6,410 research outputs found
Chain configurations in light nuclei
The model of nuclear matter built from alpha-particles is proposed. The
strong deformed shape for doubly even N=Z nuclides from carbon to magnesium has
been determined according to this model. In this paper we undertake very simple
approach, which assumes the existence of low lying chain configurations.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Stress relief as the driving force for self-assembled Bi nanolines
Stress resulting from mismatch between a substrate and an adsorbed material
has often been thought to be the driving force for the self-assembly of
nanoscale structures. Bi nanolines self-assemble on Si(001), and are remarkable
for their straightness and length -- they are often more than 400 nm long, and
a kink in a nanoline has never been observed. Through electronic structure
calculations, we have found an energetically favourable structure for these
nanolines that agrees with our scanning tunneling microscopy and photoemission
experiments; the structure has an extremely unusual subsurface structure,
comprising a double core of 7-membered rings of silicon. Our proposed structure
explains all the observed features of the nanolines, and shows that surface
stress resulting from the mismatch between the Bi and the Si substrate are
responsible for their self-assembly. This has wider implications for the
controlled growth of nanostructures on semiconductor surfaces.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Creation of a brane world with Gauss-Bonnet term
We study a creation of a brane world using an instanton solution. We analyze
a brane model with a Gauss-Bonnet term in a bulk spacetime. The curvature of
3-brane is assumed to be closed, flat, or open. We construct instanton
solutions with branes for those models, and calculate the value of the actions
to discuss an initial state of a brane universe.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figure
Electronic states and optical properties of PbSe nanorods and nanowires
A theory of the electronic structure and excitonic absorption spectra of PbS
and PbSe nanowires and nanorods in the framework of a four-band effective mass
model is presented. Calculations conducted for PbSe show that dielectric
contrast dramatically strengthens the exciton binding in narrow nanowires and
nanorods. However, the self-interaction energies of the electron and hole
nearly cancel the Coulomb binding, and as a result the optical absorption
spectra are practically unaffected by the strong dielectric contrast between
PbSe and the surrounding medium. Measurements of the size-dependent absorption
spectra of colloidal PbSe nanorods are also presented. Using room-temperature
energy-band parameters extracted from the optical spectra of spherical PbSe
nanocrystals, the theory provides good quantitative agreement with the measured
spectra.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figure
Novel point mutations attenuate autotaxin activity
BACKGROUND: The secreted enzyme autotaxin (ATX) stimulates tumor cell migration, tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, and metastasis. ATX hydrolyzes nucleotides, but its hydrolysis of lysophospholipids to produce lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) accounts for its biological activities. ATX has been identified only as a constitutively active enzyme, and regulation of its activity is largely unexplored. In spite of its presence in plasma along with abundant putative substrate LPC, the product LPA is found in plasma at unexpectedly low concentrations. It is plausible that the LPA-producing activity of ATX is regulated by its expression and by access to substrate(s). For this reason studying the interaction of enzyme with substrate is paramount to understanding the regulation of LPA production.
RESULTS: In this study we determine ATX hydrolytic activities toward several artificial and natural substrates. Two novel point mutations near the enzyme active site (H226Q and H434Q) confer attenuated activity toward all substrates tested. The Vmax for LPC compounds depends upon chain length and saturation; but this order does not differ among wild type and mutants. However the mutant forms show disproportionately low activity toward two artificial substrates, pNpTMP and FS-3. The mutant forms did not significantly stimulate migration responses at concentrations that produced a maximum response for WT-ATX, but this defect could be rescued by inclusion of exogenous LPC.
CONCLUSION: H226Q-ATX and H434Q-ATX are the first point mutations of ATX/NPP2 demonstrated to differentially impair substrate hydrolysis, with hydrolysis of artificial substrates being disproportionately lower than that of LPC. This implies that H226 and H434 are important for substrate interaction. Assays that rely on hydrolyses of artificial substrates (FS-3 and pNpTMP), or that rely on hydrolysis of cell-derived substrate, might fail to detect certain mutated forms of ATX that are nonetheless capable of producing LPA in the presence of sufficient exogenous substrate. H420Q-ATX could not be differentiated from WT-ATX, indicating that histidine at position 420 is not required for any of the activities of ATX tested in this studyope
ZERO MEAN CURVATURE SURFACES IN LORENTZ-MINKOWSKI 3-SPACE WHICH CHANGE TYPE ACROSS A LIGHT-LIKE LINE
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