Protein arginine deiminase 4: a target for an epigenetic cancer therapy

The recent approvals of anticancer therapeutic agents targeting the histone deacetylases and DNA methyltransferases have highlighted the important role that epigenetics plays in human diseases, and suggested that the factors controlling gene expression are novel drug targets. Protein arginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) is one such target because its effects on gene expression parallel those observed for the histone deacetylases. We demonstrated that F- and Cl-amidine, two potent PAD4 inhibitors, display micromolar cytotoxic effects towards several cancerous cell lines (HL-60, MCF7 and HT-29); no effect was observed in noncancerous lines (NIH 3T3 and HL-60 granulocytes). These compounds also induced the differentiation of HL-60 and HT29 cells. Finally, these compounds synergistically potentiated the cell killing effects of doxorubicin. Taken together, these findings suggest PAD4 inhibition as a novel epigenetic approach for the treatment of cancer, and suggest that F- and Cl-amidine are candidate therapeutic agents for this disease.     

A Note on the Property of ψ-Function

About the accurate value of ψ ( x ) = Γ′ ( x ) / Γ ( x), we know only ψ (1)and ψ (1/ 2).In this paper, by calculating the accurate values of some series expansion of a function and applying some skills of complex analysis, we prove that the expression of the ψ-function admits a finite expression in elementary function for rational number z. As an application, some examples are given.     

氯化锂-乙醇-水溶液稀释热

使用LKB 2107型流动式微量热计-微机数据采集系统测量了288.15 K、298.15 K和308.15 K下LiCl-C     

The role of endosomal-recycling in long-term potentiation

Long-term potentiation (LTP) defines persistent increases in neurotransmission strength at synapses that are triggered by specific patterns of neuronal activity. LTP, the most widely accepted molecular model for learning, is best characterised at glutamatergic synapses on dendritic spines. In this context, LTP involves increases in dendritic spine size and the insertion of glutamate receptors into the post-synaptic spine membrane, which together boost post-synaptic responsiveness to neurotransmitters. In dendrites, the material required for LTP is sourced from an organelle termed the endosomal-recycling compartment (ERC), which is localised to the base of dendritic spines. When LTP is induced, material derived from the recycling compartment, which contains α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate-type glutamate receptors (AMPARs), is mobilised into dendritic spines feeding the increased need for receptors and membrane at the spine neck and head. In this review, we discuss the importance of endosomal-recycling and the role of key proteins which control these processes in the context of LTP.     

Co-substituted ATS-type molecular sieves and films for cyclohexane oxidation

Pure CoAPO-36 crystal grains were synthesized by hydrothermal reaction. Porous α-Al₂O₃, stainless steel and K₂Ti₆O₁₃ supported CoAPO-36 films were fabricated using in situ crystallization for the first time. SEM images and XRD measurements demonstrate that a continuous CoAPO-36 film was obtained on the K₂Ti₆O₁₃ substrate. Diffuse reflectance UV-Vis spectra indicate that Co²⁺ has been incorporated into the ATS framework. Both CoAPO-36 crystal grains and the K₂Ti₆O₁₃ supported CoAPO-36 film exhibit satisfactory catalytic activities for the oxidation of cyclohexane.     

BotGuard: Lightweight real-time botnet detection in software defined networks

The distributed detection of botnets may induce heavy computation and communication costs to network devices. Each device in related scheme only has a regional view of Internet, so it is hard to detect botnet comprehensively. In this paper, we propose a lightweight real-time botnet detection framework called Bot-Guard, which uses the global landscape and flexible configurability of software defined network (SDN) to identify botnets promptly. SDN, as a new network framework, can make centralized control in botnet detection, but there are still some challenges in such detections. We give a convex lens imaging graph (CLI-graph) to depict the topology characteristics of botnet, which allows SDN controller to locate attacks separately and mitigate the burden of network devices. The theoretical and experimental results prove that our scheme is capable of timely botnet detecting in SDNs with the accuracy higher than 90% and the delay less than 56 ms.     

Does an Old Art Suffice for New Problems?

In this review I argue that Puech draws on two important currents in modern thought: the criticism of the ontological and social priority of conflict, and the rehabilitation of praxis vis-à-vis theoria. Still, his plea for a non-confrontational art of living leaves important questions unanswered. What is the problem exactly? What does exactly count as (non)confrontational? What is non-confrontation exactly meant to solve? What is the antiposition here? And: how does this new (or rather: old) art of living relate to the political and ethical varieties of Technology Assessment?     

Superconvergence of mixed covolume method on quadrilateral grids for elliptic problems

This paper considers the mixed covolume method for the second-order elliptic equations over quadrilaterals.Superconvergence results are established in this paper on quadrilateral grids satisfying the h~2-parallelogram condition when the lowest-order Raviart-Thomas space is employed in the mixed covolume method.The authors prove O(h~2) accuracy between the approximate velocity or pressure and a suitable projection of the real velocity or pressure in the L~2 norm.Numerical experiments illustrating the theoretical results are provided.     

Maximum likelihood estimator of the parameter for a continuous one-parameter exponential family under the optimal ranked set sampling

This paper studies a maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) of the parameter for a continuous one-parameter exponential family under ranked set sampling (RSS). The authors first find the optimal RSS according to the character of the family, viz, arrange the RSS based on quasi complete and sufficient statistic of independent and identically distributed (iid) samples. Then under this RSS, some sufficient conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the MLE, which are easily used in practice, are obtained. Using these conditions, the existence and uniqueness of the MLEs of the parameters for some usual distributions in this family are proved. Numerical simulations for these distributions fully support the result from the above two step optimizations of the sampling and the estimation method.