Deletion mutants in COP9/Signalosome subunits in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe display distinct phenotypes

The COP9/signalosome complex is highly conserved in evolution and possesses significant structural similarity to the 19S regulatory lid complex of the proteasome. It also shares limited similarity to the translation initiation factor eIF3. The signalosome interacts with multiple cullins in mammalian cells. In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, the Csn1 subunit is required for the removal of covalently attached Nedd8 from Pcu1, one of three S. pombe cullins. It remains unclear whether this activity is required for all the functions ascribed to the signalosome. We previously identified Csn1 and Csn2 as signalosome subunits in S. pombe. csn1 and csn2 null mutants are DNA damage sensitive and exhibit slow DNA replication. Two further putative subunits, Csn4 and Csn5, were identified from the S. pombe genome database. Herein, we characterize null mutations of csn4 and csn5 and demonstrate that both genes are required for removal of Nedd8 from the S. pombe cullin Pcu1 and that their protein products associate with Csn1 and Csn2. However, neither csn4 nor csn5 null mutants share the csn1 and csn2 mutant phenotypes. Our data suggest that the subunits of the signalosome cannot be considered as a distinct functional unit and imply that different subunits of the signalosome mediate distinct functions

A pilot study examining garment severance damage caused by a trained sharp-weapon user

The pilot study summarized in this paper aimed to raise awareness of a gap that exists in the forensic textile science literature about damage caused to clothing by trained sharp-weapon users. A male trained in the Filipino martial arts discipline of Eskrima performed attack techniques on a physical model of a male torso covered with a 97% cotton/3% elastane knitted T-shirt, that is, a garment commonly worn by males. Fabric severance appearance created by three different, but commonly available, knives was evaluated. High-speed video was used to capture each attack. After each attack the resulting damage to the garment was assessed. This pilot study highlighted differences in severances associated with weapon selection, that is, not all knives resulted in similar patterns of textile damage. In addition, a mixture of stab and slash severances were observed. The findings demonstrated the possible misinterpretation of textile damage under these circumstances compared to damage patterns reported in the existing forensic textile science literature for more commonly occurring knife attacks (i.e. stabbings)

Generating ring currents, solitons, and svortices by stirring a Bose-Einstein condensate in a toroidal trap

We propose a simple stirring experiment to generate quantized ring currents and solitary excitations in Bose-Einstein condensates in a toroidal trap geometry. Simulations of the 3D Gross-Pitaevskii equation show that pure ring current states can be generated efficiently by adiabatic manipulation of the condensate, which can be realized on experimental time scales. This is illustrated by simulated generation of a ring current with winding number two. While solitons can be generated in quasi-1D tori, we show the even more robust generation of hybrid, solitonic vortices (svortices) in a regime of wider confinement. Svortices are vortices confined to essentially one-dimensional dynamics, which obey a similar phase-offset--velocity relationship as solitons. Marking the transition between solitons and vortices, svortices are a distinct class of symmetry-breaking stationary and uniformly rotating excited solutions of the 2D and 3D Gross-Pitaevskii equation in a toroidal trapping potential. Svortices should be observable in dilute-gas experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in J. Phys. B (Letters

Surface Studies of Duodenal Lesions Induced by Thoracic Irradiation

Acute duodenal ulcers are produced in mice as a remote ( abscopal ) effect of irradiation to the lower mediastinum. Such lesions have been examined with scanning electron microscopy at 5, 8 and 28 days after irradiation with 18 Gy of X-rays. All the ulcers occur within the first 1 cm long segment of the duodenum which is endowed with Brunner\u27s glands. The single lesions vary in size, shape and position. The damaged area often includes much of the duodenal circumference and is distinguished by conical or rudimentary villi, or even by the complete absence of villi. In contrast, around the periphery of the ulcer the villi are mostly vertical. Although the floor of these lesions appears to be covered with a continuous epithelial layer, during the first 4 weeks after irradiation the severity of the focal duodenal damage seems to increase gradually with time. The lesions have been compared with specimens from unirradiated mice and also with samples taken 3 days after partial thoracic irradiation when little damage is seen. The pattern of fully developed duodenal lesions differs greatly from that seen after direct irradiation where damage has not included localised ulceration in the samples of jejunum so far examined. The lesions induced by partial thoracic irradiation may be related to radiation injury to vascular or autonomic nerve targets in the lower mediastinum. Such injury could result in malfunction of the pyloric sphincter or could alter the secretion by Brunner\u27s glands and thus lead to duodenal ulceration

Bose-Einstein condensates in standing waves: The cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation with a periodic potential

We present a new family of stationary solutions to the cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation with a Jacobian elliptic function potential. In the limit of a sinusoidal potential our solutions model a dilute gas Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a standing light wave. Provided the ratio of the height of the variations of the condensate to its DC offset is small enough, both trivial phase and nontrivial phase solutions are shown to be stable. Numerical simulations suggest such stationary states are experimentally observable.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

African Water: Supporting African involvement in the EU Framework Programme.

Water researchers in developing countries have yet to take full advantage of the funding and collaborative research opportunities presented by the EU Framework Programme. There are a variety of reasons for this, such as insufficient information and a lack of previous experience. The African Water initiative aims to increase the involvement of African water researchers through a range of activities including communication and dissemination, capacity building and development, and complementary initiatives. The project has demonstrated that there is a demand for such sector-specific support activities. However, African Water is a small component of a much larger process of partnership between the developed and the less-developed countries of the world, involving many different European and African organisations working across political, institutional and technical domains, and complementing the wide range of actions already being undertaken

Quantum Many-Body Dynamics of Dark Solitons in Optical Lattices

We present a fully quantum many-body treatment of dark solitons formed by ultracold bosonic atoms in one-dimensional optical lattices. Using time-evolving block decimation to simulate the single-band Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian, we consider the quantum dynamics of density and phase engineered dark solitons as well as the quantum evolution of mean-field dark solitons injected into the quantum model. The former approach directly models how one may create quantum entangled dark solitons in experiment. While we have already presented results regarding the latter approach elsewhere [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 103}, 140403 (2009)], we expand upon those results in this work. In both cases, quantum fluctuations cause the dark soliton to fill in and may induce an inelasticity in soliton-soliton collisions. Comparisons are made to the Bogoliubov theory which predicts depletion into an anomalous mode that fills in the soliton. Our many-body treatment allows us to go beyond the Bogoliubov approximation and calculate explicitly the dynamics of the system's natural orbitals.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures -- v3 has only minor changes from v2 -- this is the print versio

Observation of Parity Nonconservation in Møller Scattering

We report a measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in fixed target electron-electron (Møller) scattering: A_(PV) = [-175 ± 30(stat)± 20(syst)] X 10^(-9). This first direct observation of parity nonconservation in Møller scattering leads to a measurement of the electron’s weak charge at low energy Q^e_W = -0:053 ± 0:011. This is consistent with the standard model expectation at the current level of precision: sin^2θ_W = (M_Z)_(MS) = 0:2293 ± 0:0024(stat) ± 0:0016(syst) ± 0:0006(theory)

Simulation with Pharmacological Agents of Radiation Damage to Small Intestinal Villi

Irradiation induces damage to intestinal villi, resulting in a progressive decline in villous height and changes in topography. Gamma and neutron radiation are reported to cause changes in the structure of smooth muscle and nerve twigs of the intestinal wall. It is possible, therefore, that villous collapse may be due partly to changes in the underlying stromal elements as a result of damage to nerve or muscle. To test this hypothesis, mice were treated with the drug reserpine which is known to affect the neural control of intestinal smooth muscle function and the small intestine was examined for topographical and histological changes. Two dose levels of reserpine were used and a group of mice were exposed to a single dose of whole body 15 Gy X-irradiation. Comparable villous collapse was observed in each group. Resin embedded semi-thin sections revealed changes in the smooth muscle cells of the muscularis externa after each treatment, suggesting a correlation between villous collapse and smooth muscle damage in response to both irradiation and drug treatment

Bound and resonance states of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation in simple model systems

The stationary nonlinear Schroedinger equation, or Gross-Pitaevskii equation, is studied for the cases of a single delta potential and a delta-shell potential. These model systems allow analytical solutions, and thus provide useful insight into the features of stationary bound, scattering and resonance states of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation. For the single delta potential, the influence of the potential strength and the nonlinearity is studied as well as the transition from bound to scattering states. Furthermore, the properties of resonance states for a repulsive delta-shell potential are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure