Characterization of the Hepatitis C Virus Genome Interactions with the microRNA miR-122: Potential New Therapeutic Targets for Peptide Nucleic Acid Based Strategies

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a positive-sense RNA virus that chronically infects between 2.7 and 3.9 million Americans, is highly mutational, making the HCV infection difficult to treat. Thus, it is of high interest to search for highly conserved therapeutic targets within the HCV genome. Two such sequences are located within the 5\u27 untranslated region (UTR) of HCV, being complementary for the microRNA miR-122, a liver microRNA essential for the production of the infectious virus. The use of peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) as therapeutic agents has become a promising area of study in recent years. In this study, we characterized the interactions between miR-122 and the HCV 5\u27UTR and designed PNAs to disrupt these interactions and thus, inhibit RNA replication and translation. Our results show that the PNAs effectively disrupt the interactions involving miR-122 and the 5\u27UTR, thereby increasing the possibility of a new therapeutic option against HCV

Transzendenz - Basis für Kreativität im Management

Wird ein Problem chronisch, könnte man dies als Mangel an Kreativität interpretieren. Die Antwort auf die Frage „wie könnte eine Problemlösung ohne schädliche Nebenwirkungen aussehen?“ fällt häufig allerdings nicht leicht. Der vorliegende Arbeitsbericht hat sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, für solche Problemlösungen die Aufmerksamkeit auf eine Tür zu lenken, die heutzutage tendenziell verschlossen ist. Die Empfehlung lautet, das gewohnte Denken zu transzendieren. Viele große Künstler und Wissenschaftler sind diesen Weg gegangen und haben auf diese Weise Kreatives hervorgebracht. So hat sich z.B. Johannes Brahms für seine Kompositionen in einen besonderen Zustand versetzt, der ihm „transzendentale Offenbarungen“ ermöglichte. Er erwähnte auch, dass jeder Mensch über solche Möglichkeiten verfügt, um auf diese Weise unkonventionelle Problemlösungen auf die Erde zu holen

Transzendenz - Basis für Kreativität im Management

Wird ein Problem chronisch, könnte man dies als Mangel an Kreativität interpretieren. Die Antwort auf die Frage „wie könnte eine Problemlösung ohne schädliche Nebenwirkungen aussehen?“ fällt häufig allerdings nicht leicht. Der vorliegende Arbeitsbericht hat sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, für solche Problemlösungen die Aufmerksamkeit auf eine Tür zu lenken, die heutzutage tendenziell verschlossen ist. Die Empfehlung lautet, das gewohnte Denken zu transzendieren. Viele große Künstler und Wissenschaftler sind diesen Weg gegangen und haben auf diese Weise Kreatives hervorgebracht. So hat sich z.B. Johannes Brahms für seine Kompositionen in einen besonderen Zustand versetzt, der ihm „transzendentale Offenbarungen“ ermöglichte. Er erwähnte auch, dass jeder Mensch über solche Möglichkeiten verfügt, um auf diese Weise unkonventionelle Problemlösungen auf die Erde zu holen

STUDY OF THE CAPABILITIES OF MOBILE PHONES WITH CAMERAS TO OBTAIN GEOMETRIC DATA

Mobile phones with cameras enable us to take photos of any objects at any time. The question arises whether this new device of communication can play a role in obtaining geometric data and what accuracy demands can still be satisfied by this device. Our series of experiments essentially involve taking photos of a geometrically defined area and examining the degree of likelyhood of the photogrammetric solution to the known geometry. This study was extended to various cameras, the number of points with known co-ordinates, the number of shots, and the object distance which has a decisive impact on picture scale. Furthermore, we compared the accuracy values of the results yielded by the processing of images taken by mobile phones with cameras and by other cameras. Numerical results are disclosed in a tabular format and the conclusions to be drawn from the numbers are summarized

Ironia, mejoza i hiperbola

The subject of the translated article is irony understood as one of the formativeelements of human speech. The author discusses the etymology of this idea, referring primarily to its definition formulated by Socrates, showingits relations with sarcasm, cynicism, meiosis and hyperbole. In terms of content, irony also has a moral element, since it is a challenge to traditional ideas, beliefs or shared cultural references. Irony is also a stylistic convention of poetics, helping to portray in literature what is paradoxical and ambiguous.The subject of the translated article is irony understood as one of the formative elements of human speech. The author discusses the etymology of this idea, referring primarily to its definition formulated by Socrates, showing its relations with sarcasm, cynicism, meiosis and hyperbole. In terms of content, irony also has a moral element, since it is a challenge to traditional ideas, beliefs or shared cultural references. Irony is also a stylistic convention of poetics, helping to portray in literature what is paradoxical and ambiguous

The relay network of Geobacter biofilms

While actual models explaining electron conduction in electricity producing biofilms have evolved separately to apparent irreconcilable conceptual positions, finding cytochrome complexes in the external matrix of Geobacter biofilms supports the proposal of a new functional model, that takes fundamental elements from confronting theories. In this model electrons expelled by cells are conducted to the collecting electrode along a network of supramolecular cytochrome arrangements interconnected by semiconducting pilus fibres that provide equipotential conditions within physically distant points. This arrangement resembles, from our point of view, a relay network for Geobacter biofilm, which allows a concerted physiological response of the entire population to any local redox change.Fil: Ordoñez, Maria Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Schrott, Germán David. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Massazza, Diego Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; ArgentinaFil: Busalmen, Juan Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales; Argentin

Informal Knowledge Networks: Toward a Community-Engineering Framework

The problems knowledge workers face today are dynamic, unstructured, highly complex, and often cannot be fully explicated. Such moving targets require different problem solving capabilities. Because abstract information is less valuable in this type of environment, knowledge workers have to utilize channels other than handbooks. Hence, corporate knowledge networks again are at the top of the research agenda. For a knowledge worker, access to knowledgeable colleagues, rather than access to large databases, becomes the important factor. In such networks, the question of which managerial actions are appropriate for successful community development ( i.e., supporting the actors) arises. Unfortunately, today’s community engineering practices are often characterized by a gross simplification and strong technological focus rather than modeling the impact of managerial actions before taking them. As part of a larger research project, this paper addresses topological structures as an action variable of community engineering. A computer-based simulation model is introduced and applied to real-life data from over 800 students and staff of the Economics and Business Administration Department at Frankfurt University, Germany

On Strassen's Theorem for support functions

Strassen established that there exists a two step martingale with marginal distributions $\mu$, $\nu$ if and only if $\mu$, $\nu$ are in convex order. Recently Chon\'e-Gozlan-Kramarz obtained a transport characterization of the stochastic order defined by convex positively 1-homogeneous functions, in the spirit of Strassen's theorem under certain technical assumptions. In this note we prove the Chon\'e-Gozlan-Kramarz result in full generality. We also observe that the restriction of the result to the case where $\mu, \nu$ are supported on a half space is equivalent to Strassen's classical theorem

How to test 'real' campaign effects: linking survey data to content analytical data

Die Verfasser legen zunächst eine inhaltsanalytische Untersuchung des Wahlkampfs zur Bundestagswahl 1990 vor, die Auskunft über Thematik und Themenpräsentation im Wahlkampf gibt. Diese Ergebnisse werden in einem zweiten Schritt mit Umfragedaten aus dem entsprechenden Zeitraum verknüpft. Die Verbindung von Inhaltsanalyse und Umfragedaten erlaubt es, direkte Auswirkungen der Wahlkampfberichterstattung in den Medien auf die Wähler zu messen und zu analysieren. Hier steht die Frage nach den Auswirkungen der Fernsehberichterstattung auf die Einstellung der Wähler im Vordergrund des Interesses. Die Untersuchung zeigt, daß sich der Einfluß der Medienberichterstattung auf politische Einstellungen eher langsam und kumulativ vollzieht. (ICE