33 research outputs found
Interplay between elastic fields due to gravity and a partial dislocation for a hard-sphere crystal coherently grown under gravity: driving force for defect disappearance
We previously observed that an intrinsic staking fault shrunk through a glide
of a Shockley partial dislocation terminating its lower end in a hard-sphere
crystal under gravity coherently grown in by Monte Carlo simulations
[Mori et al., Molec. Phys. 105, 1377 (2007)]; it was an answer to a one-decade
long standing question why the stacking disorder in colloidal crystals reduced
under gravity [Zhu et al., Nature 387, 883 (1997)]. Here, we present an elastic
energy calculation; in addition to the self-energy of the partial dislocation
[Mori et al., Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 178, 33 (2009)] we calculate the
cross-coupling term between elastic field due to gravity and that due to a
Shockley partial dislocation. The cross term is a increasing function of the
linear dimension R over which the elastic field expands, showing that a driving
force arises for the partial dislocation moving toward the upper boundary of a
grain.Comment: 8pages, 4figures, to be published in Molecular Physic
Quantitative imaging of concentrated suspensions under flow
We review recent advances in imaging the flow of concentrated suspensions,
focussing on the use of confocal microscopy to obtain time-resolved information
on the single-particle level in these systems. After motivating the need for
quantitative (confocal) imaging in suspension rheology, we briefly describe the
particles, sample environments, microscopy tools and analysis algorithms needed
to perform this kind of experiments. The second part of the review focusses on
microscopic aspects of the flow of concentrated model hard-sphere-like
suspensions, and the relation to non-linear rheological phenomena such as
yielding, shear localization, wall slip and shear-induced ordering. Both
Brownian and non-Brownian systems will be described. We show how quantitative
imaging can improve our understanding of the connection between microscopic
dynamics and bulk flow.Comment: Review on imaging hard-sphere suspensions, incl summary of
methodology. Submitted for special volume 'High Solid Dispersions' ed. M.
Cloitre, Vol. xx of 'Advances and Polymer Science' (Springer, Berlin, 2009);
22 pages, 16 fig
Host cell species-specific effect of cyclosporine A on simian immunodeficiency virus replication
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>An understanding of host cell factors that affect viral replication contributes to elucidation of the mechanism for determination of viral tropism. Cyclophilin A (CypA), a peptidyl-prolyl <it>cis-trans </it>isomerase (PPIase), is a host factor essential for efficient replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in human cells. However, the role of cyclophilins in simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) replication has not been determined. In the present study, we examined the effect of cyclosporine A (CsA), a PPIase inhibitor, on SIV replication.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>SIV replication in human CEM-SS T cells was not inhibited but rather enhanced by treatment with CsA, which inhibited HIV-1 replication. CsA treatment of target human cells enhanced an early step of SIV replication. CypA overexpression enhanced the early phase of HIV-1 but not SIV replication, while CypA knock-down resulted in suppression of HIV-1 but not SIV replication in CEM-SS cells, partially explaining different sensitivities of HIV-1 and SIV replication to CsA treatment. In contrast, CsA treatment inhibited SIV replication in macaque T cells; CsA treatment of either virus producer or target cells resulted in suppression of SIV replication. SIV infection was enhanced by CypA overexpression in macaque target cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>CsA treatment enhanced SIV replication in human T cells but abrogated SIV replication in macaque T cells, implying a host cell species-specific effect of CsA on SIV replication. Further analyses indicated a positive effect of CypA on SIV infection into macaque but not into human T cells. These results suggest possible contribution of CypA to the determination of SIV tropism.</p