Chemotaxis Study Using Optical Tweezers To Observe The Strength And Directionality Of Forces Of Leishmania Amazonensis

The displacements of a dielectric microspheres trapped by an optical tweezers (OT) can be used as a force transducer for mechanical measurements in life sciences. This system can measure forces on the 50 femto Newtons to 200 pico Newtons range, of the same order of magnitude of a typical forces induced by flagellar motion. The process in which living microorganisms search for food and run away from poison chemicals is known is chemotaxy. Optical tweezers can be used to obtain a better understanding of chemotaxy by observing the force response of the microorganism when placed in a gradient of attractors and or repelling chemicals. This report shows such observations for the protozoa Leishmania amazomenzis, responsible for the leishmaniasis, a serious tropical disease. We used a quadrant detector to monitor the movement of the protozoa for different chemicals gradient. This way we have been able to observe both the force strength and its directionality. The characterization of the chemotaxis of these parasites can help to understand the infection mechanics and improve the diagnosis and the treatments employed for this disease.6326Law, A.M.J., Aitken, M.D., Continuous-flow capillary assay for measuring bacterial chemotaxi (2005) Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 71 (6), pp. 3137-3143Khan, S., Jain, S., Reid, G.P., Trentham, D.R., The fast tumble signal in bacterial chemotaxis (2004) Biophysical Journal, 86 (6), pp. 4049-4058Neuman, K.C., Chadd, E.H., Liou, G.F., Bergman, K., Block, S.M., Characterization of photodamage to Escherichia coli in optical traps (1999) Biophysical Journal, 77 (5), pp. 2856-2863Who, World Health Organization, 2001Gontijo, B., Carvalho, M.L.R., Leishmaniose tegumentar Americana (2003) Revista da Sociedade Brasileira de Medicina Tropical, 36 (1), pp. 71-80Handman, E., Cell biology of Leishmania (2000) Advances in Parasitology, 44, pp. 1-39Rice, S.E., Purcell, T.J., Spudich, J.A., Building and using optical traps to study properties of molecular motors (2003) Biophotonics, PT B, 361, pp. 112-133Rohrbach, A., Stelzer, E.H.K., Three-dimensional position detection of optically trapped dielectric particles (2002) Journal of Applied Physics, 91 (8), pp. 5474-5488Gittes, F., Schmidt, C.F., Interference model for back-focal-plane displacement detection in optical tweezers (1998) Optics Letters, 23 (1), pp. 7-9Allersma, M.W., Gittes, F., DeCastro, M.J., Stewart, R.J., Schmidt, C.F., Two-dimensional tracking of ncd motiliry by back focal plane interferometry (1998) Biophysical Journal, 74 (2), pp. 1074-108

Modeling the Subsurface Structure of Sunspots

While sunspots are easily observed at the solar surface, determining their subsurface structure is not trivial. There are two main hypotheses for the subsurface structure of sunspots: the monolithic model and the cluster model. Local helioseismology is the only means by which we can investigate subphotospheric structure. However, as current linear inversion techniques do not yet allow helioseismology to probe the internal structure with sufficient confidence to distinguish between the monolith and cluster models, the development of physically realistic sunspot models are a priority for helioseismologists. This is because they are not only important indicators of the variety of physical effects that may influence helioseismic inferences in active regions, but they also enable detailed assessments of the validity of helioseismic interpretations through numerical forward modeling. In this paper, we provide a critical review of the existing sunspot models and an overview of numerical methods employed to model wave propagation through model sunspots. We then carry out an helioseismic analysis of the sunspot in Active Region 9787 and address the serious inconsistencies uncovered by \citeauthor{gizonetal2009}~(\citeyear{gizonetal2009,gizonetal2009a}). We find that this sunspot is most probably associated with a shallow, positive wave-speed perturbation (unlike the traditional two-layer model) and that travel-time measurements are consistent with a horizontal outflow in the surrounding moat.Comment: 73 pages, 19 figures, accepted by Solar Physic

Organic nitrate aerosol formation via NO³ + biogenic volatile organic compounds in the southeastern United States

Gas- and aerosol-phase measurements of oxidants, biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and organic nitrates made during the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS campaign, Summer 2013) in central Alabama show that a nitrate radical (NO₃) reaction with monoterpenes leads to significant secondary aerosol formation. Cumulative losses of NO₃ to terpenes are correlated with increase in gasand aerosol-organic nitrate concentrations made during the campaign. Correlation of NO₃ radical consumption to organic nitrate aerosol formation as measured by aerosol mass spectrometry and thermal dissociation laser-induced fluorescence suggests a molar yield of aerosol-phase monoterpene nitrates of 23–44 %. Compounds observed via chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) are correlated to predicted nitrate loss to BVOCs and show C₁₀H₁₇NO₅, likely a hydroperoxy nitrate, is a major nitrate-oxidized terpene product being incorporated into aerosols. The comparable isoprene product C₅H₉NO₅ was observed to contribute less than 1% of the total organic nitrate in the aerosol phase and correlations show that it is principally a gas-phase product from nitrate oxidation of isoprene. Organic nitrates comprise between 30 and 45% of the NOy budget during SOAS. Inorganic nitrates were also monitored and showed that during incidents of increased coarse-mode mineral dust, HNO₃ uptake produced nitrate aerosol mass loading at a rate comparable to that of organic nitrate produced via NO₃ CBVOCs

Test of Lorentz and CPT violation with Short Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Excesses

The sidereal time dependence of MiniBooNE electron neutrino and anti-electron neutrino appearance data are analyzed to search for evidence of Lorentz and CPT violation. An unbinned Kolmogorov-Smirnov test shows both the electron neutrino and anti-electron neutrino appearance data are compatible with the null sidereal variation hypothesis to more than 5%. Using an unbinned likelihood fit with a Lorentz-violating oscillation model derived from the Standard Model Extension (SME) to describe any excess events over background, we find that the electron neutrino appearance data prefer a sidereal time-independent solution, and the anti-electron neutrino appearance data slightly prefer a sidereal time-dependent solution. Limits of order 10E-20 GeV are placed on combinations of SME coefficients. These limits give the best limits on certain SME coefficients for muon neutrino to electron neutrino and anti-muon neutrino to anti-electron neutrino oscillations. The fit values and limits of combinations of SME coefficients are provided.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, and 2 tables, submitted to Physics Letters