THE EFFECTS OF ISOPROPYL N-PHENYL CARBAMATE ON THE GREEN ALGA OEDOGONIUM CARDIACUM : I. Cell Division

Cell division in vegetative filaments of the green alga Oedogonium cardiacum is presented as an experimental system. We report on how we have used this system to study the effects of isopropyl N-phenylcarbamate (IPC) on the mitotic apparatus and on the phycoplast, a planar array of cytokinetic microtubules. Polymerization of microtubules was prevented when filaments, synchronized by a light/dark regime and chilled (2°C) while in metaphase or just before phycoplast formation, were exposed to 5.5 x 10-4 M IPC and then returned to room temperature. Spindles reformed or phycoplasts formed when these filaments were transferred to growth medium free of IPC. However, the orientation of both microtubular systems was disturbed: the mitotic apparatus often contained three poles, frequently forming three daughter nuclei upon karyokinesis; the phycoplast was often stellate rather than planar, and it sometimes was displaced to the side of both daughter nuclei, resulting in a binucleate and an anucleate cell upon cytokinesis. Our results suggest that IPC (a) prevents the assembly of microtubules, (b) increases the number of functional polar bodies, and (c) affects the orientation of microtubules in O. cardiacum. High voltage (1,000 kV) electron microscopy of 0.5-µm thick sections allowed us to visualize the polar structures, which were not discernible in thin sections

Structure and texture of the quark mass matrix

Starting from a weak basis in which the up (or down) quark matrix is diagonal, we obtain an exact set of equations for the quark mass matrix elements in terms of known observables. We make a numerical analysis of the down (up) quark mass matrix. Using the data available for the quark masses and mixing angles at different energy scales, we found a numerical expression for these matrices. We suggest that it is not possible to have an specific texture from this analysis. We also examine the most general case when the complex phases are introduced in the mass matrix. We find the numerical value for these phases as a function of $\delta$, the CP-violationg phase.Comment: 7 pages, we use the macros of Elsevie

Implementing quantum gates through scattering between a static and a flying qubit

We investigate whether a two-qubit quantum gate can be implemented in a scattering process involving a flying and a static qubit. To this end, we focus on a paradigmatic setup made out of a mobile particle and a quantum impurity, whose respective spin degrees of freedom couple to each other during a one-dimensional scattering process. Once a condition for the occurrence of quantum gates is derived in terms of spin-dependent transmission coefficients, we show that this can be actually fulfilled through the insertion of an additional narrow potential barrier. An interesting observation is that under resonance conditions the above enables a gate only for isotropic Heisenberg (exchange) interactions and fails for an XY interaction. We show the existence of parameter regimes for which gates able to establish a maximum amount of entanglement can be implemented. The gates are found to be robust to variations of the optimal parameters.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

BCS-Universal Ratios within the Van Hove Scenario

The central result of BCS theory are the Universal Ratios which do not depend on physical parameters of the superconductor under study. Several attempts have been made to introduce the van Hove Scenario within BCS theory but in none of them the Universal Ratios of conventional superconductivity appear to be a number independent of parameters. This fact prevents the precise definition of a deviation from the BCS value for a particular superconductor. This concept is at the basis of several applications of BCS theory in characterizing conventional superconductors. We define a system that constitutes a weak coupling limit that retains the essential features of the high-Tc oxides and which does not differ in any essential way from other models widely used in generalizations of BCS theory to high-Tc superconductors. The difference is that we found a natural way of dealing with the mathematics of the problem so as to get Universal Ratios in the same sense as in conventional superconductivity.Comment: 11 PAGES, NO FIGURES, REVTEX 3.

Roles of binding elements, FOXL2 domains, and interactions with cJUN and SMADs in regulation of FSHβ.

We previously identified FOXL2 as a critical component in FSHβ gene transcription. Here, we show that mice deficient in FOXL2 have lower levels of gonadotropin gene expression and fewer LH- and FSH-containing cells, but the same level of other pituitary hormones compared to wild-type littermates, highlighting a role of FOXL2 in the pituitary gonadotrope. Further, we investigate the function of FOXL2 in the gonadotrope cell and determine which domains of the FOXL2 protein are necessary for induction of FSHβ transcription. There is a stronger induction of FSHβ reporter transcription by truncated FOXL2 proteins, but no induction with the mutant lacking the forkhead domain. Specifically, FOXL2 plays a role in activin induction of FSHβ, functioning in concert with activin-induced SMAD proteins. Activin acts through multiple promoter elements to induce FSHβ expression, some of which bind FOXL2. Each of these FOXL2-binding sites is either juxtaposed or overlapping with a SMAD-binding element. We determined that FOXL2 and SMAD4 proteins form a higher order complex on the most proximal FOXL2 site. Surprisingly, two other sites important for activin induction bind neither SMADs nor FOXL2, suggesting additional factors at work. Furthermore, we show that FOXL2 plays a role in synergistic induction of FSHβ by GnRH and activin through interactions with the cJUN component of the AP1 complex that is necessary for GnRH responsiveness. Collectively, our results demonstrate the necessity of FOXL2 for proper FSH production in mice and implicate FOXL2 in integration of transcription factors at the level of the FSHβ promoter

Novel Selective Agents for the Degradation of Androgen Receptor Variants to Treat Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Acknowledgements: The authors thank Mr. Maron Lee Barrett and Ms. Mayra Star for their technical help. The authors thank Dr. Dejian Ma for his technical help with the NMR studies. The authors thank the UTHSC and St. Jude NMR core for their help with the NMR studies. The authors thank Drs. Robert Getzenberg and Michael Mohler for providing useful comments on the manuscript. The authors thank Ms. Brandy Grimes for her help with tissue procurement. The authors thank Dr. Daniel Johnson of UT BioCore for microarray data analysis and Mr. Lorne Rose of UT-MRC core for microarray studies. Funding Source: The research presented in this manuscript was supported by a research funding provided by GTx, Inc. Memphis, TN to R. Narayanan and by a research funding provided by West Cancer Center to R. Narayanan.Peer reviewedPostprin

A search for W bb and W Higgs production in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

We present a search for W b \bar{b} production in p \bar{p} collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV in events containing one electron, an imbalance in transverse momentum, and two b-tagged jets. Using 174 pb-1 of integrated luminosity accumulated by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron collider, and the standard-model description of such events, we set a 95% C.L. upper limit on W b \bar{b}$production of 6.6 pb for b quarks with transverse momenta p_T^b > 20 GeV and b \bar{b} separation in pseudorapidity-azimuth space Delta R_bb > 0.75. Restricting the search to optimized b \bar{b} mass intervals provides upper limits on$WH$production of 9.0$-$12.2 pb, for Higgs-boson masses of 105$-$135 GeV.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Measurement of the Ratio of B+ and B0 Meson Lifetimes

The ratio of B+ and B0 meson lifetimes was measured using data collected in 2002-2004 by the D0 experiment in Run II of the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. These mesons were reconstructed in B -> mu+ nu D*- X decays, which are dominated by B0, and B ->mu+ nu D0bar X decays, which are dominated by B+. The ratio of lifetimes is measured to be t+/t0 = 1.080 +- 0.016(stat) +- 0.014(syst).Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, to be submitted to Physical Review Letter