Czech Film Policy after 1989: Between Neoliberal and National Mercantilist Discourse

After 1989, the Czech film industry underwent a transformation from an integrated state-funded monopoly to numerous largely privatized and disintegrated film institutions and activities that had to struggle for their existence in the new capitalist economy. The change was accompanied by debates regarding the state funding of cinema, which developed from early naïve neoliberal discourse through struggles for the internal stability of public financing of film to eventual endorsement of national mercantilist discourse that supports Czech national cinema’s competitiveness on international markets. The analysis presented in the article and focused on recent discourse of Czech Film Fund revealed that current Czech film policy is largely in line with film policies of Western European countries. Yet, in contrast to non-post-socialist countries, it is conspicuously devoid of centre-left agenda in terms of equality and diversity on the labour market in the film industry. It also puts little emphasis on the reinforcement of social cohesion through cinema. As contemporary Czech society is becoming increasingly politically polarized, the accentuation of these issues could be beneficial for the state and its inhabitants for years to come

Effects of complex vessel geometries on neutrophil margination and adhesion in post-capillary venules

The inflammatory process is a regular occurrence within a healthy body. As part of the inflammatory process, leukocytes flow through blood vessels and are recruited to the region of the injury. Neutrophils play a significant role in this process; however the margination of neutrophils to particular locations in micro vessels is not fully understood. Post capillary venules, in particular, have complex geometries which may contribute to non-uniform adhesion of neutrophils. Margination is a phenomenon that occurs during the relatively early phases of inflammation; as a result of dilation of capillaries and slowing of the bloodstream, leukocytes tend to occupy the periphery of the cross-sectional lumen. Other investigations have looked at the adhesion of neutrophils in vivo or flow patterns in converging tubes, but the correlation between flow patterns in complex geometries and neutrophil margination is not well understood. This study seeks to investigate correlations between margination and bulk flow patterns as well as parameters that affect bulk flow properties. The primary aim of this investigation is to create specific computational and in vitro models based on in vivo data that isolate the hydrodynamic mechanisms associated with complex geometries. Main geometric factors that were investigated were surface roughness, branch geometries, number of convergences and squared vs. rounded t-junctions. To determine the effect of surface roughness a large scale parallel plate flow chamber model as well as a microfabrication technique to simulate roughness at the blood vessel scale were created that simulate surface roughness due to endothelial cell nuclei. CFD modeling was also used to determine effects of other geometric factors including branch geometries, number of convergences and squared vs. rounded t-junctions. Overall, results from this study suggest that complex geometries can have a significant role on neutrophil margination and adhesion in blood vessels. A preliminary relationship between wall shear stress and margination was established

Synthesis of carbon-14, carbon-13 and deuterium labeled forms of thioacetamide and thioacetamide S-oxide

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Sarma, D., & Hanzlik, R. P. (2011). Synthesis of carbon-14, carbon-13 and deuterium labeled forms of thioacetamide and thioacetamide S-oxide. Journal of Labelled Compounds & Radiopharmaceuticals, 54(13), 795–798. http://doi.org/10.1002/jlcr.1933, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1002/jlcr.1933. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.Thioacetamide (TA) is a model hepatotoxin that undergoes metabolic activation via two successive S-oxidations. The ultimate toxic metabolite thioacetamide S,S-dioxide, or its tautomer acetimidoyl sulfinic acid CH3C(NH)SO2H, then acylates lysine side chains on cellular proteins leading to cellular dysfunction or death. To identify individual target proteins, quantitate the extent of their modification and elucidate the structural details of their modification we required both radio-labeled and stable-labeled forms of TA and its intermediate metabolite thioacetamide S-oxide (TASO). The latter is stable when purified but can be difficult to isolate. Considering currently available isotopic precursors we devised and report here methods for the synthesis and isolation of TA and TASO labeled with C-14, C-13 and/or deuterium. The methods are straightforward, utilize readily available precursors and are amenable to small scale

MLCapsule: Guarded Offline Deployment of Machine Learning as a Service

With the widespread use of machine learning (ML) techniques, ML as a service has become increasingly popular. In this setting, an ML model resides on a server and users can query it with their data via an API. However, if the user's input is sensitive, sending it to the server is undesirable and sometimes even legally not possible. Equally, the service provider does not want to share the model by sending it to the client for protecting its intellectual property and pay-per-query business model. In this paper, we propose MLCapsule, a guarded offline deployment of machine learning as a service. MLCapsule executes the model locally on the user's side and therefore the data never leaves the client. Meanwhile, MLCapsule offers the service provider the same level of control and security of its model as the commonly used server-side execution. In addition, MLCapsule is applicable to offline applications that require local execution. Beyond protecting against direct model access, we couple the secure offline deployment with defenses against advanced attacks on machine learning models such as model stealing, reverse engineering, and membership inference

Cyclopropylamine inactivation of cytochromes P450: Role of metabolic intermediate complexes

NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Volume 436, Issue 2, 15 April 2005 doi:10.1016/j.abb.2005.02.020The inactivation of cytochrome P450 enzymes by cyclopropylamines has been attributed to a mechanism involving initial one-electron oxidation at nitrogen followed by scission of the cyclopropane ring leading to covalent modification of the enzyme. Herein, we report that in liver microsomes N-cyclopropylbenzylamine (1) and related compounds inactivate P450 to a large extent via formation of metabolic intermediate complexes (MICs) in which a nitroso metabolite coordinates tightly to the heme iron, thereby preventing turnover. MIC formation from 1 does not occur in reconstituted P450 systems with CYP2B1/2, 2C11 or 2E1, or in microsomes exposed to gentle heating to inactivate the flavin-containing monooxygenase (FMO). In contrast, N-hydroxy-N-cyclopropylbenzylamine (3) and N-benzylhydroxylamine (4) generate MICs much faster than 1 in both reconstituted and microsomal systems. MIC formation from nitrone 5 (PhCH = N(O)cPr) is somewhat faster than from 1, but very much faster than the hydrolysis of 5 to a primary hydroxylamine. Thus the major overall route from 1 to a P450 MIC complex would appear to involve FMO oxidation to 3, further oxidation by P450 and/or FMO to nitrone 5′ (C2H4C = N(O)CH2Ph), hydrolysis to 4, and P450 oxidation to α-nitrosotoluene as the precursor to oxime 2 and the major MIC from 1

Cobalt complexes: correlation of redox potential with effectivity as oxygenation catalysts

The redox potential of a series of cobalt(II) chelates correlates with their properties as either oxygen carriers or phosphine oxidation catalysts

Metal-Catalyzed Hydration of 2-Pyridyloxirane

In the presence of CuII the hydration of 2-pyridyloxiran is accelerated 18,000-fold, and its reaction with Cl–, Br–, and MeO– becomes 100% regiospecific for β-attack

Assembly and Maturation of a T = 4 Quasi-Equivalent Virus Is Guided by Electrostatic and Mechanical Forces

Nudaurelia capensis w virus (NωV) is a eukaryotic RNA virus that is well suited for the study of virus maturation. The virus initially assembles at pH 7.6 into a marginally stable 480-Å procapsid formed by 240 copies of a single type of protein subunit. During maturation, which occurs during apoptosis at pH 5.0, electrostatic forces guide subunit trajectories into a robust 410-Å virion that is buttressed by subunit associated molecular switches. We discuss the competing factors in the virus capsid of requiring near-reversible interactions during initial assembly to avoid kinetic traps, while requiring robust stability to survive in the extra-cellular environment. In addition, viruses have a variety of mechanisms to deliver the genome, which must remain off while still inside the infected cell, yet turn on under the proper conditions of infection. We conclude that maturation is the process that provides a solution to these conflicting requirements through a program that is encoded in the procapsid and that leads to stability and infectivity