6,173 research outputs found
The crystal structure of superoxide dismutase from Plasmodium falciparum
Background: Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are important enzymes in defence against oxidative stress. In Plasmodium falciparum, they may be expected to have special significance since part of the parasite life cycle is spent in red blood cells where the formation of reactive oxygen species is likely to be promoted by the products of haemoglobin breakdown. Thus, inhibitors of P. falciparum SODs have potential as anti-malarial compounds. As a step towards their development we have determined the crystal structure of the parasite's cytosolic iron superoxide dismutase. Results: The cytosolic iron superoxide dismutase from P. falciparum (PfFeSOD) has been overexpressed in E. coli in a catalytically active form. Its crystal structure has been solved by molecular replacement and refined against data extending to 2.5 angstrom resolution. The structure reveals a two-domain organisation and an iron centre in which the metal is coordinated by three histidines, an aspartate and a solvent molecule. Consistent with ultracentrifugation analysis the enzyme is a dimer in which a hydrogen bonding lattice links the two active centres. Conclusion: The tertiary structure of PfFeSOD is very similar to those of a number of other iron-and manganese-dependent superoxide dismutases, moreover the active site residues are conserved suggesting a common mechanism of action. Comparison of the dimer interfaces of PfFeSOD with the human manganese-dependent superoxide dismutase reveals a number of differences, which may underpin the design of parasite-selective superoxide dismutase inhibitors
From Skew-Cyclic Codes to Asymmetric Quantum Codes
We introduce an additive but not -linear map from
to and exhibit some of its interesting
structural properties. If is a linear -code, then is an
additive -code. If is an additive cyclic code then
is an additive quasi-cyclic code of index . Moreover, if is a module
-cyclic code, a recently introduced type of code which will be
explained below, then is equivalent to an additive cyclic code if is
odd and to an additive quasi-cyclic code of index if is even. Given any
-code , the code is self-orthogonal under the trace
Hermitian inner product. Since the mapping preserves nestedness, it can be
used as a tool in constructing additive asymmetric quantum codes.Comment: 16 pages, 3 tables, submitted to Advances in Mathematics of
Communication
Amp\`ere-Class Pulsed Field Emission from Carbon-Nanotube Cathodes in a Radiofrequency Resonator
Pulsed field emission from cold carbon-nanotube cathodes placed in a
radiofrequency resonant cavity was observed. The cathodes were located on the
backplate of a conventional -cell resonant cavity operating at
1.3-GHz and resulted in the production of bunch train with maximum average
current close to 0.7 Amp\`ere. The measured Fowler-Nordheim characteristic,
transverse emittance, and pulse duration are presented and, when possible,
compared to numerical simulations. The implications of our results to
high-average-current electron sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; submitted to Applied Physics Letter
Quantum internal modes of solitons in 1d easy-plane antiferromagnet in strong magnetic field
In presence of a strong external magnetic field the dynamics of solitons in a
one-dimensional easy-plane Heisenberg antiferromagnet exhibits a number of
peculiarities. Dynamics of internal soliton degrees of freedom is essentially
quantum, and they are strongly coupled to the "translational" mode of soliton
movement. These peculiarities lead to considerable changes in the response
functions of the system which can be detected experimentally.Comment: 8 pages, RevTeX, 6 figures, uses psfig.sty, submitted to PR
On the Asymptotic Stability of De-Sitter Spacetime: a non-linear perturbative approach
We derive evolution and constraint equations for second order perturbations
of flat dust homogeneous and isotropic solutions to the Einstein field
equations using all scalar, vector and tensor perturbation modes. We show that
the perturbations decay asymptotically in time and that the solutions converge
to the De-Sitter solution. By induction, this result is valid for perturbations
of arbitrary order. This is in agreement with the cosmic no-hair conjecture of
Gibbons and Hawking.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
Introducing the Dark Energy Universe Simulation Series (DEUSS)
In this "Invisible Universe" proceedings, we introduce the Dark Energy
Universe Simulation Series (DEUSS) which aim at investigating the imprints of
realistic dark energy models on cosmic structure formation. It represents the
largest dynamical dark energy simulation suite to date in term of spatial
dynamics. We first present the 3 realistic dark energy models (calibrated on
latest SNIa and CMB data): LambdaCDM, quintessence with Ratra-Peebles
potential, and quintessence with Sugra potential. We then isolate various
contributions for non-linear matter power spectra from a series of pre-DEUSS
high-resolution simulations (130 million particles). Finally, we introduce
DEUSS which consist in 9 Grand Challenge runs with 1 billion particles each
thus probing scales from 4 Gpc down to 3 kpc at z=0. Our goal is to make these
simulations available to the community through the "Dark Energy Universe
Virtual Observatory" (DEUVO), and the "Dark Energy Universe Simulations" (DEUS)
consortium.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the AIP proceedings of the
'Invisible Universe International Conference', UNESCO-Paris, June 29-July 3,
200
Polarized distribution of HCO3- transport in human normal and cystic fibrosis nasal epithelia
The polarized distribution of HCO3− transport was investigated in human nasal epithelial cells from normal and cystic fibrosis (CF) tissues. To test for HCO3− transport via conductive versus electroneutral Cl−/HCO3− exchange (anion exchange, AE) pathways, nasal cells were loaded with the pH probe 2′,7′-bis(carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein and mounted in a bilateral perfusion chamber. In normal, but not CF, epithelia, replacing mucosal Cl− with gluconate caused intracellular pH (pHi) to increase, and the initial rates (ΔpH min−1) of this increase were modestly augmented (∼26 %) when normal cells were pretreated with forskolin (10 μm). Recovery from this alkaline shift was dependent on mucosal Cl−, was insensitive to the AE inhibitor 4,4′-diisothiocyanatodihydrostilbene-2,2′-disulfonic acid (H2DIDS; 1.5 mm), but was sensitive to the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) channel inhibitor diphenylamine-2-carboxylate (DPC; 100 μm). In contrast, removal of serosal Cl− caused pHi to alkalinize in both normal and CF epithelia. Recovery from this alkaline challenge was dependent on serosal Cl− and blocked by H2DIDS. Additional studies showed that serosally applied Ba2+ (5.0 mm) in normal, but not CF, cells induced influx of HCO3− across the apical membrane that was reversibly blocked by mucosal DPC. In a final series of studies, normal and CF cells acutely alkaline loaded by replacing bilateral Krebs bicarbonate Ringer (KBR) with Hepes-buffered Ringer solution exhibited basolateral, but not apical, recovery from an alkaline challenge that was dependent on Cl−, independent of Na+ and blocked by H2DIDS. We conclude that: (1) normal, but not CF, nasal epithelia have a constitutively active DPC-sensitive HCO3− influx/efflux pathway across the apical membrane of cells, consistent with the movement of HCO3− via CFTR; and (2) both normal and CF nasal epithelia have Na+-independent, H2DIDS-sensitive AE at their basolateral domain
The aerosol-climate model ECHAM5-HAM
The aerosol-climate modelling system ECHAM5-HAM is introduced. It is based on a flexible microphysical approach and, as the number of externally imposed parameters is minimised, allows the application in a wide range of climate regimes. ECHAM5-HAM predicts the evolution of an ensemble of microphysically interacting internally- and externally-mixed aerosol populations as well as their size-distribution and composition. The size-distribution is represented by a superposition of log-normal modes. In the current setup, the major global aerosol compounds sulfate (SU), black carbon (BC), particulate organic matter (POM), sea salt (SS), and mineral dust (DU) are included. The simulated global annual mean aerosol burdens (lifetimes) for the year 2000 are for SU: 0.80 Tg(S) (3.9 days), for BC: 0.11 Tg (5.4 days), for POM: 0.99 Tg (5.4 days), for SS: 10.5 Tg (0.8 days), and for DU: 8.28 Tg (4.6 days). An extensive evaluation with in-situ and remote sensing measurements underscores that the model results are generally in good agreement with observations of the global aerosol system. The simulated global annual mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) is with 0.14 in excellent agreement with an estimate derived from AERONET measurements (0.14) and a composite derived from MODIS-MISR satellite retrievals (0.16). Regionally, the deviations are not negligible. However, the main patterns of AOD attributable to anthropogenic activity are reproduced
On the String Consensus Problem and the Manhattan Sequence Consensus Problem
In the Manhattan Sequence Consensus problem (MSC problem) we are given
integer sequences, each of length , and we are to find an integer sequence
of length (called a consensus sequence), such that the maximum
Manhattan distance of from each of the input sequences is minimized. For
binary sequences Manhattan distance coincides with Hamming distance, hence in
this case the string consensus problem (also called string center problem or
closest string problem) is a special case of MSC. Our main result is a
practically efficient -time algorithm solving MSC for sequences.
Practicality of our algorithms has been verified experimentally. It improves
upon the quadratic algorithm by Amir et al.\ (SPIRE 2012) for string consensus
problem for binary strings. Similarly as in Amir's algorithm we use a
column-based framework. We replace the implied general integer linear
programming by its easy special cases, due to combinatorial properties of the
MSC for . We also show that for a general parameter any instance
can be reduced in linear time to a kernel of size , so the problem is
fixed-parameter tractable. Nevertheless, for this is still too large
for any naive solution to be feasible in practice.Comment: accepted to SPIRE 201
Spin dynamics in copper metaborate studied by muon spin relaxation
Copper metaborate CuBO was studied by muon spin relaxation
measurements in order to clarify its static and dynamic magnetic properties.
The time spectra of muon spin depolarization suggest that the local fields at
the muon site contain both static and fluctuating components in all ordered
phases down to 0.3 K. In the weak ferromagnetic phase (20 K~~9.3 K), the
static component is dominant. On the other hand, upon cooling the fluctuating
component becomes dominant in the incommensurate helix phase (9.3K > T > 1.4K).
The dynamical fluctuations of the local fields persist down to 0.3K, where a
new incommensurate phase (T < 1.4K) is expected to appear. This result suggests
that spins fluctuate even at T \to 0. We propose two possible origins of the
remnant dynamical spin fluctuations: frustration of the exchange interactions
and the dynamic behavior of the soliton lattice
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