Jumping from place to place, replicating food, biological or mechanical parts or beaming up somebody, may not be fiction, rather an issue of practical implementation as shall be observed in this paper. Devices like tr...Jumping from place to place, replicating food, biological or mechanical parts or beaming up somebody, may not be fiction, rather an issue of practical implementation as shall be observed in this paper. Devices like transporter, food replicators or warp drive intrigue our imagination. This paper is intended to show that Jump drive is an issue of coordinate transformation. Changing location from planet X to planet Y does not necessarily require travelling a distance D connecting between the two planets. The theoretical knowledge of changing the location from coordinate X to coordinate Y exists;we do that in signal processing, but, we have not yet developed such a machine. The present paper shows the feasibility of jump drive;however, much work needs to be done on the implementation.展开更多
DNA replication is a crucial process for species survival, nevertheless it is not clear which factors define origin selection in multicellular eukaryotes. Developmental gene amplification systems, such as the one desc...DNA replication is a crucial process for species survival, nevertheless it is not clear which factors define origin selection in multicellular eukaryotes. Developmental gene amplification systems, such as the one described during ovarian follicles development in Drosophila melanogaster, are useful tools for studying of DNA replication process in these organisms. We previously described that the well characterized third chromosome amplified domain of D. melanogater displays three intrinsically bent DNA sites: b1, localized at an amplification control element (ACE3), b2 and b3, both localized at the preferential origin ori-β. This proposal aimed to construct a Drosophila transformation vector, which contains a short deletion at the ACE3, in order to reduce the intrinsically bent DNA site b1, and analyze the functional role of this site in the gene amplification process. Through a series of cloning steps, we obtained a Big Parent vector derivative, containing a deletion at the positions 176-180 bp, inside the ACE3. The generation of a Drosophila transformation vector displays a reduced intrinsically bent DNA site in the third chromosome amplified domain, it will allow the analysis of the functional role of this curvature in developmental gene amplification, providing new insights on replication initiation in D. melanogaster and the function of intrinsically bent DNA sites.展开更多
A hierarchical approach for the energy management of geographically close microgrids connected through a dedicated AC power network is proposed in this paper.The proposed approach consists of a two-layer energy manage...A hierarchical approach for the energy management of geographically close microgrids connected through a dedicated AC power network is proposed in this paper.The proposed approach consists of a two-layer energy management system(EMS)for networked microgrids.In the lower layer,each micro grid solves its own economic dispatch problem through a distributed model predictive control approach that respects capacity limits and ramp-rate constraints of distributed generation.In the upper layer,the energy trading in the network of microgrids decides how to optimally trade the energy based on the marginal cost information from the lower layer in order to improve global optimization objectives,e.g.,social welfare.In order to solve the trading problem,a consensusbased algorithm and a replicator dynamics algorithm are proposed assuming that the marginal cost function of the microgrid is known and linear.It is shown that both algorithms converge to the same solution,which is equivalent to the minimization of operation costs.The consensus-based algorithm is extended in order to tackle more general marginal cost functions and trading network constraints.Moreover,the effect of ramp constraints and network limits is studied.Simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms for three interconnected microgrids with different characteristics.展开更多
To advance intelligent construction,standards must come first.The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has issued the List for Replicable Experience and Practices for Developing Intelligent Construction fou...To advance intelligent construction,standards must come first.The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has issued the List for Replicable Experience and Practices for Developing Intelligent Construction four times successively and the Technical Guidelines for Intelligent Construction(Trial).展开更多
Dear Editor,This letter is concerned with the evolutionary dynamics of cooperative strategies in social dilemma situations.Stochastic punishment has been proposed,in which whether an individual acts as a punisher or n...Dear Editor,This letter is concerned with the evolutionary dynamics of cooperative strategies in social dilemma situations.Stochastic punishment has been proposed,in which whether an individual acts as a punisher or not is stochastic and depends on its preference for punishment.Meanwhile,both the cost of punishment and whether a defector would be punished are also stochastic.In previous models,the cost of punishment is considered to be either constant or proportional to the number of individuals to be punished.Furthermore,the hypothesis that all defectors should be penalized is frequently adopted.Actually,some defectors may refrain from being punished due to the presence of noise or the limitation of the punishment cost,and the cost of punishment is also dependent on the number of punishers.Thus,we establish an analytic model of stochastic punishment for infinite and well-mixed populations,investigate the effects of stochastic punishment on the evolution of cooperation,and analyze how to support the evolution of cooperation effectively when the stochastic punishment is possible.The objective of this letter is to design a cooperation-promoting stochastic punishment that will allow the system to evolve to full cooperation.The replicator equations have been used to explore the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation under stochastic punishment,and the conditions under which cooperation is favored by natural selection have been specified.展开更多
An in-memory storage system provides submillisecond latency and improves the concurrency of user applications by caching data into memory from external storage.Fault tolerance of in-memory storage systems is essential...An in-memory storage system provides submillisecond latency and improves the concurrency of user applications by caching data into memory from external storage.Fault tolerance of in-memory storage systems is essential,as the loss of cached data requires access to data from external storage,which evidently increases the response latency.Typically,replication and erasure code(EC)are two fault-tolerant schemes that pose different trade-offs between access performance and storage usage.To help make the best performance and space trade-off,we design ElasticMem,a hybrid fault-tolerant distributed in-memory storage system that supports elastic redundancy transition to dynamically change the fault-tolerant scheme.ElasticMem exploits a novel EC-oriented replication(EOR)that carefully designs the data placement of replication according to the future data layout of EC to enhance the I/O efficiency of redundancy transition.ElasticMem solves the consistency problem caused by concurrent data accesses via a lightweight table-based scheme combined with data bypassing.It detects correlated read and write requests and serves subsequent read requests with local data.We implement a prototype that realizes ElasticMem based on Memcached.Experiments show that ElasticMem remarkably reduces the time of redundancy transition,the overall latency of correlated concurrent data accesses,and the latency of single data access among them.展开更多
Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins(SSBs)play essential roles in the replication,recombination and repair processes of organellar DNA molecules.In Arabidopsis thaliana,SSBs are encoded by a small family of two genes(...Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins(SSBs)play essential roles in the replication,recombination and repair processes of organellar DNA molecules.In Arabidopsis thaliana,SSBs are encoded by a small family of two genes(SSB1 and SSB2).However,the functional divergence of these two SSB copies in plants remains largely unknown,and detailed studies regarding their roles in the replication and recombination of organellar genomes are still incomplete.In this study,phylogenetic,gene structure and protein motif analyses all suggested that SSB1 and SSB2 probably diverged during the early evolution of seed plants.Based on accurate long-read sequencing results,ssb1 and ssb2 mutants had decreased copy numbers for both mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA)and plastid DNA(ptDNA),accompanied by a slight increase in structural rearrangements mediated by intermediate-sized repeats in mt genome and small-scale variants in both genomes.Our findings provide an important foundation for further investigating the effects of DNA dosage in the regulation of mutation frequencies in plant organellar genomes.展开更多
Ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography(UV-NIL)is a versatile and cost-effective technique for the fabrication of micro-and nanostructures by copying master patterns in a planar or a roll-to-roll process through curing of...Ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography(UV-NIL)is a versatile and cost-effective technique for the fabrication of micro-and nanostructures by copying master patterns in a planar or a roll-to-roll process through curing of a liquid UV-sensitive precursor.For applications with a high pattern complexity,new UV-NIL process chains must be specified.Master fabrication is a challenging part of the development and often cannot be accomplished using a single master fabrication technique.Therefore,an approach combining different patterning fabrication techniques is developed here for polymer masters using laser direct writing and photolithography.The polymer masters produced in this way are molded into inverse silicone stamps that are used for roll-to-roll replication into an acrylate formulation.To fit the required roller size for large-area UV-NIL,several submasters with micrometer-sized dot and line gratings and prism arrays,which have been patterned by these different techniques,are assembled to final size of ~200×600 mm^(2) with an absolute precision of better than 50μm.The size of the submasters allows the use of standard laboratory equipment for patterning and direct writing,thus enabling the fabrication of micro-and even nanostructures when electron-beam writing is utilized.In this way,the effort,time,and costs for the fabrication of masters for UV-NIL processes are reduced,enabling further development for particular structures and applications.Using this approach,patterns fabricated with different laboratory tools are finally replicated by UV-NIL in an acrylate formulation,demonstrating the high quality of the whole process chain.展开更多
Personal video recorders (PVRs) have altered the way users consume television (TV) content by allowing users to record programs and watch them at their convenience, overcoming the constraints of live broadcasting. How...Personal video recorders (PVRs) have altered the way users consume television (TV) content by allowing users to record programs and watch them at their convenience, overcoming the constraints of live broadcasting. However, standalone PVRs are limited by their individual storage capacities, restricting the number of programs they can store. While online catch-up TV services such as Hulu and Netflix mitigate this limitation by offering on-demand access to broadcast programs shortly after their initial broadcast, they require substantial storage and network resources, leading to significant infrastructural costs for service providers. To address these challenges, we propose a collaborative TV content recording system that leverages distributed PVRs, combining their storage into a virtual shared pool without additional costs. Our system aims to support all concurrent playback requests without service interruption while ensuring program availability comparable to that of local devices. The main contributions of our proposed system are fourfold. First, by sharing storage and upload bandwidth among PVRs, our system significantly expands the overall recording capacity and enables simultaneous recording of multiple programs without the physical constraints of standalone devices. Second, by utilizing erasure coding efficiently, our system reduces the storage space required for each program, allowing more programs to be recorded compared to traditional replication. Third, we propose an adaptive redundancy scheme to control the degree of redundancy of each program based on its evolving playback demand, ensuring high-quality playback by providing sufficient bandwidth for popular programs. Finally, we introduce a contribution-based incentive policy that encourages PVRs to actively participate by contributing resources, while discouraging excessive consumption of the combined storage pool. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed collaborative TV program recording system in terms of storage efficiency and performance.展开更多
When interpreting results,it is imperative to have some understanding of the degree to which the results are replicable.If the results cannot be replicated with independent data,then interpretations from the results b...When interpreting results,it is imperative to have some understanding of the degree to which the results are replicable.If the results cannot be replicated with independent data,then interpretations from the results become questionable.To minimize the potential for misinterpretations,the current study analyzes six time-series derived from globally sampled U-Pb zircon databases–of which,two are independent igneous databases,one being a quasi-independent igneous database,and three being independent detrital databases.These time-series are then analyzed with standard statistical methods to evaluate replicability.The methods include bandpass filtering to transform the raw time-series into stationary sequences,Student’s t-test,Monte Carlo simulations,periodograms from spectral analysis,correlation studies,and correlograms.Each test is designed to determine the replicability of a specific time-series,as well as the replicability of periodicities found from the time-series.The results show at least three key components to assessing replicability:(a)U-Pb igneous and detrital zircon age distributions are highly replicable,(b)time-series replicability gradually deteriorates with age,and(c)replicability is scale dependent,with low frequency cycles being more replicable than high frequency cycles.From the tests,we conclude that four harmonic cycles are highly replicable and statistically significant,these being periodicities of 810,270,90,and 67.5-myr.展开更多
The 3CL protease, a highly conserved enzyme in the coronavirus, plays a crucial role in the viral life cycle by facilitating viral replication through precise cleavage of polyproteins. Beyond its proteolytic function,...The 3CL protease, a highly conserved enzyme in the coronavirus, plays a crucial role in the viral life cycle by facilitating viral replication through precise cleavage of polyproteins. Beyond its proteolytic function, the 3CL protease also engages in intricate interactions with host cell proteins involved in critical cellular processes such as transcription, translation, and nuclear-cytoplasmic transport, effectively hijacking cellular machinery to promote viral replication. Additionally, it disrupts innate immune signaling pathways, suppresses interferon activity and cleaves antiviral proteins. Furthermore, it modulates host cell death pathways including pyroptosis and apoptosis, interferes with autophagy and inhibits stress granule formation to maintain viral infection and exacerbate viral pathogenesis. This review highlights the molecular mechanisms by which the 3CL protease orchestrates virus-host interactions, emphasizing its central role in coronavirus pathogenesis and highlighting potential therapeutic targets for future interventions.展开更多
A recent study led by Yi-Wei Chang1,published in Science,integrates cryo-electron single-particle analysis(SPA)and cryo-electron tomography(cryo-ET)to elucidate the near-atomic architecture of the influenza virus ribo...A recent study led by Yi-Wei Chang1,published in Science,integrates cryo-electron single-particle analysis(SPA)and cryo-electron tomography(cryo-ET)to elucidate the near-atomic architecture of the influenza virus ribonucleoprotein(RNP)complex.The study reveals that the RNP adopts a right-handed,antiparallel double-helical configuration,in which the viral RNA is translocated via a polymerase-driven strand sliding mechanism.Dynamic tail loop interactions between adjacent nucleoprotein(NP)subunits impart structural flexibility to the RNP,enabling conformational dynamics essential for processive RNA synthesis.These findings define a structural basis for strand sliding,and guided by this insight,the authors identify novel small molecules that disrupt NP–NP interactions by targeting a conserved tail loop interface,laying a foundation for broad-spectrum influenza antivirals.展开更多
Mitochondria provides adenosine triphosphate for multiple vital movements to ensure tumor cell proliferation.Compared to the broadly used method of inducing DNA replication arrest to kill cancer,inducing mitochondria ...Mitochondria provides adenosine triphosphate for multiple vital movements to ensure tumor cell proliferation.Compared to the broadly used method of inducing DNA replication arrest to kill cancer,inducing mitochondria damage to cause energy shortage is quite promising as it can inhibit tumor cell bioactivities,increase intracellular accumulation of toxic drugs,eventually sensitize chemotherapy and even reverse drug resistance.Breaking the balance of glutathione(GSH)and reactive oxygen species(ROS)contents have been proven efficient in destroying mitochondria respectively.Herein,apigenin,a GSH efflux reagent,and 2-deoxy-5-fluorouridine 5-monophosphate sodium salt(FdUMP)that could induce toxic ROS were co-delivered by constructed lipid nanoparticles,noted as Lip@AF.An immune-checkpoint inhibition reagent CD276 antibody was modified onto the surface of Lip@AF with high reaction specificity(noted asαCD276-Lip@AF)to enhance the recognition of immune cells to tumor.Results showed that the redox balancewas destroyed,leading to severe injury to mitochondria and cell membrane.Furthermore,synergistic DNA/RNA replication inhibition caused by inhibiting the function of thymidylate synthase were observed.Eventually,significantly enhanced cytotoxicity was achieved by combining multiple mechanisms including ferroptosis,apoptosis and pyroptosis.In vivo,strengthen tumor growth inhibitionwas achieved byαCD276-Lip@AF with high biosafety,providing new sights in enhancing chemotherapy sensitiveness and achieving high-performance chemo-immunotherapy.展开更多
Vertical Federated Learning(VFL),which draws attention because of its ability to evaluate individuals based on features spread across multiple institutions,encounters numerous privacy and security threats.Existing sol...Vertical Federated Learning(VFL),which draws attention because of its ability to evaluate individuals based on features spread across multiple institutions,encounters numerous privacy and security threats.Existing solutions often suffer from centralized architectures,and exorbitant costs.To mitigate these issues,in this paper,we propose SecureVFL,a decentralized multi-party VFL scheme designed to enhance efficiency and trustworthiness while guaranteeing privacy.SecureVFL uses a permissioned blockchain and introduces a novel consensus algorithm,Proof of Feature Sharing(PoFS),to facilitate decentralized,trustworthy,and high-throughput federated training.SecureVFL introduces a verifiable and lightweight three-party Replicated Secret Sharing(RSS)protocol for feature intersection summation among overlapping users.Furthermore,we propose a(_(2)^(4))-sharing protocol to achieve federated training in a four-party VFL setting.This protocol involves only addition operations and exhibits robustness.SecureVFL not only enables anonymous interactions among participants but also safeguards their real identities,and provides mechanisms to unmask these identities when malicious activities are performed.We illustrate the proposed mechanism through a case study on VFL across four banks.Finally,our theoretical analysis proves the security of SecureVFL.Experiments demonstrated that SecureVFL outperformed existing multi-party VFL privacy-preserving schemes,such as MP-FedXGB,in terms of both overhead and model performance.展开更多
The DNA replication stress(RS)response is crucial for maintaining cellular homeostasis and promoting physiological longevity.However,the mechanisms by which long-lived species,such as bats,regulate RS to maintain geno...The DNA replication stress(RS)response is crucial for maintaining cellular homeostasis and promoting physiological longevity.However,the mechanisms by which long-lived species,such as bats,regulate RS to maintain genomic stability remain unclear.Also,recent studies have uncovered noncanonical roles of ribosome-associated factors in maintaining genomic stability.In this study,somatic skin fibroblasts from the long-lived big-footed bat(Myotis pilosus)were examined,with results showing that bat cells exhibited enhanced RS tolerance compared to mouse cells.Comparative transcriptome analysis under RS conditions revealed pronounced species-specific transcriptional differences,including robust up-regulation of ribosome biogenesis genes in bat cells and a markedly reduced activation of the P53 signaling pathway.These features emphasize a distinct homeostatic strategy in bat cells.Nuclear fragile X mental retardation-interacting protein 1(Nufip1),a ribosome-associated factor highly expressed in bat fibroblasts,was identified as a potential integrator of ribosomal and P53 signaling via its association with ribosomal protein S27-like(Rps27l).These findings provide direct cellular and molecular evidence for a noncanonical RS response in bats,highlighting a deeper understanding of the biological characteristics and genomic maintenance mechanisms of long-lived species.展开更多
BACKGROUND Whether rtS106C+H126Y+D134E/rtS106C+H126Y+D134E+L269I(rtCYE/rtCYEI)mutations in the hepatitis B virus(HBV)reverse-transcriptase(RT)region are associated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate(TDF)resistance is ...BACKGROUND Whether rtS106C+H126Y+D134E/rtS106C+H126Y+D134E+L269I(rtCYE/rtCYEI)mutations in the hepatitis B virus(HBV)reverse-transcriptase(RT)region are associated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate(TDF)resistance is controversial.AIM To evaluate the presence of the rtCYE/rtCYEI mutations in a large cohort of Chinese patients with chronic HBV infection.METHODS A total of 28236 patients who underwent drug resistance testing at the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from 2007 to 2019 were enrolled.All patients received nucleoside/nucleotide analogues(NAs)therapy,and serum samples were collected for sequence analysis of the HBV RT domain with mutation analysis.RESULTS The detection rates of a single mutation of rtS106C,rtH126Y,rtD134E,and rtL269I were 8.21%,3.20%,2.55%and 61.49%in 23718 genotype C patients,and 1.31%,1.76%,0.21%,and 92.33%in 4266 genotype B patients,respectively.The combined mutations of rtCYE/rtCYEI were only detected in 12 genotype C patients,accounting for 0.042%of all patients.These 12 patients had received NA treatments except TDF before testing.Among them,6 patients had coexisting rtCYE/rtCYEI and lamivudine-resistance mutations,and 2 patients had coexisting rtCYE/rtCYEI and adefovir-resistance mutations.Compared with the wild-type(WT)strain,the replication capacity of rtCYE/rtCYEI mutants from representative patients decreased by 41.1%-71.8%,and TDF susceptibility reduced by less than 2-fold,but rtCYEI+rtA181V/N236T mutants exhibited a 6.2-/9.9-fold decrease in TDF susceptibility.Molecular modeling showed that rtCYE/rtCYEI mutants had a slight decrease in binding energy to TDF compared to the WT strain.In the clinic,emergence of the rtCYE/rtCYEI mutations was not specifically associated with TDF treatment.CONCLUSION HBV rtCYE/rtCYEI mutations have a limited effect on TDF susceptibility and are not sufficient to cause TDF resistance.展开更多
High-risk human papillomavirus(HPV)replication requires deregulation of host DNA damage response(DDR)and inflammatory pathways.DNA topoisomerase 2β(Top2β)was previously shown to promote HPV replication.We investigat...High-risk human papillomavirus(HPV)replication requires deregulation of host DNA damage response(DDR)and inflammatory pathways.DNA topoisomerase 2β(Top2β)was previously shown to promote HPV replication.We investigated whether its paralog Top2α protein acts similarly to the virus.Elevated levels of Top2α are consistently observed in cervical intraepithelial lesions and the related carcinomas,as well as in HPV-positive cell lines.Silencing Top2α with shRNA severely suppresses HPV genome maintenance and amplification,but in a DDR-independent manner.Instead,Top2α facilitates secretion of interleukin(IL)-6 and IL-8,which are necessary for HPV replication.Mechanistically,this manipulation is regulated by toll-like receptor 4(TLR4).Top2α binds to the TLR4 promoter to transcriptionally induce TLR4 expression.Blockade of TLR4 signaling by the specific inhibitor TAK-242 significantly reduces the secreted IL-6/IL-8 levels and HPV replication.Overall,our results reveal a novel role of Top2α to shape the inflammatory microenvironment that benefits HPV replication,making it a promising therapeutic target for HPV-associated diseases.展开更多
Cloud computing has become an essential technology for the management and processing of large datasets,offering scalability,high availability,and fault tolerance.However,optimizing data replication across multiple dat...Cloud computing has become an essential technology for the management and processing of large datasets,offering scalability,high availability,and fault tolerance.However,optimizing data replication across multiple data centers poses a significant challenge,especially when balancing opposing goals such as latency,storage costs,energy consumption,and network efficiency.This study introduces a novel Dynamic Optimization Algorithm called Dynamic Multi-Objective Gannet Optimization(DMGO),designed to enhance data replication efficiency in cloud environments.Unlike traditional static replication systems,DMGO adapts dynamically to variations in network conditions,system demand,and resource availability.The approach utilizes multi-objective optimization approaches to efficiently balance data access latency,storage efficiency,and operational costs.DMGO consistently evaluates data center performance and adjusts replication algorithms in real time to guarantee optimal system efficiency.Experimental evaluations conducted in a simulated cloud environment demonstrate that DMGO significantly outperforms conventional static algorithms,achieving faster data access,lower storage overhead,reduced energy consumption,and improved scalability.The proposed methodology offers a robust and adaptable solution for modern cloud systems,ensuring efficient resource consumption while maintaining high performance.展开更多
Virus-encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase(RdRp)is essential for genome replication and gene transcription of human coronaviruses(HCoVs),including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2).We previo...Virus-encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase(RdRp)is essential for genome replication and gene transcription of human coronaviruses(HCoVs),including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2).We previously identified the interaction between the catalytic subunit NSP12 of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and the host protein CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 3(CRTC3),a member of the CRTC family that regulates cyclic AMP response element-binding protein(CREB)-mediated transcriptional activation.Currently,the implication of CRTC3 in the pathogenesis of HCoVs is poorly understood.Herein,we demonstrated that CRTC3 attenuates RdRp activity and SARS-CoV-2 genome replication,therefore reducing the production of progeny viruses.The interaction of CRTC3 with NSP12 contributes to its inhibitory effect on RdRp activity.Furthermore,we expanded the suppressive effects of two other CRTC family members(CRTC1 and CRTC2)on the RdRp activities of lethal HCoVs,including SARS-CoV-2 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-CoV),along with the CREB antagonization.Overall,our research suggests that CRTCs restrict the replication of HCoVs and are antagonized by CREB,which not only provides new insights into the replication regulation of HCoVs,but also offers important information for the development of anti-HCoV interventions.展开更多
文摘Jumping from place to place, replicating food, biological or mechanical parts or beaming up somebody, may not be fiction, rather an issue of practical implementation as shall be observed in this paper. Devices like transporter, food replicators or warp drive intrigue our imagination. This paper is intended to show that Jump drive is an issue of coordinate transformation. Changing location from planet X to planet Y does not necessarily require travelling a distance D connecting between the two planets. The theoretical knowledge of changing the location from coordinate X to coordinate Y exists;we do that in signal processing, but, we have not yet developed such a machine. The present paper shows the feasibility of jump drive;however, much work needs to be done on the implementation.
文摘DNA replication is a crucial process for species survival, nevertheless it is not clear which factors define origin selection in multicellular eukaryotes. Developmental gene amplification systems, such as the one described during ovarian follicles development in Drosophila melanogaster, are useful tools for studying of DNA replication process in these organisms. We previously described that the well characterized third chromosome amplified domain of D. melanogater displays three intrinsically bent DNA sites: b1, localized at an amplification control element (ACE3), b2 and b3, both localized at the preferential origin ori-β. This proposal aimed to construct a Drosophila transformation vector, which contains a short deletion at the ACE3, in order to reduce the intrinsically bent DNA site b1, and analyze the functional role of this site in the gene amplification process. Through a series of cloning steps, we obtained a Big Parent vector derivative, containing a deletion at the positions 176-180 bp, inside the ACE3. The generation of a Drosophila transformation vector displays a reduced intrinsically bent DNA site in the third chromosome amplified domain, it will allow the analysis of the functional role of this curvature in developmental gene amplification, providing new insights on replication initiation in D. melanogaster and the function of intrinsically bent DNA sites.
基金This work was supported in part by ISAGEN S.A.E.S.P under the project P15.245422.017Pilot Energy Solution for La Guajira,Colombia+1 种基金by the scholarship Rodolfo Llinás of the CEIBA foundation and the District of Bogotáproject Colciencias DNP 2013000100129"Incremento en las estrategias sustentables en el uso del recurso de energía eléctrica para la población vulnerable de Cundinamarca".
文摘A hierarchical approach for the energy management of geographically close microgrids connected through a dedicated AC power network is proposed in this paper.The proposed approach consists of a two-layer energy management system(EMS)for networked microgrids.In the lower layer,each micro grid solves its own economic dispatch problem through a distributed model predictive control approach that respects capacity limits and ramp-rate constraints of distributed generation.In the upper layer,the energy trading in the network of microgrids decides how to optimally trade the energy based on the marginal cost information from the lower layer in order to improve global optimization objectives,e.g.,social welfare.In order to solve the trading problem,a consensusbased algorithm and a replicator dynamics algorithm are proposed assuming that the marginal cost function of the microgrid is known and linear.It is shown that both algorithms converge to the same solution,which is equivalent to the minimization of operation costs.The consensus-based algorithm is extended in order to tackle more general marginal cost functions and trading network constraints.Moreover,the effect of ramp constraints and network limits is studied.Simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms for three interconnected microgrids with different characteristics.
文摘To advance intelligent construction,standards must come first.The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has issued the List for Replicable Experience and Practices for Developing Intelligent Construction four times successively and the Technical Guidelines for Intelligent Construction(Trial).
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC)(61903080)the Fun-damental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2232023D-26).
文摘Dear Editor,This letter is concerned with the evolutionary dynamics of cooperative strategies in social dilemma situations.Stochastic punishment has been proposed,in which whether an individual acts as a punisher or not is stochastic and depends on its preference for punishment.Meanwhile,both the cost of punishment and whether a defector would be punished are also stochastic.In previous models,the cost of punishment is considered to be either constant or proportional to the number of individuals to be punished.Furthermore,the hypothesis that all defectors should be penalized is frequently adopted.Actually,some defectors may refrain from being punished due to the presence of noise or the limitation of the punishment cost,and the cost of punishment is also dependent on the number of punishers.Thus,we establish an analytic model of stochastic punishment for infinite and well-mixed populations,investigate the effects of stochastic punishment on the evolution of cooperation,and analyze how to support the evolution of cooperation effectively when the stochastic punishment is possible.The objective of this letter is to design a cooperation-promoting stochastic punishment that will allow the system to evolve to full cooperation.The replicator equations have been used to explore the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation under stochastic punishment,and the conditions under which cooperation is favored by natural selection have been specified.
基金supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(WK2150110022)Anhui Provincial Natural Science Foundation(2208085QF189)National Natural Science Foundation of China(62202440).
文摘An in-memory storage system provides submillisecond latency and improves the concurrency of user applications by caching data into memory from external storage.Fault tolerance of in-memory storage systems is essential,as the loss of cached data requires access to data from external storage,which evidently increases the response latency.Typically,replication and erasure code(EC)are two fault-tolerant schemes that pose different trade-offs between access performance and storage usage.To help make the best performance and space trade-off,we design ElasticMem,a hybrid fault-tolerant distributed in-memory storage system that supports elastic redundancy transition to dynamically change the fault-tolerant scheme.ElasticMem exploits a novel EC-oriented replication(EOR)that carefully designs the data placement of replication according to the future data layout of EC to enhance the I/O efficiency of redundancy transition.ElasticMem solves the consistency problem caused by concurrent data accesses via a lightweight table-based scheme combined with data bypassing.It detects correlated read and write requests and serves subsequent read requests with local data.We implement a prototype that realizes ElasticMem based on Memcached.Experiments show that ElasticMem remarkably reduces the time of redundancy transition,the overall latency of correlated concurrent data accesses,and the latency of single data access among them.
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32170238,32400191)Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation(2023A1515111029)+2 种基金the Science,Technology and Innovation Commission of Shenzhen Municipality(RCYX20200714114538196)the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Elite Youth Program(grant 110243160001007)the Guangdong Pearl River Talent Program(2021QN02N792)。
文摘Single-stranded DNA-binding proteins(SSBs)play essential roles in the replication,recombination and repair processes of organellar DNA molecules.In Arabidopsis thaliana,SSBs are encoded by a small family of two genes(SSB1 and SSB2).However,the functional divergence of these two SSB copies in plants remains largely unknown,and detailed studies regarding their roles in the replication and recombination of organellar genomes are still incomplete.In this study,phylogenetic,gene structure and protein motif analyses all suggested that SSB1 and SSB2 probably diverged during the early evolution of seed plants.Based on accurate long-read sequencing results,ssb1 and ssb2 mutants had decreased copy numbers for both mitochondrial DNA(mtDNA)and plastid DNA(ptDNA),accompanied by a slight increase in structural rearrangements mediated by intermediate-sized repeats in mt genome and small-scale variants in both genomes.Our findings provide an important foundation for further investigating the effects of DNA dosage in the regulation of mutation frequencies in plant organellar genomes.
文摘Ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography(UV-NIL)is a versatile and cost-effective technique for the fabrication of micro-and nanostructures by copying master patterns in a planar or a roll-to-roll process through curing of a liquid UV-sensitive precursor.For applications with a high pattern complexity,new UV-NIL process chains must be specified.Master fabrication is a challenging part of the development and often cannot be accomplished using a single master fabrication technique.Therefore,an approach combining different patterning fabrication techniques is developed here for polymer masters using laser direct writing and photolithography.The polymer masters produced in this way are molded into inverse silicone stamps that are used for roll-to-roll replication into an acrylate formulation.To fit the required roller size for large-area UV-NIL,several submasters with micrometer-sized dot and line gratings and prism arrays,which have been patterned by these different techniques,are assembled to final size of ~200×600 mm^(2) with an absolute precision of better than 50μm.The size of the submasters allows the use of standard laboratory equipment for patterning and direct writing,thus enabling the fabrication of micro-and even nanostructures when electron-beam writing is utilized.In this way,the effort,time,and costs for the fabrication of masters for UV-NIL processes are reduced,enabling further development for particular structures and applications.Using this approach,patterns fabricated with different laboratory tools are finally replicated by UV-NIL in an acrylate formulation,demonstrating the high quality of the whole process chain.
基金supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF)grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT)(Nos.2019R1A2C1002221 and RS-2023-00252186)Institute of Information&Communications Technology Planning&Evaluation(IITP)grant funded by the Korea government(MSIT)(Nos.2021-0-00590,RS-2021-II210590Decentralized High Performance Consensus for Large-Scale Blockchains).
文摘Personal video recorders (PVRs) have altered the way users consume television (TV) content by allowing users to record programs and watch them at their convenience, overcoming the constraints of live broadcasting. However, standalone PVRs are limited by their individual storage capacities, restricting the number of programs they can store. While online catch-up TV services such as Hulu and Netflix mitigate this limitation by offering on-demand access to broadcast programs shortly after their initial broadcast, they require substantial storage and network resources, leading to significant infrastructural costs for service providers. To address these challenges, we propose a collaborative TV content recording system that leverages distributed PVRs, combining their storage into a virtual shared pool without additional costs. Our system aims to support all concurrent playback requests without service interruption while ensuring program availability comparable to that of local devices. The main contributions of our proposed system are fourfold. First, by sharing storage and upload bandwidth among PVRs, our system significantly expands the overall recording capacity and enables simultaneous recording of multiple programs without the physical constraints of standalone devices. Second, by utilizing erasure coding efficiently, our system reduces the storage space required for each program, allowing more programs to be recorded compared to traditional replication. Third, we propose an adaptive redundancy scheme to control the degree of redundancy of each program based on its evolving playback demand, ensuring high-quality playback by providing sufficient bandwidth for popular programs. Finally, we introduce a contribution-based incentive policy that encourages PVRs to actively participate by contributing resources, while discouraging excessive consumption of the combined storage pool. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed collaborative TV program recording system in terms of storage efficiency and performance.
基金supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche(19-CE31-0002 AstroMeso)the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program(Advanced Grant AstroGeo-885250).
文摘When interpreting results,it is imperative to have some understanding of the degree to which the results are replicable.If the results cannot be replicated with independent data,then interpretations from the results become questionable.To minimize the potential for misinterpretations,the current study analyzes six time-series derived from globally sampled U-Pb zircon databases–of which,two are independent igneous databases,one being a quasi-independent igneous database,and three being independent detrital databases.These time-series are then analyzed with standard statistical methods to evaluate replicability.The methods include bandpass filtering to transform the raw time-series into stationary sequences,Student’s t-test,Monte Carlo simulations,periodograms from spectral analysis,correlation studies,and correlograms.Each test is designed to determine the replicability of a specific time-series,as well as the replicability of periodicities found from the time-series.The results show at least three key components to assessing replicability:(a)U-Pb igneous and detrital zircon age distributions are highly replicable,(b)time-series replicability gradually deteriorates with age,and(c)replicability is scale dependent,with low frequency cycles being more replicable than high frequency cycles.From the tests,we conclude that four harmonic cycles are highly replicable and statistically significant,these being periodicities of 810,270,90,and 67.5-myr.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant no.82370015).
文摘The 3CL protease, a highly conserved enzyme in the coronavirus, plays a crucial role in the viral life cycle by facilitating viral replication through precise cleavage of polyproteins. Beyond its proteolytic function, the 3CL protease also engages in intricate interactions with host cell proteins involved in critical cellular processes such as transcription, translation, and nuclear-cytoplasmic transport, effectively hijacking cellular machinery to promote viral replication. Additionally, it disrupts innate immune signaling pathways, suppresses interferon activity and cleaves antiviral proteins. Furthermore, it modulates host cell death pathways including pyroptosis and apoptosis, interferes with autophagy and inhibits stress granule formation to maintain viral infection and exacerbate viral pathogenesis. This review highlights the molecular mechanisms by which the 3CL protease orchestrates virus-host interactions, emphasizing its central role in coronavirus pathogenesis and highlighting potential therapeutic targets for future interventions.
基金supported by the Key Research and Development Program,Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China(No.2023YFC2606500).
文摘A recent study led by Yi-Wei Chang1,published in Science,integrates cryo-electron single-particle analysis(SPA)and cryo-electron tomography(cryo-ET)to elucidate the near-atomic architecture of the influenza virus ribonucleoprotein(RNP)complex.The study reveals that the RNP adopts a right-handed,antiparallel double-helical configuration,in which the viral RNA is translocated via a polymerase-driven strand sliding mechanism.Dynamic tail loop interactions between adjacent nucleoprotein(NP)subunits impart structural flexibility to the RNP,enabling conformational dynamics essential for processive RNA synthesis.These findings define a structural basis for strand sliding,and guided by this insight,the authors identify novel small molecules that disrupt NP–NP interactions by targeting a conserved tail loop interface,laying a foundation for broad-spectrum influenza antivirals.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82173769)Tianjin Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars(24JCJQJC00050)+2 种基金Applied Basic Research Multi-Investment Foundation of Tianjin(21JCYBJC01540)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82300336)the Science&Technology Development Fund of Tianjin Education Commission for Higher Education(2019KJ178).
文摘Mitochondria provides adenosine triphosphate for multiple vital movements to ensure tumor cell proliferation.Compared to the broadly used method of inducing DNA replication arrest to kill cancer,inducing mitochondria damage to cause energy shortage is quite promising as it can inhibit tumor cell bioactivities,increase intracellular accumulation of toxic drugs,eventually sensitize chemotherapy and even reverse drug resistance.Breaking the balance of glutathione(GSH)and reactive oxygen species(ROS)contents have been proven efficient in destroying mitochondria respectively.Herein,apigenin,a GSH efflux reagent,and 2-deoxy-5-fluorouridine 5-monophosphate sodium salt(FdUMP)that could induce toxic ROS were co-delivered by constructed lipid nanoparticles,noted as Lip@AF.An immune-checkpoint inhibition reagent CD276 antibody was modified onto the surface of Lip@AF with high reaction specificity(noted asαCD276-Lip@AF)to enhance the recognition of immune cells to tumor.Results showed that the redox balancewas destroyed,leading to severe injury to mitochondria and cell membrane.Furthermore,synergistic DNA/RNA replication inhibition caused by inhibiting the function of thymidylate synthase were observed.Eventually,significantly enhanced cytotoxicity was achieved by combining multiple mechanisms including ferroptosis,apoptosis and pyroptosis.In vivo,strengthen tumor growth inhibitionwas achieved byαCD276-Lip@AF with high biosafety,providing new sights in enhancing chemotherapy sensitiveness and achieving high-performance chemo-immunotherapy.
基金supported by Open Research Projects of Zhejiang Lab(No.2022QA0AB02)Natural Science Foundation of Sichuan Province(2022NSFSC0913)Sichuan Province Selected Funding for Postdoctoral Research Projects(TB2022032).
文摘Vertical Federated Learning(VFL),which draws attention because of its ability to evaluate individuals based on features spread across multiple institutions,encounters numerous privacy and security threats.Existing solutions often suffer from centralized architectures,and exorbitant costs.To mitigate these issues,in this paper,we propose SecureVFL,a decentralized multi-party VFL scheme designed to enhance efficiency and trustworthiness while guaranteeing privacy.SecureVFL uses a permissioned blockchain and introduces a novel consensus algorithm,Proof of Feature Sharing(PoFS),to facilitate decentralized,trustworthy,and high-throughput federated training.SecureVFL introduces a verifiable and lightweight three-party Replicated Secret Sharing(RSS)protocol for feature intersection summation among overlapping users.Furthermore,we propose a(_(2)^(4))-sharing protocol to achieve federated training in a four-party VFL setting.This protocol involves only addition operations and exhibits robustness.SecureVFL not only enables anonymous interactions among participants but also safeguards their real identities,and provides mechanisms to unmask these identities when malicious activities are performed.We illustrate the proposed mechanism through a case study on VFL across four banks.Finally,our theoretical analysis proves the security of SecureVFL.Experiments demonstrated that SecureVFL outperformed existing multi-party VFL privacy-preserving schemes,such as MP-FedXGB,in terms of both overhead and model performance.
基金supported by the Applied Basic Research Programs of Science and Technology Commission Foundation of Yunnan Province(202401AT070186 to K.Q.L.,202201AS070044 to B.Z.)Yunnan Province(202305AH340006 to B.Z.)Kunming Science and Technology Bureau(2022SCP007 to B.Z.)。
文摘The DNA replication stress(RS)response is crucial for maintaining cellular homeostasis and promoting physiological longevity.However,the mechanisms by which long-lived species,such as bats,regulate RS to maintain genomic stability remain unclear.Also,recent studies have uncovered noncanonical roles of ribosome-associated factors in maintaining genomic stability.In this study,somatic skin fibroblasts from the long-lived big-footed bat(Myotis pilosus)were examined,with results showing that bat cells exhibited enhanced RS tolerance compared to mouse cells.Comparative transcriptome analysis under RS conditions revealed pronounced species-specific transcriptional differences,including robust up-regulation of ribosome biogenesis genes in bat cells and a markedly reduced activation of the P53 signaling pathway.These features emphasize a distinct homeostatic strategy in bat cells.Nuclear fragile X mental retardation-interacting protein 1(Nufip1),a ribosome-associated factor highly expressed in bat fibroblasts,was identified as a potential integrator of ribosomal and P53 signaling via its association with ribosomal protein S27-like(Rps27l).These findings provide direct cellular and molecular evidence for a noncanonical RS response in bats,highlighting a deeper understanding of the biological characteristics and genomic maintenance mechanisms of long-lived species.
基金Supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China,No.82470632.
文摘BACKGROUND Whether rtS106C+H126Y+D134E/rtS106C+H126Y+D134E+L269I(rtCYE/rtCYEI)mutations in the hepatitis B virus(HBV)reverse-transcriptase(RT)region are associated with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate(TDF)resistance is controversial.AIM To evaluate the presence of the rtCYE/rtCYEI mutations in a large cohort of Chinese patients with chronic HBV infection.METHODS A total of 28236 patients who underwent drug resistance testing at the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from 2007 to 2019 were enrolled.All patients received nucleoside/nucleotide analogues(NAs)therapy,and serum samples were collected for sequence analysis of the HBV RT domain with mutation analysis.RESULTS The detection rates of a single mutation of rtS106C,rtH126Y,rtD134E,and rtL269I were 8.21%,3.20%,2.55%and 61.49%in 23718 genotype C patients,and 1.31%,1.76%,0.21%,and 92.33%in 4266 genotype B patients,respectively.The combined mutations of rtCYE/rtCYEI were only detected in 12 genotype C patients,accounting for 0.042%of all patients.These 12 patients had received NA treatments except TDF before testing.Among them,6 patients had coexisting rtCYE/rtCYEI and lamivudine-resistance mutations,and 2 patients had coexisting rtCYE/rtCYEI and adefovir-resistance mutations.Compared with the wild-type(WT)strain,the replication capacity of rtCYE/rtCYEI mutants from representative patients decreased by 41.1%-71.8%,and TDF susceptibility reduced by less than 2-fold,but rtCYEI+rtA181V/N236T mutants exhibited a 6.2-/9.9-fold decrease in TDF susceptibility.Molecular modeling showed that rtCYE/rtCYEI mutants had a slight decrease in binding energy to TDF compared to the WT strain.In the clinic,emergence of the rtCYE/rtCYEI mutations was not specifically associated with TDF treatment.CONCLUSION HBV rtCYE/rtCYEI mutations have a limited effect on TDF susceptibility and are not sufficient to cause TDF resistance.
基金supported by CQMU Program for Youth Innovation in Future Medicine(172020320220090 W0072)to S.H.Chongqing Yuzhong District Basic Research and Frontier Exploration Project(20210128)to S.H.+1 种基金Natural Science Program of Chongqing Science and Technology Commission(2024NSCQ-KJFZZDX)to S.H.National Natural Science foundation of China(NSFC)Young Scientists Fund(82300970).
文摘High-risk human papillomavirus(HPV)replication requires deregulation of host DNA damage response(DDR)and inflammatory pathways.DNA topoisomerase 2β(Top2β)was previously shown to promote HPV replication.We investigated whether its paralog Top2α protein acts similarly to the virus.Elevated levels of Top2α are consistently observed in cervical intraepithelial lesions and the related carcinomas,as well as in HPV-positive cell lines.Silencing Top2α with shRNA severely suppresses HPV genome maintenance and amplification,but in a DDR-independent manner.Instead,Top2α facilitates secretion of interleukin(IL)-6 and IL-8,which are necessary for HPV replication.Mechanistically,this manipulation is regulated by toll-like receptor 4(TLR4).Top2α binds to the TLR4 promoter to transcriptionally induce TLR4 expression.Blockade of TLR4 signaling by the specific inhibitor TAK-242 significantly reduces the secreted IL-6/IL-8 levels and HPV replication.Overall,our results reveal a novel role of Top2α to shape the inflammatory microenvironment that benefits HPV replication,making it a promising therapeutic target for HPV-associated diseases.
文摘Cloud computing has become an essential technology for the management and processing of large datasets,offering scalability,high availability,and fault tolerance.However,optimizing data replication across multiple data centers poses a significant challenge,especially when balancing opposing goals such as latency,storage costs,energy consumption,and network efficiency.This study introduces a novel Dynamic Optimization Algorithm called Dynamic Multi-Objective Gannet Optimization(DMGO),designed to enhance data replication efficiency in cloud environments.Unlike traditional static replication systems,DMGO adapts dynamically to variations in network conditions,system demand,and resource availability.The approach utilizes multi-objective optimization approaches to efficiently balance data access latency,storage efficiency,and operational costs.DMGO consistently evaluates data center performance and adjusts replication algorithms in real time to guarantee optimal system efficiency.Experimental evaluations conducted in a simulated cloud environment demonstrate that DMGO significantly outperforms conventional static algorithms,achieving faster data access,lower storage overhead,reduced energy consumption,and improved scalability.The proposed methodology offers a robust and adaptable solution for modern cloud systems,ensuring efficient resource consumption while maintaining high performance.
基金supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(32071236)the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars(32225001)+6 种基金the 1.3.5 Project for Disciplines Excellence of West China Hospital,Sichuan University(ZYGD23018)Key Science and Technology Research Projects in Key Areas of the Corps(2023AB053)the National Key Research and Development Program of China(2022YFC2303700)the Joint Project of Pengzhou People's Hospital with Southwest Medical University(2024PZXNYD02)Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2020M683304)Sichuan Science and Technology Support Project(2021YJ0502)Post-Doctor Research Project,West China Hospital,Sichuan University(2020HXBH082).
文摘Virus-encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerase(RdRp)is essential for genome replication and gene transcription of human coronaviruses(HCoVs),including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2).We previously identified the interaction between the catalytic subunit NSP12 of SARS-CoV-2 RdRp and the host protein CREB-regulated transcription coactivator 3(CRTC3),a member of the CRTC family that regulates cyclic AMP response element-binding protein(CREB)-mediated transcriptional activation.Currently,the implication of CRTC3 in the pathogenesis of HCoVs is poorly understood.Herein,we demonstrated that CRTC3 attenuates RdRp activity and SARS-CoV-2 genome replication,therefore reducing the production of progeny viruses.The interaction of CRTC3 with NSP12 contributes to its inhibitory effect on RdRp activity.Furthermore,we expanded the suppressive effects of two other CRTC family members(CRTC1 and CRTC2)on the RdRp activities of lethal HCoVs,including SARS-CoV-2 and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus(MERS-CoV),along with the CREB antagonization.Overall,our research suggests that CRTCs restrict the replication of HCoVs and are antagonized by CREB,which not only provides new insights into the replication regulation of HCoVs,but also offers important information for the development of anti-HCoV interventions.
