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The topological interference management (TIM) problem refers to the study of the $K$ -user partially connected interference networks with no channel state information at the transmitters (CSIT), except for the knowledge of network topology. In this paper, we study the TIM problem with confidential messages (TIM-CM), where message confidentiality must be satisfied in addition to reliability constraints. In particular, each transmitted message must be decodable at its intended receiver and remain confidential at the remaining $(K-1)$ receivers. Our main contribution is to present a comprehensive set of results for the TIM-CM problem by studying the symmetric secure degrees of freedom (SDoF). To this end, we first characterize necessary and sufficient conditions for feasibility of positive symmetric SDoF for any arbitrary topology. We next present two achievable schemes for the TIM-CM problem: For the first scheme, we use the concept of secure partition and, for the second one, we use the concept of secure independent sets. We also present outer bounds on symmetric SDoF for any arbitrary network topology. Using these bounds, we characterize the optimal symmetric SDoF of all $K=2$ -user and $K=3$ -user network topologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: Even after four decades, HIV infection remains a global challenge and a leading cause of mortality in adults across the world. Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) that controls HIV viremia, is now available through public health facilities in India but drug resistance, which is likely to develop among these individuals remains poorly studied in India. The objectives of present study are to find out the HIV-1 virus subtypes, drug resistance mutations and HIV-1 drug resistance to NRTI, NNRTI and protease inhibitors in the Solapur district, India. Materials and Methods: In a cross sectional study, forty two ART-experienced HIV-1-infected patients with CD4+ count < 200 cells ml-1 and viral load (VL) > 3, 000 copies ml-1 were recruited. All patients belonged to Maharashtra State of India near Barshi Solapur and had been on ART treatment for over 5 years. EDTA whole blood from HIV-1-infected patients was centrifuged and the viral nucleic acid was purified from the plasma. Viral nucleic acid was amplified by PCR using protease and reverse transcriptase specific primers. The resulting amplicons were sequenced and studied for mutations. The tools from Stanford University website were used for subtyping of HIV-1 and identification of mutations conferring drug resistance. Results: In present investigation, HIV-1 subtypes were subtype C in 37 (88.09%), subtype CRF01_AE in 2 (4.76%), and subtype A in 3 patients (7.14%). Drug resistance mutations of NRTI, NNRTI and protease were observed in 15 (37.71%) of 42 patients tested. Drug resistance for NRTI was observed in 12 (28.57%) and for NNRTI in 13 (30.95%) patients. No drug resistance was observed for protease inhibitors. Conclusion: Considerable HIV-1 drug resistance exists among patients receiving ART from a rural areas of India, suggesting more studies from rural region are required to prevent development of resistance to ART. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data shuffling between distributed cluster of nodes is one of the critical steps in implementing large-scale learning algorithms. Randomly shuffling the data-set among a cluster of workers allows different nodes to obtain fresh data assignments at each learning epoch. This process has been shown to provide improvements in the learning process (via testing and training error). However, the statistical benefits of distributed data shuffling come at the cost of extra communication overhead from the master node to worker nodes, and can act as one of the major bottlenecks in the overall time for computation. There has been significant recent interest in devising approaches to minimize this communication overhead. One approach is to provision for extra storage at the computing nodes. The other emerging approach is to leverage coded communication to minimize the overall communication overhead. The focus of this work is to understand the fundamental tradeoff between the amount of storage and the communication overhead for distributed data shuffling. In this paper, we first present an information theoretic formulation for the data shuffling problem, accounting for the underlying problem parameters (number of workers, $K$ , number of data points, $N$ , and available storage, and $S$ per node). We then present an information theoretic lower bound on the communication overhead for data shuffling as a function of these parameters. We next present a novel coded communication scheme and show that the resulting communication overhead of the proposed scheme is within a multiplicative factor of at most $\frac {K}{K-1}$ from the lower bound (which is upper bounded by 2 for $K\geq 2$). Furthermore, we present new results towards closing this gap through a novel coded communication scheme, which we call the aligned coded shuffling. This scheme is inspired by the ideas of coded shuffling and interference alignment. In particular, we show that the aligned scheme achieves the optimal storage vs communication trade-off for $K < 5$ , and further reduces the maximum multiplicative gap down to $\frac {K-\frac {1}{3}}{K-1}$ , for $K\geq 5$. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fog-aided wireless network architecture is studied in which edge nodes (ENs), such as base stations, are connected to a cloud processor via dedicated fronthaul links while also being endowed with caches. Cloud processing enables the centralized implementation of cooperative transmission strategies at the ENs, albeit at the cost of an increased latency due to fronthaul transfer. In contrast, the proactive caching of popular content at the ENs allows for the low-latency delivery of the cached files, but with generally limited opportunities for cooperative transmission among the ENs. The interplay between cloud processing and edge caching is addressed from an information-theoretic viewpoint by investigating the fundamental limits of a high signal-to-noise-ratio metric, termed normalized delivery time (NDT), which captures the worst case coding latency for delivering any requested content to the users. The NDT is defined under the assumptions of either serial or pipelined fronthaul-edge transmission, and is studied as a function of fronthaul and cache capacity constraints. Placement and delivery strategies across both fronthaul and wireless, or edge, segments are proposed with the aim of minimizing the NDT. Information-theoretic lower bounds on the NDT are also derived. Achievability arguments and lower bounds are leveraged to characterize the minimal NDT in a number of important special cases, including systems with no caching capabilities, as well as to prove that the proposed schemes achieve optimality within a constant multiplicative factor of 2 for all values of the problem parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The two user multiple-input single-output (MISO) broadcast channel with confidential messages (BCCM) is studied, in which the nature of channel state information at the transmitter (CSIT) from each user can be of the form Ii , i=1,2 where I_{1}, I_{2}\in \{\mathsf {P}, \mathsf {D}, \mathsf {N}\} , and the forms \mathsf {P} , \mathsf D , and \mathsf N correspond to perfect and instantaneous, completely delayed, and no CSIT, respectively. Thus, the overall CSIT can alternate between nine possible states corresponding to all possible values of I1I2 , with each state occurring for \lambda I1I2 fraction of the total duration. We assume that perfect and instantaneous CSI is available at the all receivers. The main contribution of this paper is to establish the secure degrees of freedom (s.d.o.f.) region of the MISO BCCM with alternating CSIT with the symmetry assumption, where \lambda I1 I2=\lambda I2I1 . The main technical contributions include developing 1) novel achievable schemes for MISO BCCM with alternating CSIT with security constraints, which also highlight the synergistic benefits of inter-state coding for secrecy; 2) new converse proofs via local statistical equivalence and channel enhancement; and 3) showing the interplay between various aspects of channel knowledge and their impact on s.d.o.f. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caching at the network edge has emerged as a viable solution for alleviating the severe capacity crunch in modern content centric wireless networks by leveraging network load-balancing in the form of localized content storage and delivery. In this paper, we consider a cache-aided network, where the cache storage phase is assisted by a central server and users can demand multiple files at each transmission interval. To service these demands, we consider two delivery models: 1) centralized content delivery, where user demands at each transmission interval are serviced by the central server via multicast transmissions; and 2) device-to-device assisted distributed delivery, where users multicast to each other in order to service file demands. For such cache-aided networks, we present new results on the fundamental cache storage versus transmission rate tradeoff. Specifically, we develop a new technique for characterizing information theoretic lower bounds on the storage-rate tradeoff and show that the new lower bounds are strictly tighter than cut-set bounds from literature. Furthermore, using the new lower bounds, we improve the constant factor approximation of the optimal storage-rate tradeoff for cache-aided systems under both delivery models. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We study the impact of heterogeneity of channel-state-information available at the transmitters (CSIT) on the capacity of broadcast channels with a multiple-antenna transmitter and $k$ single-antenna receivers (MISO BC). In particular, we consider the $k$ -user MISO BC, where the CSIT with respect to each receiver can be either instantaneous/perfect, delayed, or not available; and we study the impact of this heterogeneity of CSIT on the degrees-of-freedom (DoFs) of such network. We first focus on the three-user MISO BC, and we completely characterize the DoF region for all possible heterogeneous CSIT configurations, assuming linear encoding strategies at the transmitters. The result shows that the state-of-the-art achievable schemes in the literature are indeed sum-DoF optimal, when restricted to linear encoding schemes. To prove the result, we develop a novel bound, called interference decomposition bound, which provides a lower bound on the interference dimension at a receiver which supplies delayed CSIT based on the average dimension of constituents of that interference, thereby decomposing the interference into its individual components. Furthermore, we extend our outer bound on the DoF region to the general $k$ -user MISO BC, and demonstrate that it leads to an approximate characterization of linear sum-DoF to within an additive gap of 0.5 for a broad range of CSIT configurations. Moreover, for the special case where only one receiver supplies delayed CSIT, we completely characterize the linear sum-DoF. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Edge caching and the centralization of baseband processing by means of the C-RAN architecture are among the most promising and transformative trends in the evolution of wireless networks. A key advantage of C-RAN is the possibility to perform cooperative transmission across multiple edge nodes, such as small cell base stations, thanks to centralized cloud processing. Cloud processing, however, comes at the cost of the potentially large delay entailed by fronthaul transmission between edge and cloud. In contrast, edge caching enables the low-latency transmission of popular multimedia content, but at the cost of constraining the operation of the edge nodes to decentralized transmission strategies with limited interference management capabilities. In order to accommodate the broad range of quality of service requirements of mobile broadband communication, in terms of spectral efficiency and latency, that are envisioned to be within the scope of 5G systems and beyond, this article considers a hybrid architecture, referred to as fog RAN (F-RAN), that harnesses the benefits of, and the synergies between, edge caching and C-RAN. In an F-RAN, edge nodes may be endowed with caching capabilities, while at the same time being controllable from a central cloud processor as in a C-RAN. In this article, an information-theoretic framework is presented that aims to characterize the main trade-offs between performance of an F-RAN, in terms of worst case delivery latency, and its resources: caching and fronthaul capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed storage systems (DSSs) in the presence of an external wiretapper are considered. A DSS is parameterized by $(n, k, d)$ , in which the data are stored across $n$ nodes (each with storage capacity $\alpha $ ), and must be recoverable by accessing the contents stored on any $k$ out of $n$ nodes. If a node fails, any $d \geq k$ out of $(n-1)$ nodes help in the repair (regeneration) of the failed node (by sending $d\beta $ units of repair data, where $\beta \leq \alpha $ ), so that the data can still be recovered from the DSS. For such a $(n, k, d)$ -DSS, security from the two types of wiretappers is investigated: 1) Type-I (node data) wiretapper, which can read the data stored on any $\ell

In this paper, the $\eta $ -Nash equilibrium ( $\eta $ -NE) region of the two-user Gaussian interference channel (IC) with perfect output feedback is approximated to within 1 bit/s/Hz and $\eta $ arbitrarily close to 1 bit/s/Hz. The relevance of the $\eta $ -NE region is that it provides the set of rate pairs that are achievable and stable in the IC when both transmitter–receiver pairs autonomously tune their own transmit–receive configurations seeking an $\eta $ -optimal individual transmission rate. Therefore, any rate tuple outside the $\eta $ -NE region is not stable as there always exists one link able to increase by at least $\eta $ bits/s/Hz its own transmission rate by updating its own transmit–receive configuration. The main insights that arise from this paper are as follows. First, the $\eta $ -NE region achieved with feedback is larger than or equal to the $\eta $ -NE region without feedback. More importantly, for each rate pair achievable at an $\eta $ -NE without feedback, there exists at least one rate pair achievable at an $\eta $ -NE with feedback that is weakly Pareto superior. Second, there always exists an $\eta $ -NE transmit–receive configuration that achieves a rate pair that is at most 1 bit/s/Hz per user away from the outer bound of the capacity region. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent results have shown that feedback can significantly increase the capacity of interference networks. This paper considers the impact of noise on such gains due to feedback. In particular, this paper considers the two-user linear deterministic interference channel with noisy feedback, as a stepping stone to characterize the approximate capacity region for the two-user Gaussian interference channel with noisy feedback. First, the capacity region for the symmetric linear deterministic interference channel with noisy feedback is obtained. It is shown that noisy feedback enlarges the capacity region if and only if the number of feedback bits l is greater than a certain threshold l^{*} . It is found that, excluding the regime ({1}/{2}) \leq \alpha \leq 2 , where \alpha is the normalized interference level, in which even full feedback does not increase symmetric capacity, this threshold l^{*} is equal to the per-user symmetric capacity without feedback. One of the key ideas is a novel converse outer bounding technique for the weighted sum rates 2R_{1} + R_{2}$ and R_{1} + 2R_{2} . These results and the techniques developed for the linear deterministic model are then applied to characterize inner bounds and outer bounds for the symmetric Gaussian interference channel with noisy feedback. The outer bounds are shown to be at most 4.7 b/s/Hz away from the achievable rate region. As a corollary, the generalized-degrees-of-freedom region, which approximates the capacity region of the symmetric Gaussian interference channel at high SNR, is found. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Galectin-9 is known for its immunomodulatory role in innate and adaptive immunity. • Plasma levels of Galectin-9 are elevated in various pathophysiological conditions. • Galectin-9 levels correlate positively with parameters of disease severity. • Galectin-9 is a potentially reliable, sensitive and non-invasive biomarker. Galectin-9 (Gal-9) is a β-galactoside binding lectin known for its immunomodulatory role in various microbial infections. Gal-9 is expressed in all organ systems and localized in the nucleus, cell surface, cytoplasm and the extracellular matrix. It mediates host-pathogen interactions and regulates cell signalling via binding to its receptors. Gal-9 is involved in many physiological functions such as cell growth, differentiation, adhesion, communication and death. However, recent studies have emphasized on the elevated levels of Gal-9 in autoimmune disorders, viral infections, parasitic invasion, cancer, acute liver failure, atopic dermatitis, chronic kidney disease, type-2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, atherosclerosis and benign infertility-related gynecological disorders. In this paper we have reviewed the potential of Gal-9 as a reliable, sensitive and non-invasive biomarker of disease severity. Tracking changes in Gal-9 levels and its implementation as a biomarker in clinical practice will be an important tool to monitor disease activity and facilitate personalized treatment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the K-user interference channel with secrecy constraints is considered with delayed channel state information at transmitters (CSIT). We propose a novel secure retrospective interference alignment scheme in which the transmitters carefully mix information symbols with artificial noises to ensure confidentiality. Achieving positive secure degrees of freedom (SDoF) is challenging due to the delayed nature of CSIT, and the distributed nature of the transmitters. Our scheme works over two phases: Phase one, in which each transmitter sends information symbols mixed with artificial noises, and repeats such transmission over multiple rounds. In the next phase, each transmitter uses the delayed CSIT of the previous phase and sends a function of the net interference and artificial noises (generated in previous phase), which is simultaneously useful for all receivers. These phases are designed to ensure the decodability of the desired messages while satisfying the secrecy constraints. We present our achievable scheme for three models, namely: (1) K-user interference channel with confidential messages (IC-CM), and we show that 1 2 (K − 6) SDoF is achievable; (2) K-user interference channel with an external eavesdropper (IC-EE); and (3) K-user IC with confidential messages and an external eavesdropper (IC-CM-EE). We show that for the K-user IC-EE, 1 2 (K − 3) SDoF is achievable, and for the K-user IC-CM-EE, 1 2 (K − 6) is achievable. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first result on the K-user interference channel with secrecy constrained models and delayed CSIT that achieves an SDoF which scales with K , square-root of number of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Group testing refers to the process of testing pooled samples to reduce the total number of tests. Given the current pandemic, and the shortage of test supplies for COVID-19, group testing can play a critical role in time and cost efficient diagnostics. In many scenarios, samples collected from users are also accompanied with auxiliary information (such as demographics, history of exposure, onset of symptoms). Such auxiliary information may differ across patients, and is typically not considered while designing group testing algorithms. In this paper, we abstract such heterogeneity using a model where the population can be categorized into clusters with different prevalence rates. The main result of this work is to show that exploiting knowledge heterogeneity can further improve the efficiency of group testing. Motivated by the practical constraints and diagnostic considerations, we focus on two-stage group testing algorithms, where in the first stage, the goal is to detect as many negative samples by pooling, whereas the second stage involves individual testing to detect any remaining samples. For this class of algorithms, we prove that the gain in efficiency is related to the concavity of the number of tests as a function of the prevalence. We also show how one can choose the optimal pooling parameters for one of the algorithms in this class, namely, doubly constant pooling. We present lower bounds on the average number of tests as a function of the population heterogeneity profile, and also provide numerical results and comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information-theoretic formulations of the private information retrieval (PIR) problem have been investigated under a variety of scenarios. Symmetric private information retrieval (SPIR) is a variant where a user is able to privately retrieve one out of K messages from N non-colluding replicated databases without learning anything about the remaining K−1 messages. However, the goal of perfect privacy can be too taxing for certain applications. In this paper, we investigate if the information-theoretic capacity of SPIR (equivalently, the inverse of the minimum download cost) can be increased by relaxing both user and DB privacy definitions. Such relaxation is relevant in applications where privacy can be traded for communication efficiency. We introduce and investigate the Asymmetric Leaky PIR (AL-PIR) model with different privacy leakage budgets in each direction. For user privacy leakage, we bound the probability ratios between all possible realizations of DB queries by a function of a non-negative constant ε. For DB privacy, we bound the mutual information between the undesired messages, the queries, and the answers, by a function of a non-negative constant &#948. We propose a general AL-PIR scheme that achieves an upper bound on the optimal download cost for arbitrary ε and δ. We show that the optimal download cost of AL-PIR is upper-bounded as D*(ε,δ) ≤ 1+ 1/N−1 − δeε/NK−1−1. Second, we obtain an information-theoretic lower bound on the download cost as D*(ε,δ) ≥ 1 + 1/Neε−1 − δ/(Neε)K−1 −1. The gap analysis between the two bounds shows that our AL-PIR scheme is optimal when ε = 0, i.e., under perfect user privacy and it is optimal within a maximum multiplicative gap of N−e−ε/N−1 for any ε > 0 and δ > 0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humans are colonized by large number of microorganisms—bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The overall genome of entire viruses that either lives on or inside the human body makes up the human virome and is indeed an essential fraction of the human metagenome. Humans are constantly exposed to viruses as they are ubiquitously present on earth. The human virobiota encompasses eukaryotic viruses, bacteriophages, retroviruses, and even giant viruses. With the advent of Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and ongoing development of numerous bioinformatic softwares, identification and taxonomic characterization of viruses have become easier. The viruses are abundantly present in humans; these can be pathogenic or commensal. The viral communities occupy various niches in the human body. The viruses start colonizing the infant gut soon after birth in a stepwise fashion and the viral composition diversify according to their feeding habits. Various factors such as diet, age, medications, etc. influence and shape the human virome. The viruses interact with the host immune system and these interactions have beneficial or detrimental effects on their host. The virome composition and abundance change during the course of disease and these alterations impact the immune system. Hence, the virome population in healthy and disease conditions influences the human host in numerous ways. This review presents an overview of assembly and composition of the human virome in healthy asymptomatic individuals, changes in the virome profiles, and host–virome interactions in various disease states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private information retrieval (PIR) allows a user to retrieve a desired message from a set of databases without revealing the identity of the desired message. The replicated database scenario, where $N$ databases store each of the $K$ messages was considered by Sun and Jafar, and the optimal download cost was characterized as $\left ({1+ \frac {1}{N}+ \frac {1}{N^{2}}+ \cdots + \frac {1}{N^{K-1}}}\right)$. In this work, we consider the problem of PIR from uncoded storage constrained databases. Each database has a storage capacity of $\mu KL$ bits, where $L$ is the size of each message in bits, and $\mu \in [{1/N, 1}]$ is the normalized storage. The novel aspect of this work is to characterize the optimum download cost of PIR from uncoded storage constrained databases for any “normalized storage” value in the range $\mu \in [{1/N, 1}]$. In particular, for any $(N,K)$ , we show that the optimal trade-off between normalized storage, $\mu $ , and the download cost, $D(\mu)$ , is a piece-wise linear function given by the lower convex hull of the $N$ pairs $\left ({\frac {t}{N}, \left ({1+ \frac {1}{t}+ \frac {1}{t^{2}}+ \cdots + \frac {1}{t^{K-1}}}\right)}\right)$ for $t=1,2,\ldots, N$. To prove this result, we first present a storage constrained PIR scheme for any $(N,K)$. Next, we obtain a general lower bound on the download cost for PIR, which is valid for any arbitrary storage architecture. The uncoded storage assumption is then applied which allows us to express the lower bound as a linear program (LP). Finally, we solve the LP to obtain tight lower bounds on the download cost for different regimes of storage, which match the proposed storage constrained PIR scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a new approach to design finite alphabet iterative decoders (FAIDs) for Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes over binary symmetric channel (BSC) via recurrent quantized neural networks (RQNN). We focus on the linear FAID class and use RQNNs to optimize the message update look-up tables by jointly training their message levels and RQNN parameters. Existing neural networks for channel coding work well over Additive White Gaussian Noise Channel (AWGNC) but are inefficient over BSC due to the finite channel values of BSC fed into neural networks. We propose the bit error rate (BER) as the loss function to train the RQNNs over BSC. The low precision activations in the RQNN and quantization in the BER cause a critical issue that their gradients vanish almost everywhere, making it difficult to use classical backward propagation. We leverage straight-through estimators as surrogate gradients to tackle this issue and provide a joint training scheme. We show that the framework is flexible for various code lengths and column weights. Specifically, in high column weight case, it automatically designs low precision linear FAIDs with superior performance, lower complexity, and faster convergence than the floating-point belief propagation algorithms in waterfall region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Complement system proteins and their regulators promote tumor growth. • Its activation is an important prerequisite for role in tumor growth and anti-tumor response. • Its contradictory role in cancer might be a very crucial factor for the positive outcomes of immunotherapies. • Complement resistance not only influences the course of disease but also the patients' prognosis. Complement system proteins, their regulators and endpoint effector complex significantly promote tumor growth by upregulation of oncogenic growth factors, activation of mitogenic signalling pathways and breakage of normal cell cycle. Contrastingly, complement cascades, initiated by anti-tumor therapeutic antibodies, also play a pivotal role in therapy response. This contradictory role of complement system possibly be a very crucial factor for the outcomes of antibody mediated immunotherapies. Herein, we reviewed the twin role of the complement system in cancer and also the genetic variations in complement system genes. Future studies should be focused on the biomarker discovery for the personalised cancer immunotherapies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat shock protein 47 kDa (HSP47) serves as a client-specific chaperone, essential for collagen biosynthesis and its folding and structural assembly. To date, there is no comprehensive study on mutational hotspots. Using five different human mutational databases, we deduced a comprehensive list of human HSP47 mutations with 24, 67, 50, 43 and 2 deleterious mutations from the 1000 genomes data, gnomAD, COSMICv86, cBioPortal, and CanVar, respectively. We identified thirteen top-ranked missense mutations of HSP47 with the stringent cut-off of CADD score (>25) and Grantham score (≥151) as Ser76Trp, Arg103Cys, Arg116Cys, Ser159Phe, Arg167Cys, Arg280Cys, Trp293Cys, Gly323Trp, Arg339Cys, Arg373Cys, Arg377Cys, Ser399Phe, and Arg405Cys with the arginine-cysteine changes as the predominant mutations. These findings will assist in the evaluation of roles of HSP47 in collagen misfolding and human diseases such as cancer and bone disorders. • We performed most comprehensive mutational hotspot profiling of HSP47 • We deduced 24 and 67 deleterious HSP47 mutations, 1000 genomes and gnomAD databases, respectively • Three cancer databases (COSMICv86, cBioPortal, and CanVar) have 50, 43 and 2 deleterious HSP47 mutations, respectively • We identified thirteen top deleterious HSP47 mutations using CADD score (>25) and Grantham score (≥151) • Of top 13 HSP47 mutations, the arginine-cysteine changes as the predominant mutations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast tissue expanders (TEs) with magnetic infusion ports are labeled "MR Unsafe." Therefore, patients with these implants are typically prevented from undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We report a patient with a total submuscular breast TE who inadvertently underwent an MRI exam. She subsequently developed expander exposure, requiring explantation and autologous reconstruction. The safety profile of TEs with magnetic ports and the use of MRI in patients with these implants is surprisingly controversial. Therefore, we present our case report, a systematic literature review, and propose procedural guidelines to help ensure the safety of patients with TEs with magnetic ports that need to undergo MRI exams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyanometabolites are active compounds derived from cyanobacteria that include small low molecular weight peptides, oligosaccharides, lectins, phenols, fatty acids, and alkaloids. Some of these compounds may pose a threat to human and environment. However, majority of them are known to have various health benefits with antiviral properties against pathogenic viruses including Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Ebola virus (EBOV), Herpes simplex virus (HSV), Influenza A virus (IAV) etc. Cyanometabolites classified as lectins include scytovirin (SVN), Oscillatoria agardhii agglutinin (OAAH), cyanovirin-N (CV-N), Microcystis viridis lectin (MVL), and microvirin (MVN) also possess a potent antiviral activity against viral diseases with unique properties to recognize different viral epitopes. Studies showed that a small linear peptide, microginin FR1, isolated from a water bloom of Microcystis species, inhibits angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), making it useful for the treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Our review provides an overview of the antiviral properties of cyanobacteria from the late 90s till now and emphasizes the significance of their metabolites in combating viral diseases, particularly severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has received limited attention in previous publications. The enormous medicinal potential of cyanobacteria is also emphasized in this review, which justifies their use as a dietary supplement to fend off pandemics in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers a $K$ -cell multiple access channel with inter-symbol interference. The primary finding of this paper is that, without instantaneous channel state information at the transmitters, interference-free degrees-of-freedom (DoF) per cell is achievable, provided that the delay spread of the desired links is significantly longer than that of the interfering links when the number of user per cell is sufficiently large. This achievability is shown by a blind interference management method that exploits the relativity in delay spreads between desired and interfering links. In this method, all inter-cell-interference signals are aligned-and-cancelled by using discrete-Fourier-transform-based precoding and combining, both depend only on the lengths of channel-impulse-response. In addition to the DoF analysis, the achievable rate of the proposed method is characterized in a closed-form expression. Some illustrative examples are presented to show an additional sum-DoF gain obtained by exploiting propagation delay in the interfering links or the heterogeneity of the channel coherence time between the desired and interfering links. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The storage of frequently requested multimedia content at small-cell base stations (BSs) can reduce the load of macro-BSs without relying on high-speed backhaul links. In this work, the optimal operation of a system consisting of a cache-aided small-cell BS and a macro-BS is investigated for both offline and online caching settings. In particular, a binary fading one-sided interference channel is considered in which the small-cell BS, whose transmission is interfered by the macro-BS, has a limited-capacity cache. The delivery time per bit (DTB) is adopted as a measure of the coding latency, that is, the duration of the transmission block, required for reliable delivery. For offline caching, assuming a static set of popular contents, the minimum achievable DTB is characterized through information-theoretic achievability and converse arguments as a function of the cache capacity and of the capacity of the backhaul link connecting cloud and small-cell BS. For online caching, under a time-varying set of popular contents, the long-term (average) DTB is evaluated for both proactive and reactive caching policies. Furthermore, a converse argument is developed to characterize the minimum achievable long-term DTB for online caching in terms of the minimum achievable DTB for offline caching. The performance of both online and offline caching is finally compared using numerical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying host immune determinants governing HIV transcription, latency and infectivity in vivo is critical to developing an HIV cure. Based on our recent finding that the host factor p21 regulates HIV transcription during antiretroviral therapy (ART), and published data demonstrating that the human carbohydrate-binding immunomodulatory protein galectin-9 regulates p21, we hypothesized that galectin-9 modulates HIV transcription. We report that the administration of a recombinant, stable form of galectin-9 (rGal-9) potently reverses HIV latency in vitro in the J-Lat HIV latency model. Furthermore, rGal-9 reverses HIV latency ex vivo in primary CD4+ T cells from HIV-infected, ART-suppressed individuals (p = 0.002), more potently than vorinostat (p = 0.02). rGal-9 co-administration with the latency reversal agent "JQ1", a bromodomain inhibitor, exhibits synergistic activity (p<0.05). rGal-9 signals through N-linked oligosaccharides and O-linked hexasaccharides on the T cell surface, modulating the gene expression levels of key transcription initiation, promoter proximal-pausing, and chromatin remodeling factors that regulate HIV latency. Beyond latent viral reactivation, rGal-9 induces robust expression of the host antiviral deaminase APOBEC3G in vitro and ex vivo (FDR<0.006) and significantly reduces infectivity of progeny virus, decreasing the probability that the HIV reservoir will be replenished when latency is reversed therapeutically. Lastly, endogenous levels of soluble galectin-9 in the plasma of 72 HIV-infected ART-suppressed individuals were associated with levels of HIV RNA in CD4+ T cells (p<0.02) and with the quantity and binding avidity of circulating anti-HIV antibodies (p<0.009), suggesting a role of galectin-9 in regulating HIV transcription and viral production in vivo during therapy. Our data suggest that galectin-9 and the host glycosylation machinery should be explored as foundations for novel HIV cure strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional spectrum sharing approaches assume that an unlicensed user accessing a licensed spectrum band autonomously operates by sensing (or detecting) the presence of the primary user, which is licensed to use the given band, with minimal coordination from the primary user. However, in this case, incorrect sensing decisions and resource allocation on the unlicensed secondary users' (SU) part can lead to undesired degradation of the primary users' performance. Therefore, there has been a recent paradigm shift to enable cooperative spectrum sharing, in which interaction is allowed between the primary and the secondary network for efficient spectrum utilization while limiting the interference experienced by a primary user. In this paper, we consider a cooperative spectrum sharing architecture in which the SU is assumed to be a cellular network. We then propose a novel fractional-frequency-reuse-based dynamic resource allocation (DRA) algorithm at the secondary (cellular) network. The joint DRA optimization involves simultaneous spectrum allocation across different base stations and then across users within a base station. It is an NP-hard problem and is prohibitively complex to solve for a large cellular network. Therefore, to reduce the complexity of the joint problem and offer a tractable solution, we formulate layered scheduling algorithms for cross-layer resource allocation. Furthermore, the feedback overhead between the layers is kept minimal. Finally, using simulations, we compare our proposed DRA scheme with other resource allocation schemes for sum system throughput, as well as for fairness in allocation. We also present the result for the case when the available primary spectrum varies over time and locations of SUs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardio-metabolic disease is a significant global health challenge with increasing prevalence. Recent research underscores the disruption of gut microbial balance as a key factor in disease susceptibility. We aimed to characterize the gut microbiota composition and function in cardio-metabolic disease and healthy controls. For this purpose, we collected stool samples of 18 subjects (12 diseased, 6 healthy) and we performed metagenomics analysis and functional prediction using QIIME2 and PICRUSt. Furthermore, we carried out assessments of microbe–gene interactions, gene ontology, and microbe–disease associations. Our findings revealed distinct microbial patterns in the diseased group, particularly evident in lower taxonomic levels with significant variations in 14 microbial features. The diseased cohort exhibited an enrichment of Lachnospiraceae family, correlating with obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic disturbances. Conversely, reduced levels of Clostridium, Gemmiger, and Ruminococcus genera indicated a potential inflammatory state, linked to compromised butyrate production and gut permeability. Functional analyses highlighted dysregulated pathways in amino acid metabolism and energy equilibrium, with perturbations correlating with elevated branch-chain amino acid levels—a known contributor to insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. These findings were consistent across biomarker assessments, microbe–gene associations, and gene ontology analyses, emphasizing the intricate interplay between gut microbial dysbiosis and cardio-metabolic disease progression. In conclusion, our study unveils significant shifts in gut microbial composition and function in cardio-metabolic disease, emphasizing the broader implications of microbial dysregulation. Addressing gut microbial balance emerges as a crucial therapeutic target in managing cardio-metabolic disease burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a leading cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia in children less than one year of age and in USA alone, between 85,000 and 144,000 infants are hospitalized every year. To date, there is no licensed vaccine. We have evaluated vaccine potential of mammalian cell-derived native RSV virus-like particles (RSV VLPs) composed of the two surface glycoproteins G and F, and the matrix protein M. Results of in vitro testing showed that the VLPs were functionally assembled and immunoreactive, and that the recombinantly expressed F protein was cleaved intracellularly similarly to the virus-synthesized F protein to produce the F1 and F2 subunits; the presence of the F1 fragment is critical for vaccine development since all the neutralizing epitopes present in the F protein are embedded in this fragment. Additional in vitro testing in human macrophage cell line THP-1 showed that both virus and the VLPs were sensed by TLR-4 and induced a Th1-biased cytokine response. Cotton rats vaccinated with RSV VLPs adjuvanted with alum and monophosphoryl lipid A induced potent neutralizing antibody response, and conferred protection in the lower as well as the upper respiratory tract based on substantial virus clearance from these sites. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first VLP/virosome vaccine study reporting protection of the lower as well as the upper respiratory tract: Prevention from replication in the nose is an important consideration if the target population is infants < 6 months of age. This is because continued virus replication in the nose results in nasal congestion and babies at this age are obligate nose breathers. In conclusion, these results taken together suggest that our VLPs show promise to be a safe and effective vaccine for RSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, recombinant protein production has been done in several expression hosts of bacteria, fungi, and majorly CHO (Chinese Hamster Ovary) cells; few have high production costs and are susceptible to harmful toxin contamination. Green algae have the potential to produce recombinant proteins in a more sustainable manner. Microalgal diversity leads to offer excellent opportunities to produce glycosylated antibodies. An antibody with humanized glycans plays a crucial role in cellular communication that works to regulate cells and molecules, to control disease, and to stimulate immunity. Therefore, it becomes necessary to understand the role of abiotic factors (light, temperature, pH, etc.) in the production of bioactive molecules and molecular mechanisms of product synthesis from microalgae which would lead to harnessing the potential of algal bio-refinery. However, the potential of microalgae as the source of bio-refinery has been less explored. In the present review, omics approaches for microalgal engineering, methods of humanized glycoproteins production focusing majorly on N-glycosylation pathways, light-based regulation of glycosylation machinery, and production of antibodies with humanized glycans in microalgae with a major emphasis on modulation of post-translation machinery of microalgae which might play a role in better understanding of microalgal potential as a source for antibody production along with future perspectives. (created with BioRender.com) [Display omitted] • Microalgae are an attractive source for the production of monoclonal antibodies and bioactives. • Glycosylation is a functionally important process of post-translational modification. • N and O-glycosylation pathways are needed to be synchronized for humanized glycans. • Optogenetic regulation of glycosylation machinery of microalgae holds potential. • Optobiotechnological approaches for modulation of N and O-glycosylation pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Perinatally HIV-infected children on anti-retroviral treatment (ART) are reported to have metabolic abnormalities such as dyslipidemia, lipodystrophy, and insulin resistance which potentially increase the risk of diabetes, kidney, liver and cardiovascular disease. Objective: To elucidate HIV-mediated metabolic complications that sustain even during ART in perinatally HIV-infected children. Method: We have carried out metabolic profiling of the plasma of treatment-naïve and ART-suppressed perinatally HIV-infected children and uninfected controls using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy followed by statistical analysis and annotation. Result: Validated multivariate analysis showed clear distinction among our study groups. Our results showed elevated levels of lactate, glucose, phosphoenolpyruvic acid, propionic acid, 2-ketobutyric acid and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolites in untreated HIV-infected children compared to uninfected controls. ART normalized the levels of several metabolites, however the level of lactate, phosphoenolpyruvic acid, oxoglutaric acid, oxaloacetic acid, myoinositol and glutamine remained upregulated despite ART in HIV-infected children. Pathway analysis revealed perturbed propanoate metabolism, amino acid metabolism, glycolysis and TCA cycle in untreated and ART-suppressed HIV-infected children. Conclusion: Developing therapeutic strategies targeting metabolic abnormalities may be beneficial for preventing diabetes, cardiovascular disease or other associated complications in perinatally HIV-infected children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latent HIV reservoir is a major barrier to absolute HIV cure. Studies on latency reversal agents (LRA) have by far focused mainly on CD4+ T-lymphocytes, while myeloid reservoirs remain under-represented despite their persistence and key contribution to HIV pathogenesis. cAMP has been shown to increase HIV-1 transcription in latently-infected monocytes/macrophages. In this communication, we explored the potential of commercially available pharmacological drugs and phosphodiesterase inhibitors to reactivate HIV in latently-infected monocytic cell-line, U1. We showed that increased levels of intracellular cAMP reverse HIV latency in vitro , which is specific to cells of the myeloid lineage. High throughput RNA-seq analysis revealed that cAMP modulates transcriptional profile of latently HIV-infected cells and provides favourable cellular environment for HIV to produce viral proteins. This reactivation of latent HIV was inhibited by Mithramycin A, a selective Sp1 inhibitor, indicating that the reversal of HIV latency in monocytes is driven by transcription factor Sp1. Image 1 • Increase in levels of intracellular cAMP reactivates HIV in latently infected U1 cells. • PDE inhibitor drugs enhance HIV reactivation in myeloid cells and can be further explored for latency reversal properties. • cAMP modulates transcriptional profile of latently HIV-infected monocytes. • cAMP reverses HIV latency in myeloid cells through transcription factor Sp1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recombination-activating genes (RAGs) encode for V(D)J recombinases responsible for rearrangements of antigen-receptor genes during T and B cell development, and RAG expression is known to correlate strictly with the process of rearrangement. There have been several studies of RAG1 illustrating biochemical, physiological and immunological properties. Hitherto, there are limited studies on RAG1 focusing molecular phylogenetic analyses, evolutionary traits, and genetic variants in human populations. Hence, there is a need of a comprehensive study on this topic. In the current report, we have shed light into insights of evolutionary traits and genetic variants of human RAG1 gene using 1092 genomes from human populations. Syntenic analyses revealed that two RAG genes are physically linked and conserved on the same locus in head-to-head orientation from sea urchin to human for about 550 MY. Spliceosomal introns have been in invaded in fishes and sea urchin, whereas gene structures of RAG1 gene from tetrapods remained single exon architecture. We compiled 751 genetic variants in human RAG1 gene using 1092 human genomes; where major stockholders of variant classes are 79% single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), 12.2% somatic single nucleotide variants (somatic SNVs) and 6.8% deletion. Out of 267 missense variants, 140 are deleterious mutations. We identified 284 non-coding variants with 94% regulatory in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perinatal HIV infection is characterized by faster HIV disease progression and higher initial rate of HIV replication compared to adults. While antiretroviral therapy (ART) has greatly reduced HIV replication to undetectable levels, there is persistent elevated inflammation associated with HIV disease progression. Alteration of gut microbiota is associated with increased inflammation in chronic adult HIV infection. Here, we aim to study the gut microbiome and its role in inflammation in treated and untreated HIV-infected children. Examination of fecal microbiota revealed that perinatally infected children living with HIV had significantly higher levels of genus Prevotella that persisted despite ART. These children also had higher levels of soluble CD14 (sCD14), a marker of microbial translocation, and IP-10 despite therapy. The Prevotella positively correlated with IP-10 levels in both treated and untreated HIV-infected children, while genus Prevotella and species Prevotella copri was inversely associated with CD4 count. Relative abundance of genus Prevotella and species Prevotella copri showed positive correlation with sCD14 in ART-suppressed perinatally HIV-infected children. Our study suggests that gut microbiota may serve as one of the driving forces behind the persistent inflammation in children despite ART. Reshaping of microbiota using probiotics may be recommended as an adjunctive therapy along with ART. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]