769 research outputs found

    High-sensitivity optical measurement of mechanical Brownian motion

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    We describe an experiment in which a laser beam is sent into a high-finesse optical cavity with a mirror coated on a mechanical resonator. We show that the reflected light is very sensitive to small mirror displacements. We have observed the Brownian motion of the resonator with a very high sensitivity.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, RevTe

    T-cell cytotoxicity in the absence of viral protein synthesis in target cells

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    CYTOTOXIC T cells lyse only those virus infected target cells in vitro which express, in addition to the viral antigen(s), those K or D region products of the major histocompati-bility complex (MHC) which were present during anti-viral sensitisation in vivo. This 'associative recogniton' by cytotoxic T cells could reflect the interaction of two T-cell receptors with specificity for target K or D gene products and independently for the viral antigen, or one receptor with specificity for virally altered K or D region products (see ref. 1 and refs therein). There are various ways that the MHC antigens could be altered, including 'modification from within', where the virus modifies host protein synthesis by interfering with transcription2, translation or post-translational glycosylation; or 'modification from without' where enzymic or chemical alteration of cell membrane proteins are induced by virus activity at the cell surface. In this report we show that inactivated Sendai virus or isolated Sendai virus envelopes can serve to modify a cell and make it a specific target for Sendai-immune T-cell killing, thus excluding the possibility of 'modification from within' in this system

    The effect of glycosidases on the survival of rat erythrocytes in circulation

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    Enzymic removal of sialyl groups from mammalian erythrocytes resulted in their rapid sequestration from circulation subsequent to autologous transfusion. It has been demonstrated by many investigators that the terminal [beta]--galactosyl group, exposed on red blood cell by in vitro desialosylation, is recognized by an autoimmune anti-galactosyl IgG and/or by a lectin-like receptor on monocytes and macrophages. It is demonstrated herein that the disaccharide structure [beta]--Galp-(1-->3)--GalpNAc (a) is masked in normal rat RBC, but exposed in asialo-RBC; (b) could be detected with fluorescently-labeled peanut agglutinin; (c) could be released from the asialo-RBC with an endo-N-acetyl-[alpha]--galactosaminidase; and (d) upon its removal by treatment with the endo-N-acetyl-[alpha]--galactosaminidase, enhances the survival of the asialo-RBC in circulation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/27216/1/0000220.pd

    Flow cytometric analysis of human erythrocytes: I. Probed with lectins and immunoglobulins

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    A recent review (Aminoff, 1988) summarized the evidence for and against our hypothesis for the role of glycophorin in the senescence and clearance of mammalian red blood cells (RBC) from circulation. This hypothesis postulates the loss of sialic acid from RBC surface in two forms: (a) as vesicles containing the sialoglycoprotein glycophorin, and (b) as free sialic acid residues from glycophorin molecules remaining on cell surface. In this report we demonstrate the applicability of flow cytometric procedures to explore, at the cellular level, time-dependent changes on RBC surface with change in cell size, and with in vivo age. The RBC are probed with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labelled lectins and goat anti-human-IgG and -IgM. The relative intensity of fluorescence is correlated to the change in RBC size as measured by forward lightscatter. Reactivity of RBC with FITC-labelled wheat germ agglutinin can be inhibited with either 0.2M N-acetylglucosamine or by removal of sialic acid residues with neuraminidase. The properties of the smallest RBC correspond to those of the oldest RBC in their: (a) decreased reactivity with FITC-labelled lectins that recognize sialic acid residues, wheat germ and Limax flavus agglutinins, and (b) increased reactivity with FITC-labelled goat anti-human-IgG and -IgM. These results are compatible with our glycophorin hypothesis. Moreover, they suggest that the initial loss of sialic acid as glycophorin containing vesicles is gradual, while the subsequent step involving the loss of sialic acid residues is rapid and exposes multiple disaccharide galactose [beta](1-3)N-acetylgalacosaminyl residues. These unmasked disaccharide sites are recognized by autoimmune IgG, IgM, and lectin-like receptors on macrophages resulting in the clearance of senescent RBC from circulation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29600/1/0000689.pd

    Coherent Evolution of Bouncing Bose-Einstein Condensates

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    We investigate the evolution of Bose-Einstein condensates falling under gravity and bouncing off a mirror formed by a far-detuned sheet of light. After reflection, the atomic density profile develops splitting and interference structures which depend on the drop height, on the strength of the light sheet, as well as on the initial mean field energy and size of the condensate. We compare experimental results with simulations of the Gross-Pitaevski equation. A comparison with the behaviour of bouncing thermal clouds allows to identify quantum features specific for condensates.Comment: 4 page

    An adaptive inelastic magnetic mirror for Bose-Einstein condensates

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    We report the reflection and focussing of a Bose-Einstein condensate by a new pulsed magnetic mirror. The mirror is adaptive, inelastic, and of extremely high optical quality. The deviations from specularity are less than 0.5 mrad rms, making this the best atomic mirror demonstrated to date. We have also used the mirror to realize the analog of a beam-expander, producing an ultra-cold collimated fountain of matter wavesComment: 4 pages, 4 figure

    Quantum Revivals in Periodically Driven Systems close to nonlinear resonance

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    We calculate the quantum revival time for a wave-packet initially well localized in a one-dimensional potential in the presence of an external periodic modulating field. The dependence of the revival time on various parameters of the driven system is shown analytically. As an example of application of our approach, we compare the analytically obtained values of the revival time for various modulation strengths with the numerically computed ones in the case of a driven gravitational cavity. We show that they are in very good agreement.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur

    A quantum mechanical description of the experiment on the observation of gravitationally bound states

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    Quantum states in the Earth's gravitational field were observed, when ultra-cold neutrons fall under gravity. The experimental results can be described by the quantum mechanical scattering model as it is presented here. We also discuss other geometries of the experimental setup which correspond to the absence or the reversion of gravity. Since our quantum mechanical model describes, particularly, the experimentally realized situation of reversed gravity quantitatively, we can practically rule out alternative explanations of the quantum states in terms of pure confinement effects.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 4 figures, v2: references adde
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