Draft genome of methanol-oxidizing Methylobacterium fujisawaense strain LAC1

We report the draft genome of Methylobacterium fujisawaense LAC1 isolated from an acidic aquifer in Indian Head, MD, USA. The genome contains 5,883,000 bp and has a GC content of 70% with 5,434 protein-encoding genes with functional assignments. This strain can grow on methanol with lanthanum, a rare earth element

SmartSAGE: Training Large-scale Graph Neural Networks using In-Storage Processing Architectures

Graph neural networks (GNNs) can extract features by learning both the representation of each objects (i.e., graph nodes) and the relationship across different objects (i.e., the edges that connect nodes), achieving state-of-the-art performance in various graph-based tasks. Despite its strengths, utilizing these algorithms in a production environment faces several challenges as the number of graph nodes and edges amount to several billions to hundreds of billions scale, requiring substantial storage space for training. Unfortunately, state-of-the-art ML frameworks employ an in-memory processing model which significantly hampers the productivity of ML practitioners as it mandates the overall working set to fit within DRAM capacity. In this work, we first conduct a detailed characterization on a state-of-the-art, large-scale GNN training algorithm, GraphSAGE. Based on the characterization, we then explore the feasibility of utilizing capacity-optimized NVM SSDs for storing memory-hungry GNN data, which enables large-scale GNN training beyond the limits of main memory size. Given the large performance gap between DRAM and SSD, however, blindly utilizing SSDs as a direct substitute for DRAM leads to significant performance loss. We therefore develop SmartSAGE, our software/hardware co-design based on an in-storage processing (ISP) architecture. Our work demonstrates that an ISP based large-scale GNN training system can achieve both high capacity storage and high performance, opening up opportunities for ML practitioners to train large GNN datasets without being hampered by the physical limitations of main memory size.Comment: Accepted for publication at the 49th IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA-49), 202

Extremely Rare Case of Fetal Anemia Due to Mitochondrial Disease Managed with Intrauterine Transfusion

This report describes a rare case of fetal anemia, confirmed as a mitochondrial disease after birth, treated with intrauterine transfusion (IUT). Although mitochondrial diseases have been described in newborns, research on their prenatal features is lacking. A patient was referred to our institution at 32 gestational weeks owing to fetal hydrops. Fetal anemia was confirmed by cordocentesis. After IUT had been performed three times, the anemia and associated fetal hydrops showed improvement. However, after birth, the neonate had recurrent pancytopenia and lactic acidosis. He was eventually diagnosed with Pearson syndrome and died 2 months after birth. This is the first case report of fetal anemia associated with mitochondrial disease managed with IUT

Camptothesome-based combination nanotherapeutic regimen for improved colorectal cancer immunochemotherapy

Camptothesome is a sphingomyelin-conjugated camptothecin (SM-CSS-CPT) nanovesicle that fortified the therapeutic delivery of CPT in diverse cancer types. To mitigate the Camptothesome-induced IDO1 negative feedback mechanism, we had co-encapsulated, indoximod (IND, IDO1 inhibitor) into Camptothesome using doxorubicin-derived IND (DOX-IND). To maximize the therapeutic potential of DOX-IND/Camptothesome, herein, we first dissected the synergistic drug ratio (DOX-IND/SM-CSS-CPT) via systematical in vitro screening. DOX-IND/Camptothesome with optimal drug ratio synchronized in vivo drug delivery with significantly higher tumor uptake compared to free drugs. This optimum DOX-IND/Camptothesome outperformed the combination of Camptothesome, Doxil and IND or other IDO1 inhibitors (BMS-986205 or epacadostat) in treating mice bearing late-stage MC38 tumors, and combination with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) enabled it to eradicate 60 % of large tumors. Further, this optimized co-delivery Camptothesome beat Folfox and Folfiri, two first-line combination chemotherapies for colorectal cancer in antitumor efficacy and exhibited no side effects as compared to the severe systemic toxicities associated with Folfox and Folfiri. Finally, we demonstrated that the synergistic DOX-IND/Camptothesome was superior to the combined use of Onivyde + Doxil + IND in curbing the advanced orthotopic CT26-Luc tumors and eliminated 40 % tumors with complete metastasis remission when cooperated with ICB, eliciting stronger anti-CRC immune responses and greater reversal of immunosuppression. These results corroborated that with precise optimal synergistic drug ratio, the therapeutic potential of DOX-IND/Camptothesome can be fully unleased, which warrants further clinical investigation to benefit the cancer patients.24 month embargo; first published 18 January 2024This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Crystallization of Amorphous Silicon Thin Films Using Self-Limiting ALD of Nickel Oxide

The crystallization of amorphous Si ͑a-Si͒ thin films was performed using atomic layer deposition ͑ALD͒ of nickel oxide. Nickel oxide layers were deposited using nickel aminoalkoxide as a precursor in Ni and water as a precursor in oxygen. The presence of nickel oxide caused significant crystallization to occur in a-Si at 575°C under a reducing atmosphere. Even one single ALD layer of nickel oxide was high enough to crystallize the a-Si thin films. Self-limiting layer controllability in ALD is useful in providing a catalytic layer for formation of polycrystalline Si thin films for application to large-scale flat panel displays. Low-temperature polycrystalline Si ͑LTPS͒ technology has opened up innovative approaches for fabricating next-generation displays due to the higher mobility of charge carriers, 10-100 cm 2 /V s, compared to that of the conventional a-Si-based transistors, only 1 cm 2 /V s. 1,2 The polycrystalline Si-based transistors allow a wide range of applications including liquid crystal displays, organic light-emitting diodes ͑OLEDs͒, systems-on-glass ͑SOG͒, etc., in terms of switching and even driving circuits. The combination with OLEDs or SOG requires a stringent control of the transistor parameters such as threshold voltages, mobilities of the charge carriers, S slopes, and leakage currents. The success of LTPS transistors relies to a large extent on the polycrystalline Si channels adjacent to the gate dielectrics. The crystallization of a-Si thin films is extremely significant in determining the device characteristics of the LTPS transistors. Various approaches have been reported with the aim of achieving a large grain size, including solid phase crystallization ͑SPC͒, metal-induced crystallization ͑MIC͒, excimer laser annealing ͑ELA͒, and field-aided crystallization using a high electrical field. 3-10 Excimer laser annealing has initiated the commercialization of LTPS transistors in spite of a high manufacturing cost and operational difficulties in controlling the optical components. Although metal-induced crystallization has been suggested as a technique for lowering the manufacturing cost and obtaining an adequate transistor yield, MIC using Ni suffers from high leakage current due to the inability to control the metal agents, typically a high level of Ni contaminants. In order to reduce the Ni content, metal-induced lateral growth has been introduced. 11 Atomic layer deposition ͑ALD͒, as a deposition process by selflimiting mechanism, has opened up new opportunities in thin-film deposition due to a superior control of thickness and uniformity, a low thermal budget, excellent step coverage, etc. 12,13 The only drawback that has been mentioned is sluggish deposition rates of usually less than 2-3Å/cycle, due to the inherent alternating deposition of two different reactive species. No previous work to date on ALD has been reported on the crystallization of a-Si thin films in conjunction with LTPS technology. In this work, the self-limiting mechanism of ALD was attempted in the crystallization of a-Si thin films on glass substrates, in combination with the atomistic control of Ni atoms into the underlying thin films. To gain insights into the role of ALD of nickel oxide, the crystallization of a-Si thin films was monitored using UV-visible ͑UV-vis͒ spectrophotometry, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ͑XPS͒, and transmission electron microscopy ͑TEM͒. The implications of ALD of Ni species in the crystallization of a-Si thin films are discussed in conjunction with active matri