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Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) have received attention owing to their biodegradability and biocompatibility, with studies exploring PHA-producing bacterial strains. As vegetable oil provides carbon and monomer precursors for poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (P(3HB-co-3HHx)), oil-utilizing strains may facilitate PHA production. Herein, Cupriavidus necator BM3-1, which produces 11.1 g/L of PHB with 5% vegetable oil, was selected among various novel Cupriavidus necator strains. This strain exhibited higher preference for vegetable oils over sugars, with soybean oil and tryptone determined to be optimal sources for PHA production. BM3-1 produced 33.9 g/L of exopolysaccharides (EPS), which was three-fold higher than the amount produced by H16 (10.1 g/L). EPS exhibited 59.7% of emulsification activity (EI24), higher than that of SDS and of EPS from H16 with soybean oil. To evaluate P(3HB-co-3HHx) production from soybean oil, BM3-1 was engineered with P(3HB-co-3HHx) biosynthetic genes (phaCRa, phaARe, and phaJPa). BM3-1/pPhaCJ produced 3.5 mol% of 3HHx and 37.1 g/L PHA. BM3-1/pCB81 (phaCAJ) produced 32.8 g/L PHA, including 5.9 mol% 3HHx. Physical and thermal analyses revealed that P(3HB-co-5.9 mol% 3HHx) was better than PHB. Collectively, we identified a novel strain with high vegetable oil utilization capacity for the production of EPS, with the option to engineer the strain for P(3HB-co-3HHx).

Abstract The accumulation of misfolded and aggregated proteins is a hallmark of neurodegenerative proteinopathies. Although multiple genetic loci have been associated with specific neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), molecular mechanisms that may have a broader relevance for most or all proteinopathies remain poorly resolved. In this study, we developed a multi‐layered network expansion (MLnet) model to predict protein modifiers that are common to a group of diseases and, therefore, may have broader pathophysiological relevance for that group. When applied to the four NDs Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease, and spinocerebellar ataxia types 1 and 3, we predicted multiple members of the insulin pathway, including PDK1, Akt1, InR, and sgg (GSK‐3β), as common modifiers. We validated these modifiers with the help of four Drosophila ND models. Further evaluation of Akt1 in human cell‐based ND models revealed that activation of Akt1 signaling by the small molecule SC79 increased cell viability in all models. Moreover, treatment of AD model mice with SC79 enhanced their long‐term memory and ameliorated dysregulated anxiety levels, which are commonly affected in AD patients. These findings validate MLnet as a valuable tool to uncover molecular pathways and proteins involved in the pathophysiology of entire disease groups and identify potential therapeutic targets that have relevance across disease boundaries. MLnet can be used for any group of diseases and is available as a web tool at http://ssbio.cau.ac.kr/software/mlnet.

Processing-in-memory (PIM) comprises computational logic in the memory domain. It is the most promising solution to alleviate the memory bandwidth problem in deep neural network (DNN) processing. The hybrid memory cube (HMC), a 3D stacked memory structure, can efficiently implement the PIM architecture by maximizing the existing legacy hardware. To accelerate DNN inference, multiple HMCs can be connected, and data-independent tasks can be assigned to processing elements (PEs) within each HMC. However, owing to the packet-switched network structure, inter-HMC interconnects exhibit variable and unpredictable latencies depending on the data transmission path and link contention. A well-designed task schedule using context switching can effectively hide communication latency and improve PE utilization. Nevertheless, as the number of HMC increases, the variability of a wide range of inter-HMC communication latencies causes frequent context switching, degrading overall performance. This paper proposes a DNN task scheduling that can effectively utilize task parallelism by reducing the communication latency variance owing to HMC interconnect characteristics. Task partitions are generated to exploit parallelism while providing inter-HMC traffic within the sustainable link bandwidth. Task-to-HMC mapping is performed to hide the average communication latency of intermediate DNN processing results. A task schedule is generated using retiming to accelerate DNN inference while maximizing resource utilization. The effectiveness of the proposed method was verified through simulations using various realistic DNN applications performed on a ZSim x86-64 simulator. The simulations revealed that DNN processing with the proposed scheduling improved the DNN processing speed by reducing the processing time by 18.19% over conventional methods where each HMC operated independently.

Network-on-chip (NoC) has become the mainstream fabric architecture for chip multiprocessor (CMP) design. Owing to the market-driven advancement of modern applications in CMP, multicast traffic is aggressively increasing to support barrier synchronization, multithreading, and cache coherence protocols. Although multicast by branching of packets in the NoC router facilitates shortest path routing, additional branching-induced deadlocks must be circumvented. Existing NoC studies on deadlock-free minimal path routing in multicast traffic have typically deployed additional virtual channels or large buffers to hold entire packets, thereby significantly increasing the router area. Focusing on the area-efficient solution while sustaining the performance, we propose a novel multicast router using buffer sharing (MRBS) to guarantee deadlock-free multicast routing by exploiting the spatial diversity of the input buffer. MRBS ensures minimal path routing without requiring additional virtual channels or large buffers to hold entire packets. Extensive experiments were conducted by varying the buffer, packet, and network sizes, as well as the number of destinations per packet, under random multicast traffic with diverse injection rates. Simulation results show that MRBS achieves a 39.3 % improvement in the area-delay product on average for various network sizes compared to the conventional tree-based router.

Mobilization of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) into the circulation is essential for maintaining homeostasis. Here, the authors show that Phc2 in bone marrow stromal cells represses the cell adhesion molecule Vcam1 and facilitates mobilization of HSPCs through regulation of epigenetic marks.

Abstract Background So far, studies on workplace mental health have only focused on work-related environmental risk factors, disregarding both protective and individual factors of employees. Therefore, we aimed to identify character strengths that act as protective factors against depressive moods and suicidality in Korean employees. Methods In total, 84 male and 151 female employees (aged 19–50 years) reported their sociodemographic characteristics; depressive symptoms, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II; suicidality, as measured by the Korean version of the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview suicidality module; and character strengths, as measured by the 24 Character Strength Alphas on the Values in Action Survey-72. We conducted a hierarchical logistic regression, in which depressive mood and suicidality served as the categorical outcome variables. Results In females, scores on the “curiosity” (B = 1.107, Wald = 10.207, odds ratio = 3.026, p = .001) and “love” (B = .862, Wald = 5.767, odds ratio = 2.367, p = .016) sub scales of the 24 Character Strength Alphas on the Values in Action Survey-72 were statistically significant predictors of having depressive mood. Additionally, females’ scores on “judgment” (B = − 1.405, Wald = 5.663, odds ratio = .245, p = .017) and “kindness” (B = − 1.456, Wald = 6.486, odds ratio = .233, p = .011) were protective factors against suicidality. In males, the “love” (B = 1.746, Wald = 4.279, odds ratio = 5.729, p = .039) score was a predictor of having depressive mood, while “teamwork” (B = − 2.204, Wald = 4.666, odds ratio = .110, p = .031) and “creativity” (B = − 1.384, Wald = 4.202, odds ratio = .251, p = .040) scores were protective factors against having depressive mood and suicidality, respectively. Conclusions We suggest that focusing on “judgement” and “kindness” in female employees, and “teamwork” and “creativity” in male employees, and engaging in activities that use these strengths at the workplace can be protective factors against depression and suicidality. Future research should focus on developing interventions to promote these character strengths among employees at the workplace.

Pathogen expulsion from the gut is an important defense strategy against infection, but little is known about how interaction between the intestinal microbiome and host immunity modulates defecation. In Drosophila melanogaster, dual oxidase (Duox) kills pathogenic microbes by generating the microbicidal reactive oxygen species (ROS), hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in response to bacterially excreted uracil. The physiological function of enzymatically generated HOCl in the gut is, however, unknown aside from its anti-microbial activity. Drosophila TRPA1 is an evolutionarily conserved receptor for reactive chemicals like HOCl, but a role for this molecule in mediating responses to gut microbial content has not been described. Here we identify a molecular mechanism through which bacteria-produced uracil facilitates pathogen-clearing defecation. Ingestion of uracil increases defecation frequency, requiring the Duox pathway and TrpA1. The TrpA1(A) transcript spliced with exon10b (TrpA1(A)10b) that is present in a subset of midgut enteroendocrine cells (EECs) is critical for uracil-dependent defecation. TRPA1(A)10b heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes is an excellent HOCl receptor characterized with elevated sensitivity and fast activation kinetics of macroscopic HOCl-evoked currents compared to those of the alternative TRPA1(A)10a isoform. Consistent with TrpA1's role in defecation, uracil-excreting Erwinia carotovora showed higher persistence in TrpA1-deficient guts. Taken together, our results propose that the uracil/Duox pathway promotes bacteria expulsion from the gut through the HOCl-sensitive receptor, TRPA1(A)10b, thereby minimizing the chances that bacteria adapt to survive host defense systems.

INTRODUCTION:Theta-phase gamma-amplitude coupling (TGC) measurement has recently received attention as a feasible method of assessing brain functions such as neuronal interactions. The purpose of this electroencephalographic (EEG) study is to understand the mechanisms underlying the deficits in attentional control in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) by comparing the power spectra and TGC at rest and during a mental arithmetic task. METHODS:Nineteen-channel EEGs were recorded from 97 volunteers (including 53 subjects with ADHD) from a camp for hyperactive children under two conditions (rest and task performance). The EEG power spectra and the TGC data were analyzed. Correlation analyses between the Intermediate Visual and Auditory (IVA) continuous performance test (CPT) scores and EEG parameters were performed. RESULTS:No significant difference in the power spectra was detected between the groups at rest and during task performance. However, TGC was reduced during the arithmetic task in the ADHD group compared with the normal group (F = 16.70, p < 0.001). The TGC values positively correlated with the IVA CPT scores but negatively correlated with theta power. CONCLUSIONS:Our findings suggest that desynchronization of TGC occurred during the arithmetic task in ADHD children. TGC in ADHD children is expected to serve as a promising neurophysiological marker of network deactivation during attention-demanding tasks.

Social network analysis has emerged as a promising tool in modern social psychology. This method can be used to examine friend-based social relationships in terms of network theory, with nodes representing individual students and ties representing relationships between students (e.g., friendships and kinships). Using social network analysis, we investigated whether greater severity of ADHD symptoms is correlated with weaker peer relationships among elementary school students.A total of 562 sixth-graders from two elementary schools (300 males) provided the names of their best friends (maximum 10 names). Their teachers rated each student's ADHD symptoms using an ADHD rating scale.The results showed that 10.2% of the students were at high risk for ADHD. Significant group differences were observed between the high-risk students and other students in two of the three network parameters (degree, centrality and closeness) used to assess friendship quality, with the high-risk group showing significantly lower values of degree and closeness compared to the other students. Moreover, negative correlations were found between the ADHD rating and two social network analysis parameters.Our findings suggest that the severity of ADHD symptoms is strongly correlated with the quality of social and interpersonal relationships in students with ADHD symptoms.