First-Principle Investigation of Structural,Electronic and Magnetic Properties in Mn<Subscript>2</Subscript>RhZ (Z = Si,Ge, and Sn) Heusler Alloys

Mn ₂-based Heusler compounds exhibit different types of anti-site disorder. The electronic structure and magnetism of Heusler alloys Mn₂RhZ (Z = Si, Ge, and Sn) have been studied by first-principle calculations. Mn₂RhSi and Mn₂RhGe are ordinary half-metallic ferrimagnetic metals at equilibrium lattice constants, with a magnetic spin moments obeys to the Slater-Pauling rule and spin polarization of 100 % at the Fermi energy. The tetragonal phase transformation is studied for Mn₂RhSn. The total magnetic moment of Mn₂RhSn in the tetragonal structure is higher compared to the other materials, which results in a large ΔM between the saturation moments of tetragonal and a cubic. The tetragonal Mn₂RhSn predicted to a high spin polarization ratio of 93 %. These properties of these materials are particularly interesting due to their perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), which was realized in thin films opening the door for application in STT magnetic random access memories (STT-MRAMs)     

Tumor Suppressive Role of miR-342-5p in Human Chondrosarcoma Cells and 3D Organoids

Chondrosarcomas are malignant bone tumors. Their abundant cartilage-like extracellular matrix and their hypoxic microenvironment contribute to their resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and no effective therapy is currently available. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) may be an interesting alternative in the development of therapeutic options. Here, for the first time in chondrosarcoma cells, we carried out high-throughput functional screening using impedancemetry, and identified five miRNAs with potential antiproliferative or chemosensitive effects on SW1353 chondrosarcoma cells. The cytotoxic effects of miR-342-5p and miR-491-5p were confirmed on three chondrosarcoma cell lines, using functional validation under normoxia and hypoxia. Both miRNAs induced apoptosis and miR-342-5p also induced autophagy. Western blots and luciferase reporter assays identified for the first time Bcl-2 as a direct target of miR-342-5p, and also Bcl-xL as a direct target of both miR-342-5p and miR-491-5p in chondrosarcoma cells. MiR-491-5p also inhibited EGFR expression. Finally, only miR-342-5p induced cell death on a relevant 3D chondrosarcoma organoid model under hypoxia that mimics the in vivo microenvironment. Altogether, our results revealed the tumor suppressive activity of miR-342-5p, and to a lesser extent of miR-491-5p, on chondrosarcoma lines. Through this study, we also confirmed the potential of Bcl-2 family members as therapeutic targets in chondrosarcomas.     

Reactivity monitoring in ADS, application to the MYRRHA ADS project

Monitoring of reactivity in an ADS should be performed on-line with a simple, accurate and robust technique. Within the range of experimental reactor techniques, no single technique can be selected which meet these requirements. Therefore a combination of different techniques has to be chosen in a way that various off-line techniques serve as a calibration method for the on-line measurement technique. As an on-line measurement technique, the current-to-flux reactivity indicator is the most simple and robust solution. The current-to-flux reactivity indicator is based on the fact that in a sub-critical multiplying medium with a driving source the flux level is proportional to the driving source intensity, hence the beam current, and the reactivity level. However, since the proportionality constant depends on a number of core-dependent parameters and detector characteristics, this current-to-flux indicator has to be calibrated on a regular basis. For this calibration, one could benefit from the occurrence of accelerator beam trips to determine the reactivity level in dollars by means of a prompt jump analysis of the flux level change. Hence, the prompt jump reactivity indicator could act as a first calibration tool of the current-to-flux indicator. Since the prompt jump indicator still relies on the value for the effective delayed neutron fraction to determine reactivity level, complementary techniques have to be used to obtain a more accurate determination of the reactivity. Techniques based on reactor noise methods such as the RAPJA-technique which is a combination of the Rossi-Alpha method and a Prompt Jump Analysis can be used in this respect. In the future the bi-spectral ratio from the Cf-source driven noise analysis could be used for this purpose.     

Identification of Abundant and Functional dodecaRNAs (doRNAs) Derived from Ribosomal RNA

Using a modified RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) approach, we discovered a new family of unusually short RNAs mapping to ribosomal RNA 5.8S, which we named dodecaRNAs (doRNAs), according to the number of core nucleotides (12 nt) their members contain. Using a new quantitative detection method that we developed, we confirmed our RNA-seq data and determined that the minimal core doRNA sequence and its 13-nt variant C-doRNA (doRNA with a 5′ Cytosine) are the two most abundant doRNAs, which, together, may outnumber microRNAs. The C-doRNA/doRNA ratio is stable within species but differed between species. doRNA and C-doRNA are mainly cytoplasmic and interact with heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNP) A0, A1 and A2B1, but not Argonaute 2. Reporter gene activity assays suggest that C-doRNA may function as a regulator of Annexin II receptor (AXIIR) expression. doRNAs are differentially expressed in prostate cancer cells/tissues and may control cell migration. These findings suggest that unusually short RNAs may be more abundant and important than previously thought.     

Electrodeposition of nanostructured cuprous oxide on various substrates and their electrochemical and photoelectrochemical properties

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Nanostructured Cu2O films have been developed on various conductive substrates (FTO, ITO, and Mo) by a low-cost electrodeposition process...     

DNA detection with a water-gated organic field-effect transistor

A DNA sensor based on a water-gated organic field-effect transistor is described. The semiconductor is poly [3-(5-carboxypentyl)thiophene-2,5-diyl] onto which DNA probes are covalently grafted via NHS/EDC chemistry. Clear changes in the output characteristic of the device are observed upon DNA immobilization and after DNA hybridization. Experimental data point out the importance of the electrolyte Debye length that can screen negative DNA charges and impede transduction. For this reason, deionized water was used in order to increase the Debye length up to several hundreds of nanometers. In this case, a decrease in the off current was observed upon hybridization, whereas no significant change occurred when using saline solutions.     

Novel dynamic color image watermarking based on DWT-SVD and the human visual system

Multimedia Tools and Applications - In this paper, a novel dynamic color image watermarking based on discrete wavelet transform (DWT) and singular value decomposition (SVD) is proposed. The...