Ferroelectric FET-based context-switching FPGA enabling dynamic reconfiguration for adaptive deep learning machines.

Field programmable gate array (FPGA) is widely used in the acceleration of deep learning applications because of its reconfigurability, flexibility, and fast time-to-market. However, conventional FPGA suffers from the trade-off between chip area and reconfiguration latency, making efficient FPGA accelerations that require switching between multiple configurations still elusive. Here, we propose a ferroelectric field-effect transistor (FeFET)-based context-switching FPGA supporting dynamic reconfiguration to break this trade-off, enabling loading of arbitrary configuration without interrupting the active configuration execution. Leveraging the intrinsic structure and nonvolatility of FeFETs, compact FPGA primitives are proposed and experimentally verified. The evaluation results show our design shows a 63.0%/74.7% reduction in a look-up table (LUT)/connection block (CB) area and 82.7%/53.6% reduction in CB/switch box power consumption with a minimal penalty in the critical path delay (9.6%). Besides, our design yields significant time savings by 78.7 and 20.3% on average for context-switching and dynamic reconfiguration applications, respectively.

Powering Disturb-Free Reconfigurable Computing and Tunable Analog Electronics with Dual-Port Ferroelectric FET.

Single-port ferroelectric FET (FeFET) that performs write and read operations on the same electrical gate prevents its wide application in tunable analog electronics and suffers from read disturb, especially in the high-threshold voltage (VTH) state as the retention energy barrier is reduced by the applied read bias. To address both issues, we propose to adopt a read disturb-free dual-port FeFET where the write is performed on the gate featuring a ferroelectric layer and the read is done on a separate gate featuring a nonferroelectric dielectric. Combining the unique structure and the separate read gate, read disturb is eliminated as the applied field is aligned with polarization in the high-VTH state, thus improving its stability, while it is screened by the channel inversion charge and exerts no negative impact on the low-VTH state stability. Comprehensive theoretical and experimental validation has been performed on fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FDSOI) FeFETs integrated on a 22 nm platform, which intrinsically has dual ports with its buried oxide layer acting as the nonferroelectric dielectric. Novel applications that can exploit the proposed dual-port FeFET are proposed and experimentally demonstrated for the first time, including FPGA that harnesses its read disturb-free feature and tunable analog electronics (e.g., frequency tunable ring oscillator in this work) leveraging the separated write and read paths.

Forensic analysis of fabricated long bone fractures for gain.

BACKGROUND: Self-inflicting injury is a recognised psychiatric disorder. Such cases are regularly seen in the emergency department, with a false history of assault. Most of these are easily detected by a forensic medicine expert as they present as described in literature but are difficult to explain if altered by professionals for nefarious reasons. METHOD: This was a prospective study carried out at a tertiary centre. The data was collected and analysed from the office records of medico-legal reports prepared at our institute between 25 February 2022 and 25 February 2023. RESULTS: 21 cases were recorded, that met with our criteria. Most involved males (90.5%). Minimum age was 27 years and maximum age 66 years with a mean of 48.6 years and a standard deviation of ±11 years. Most offenders were unemployed (38.1%). Most fractured bone was tibia (47.6%). Left-sided fractures were more common (61.9%). Injuries corresponded with the findings on clothes in three cases (14.3%). DISCUSSION: Fabricated wounds will reflect the intentions of the fabricator and may range from superficial wounds to grievous injury. Only a critical analysis of all medico-legal cases will identify them, and they will have similarities of presentation. CONCLUSION: Such findings have rarely been reported in other parts of India. A diligently prepared medico-legal report and profiling of all cases can help establish patterns of such injuries.

Efficacy and In-Use Tolerance of Venusia Baby Moisturizer for Skin Hydration in Babies With Dry and/or Normal Skin.

Introduction Skin hydration is important for maintaining adequate skin barrier function. After delivery, the baby's skin faces the most difficult challenge as they are exposed to the exterior world's environmental changes, friction, and microorganisms. The management is further complicated by the availability of a large range of infant skin-care products with varying claims. The first-ever Indian study on babies was done to analyze the test product (Venusia baby moisturizer; Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Hyderabad, India) in order to bring scientific clarity to consumers. This product is devoid of parabens, alcohol, and animal origin (Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd., Hyderabad, India) and is designed for skin hydration and in-use tolerance in babies with dry and/or normal skin. The endpoints were hydration and clinical evaluation of the skin, evaluated using a moisture meter scale (MMSC; Delfin Technologies Ltd., Kuopio, Finland) and parent self-assessment questionnaire, respectively. Material and methods A total of 136 healthy babies aged between six months to two years were enrolled in a four-group, monocentric, non-randomized, evaluator-blinded study: Group 1 (Venusia baby cream for dry skin), Group 2 (Venusia baby lotion for Dry Skin), Group 3 (Venusia baby cream for normal skin), and Group 4 (Venusia baby lotion for normal skin). The endpoints were hydration and clinical evaluation of the skin, evaluated using an MMSC and parent self-assessment questionnaire, respectively. Results In babies with dry skin, skin hydration was improved with Venusia baby cream (37.50%) and Venusia baby lotion (66.40%). Additionally, 66.66% of participants strongly agreed that the baby's skin became softer and smoother after the application of Venusia baby cream; 76.47% of participants strongly agreed that the baby's skin became softer and smoother after the application of Venusia baby lotion. In babies with normal skin, skin hydration was improved with Venusia baby cream (12.20%) and Venusia baby lotion (7.20%); 59.37% of participants strongly agreed that the baby's skin became softer and smoother after the application of Venusia baby cream; and 84.84% of participants strongly agreed that the baby's skin became softer and smoother after the application of Venusia baby lotion. Conclusion Significant improvement was seen in skin hydration using Venusia baby cream and Venusia baby lotion in babies with dry skin and normal skin. No skin intolerances and product-related adverse or serious adverse events were clinically observed or reported during the study duration. Venusia baby lotion had the highest effect (66.4%) on skin hydration in babies with dry skin, where there was a significant shift from dry skin to normal skin range.

Severity-Based Hierarchical ECG Classification Using Neural Networks.

Timely detection of cardiac arrhythmia characterized by abnormal heartbeats can help in the early diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Wearable healthcare devices typically use neural networks to provide the most convenient way of continuously monitoring heart activity for arrhythmia detection. However, it is challenging to achieve high accuracy and energy efficiency in these smart wearable healthcare devices. In this work, we provide architecture-level solutions to deploy neural networks for cardiac arrhythmia classification. We have created a hierarchical structure after analyzing various neural network topologies where only required network components are activated to improve energy efficiency while maintaining high accuracy. In our proposed architecture, we introduce a severity-based classification approach to directly help the users of the wearable healthcare device as well as the medical professionals. Additionally, we have employed computation-in-memory based hardware to improve energy efficiency and area consumption by leveraging in-situ data processing and scalability of emerging memory technologies such as resistive random access memory (RRAM). Simulation experiments conducted using the MIT-BIH arrhythmia dataset show that the proposed architecture provides high accuracy while consuming average energy of 0.11 µJ per heartbeat classification and 0.11 mm2 area, thereby achieving 25× improvement in average energy consumption and 12× improvement in area compared to the state-of-the-art.

Transposable elements as new players in neurodegenerative diseases.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), including the most prevalent Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson disease, share common pathological features. Despite decades of gene-centric approaches, the molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases remain widely elusive. In recent years, transposable elements (TEs), long considered 'junk' DNA, have gained growing interest as pathogenic players in NDs. Age is the major risk factor for most NDs, and several repressive mechanisms of TEs, such as heterochromatinization, fail with age. Indeed, heterochromatin relaxation leading to TE derepression has been reported in various models of neurodegeneration and NDs. There is also evidence that certain pathogenic proteins involved in NDs (e.g., tau, TDP-43) may control the expression of TEs. The deleterious consequences of TE activation are not well known but they could include DNA damage and genomic instability, altered host gene expression, and/or neuroinflammation, which are common hallmarks of neurodegeneration and aging. TEs might thus represent an overlooked pathogenic culprit for both brain aging and neurodegeneration. Certain pathological effects of TEs might be prevented by inhibiting their activity, pointing to TEs as novel targets for neuroprotection.

Ant bite artefacts: A series of cases reported over a year.

Artefacts are postmortem findings that often complicate an investigation into death. The police and relatives may be bewildered by them, and forensic pathologists need to be well versed with the intricacies that they can pose. We studied postmortem records over a year and report three cases of ant bite artefacts which led the relatives and the police to suspect the manner of death. A thorough postmortem examination endorsed the findings as ant bite artefacts and so correctly advised the police investigation.

Perturbed DNA methylation by Gadd45b induces chromatin disorganization, DNA strand breaks and dopaminergic neuron death.

Age is a major risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease, but few studies have explored the contribution of key hallmarks of aging, namely DNA methylation changes and heterochromatin destructuration, in the neurodegenerative process. Here, we investigated the consequences of viral overexpression of Gadd45b, a multifactorial protein involved in DNA demethylation, in the mouse midbrain. Gadd45b overexpression induced global and stable changes in DNA methylation, particularly in introns of genes related to neuronal functions, as well as on LINE-1 transposable elements. This was paralleled by disorganized heterochromatin, increased DNA damage, and vulnerability to oxidative stress. LINE-1 de-repression, a potential source of DNA damage, preceded Gadd45b-induced neurodegeneration, whereas prolonged Gadd45b expression deregulated expression of genes related to heterochromatin maintenance, DNA methylation, or Parkinson's disease. Our data indicates that aging-related alterations contribute to dopaminergic neuron degeneration with potential implications for Parkinson's disease.

Retrotransposons as a Source of DNA Damage in Neurodegeneration.

The etiology of aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases (NDs), such as Parkinson's disease (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), still remains elusive and no curative treatment is available. Age is the major risk factor for PD and AD, but the molecular link between aging and neurodegeneration is not fully understood. Aging is defined by several hallmarks, some of which partially overlap with pathways implicated in NDs. Recent evidence suggests that aging-associated epigenetic alterations can lead to the derepression of the LINE-1 (Long Interspersed Element-1) family of transposable elements (TEs) and that this derepression might have important implications in the pathogenesis of NDs. Almost half of the human DNA is composed of repetitive sequences derived from TEs and TE mobility participated in shaping the mammalian genomes during evolution. Although most TEs are mutated and no longer mobile, more than 100 LINE-1 elements have retained their full coding potential in humans and are thus retrotransposition competent. Uncontrolled activation of TEs has now been reported in various models of neurodegeneration and in diseased human brain tissues. We will discuss in this review the potential contribution of LINE-1 elements in inducing DNA damage and genomic instability, which are emerging pathological features in NDs. TEs might represent an important molecular link between aging and neurodegeneration, and a potential target for urgently needed novel therapeutic disease-modifying interventions.

Efficacy of a collagen hydrolysate and antioxidants-containing nutraceutical on metrics of skin health in Indian women.

BACKGROUND: The skin's aging process involves a decreased biosynthesis of extracellular matrix proteins (predominantly collagen) compounded by damage from environmental and intrinsic stressors. The Indian population is susceptible to skin damage given its geography and increasing urbanization or a genetic disposition. Previous studies have investigated nutrients such as collagen peptides, vitamins and phytonutrient-rich botanical extracts for their individual benefits on skin. AIMS: This study examined the collective effect of a proprietary blend of these nutrients (in Nutrova Collagen+Antioxidants; NCA) on skin parameters, which has not been previously studied, especially in an Indian context. PATIENTS/METHODS: 34 healthy, Indian women (mean age = 39.5 years) were given a placebo daily for 30 days to establish a baseline, followed by NCA for two intervals of 30 days. 3D image reconstruction allowed the analysis of skin topography and blemishes. Instrumental measurements also included skin firmness, elasticity, hydration, and transepidermal water loss. Clinical evaluation was used to grade blemishes, wrinkles and periorbital hyperpigmentation. RESULTS: Based on instrumental evaluation, NCA significantly reduced wrinkle width, open pores, skin roughness, and the colour of hyperpigmented blemishes, while improving skin hydration, firmness and barrier function from baseline to Day 30 and Day 60. NCA also increased elasticity at Day 30. Clinical evaluation showed that periorbital hyperpigmentation and wrinkles reduced significantly. CONCLUSION: NCA is effective for improving overall skin health in Indian women. These results show that targeted nutrient supplementation can improve skin health and further research over extended durations is merited.

Acne fulminans in a young man with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's granulomatosis): A chance association or marker of serious systemic disease?

A 19-year-old man with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener's disease) presented with hemorrhagic facial nodules mimicking severe inflammatory acne (acne fulminans) as one of the first symptoms of the disease. The lesions were earlier treated as nodulocystic acne with isotretinoin without any benefit. Complete resolution was seen with pulsed methylprednisolone and oral prednisolone and mycophenolate mofetil thereafter. He also developed acute onset of severe pustular eruption of the face and a destructive ulcer of the auricle on two separate occasions. Facial lesions mimicking severe inflammatory acne, not responsive to standard treatment, may be a marker for more severe systemic disease such as Wegener's disease/granulomatosis with polyangiitis.

The Physiology of Homeoprotein Transduction.

The homeoprotein family comprises ~300 transcription factors and was long seen as primarily involved in developmental programs through cell autonomous regulation. However, recent evidence reveals that many of these factors are also expressed in the adult where they exert physiological functions not yet fully deciphered. Furthermore, the DNA-binding domain of most homeoproteins contains two signal sequences allowing their secretion and internalization, thus intercellular transfer. This review focuses on this new-found signaling in cell migration, axon guidance, and cerebral cortex physiological homeostasis and speculates on how it may play important roles in early arealization of the neuroepithelium. It also describes the use of homeoproteins as therapeutic proteins in mouse models of diseases affecting the central nervous system, in particular Parkinson disease and glaucoma.

Engrailed homeoprotein blocks degeneration in adult dopaminergic neurons through LINE-1 repression.

LINE-1 mobile genetic elements have shaped the mammalian genome during evolution. A minority of them have escaped fossilization which, when activated, can threaten genome integrity. We report that LINE-1 are expressed in substantia nigra ventral midbrain dopaminergic neurons, a class of neurons that degenerate in Parkinson's disease. In Engrailed-1 heterozygotes, these neurons show a progressive degeneration that starts at 6 weeks of age, coinciding with an increase in LINE-1 expression. Similarly, DNA damage and cell death, induced by an acute oxidative stress applied to embryonic midbrain neurons in culture or to adult midbrain dopaminergic neurons in vivo, are accompanied by enhanced LINE-1 expression. Reduction of LINE-1 activity through (i) direct transcriptional repression by Engrailed, (ii) a siRNA directed against LINE-1, (iii) the nucleoside analogue reverse transcriptase inhibitor stavudine, and (iv) viral Piwil1 expression, protects against oxidative stress in vitro and in vivo We thus propose that LINE-1 overexpression triggers oxidative stress-induced DNA strand breaks and that an Engrailed adult function is to protect mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons through the repression of LINE-1 expression.

Genitogluteal porokeratosis: a clinical review.

Porokeratosis is an uncommon disorder of keratinization that presents with keratotic papules or annular plaques that expand centrifugally with a thread-like elevated border. A distinctive histologic structure, the cornoid lamella, is diagnostic of this disorder and consists of a column of parakeratosis with the absence of the granular layer and dyskeratotic cells in the upper spinous zone. Porokeratosis confined to the genitogluteal region is rare and may be subclassified into three types, namely, classical porokeratosis on the genital region, ptychotropic porokeratosis most often seen in the natal cleft and buttocks and penoscrotal porokeratosis that is seen on the penis and adjacent scrotal skin in young men in their third decade of life. Genitogluteal porokeratosis is usually pruritic and may be undiagnosed for several years as it does not resemble classical porokeratosis in many cases; however, a biopsy is diagnostic. In general, response of genital porokeratosis to any modality of treatment is disappointing. No malignant changes have hereto been reported in porokeratosis restricted to the genitogluteal region.