Drastic lattice softening in mixed triazole ligand iron(ii) spin crossover nanoparticles.

A series of spin-crossover (SCO) coordination nanoparticles (ca. 60 nm) with the general formulae [Fe(Htrz)1+y-x(trz)2-y(NH2trz)x](BF4)y·nH2O (x = 0, 0.1, 0.

Numerical modelling of 137Cs content in the pelagic species of the Japanese Pacific coast following the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident using a size-structured food-web model.

As result of the great east Japan earthquake on March 2011 and the damages of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), huge amount of radionuclides, especially 137Cs, were released to the Japanese Pacific coast. By consequence, several marine species have been contaminated by direct uptake of radionuclides from seawater or through feeding on contaminated preys. In the present study we propose a novel radioecological modelling approach aiming to simulate the radionuclides transfer to pelagic marine species by giving to the organism body-size a key role in the model.

Do Antiretroviral Drugs Protect From Multiple Sclerosis by Inhibiting Expression of MS-Associated Retrovirus?

The expression of human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) has been associated with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The MS-related retrovirus (MSRV/HERV-W) has the potential to activate inflammatory immunity, which could promote both susceptibility and progression toward MS. A connection between HERVs and MS is also supported by the observation that people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may have a lower risk of developing MS than the HIV non-infected, healthy population.

Deep learning in spiking neural networks.

In recent years, deep learning has revolutionized the field of machine learning, for computer vision in particular. In this approach, a deep (multilayer) artificial neural network (ANN) is trained, most often in a supervised manner using backpropagation. Vast amounts of labeled training examples are required, but the resulting classification accuracy is truly impressive, sometimes outperforming humans.

Nongenotoxic 3-Nitroimidazo[1,2-]pyridines Are NTR1 Substrates That Display Potent Antileishmanial Activity.

Twenty nine original 3-nitroimidazo[1,2-]pyridine derivatives, bearing a phenylthio (or benzylthio) moiety at position 8 of the scaffold, were synthesized. evaluation highlighted compound as an antiparasitic hit molecule displaying low cytotoxicity for the human HepG2 cell line (CC > 100 μM) alongside good antileishmanial activities (IC = 1-2.1 μM) against , , and ; and good antitrypanosomal activities (IC = 1.

[Breast cancer, obesity and adipose tissue: a high-risk combination].

Obesity increases the occurrence of post-menopausal breast cancer and negatively affects prognosis independently of menopausal status. After summarizing the available epidemiological data concerning these associations, we will show that a deleterious crosstalk is established during tumor progression between cancer cells and the surrounding mammary adipose tissue (MAT). In obesity, the chronic sub-inflammatory state of MAT could amplify the negative effect of this crosstalk although other mechanisms also warrant further study.

Evidence of depolarization and ellipticity of high harmonics driven by ultrashort bichromatic circularly polarized fields.

High harmonics generated by counter-rotating laser fields at the fundamental and second harmonic frequencies have raised important interest as a table-top source of circularly polarized ultrashort extreme-ultraviolet light. However, this emission has not yet been fully characterized: in particular it was assumed to be fully polarized, leading to an uncertainty on the effective harmonic ellipticity. Here we show, through simulations, that ultrashort driving fields and ultrafast medium ionization lead to a breaking of the dynamical symmetry of the interaction, and consequently to deviations from perfectly circular and fully polarized harmonics, already at the single-atom level.

Anticancer and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Some New Pyrazolo[3,4-]pyrazines.

New derivatives of pyrazolo[3,4-]pyrazines and related heterocycles were synthesized using 5-amino-3-methyl-4-nitroso-1-phenyl-pyrazole () as a starting material. The 5-acetyl derivative was shown to be a useful key intermediate for the synthesis of several derivatives of pyrazolopyrazines. Some of the prepared compounds were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory and anti-breast cancer MCF-7 cell line activities.

Alkyne-Tagged Analogue of Jaspine B: New Tool for Identifying Jaspine B Mode of Action.

The first biologically relevant clickable probe related to the antitumor marine lipid jaspine B is reported. The concise synthetic route to both enantiomers relied on the supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) enantiomeric resolution of racemic materials. The eutomeric dextrogyre derivative represents the first jaspine B analogue with enhanced cytotoxicity with IC down to 30 nm.

Deciphering the Influence of Meridional versus Facial Isomers in Spin Crossover Complexes.

Chelate coordination of non-symmetrical didentate pyrazine-benzimidazole (L1) or pyridine-benzimidazole (L2) N-donor ligands around divalent iron in acetonitrile produces stable homoleptic triple-helical spin crossover [Fe(Lk) ] complexes existing as mixtures of meridional (C -symmetry) and facial (C -symmetry) isomers in slow exchange on the NMR timescale. The speciation deviates from the expected statistical ratio mer/fac=3:1, a trend assigned to the thermodynamic trans-influence, combined with solvation effects. Consequently, the observed spin state Fe ↔Fe equilibria occurring in [Fe(Lk) ] refer to mixtures of complexes in solution, an issue usually not considered in this field, but which limits rational structure-properties correlations.

ASGART: fast and parallel genome scale segmental duplications mapping.

Motivation: Segmental Duplications (SDs) are DNA fragments longer than 1 kbp, distributed within and between chromosomes and sharing more than 90% identity. Although they hold a significant role in genomic fluidity and adaptability, many key questions about their intrinsic characteristics and mutability remain unsolved due to the persistent difficulty of sequencing highly duplicated genomic regions. The recent development of long and linked-read NGS technologies will increase the need to search for SDs in genomes newly sequenced with these technics.

8-Aryl-6-chloro-3-nitro-2-(phenylsulfonylmethyl)imidazo[1,2-a]pyridines as potent antitrypanosomatid molecules bioactivated by type 1 nitroreductases.

Based on a previously identified antileishmanial 6,8-dibromo-3-nitroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine derivative, a Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction at position 8 of the scaffold was studied and optimized from a 8-bromo-6-chloro-3-nitroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine substrate. Twenty-one original derivatives were prepared, screened in vitro for activity against L. infantum axenic amastigotes and T.

Jailed in the mountains: Genetic diversity and structure of an endemic newt species across the Pyrenees.

The Pyrenees represent a natural laboratory for biogeographic, evolutionary and ecological research of mountain fauna as a result of the high variety of habitats and the profound effect of the glacial and interglacial periods. There is a paucity of studies providing a detailed insight into genetic processes and better knowledge on the patterns of genetic diversity and how they are maintained under high altitude conditions. This is of particular interest when considering the course of past climate conditions and glaciations in a species which is considered site tenacious, with long generation times.

Predator-prey mass ratio drives microbial activity under dry conditions in peatlands.

Mid- to high-latitude peatlands are a major terrestrial carbon stock but become carbon sources during droughts, which are increasingly frequent as a result of climate warming. A critical question within this context is the sensitivity to drought of peatland microbial food webs. Microbiota drive key ecological and biogeochemical processes, but their response to drought is likely to impact these processes.

Representation learning using event-based STDP.

Although representation learning methods developed within the framework of traditional neural networks are relatively mature, developing a spiking representation model remains a challenging problem. This paper proposes an event-based method to train a feedforward spiking neural network (SNN) layer for extracting visual features. The method introduces a novel spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) learning rule and a threshold adjustment rule both derived from a vector quantization-like objective function subject to a sparsity constraint.

Novel 8-nitroquinolin-2(1H)-ones as NTR-bioactivated antikinetoplastid molecules: Synthesis, electrochemical and SAR study.

To study the antiparasitic 8-nitroquinolin-2(1H)-one pharmacophore, a series of 31 derivatives was synthesized in 1-5 steps and evaluated in vitro against both Leishmania infantum and Trypanosoma brucei brucei. In parallel, the reduction potential of all molecules was measured by cyclic voltammetry. Structure-activity relationships first indicated that antileishmanial activity depends on an intramolecular hydrogen bond (described by X-ray diffraction) between the lactam function and the nitro group, which is responsible for an important shift of the redox potential (+0.

Switching between individual and collective motility in B lymphocytes is controlled by cell-matrix adhesion and inter-cellular interactions.

Lymphocytes alternate between phases of individual migration across tissues and phases of clustering during activation and function. The range of lymphocyte motility behaviors and the identity of the factors that govern them remain elusive. To explore this point, we here collected unprecedented statistics pertaining to cell displacements, cell:matrix and cell:cell interactions using a model B cell line as well as primary human B lymphocytes.

Effect of surface nano/micro-structuring on the early formation of microbial anodes with Geobacter sulfurreducens: Experimental and theoretical approaches.

Smooth and nano-rough flat gold electrodes were manufactured with controlled Ra of 0.8 and 4.5nm, respectively.

Disentangling and modeling interactions in fish with burst-and-coast swimming reveal distinct alignment and attraction behaviors.

The development of tracking methods for automatically quantifying individual behavior and social interactions in animal groups has open up new perspectives for building quantitative and predictive models of collective behavior. In this work, we combine extensive data analyses with a modeling approach to measure, disentangle, and reconstruct the actual functional form of interactions involved in the coordination of swimming in Rummy-nose tetra (Hemigrammus rhodostomus). This species of fish performs burst-and-coast swimming behavior that consists of sudden heading changes combined with brief accelerations followed by quasi-passive, straight decelerations.

Spin Crossover Nanomaterials: From Fundamental Concepts to Devices.

Nanoscale spin crossover materials capable of undergoing reversible switching between two electronic configurations with markedly different physical properties are excellent candidates for various technological applications. In particular, they can serve as active materials for storing and processing information in photonic, mechanical, electronic, and spintronic devices as well as for transducing different forms of energy in sensors and actuators. In this progress report, a brief overview on the current state-of-the-art of experimental and theoretical studies of nanomaterials displaying spin transition is presented.

Macrophage Autophagy and Bacterial Infections.

Autophagy is a well-conserved lysosomal degradation pathway that plays key roles in bacterial infections. One of the most studied is probably xenophagy, the selective capture and degradation of intracellular bacteria by lysosomes. However, the impact of autophagy goes beyond xenophagy and involves intensive cross-talks with other host defense mechanisms.

Identifying influential neighbors in animal flocking.

Schools of fish and flocks of birds can move together in synchrony and decide on new directions of movement in a seamless way. This is possible because group members constantly share directional information with their neighbors. Although detecting the directionality of other group members is known to be important to maintain cohesion, it is not clear how many neighbors each individual can simultaneously track and pay attention to, and what the spatial distribution of these influential neighbors is.

Neanderthal and Denisova tooth protein variants in present-day humans.

Environment parameters, diet and genetic factors interact to shape tooth morphostructure. In the human lineage, archaic and modern hominins show differences in dental traits, including enamel thickness, but variability also exists among living populations. Several polymorphisms, in particular in the non-collagenous extracellular matrix proteins of the tooth hard tissues, like enamelin, are involved in dental structure variation and defects and may be associated with dental disorders or susceptibility to caries.