amount of functional data concerning the binding specificity of the globular head C1q domain and on the regulation of these molecules in response to infection are quickly accumulating, the genetic mechanisms that have led to the extraordinary lineage-specific expansion of the C1qDC gene family in bivalves are still largely unknown. The analysis of the chromosome-scale genome assembly of the Eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica revealed that the 476 oyster C1qDC genes, far from being uniformly distributed along the genome, are located in large clusters of tandemly duplicated paralogs, mostly found on chromosomes 7 and 8. Our observations point out that the evolutionary process behind the development of a large arsenal of C1qDC lectin-like molecules in marine bivalves is still ongoing and likely based on an unequal crossing over

Gradient estimates for the Schr\"odinger potentials: convergence to the Brenier map and quantitative stability

We show convergence of the gradients of the Schr\"odinger potentials to the Brenier map in the small-time limit under general assumptions on the marginals, which allow for unbounded densities and supports. Furthermore, we provide novel quantitative stability estimates for the optimal values and optimal couplings for the Schr\"odinger problem (SP), that we express in terms of a negative order weighted homogeneous Sobolev norm. The latter encodes the linearized behavior of the 2-Wasserstein distance between the marginals. The proofs of both results highlight for the first time the relevance of gradient bounds for Schr\"odinger potentials, that we establish here in full generality, in the analysis of the short-time behavior of Schr\"odinger bridges. Finally, we discuss how our results translate into the framework of quadratic Entropic Optimal Transport, that is a version of SP more suitable for applications in machine learning and data science.Comment: 36 page

Molecular Diversity of Mytilin-Like Defense Peptides in Mytilidae (Mollusca, Bivalvia)

The CS-\u3b1\u3b2 architecture is a structural scaffold shared by a high number of small, cationic, cysteine-rich defense peptides, found in nearly all the major branches of the tree of life. Although several CS-\u3b1\u3b2 peptides involved in innate immune response have been described so far in bivalve mollusks, a clear-cut definition of their molecular diversity is still lacking, leaving the evolutionary relationship among defensins, mytilins, myticins and other structurally similar antimicrobial peptides still unclear. In this study, we performed a comprehensive bioinformatic screening of the genomes and transcriptomes available for marine mussels (Mytilida), redefining the distribution of mytilin-like CS-\u3b1\u3b2 peptides, which in spite of limited primary sequence similarity maintain in all cases a well-conserved backbone, stabilized by four disulfide bonds. Variations in the size of the alpha-helix and the two antiparallel beta strand region, as well as the positioning of the cysteine residues involved in the formation of the C1\u2013C5 disulfide bond might allow a certain degree of structural flexibility, whose functional implications remain to be investigated. The identification of mytilins in Trichomya and Perna spp. revealed that many additional CS-\u3b1\u3b2 AMPs remain to be formally described and functionally characterized in Mytilidae, and suggest that a more robust scheme should be used for the future classification of such peptides with respect with their evolutionary origi

Uptake of acid black 210 dye by organo-montmorillonite clay minerals

Two clays rich in montmorillonite were modified and used as adsorbents. The clay minerals were modified with hexadecylpyridinium cation (HDP+) in order to obtain organo-montmorillonites, which were used for retaining acid black 210 dye from water solution. This dye is frequently used in tanning industry. The retentions of the anionic dye by organo-montmorillonites were evaluated by using complete UV-visible spectrum, analyzing the concentrations of dye solutions before (50 mg/L) and after the contact with the adsorbent. The solids were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared analyses (FT-IR). The interlayer spacing of the montmorillonites increased, after organic cation exchange, from 13.0-14.9 Å to 19.0-22.0 Å and allowed the uptake of acid black 210 dye. The most disordered arrangement of HDP in montmorillonite, deduced by XRD and FT-IR analyses, was better for higher retentions of acid black dye

Robust Head Mounted Wearable Eye Tracking System for Dynamical Calibration

In this work, a new head mounted eye tracking system is presented. Based on computer vision techniques, the system integrates eye images and head movement, in real time, performing a robust gaze point tracking. Nystagmus movements due to vestibulo-ocular reflex are monitored and integrated. The system proposed here is a strongly improved version of a previous platform called HATCAM, which was robust against changes of illumination conditions. The new version, called HAT-Move, is equipped with accurate inertial motion unit to detect the head movement enabling eye gaze even in dynamical conditions. HAT-Move performance is investigated in a group of healthy subjects in both static and dynamic conditions, i.e. when head is kept still or free to move. Evaluation was performed in terms of amplitude of the angular error between the real coordinates of the fixed points and those computed by the system in two experimental setups, specifically, in laboratory settings and in a 3D virtual reality (VR) scenario. The achieved results showed that HAT-Move is able to achieve eye gaze angular error of about 1 degree along both horizontal and vertical direction

The cognitive approach to the process of interpersonal understanding

The basic problem of this investigation concerns how is it that an individual "understands" or "comprehends" what another communicates and, sometimes, even what he does not communicate but of which he has experience. We would like here to take stock of the models that psychology currently has available to study the phenomenon of interpersonal understanding,using a cognitive approach, and to propose some working hypotheses that in our opinion could guide further research