Staurosporine induces necroptotic cell death under caspase-compromised conditions in U937 cells

For a long time necrosis was thought to be an uncontrolled process but evidences recently have revealed that necrosis can also occur in a regulated manner. Necroptosis, a type of programmed necrosis is defined as a death receptor-initiated process under caspase-compromised conditions. The process requires the kinase activity of receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 and 3 (RIPK1 and RIPK3) and mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL), as a substrate of RIPK3. The further downstream events remain elusive. We applied known inhibitors to characterize the contributing enzymes in necroptosis and their effect on cell viability and different cellular functions were detected mainly by flow cytometry. Here we report that staurosporine, the classical inducer of intrinsic apoptotic pathway can induce necroptosis under caspase-compromised conditions in U937 cell line. This process could be hampered at least partially by the RIPK1 inhibitor necrotstin-1 and by the heat shock protein 90 kDa inhibitor geldanamycin. Moreover both the staurosporine-triggered and the classical death ligand-induced necroptotic pathway can be effectively arrested by a lysosomal enzyme inhibitor CA-074-OMe and the recently discovered MLKL inhibitor necrosulfonamide. We also confirmed that the enzymatic role of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) is dispensable in necroptosis but it contributes to membrane disruption in secondary necrosis. In conclusion, we identified a novel way of necroptosis induction that can facilitate our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of necroptosis. Our results shed light on alternative application of staurosporine, as a possible anticancer therapeutic agent. Furthermore, we showed that the CA-074-OMe has a target in the signaling pathway leading to necroptosis. Finally, we could differentiate necroptotic and secondary necrotic processes based on participation of PARP enzyme

Novel multiple-band superconductor SrPt2As2

We present LDA calculated electronic structure of recently discovered superconductor SrPt2As2 with Tc=5.2K. Despite its chemical composition and crystal structure are somehow similar to FeAs-based high-temperature superconductors, the electronic structure of SrPt2As2 is very much different. Crystal structure is orthorhombic (or tetragonal if idealized) and has layered nature with alternating PtAs4 and AsPt4 tetrahedra slabs sandwiched with Sr ions. The Fermi level is crossed by Pt-5d states with rather strong admixture of As-4p states. Fermi surface of SrPt2As2 is essentially three dimensional, with complicated sheets corresponding to multiple bands. We compare SrPt2As2 with 1111 and 122 representatives of FeAs-class of superconductors, as well as with isovalent (Ba,Sr)Ni2As2 superconductors. Brief discussion of superconductivity in SrPt2As2 is also presented.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Peculiarities of the Weyl - Wigner - Moyal formalism for scalar charged particles

A description of scalar charged particles, based on the Feshbach-Villars formalism, is proposed. Particles are described by an object that is a Wigner function in usual coordinates and momenta and a density matrix in the charge variable. It is possible to introduce the usual Wigner function for a large class of dynamical variables. Such an approach explicitly contains a measuring device frame. From our point of view it corresponds to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. It is shown how physical properties of such particles depend on the definition of the coordinate operator. The evolution equation for the Wigner function of a single-charge state in the classical limit coincides with the Liouville equation. Localization peculiarities manifest themselves in specific constraints on possible initial conditions.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Large random correlations in individual mean field spin glass samples

We argue that complex systems must possess long range correlations and illustrate this idea on the example of the mean field spin glass model. Defined on the complete graph, this model has no genuine concept of distance, but the long range character of correlations is translated into a broad distribution of the spin-spin correlation coefficients for almost all realizations of the random couplings. When we sample the whole phase space we find that this distribution is so broad indeed that at low temperatures it essentially becomes uniform, with all possible correlation values appearing with the same probability. The distribution of correlations inside a single phase space valley is also studied and found to be much narrower.Comment: Added a few references and a comment phras

Notes about the Caratheodory number

In this paper we give sufficient conditions for a compactum in $\mathbb R^n$ to have Carath\'{e}odory number less than $n+1$, generalizing an old result of Fenchel. Then we prove the corresponding versions of the colorful Carath\'{e}odory theorem and give a Tverberg type theorem for families of convex compacta

Comment on ``Critical Behavior in Disordered Quantum Systems Modified by Broken Time--Reversal Symmetry''

In a recent Letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 1003 (1998)] Hussein and Pato employed the maximum entropy principle (MEP) in order to derive interpolating ensembles between any pair of universality classes in random matrix theory. They apply their formalism also to the transition from random matrix to Poisson statistics of spectra that is observed for the case of the Anderson-type metal-insulator transition. We point out the problems with the latter procedure.Comment: 1 page in PS, to appear in PRL Sept. 2

On Renyi entropies characterizing the shape and the extension of the phase space representation of quantum wave functions in disordered systems

We discuss some properties of the generalized entropies, called Renyi entropies and their application to the case of continuous distributions. In particular it is shown that these measures of complexity can be divergent, however, their differences are free from these divergences thus enabling them to be good candidates for the description of the extension and the shape of continuous distributions. We apply this formalism to the projection of wave functions onto the coherent state basis, i.e. to the Husimi representation. We also show how the localization properties of the Husimi distribution on average can be reconstructed from its marginal distributions that are calculated in position and momentum space in the case when the phase space has no structure, i.e. no classical limit can be defined. Numerical simulations on a one dimensional disordered system corroborate our expectations.Comment: 8 pages with 2 embedded eps figures, RevTex4, AmsMath included, submitted to PR