623 research outputs found
Allan Variance Analysis as Useful Tool to Determine Noise in Various Single-Molecule Setups
One limitation on the performance of optical traps is the noise inherently
present in every setup. Therefore, it is the desire of most experimentalists to
minimize and possibly eliminate noise from their optical trapping experiments.
A step in this direction is to quantify the actual noise in the system and to
evaluate how much each particular component contributes to the overall noise.
For this purpose we present Allan variance analysis as a straightforward
method. In particular, it allows for judging the impact of drift which gives
rise to low-frequency noise, which is extremely difficult to pinpoint by other
methods. We show how to determine the optimal sampling time for calibration,
the optimal number of data points for a desired experiment, and we provide
measurements of how much accuracy is gained by acquiring additional data
points. Allan variances of both micrometer-sized spheres and asymmetric
nanometer-sized rods are considered.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, presented at SPIE Optics+Photonics 2009 in San
Diego, CA, US
Myxococcus xanthus gliding motors are elastically coupled to the substrate as predicted by the focal adhesion model of gliding motility
Myxococcus xanthus is a model organism for studying bacterial social
behaviors due to its ability to form complex multi-cellular structures.
Knowledge of M. xanthus surface gliding motility and the mechanisms that
coordinate it are critically important to our understanding of collective cell
behaviors. Although the mechanism of gliding motility is still under
investigation, recent experiments suggest that there are two possible
mechanisms underlying force production for cell motility: the focal adhesion
mechanism and the helical rotor mechanism which differ in the biophysics of the
cell-substrate interactions. Whereas the focal adhesion model predicts an
elastic coupling, the helical rotor model predicts a viscous coupling. Using a
combination of computational modeling, imaging, and force microscopy, we find
evidence for elastic coupling in support of the focal adhesion model. Using a
biophysical model of the M. xanthus cell, we investigated how the mechanical
interactions between cells are affected by interactions with the substrate.
Comparison of modeling results with experimental data for cell-cell collision
events pointed to a strong, elastic attachment between the cell and substrate.
These results are robust to variations in the mechanical and geometrical
parameters of the model. We then directly measured the motor-substrate coupling
by monitoring the motion of optically trapped beads and find that motor
velocity decreases exponentially with opposing load. At high loads, motor
velocity approaches zero velocity asymptotically and motors remain bound to
beads indicating a strong, elastic attachment
MesonNet Workshop on Meson Transition Form Factors
The mini-proceedings of the Workshop on Meson Transition Form Factors held in
Cracow from May 29th to 30th, 2012 introduce the meson transition form factor
project with special emphasis on the interrelations between the various form
factors (on-shell, single off-shell, double off-shell). Short summaries of the
talks presented at the workshop follow.Comment: 69 pages, 14 figures; all talks can be found at
https://sites.google.com/site/mesonnetwork/home/activities/form-factor-workshop-2012;
v2: workshop link updated (as the page had to be moved to a commercial
server), table 6 correcte
Determination of the eta'-proton scattering length in free space
Taking advantage of both the high mass resolution of the COSY-11 detector and
the high energy resolution of the low-emittance proton-beam of the Cooler
Synchrotron COSY we determine the excitation function for the pp --> pp eta'
reaction close-to-threshold. Combining these data with previous results we
extract the scattering length for the eta'-proton potential in free space to be
Re(a_{p eta'}) = 0+-0.43 fm and Im(a_{p eta'}) = 0.37(+0.40)(-0.16) fm.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Poly(3-alkylthiophenes): new sorption materials for solid phase microextraction of drugs isolated from human plasma
A novel sorbent in solid phase microextraction (SPME) method based on poly(3-alkylthiophenes) was used in the isolation of linezolid from human plasma samples following liquid chromatography determination. The effect of extraction time on the sorption capacity of the SPME process was studied and pointed at 10 min both for adsorption and desorption. Poly(3-methylthiophene) and poly(3-nonylthiophene) were applied for the extraction of linezolid from water solutions. In plasma samples, four coatings including polythiophene and poly(3-penthylthiophene) were investigated. With these measurements, correlation coefficients were calculated in the range from 0.9820 to 0.9995, and the relative standard deviations were below 15%. That allowed claiming that the synthesized and described materials can be successfully applied in the analysis of linezolid also from other matrices such as urine or blood
Single-molecule observations of topotecan-mediated TopIB activity at a unique DNA sequence
The rate of DNA supercoil removal by human topoisomerase IB (TopIB) is slowed down by the presence of the camptothecin class of antitumor drugs. By preventing religation, these drugs also prolong the lifetime of the covalent TopIB–DNA complex. Here, we use magnetic tweezers to measure the rate of supercoil removal by drug-bound TopIB at a single DNA sequence in real time. This is accomplished by covalently linking camptothecins to a triple helix-forming oligonucleotide that binds at one location on the DNA molecule monitored. Surprisingly, we find that the DNA dynamics with the TopIB–drug interaction restricted to a single DNA sequence are indistinguishable from the dynamics observed when the TopIB–drug interaction takes place at multiple sites. Specifically, the DNA sequence does not affect the instantaneous supercoil removal rate or the degree to which camptothecins increase the lifetime of the covalent complex. Our data suggest that sequence-dependent dynamics need not to be taken into account in efforts to develop novel camptothecins
Eta and eta' mesons production at COSY-11
The low emittance and small momentum spread of the proton and deuteron beams
of the Cooler Synchrotron COSY combined with the high mass resolution of the
COSY-11 detection system permit to study the creation of mesons in the
nucleon-nucleon interaction down to the fraction of MeV with respect to the
kinematical threshold. At such small excess energies, the ejectiles possess low
relative momenta and are predominantly produced with the relative angular
momentum equal to zero. Taking advantage of these conditions we have performed
investigations aiming to determine the mechanism of the production of eta and
eta' mesons in the collision of hadrons as well as the hadronic interaction of
these mesons with nucleons and nuclei. In this proceedings we address the
ongoing studies of the spin and isospin dependence for the production of the
eta and eta' mesons in free and quasi-free nucleon-nucleon collisions. New
results on the spin observables for the vec(p)p --> pp eta reaction, combined
with the previously determined total cross section isospin dependence, reveal a
statistically significant indication that the excitation of the nucleon to the
S11(1535) resonance, the process which intermediates the production of the eta
meson in the nucleon-nucleon interactions, is predominantly due to the exchange
of the pi meson between the colliding nucleons.Comment: Invited talk at MESON 2006: 9th International Workshop on Meson
Production, Properties and Interactions, Cracow, Poland, 9-13 Jun 200
Dynamics of the near threshold eta meson production in proton-proton interaction
We present the results of measurements of the analysing power for the p(pol)p
--> pp eta reaction at the excess energies of Q=10 and 36 MeV, and interpret
these results within the framework of the meson exchange models. The determined
values of the analysing power at both excess energies are consistent with zero
implying that the eta meson is produced predominantly in s-wave.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, Presented at the Workshop on the physics of
excited nucleons (NSTAR 2007), 5-8 September 2007, Bonn, German
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