Cholesterol in condensed and fluid phosphatidylcholine monolayers studied by epifluorescence microscopy

Epifluorescence microscopy was used to investigate the effect of cholesterol on monolayers of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and 1 -palmitoyl-2-oleoyl phosphatidylcholine (POPC) at 21 +/- 2 degrees C using 1 mol% 1-palmitoyl-2-[12-[(7-nitro-2–1, 3-benzoxadizole-4-yl)amino]dodecanoyl]phosphatidylcholine (NBD-PC) as a fluorophore. Up to 30 mol% cholesterol in DPPC monolayers decreased the amounts of probe-excluded liquid-condensed (LC) phase at all surface pressures (pi), but did not effect the monolayers of POPC, which remained in the liquid-expanded (LE) phase at all pi. At low pi (2–5 mN/m), 10 mol% or more cholesterol in DPPC induced a lateral phase separation into dark probe-excluded and light probe-rich regions. In POPC monolayers, phase separation was observed at low pi when > or =40 mol% or more cholesterol was present. The lateral phase separation observed with increased cholesterol concentrations in these lipid monolayers may be a result of the segregation of cholesterol-rich domains in ordered fluid phases that preferentially exclude the fluorescent probe. With increasing pi, monolayers could be transformed from a heterogeneous dark and light appearance into a homogeneous fluorescent phase, in a manner that was dependent on pi and cholesterol content. The packing density of the acyl chains may be a determinant in the interaction of cholesterol with phosphatidylcholine (PC), because the transformations in monolayer surface texture were observed in phospholipid (PL)/sterol mixtures having similar molecular areas. At high pi (41 mN/m), elongated crystal-like structures were observed in monolayers containing 80–100 mol% cholesterol, and these structures grew in size when the monolayers were compressed after collapse. This observation could be associated with the segregation and crystallization of cholesterol after monolayer collapse

Systematic review and stratified meta-analysis of the efficacy of carnosine in animal models of ischemic stroke

Carnosine is a naturally occurring pleotropic dipeptide which influences multiple deleterious mechanisms that are activated during stroke. Numerous published studies have reported that carnosine has robust efficacy in ischemic stroke models. To further evaluate these data, we have conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies. We included publications describing in vivo models of ischemic stroke where the neuroprotective efficacy of carnosine was being evaluated through the reporting of infarct volume and/or neurological score as outcomes. Overall efficacy was evaluated using weighted mean difference random effects meta-analysis. We also evaluated for study quality and publication bias. We identified eight publications that met our inclusion criteria describing a total of 29 comparisons and 454 animals. Overall methodological quality of studies was moderate (median ¼ 4/9). Carnosine reduced infarct volume by 29.4% (95% confidence interval (CI), 24.0% to 34.9%; 29 comparisons). A clear dose-response effect was observed, and efficacy was reduced when carnosine was administered more than 6 h after ischemia. Our findings suggest that carnosine administered before or after the onset of ischemia exhibits robust efficacy in experimental ischemic stroke. However, the methodological quality of some of the studies was low and testing occurred only in healthy young male animals

Extended quantum conditional entropy and quantum uncertainty inequalities

Quantum states can be subjected to classical measurements, whose incompatibility, or uncertainty, can be quantified by a comparison of certain entropies. There is a long history of such entropy inequalities between position and momentum. Recently these inequalities have been generalized to the tensor product of several Hilbert spaces and we show here how their derivations can be shortened to a few lines and how they can be generalized. All the recently derived uncertainty relations utilize the strong subadditivity (SSA) theorem; our contribution relies on directly utilizing the proof technique of the original derivation of SSA.Comment: 4 page

Explicit representations of biorthogonal polynomials

Given a parametrised weight function $\omega(x,\mu)$ such that the quotients of its consecutive moments are M\"obius maps, it is possible to express the underlying biorthogonal polynomials in a closed form \cite{IN2}. In the present paper we address ourselves to two related issues. Firstly, we demonstrate that, subject to additional assumptions, every such $\omega$ obeys (in $x$) a linear differential equation whose solution is a generalized hypergeometric function. Secondly, using a generalization of standard divided differences, we present a new explicit representation of the underlying orthogonal polynomials

Ultrasonic propagation in finite-length granular chains

A narrowband ultrasound source has been used to generate solitary wave impulses in finite-length chains of spheres. Once the input signal is of sufficient amplitude, both harmonics and sub-harmonics of the input frequency can be generated as non-linear normal modes of the system, allowing a train of impulses to be established from a sinusoidal input. The characteristics of the response have been studied as a function of the physical properties of the chain, the input waveform and the level of static pre-compression. The results agree with the predictions of a theoretical model, based on a set of discrete dynamic equations for the spheres for finite-length chains. Impulses are only created for very small pre-compression forces of the order of 0.01 N, where strongly non-linear behaviour is expected

The effect of boundary conditions on resonant ultrasonic spherical chains

The response of a resonant chain of spheres to changes in holder material and pre-compression is studied at ultrasonic frequencies. The system is found to be very sensitive to these parameters, with the creation of impulsive waveforms from a narrow bandwidth input seen only for certain chain lengths and holder materials. In addition, careful experiments were performed using known amounts of pre-compression force, using a calibrated stylus arrangement. At negligible pre-compression levels, impulses were generated within the chain, which were then suppressed by increased pre-compression. This was accompanied by large changes in propagation velocity as the system gradually changes from being strongly nonlinear to being more linear. Simulations using a discrete model for the motion of each sphere agree well with experimental data

Analysis of solitary wave impulses in granular chains using ultrasonic excitation

The propagation of broad bandwidth solitary wave impulses, generated within granular chains by narrow bandwidth ultrasonic excitation, is studied in detail. Theoretical predictions are compared to experimental results. It is demonstrated that the observed effects result from a sum of a solitary wave traveling out from the source with a wave that reflects from the far end of the chain. It is shown that this combination, when used with an excitation in the form of a long-duration tone burst, encourages the generation of multiple impulses with a characteristic periodicity. This study shows that the properties of the chain structure and the excitation can be adjusted so as to generate ultrasonic solitary wave impulses with a high amplitude and known frequency content, which are of interest in applications such as biomedical ultrasound

The dynamic excitation of a granular chain for biomedical ultrasound applications: contact mechanics finite element analysis and validation

There has been recent interest in the transmission of acoustic signals along granular chains of spherical beads to produce waveforms of relevance to biomedical ultrasound applications. Hertzian contact between adjacent beads can introduce different harmonic content into the signal as it propagates. This transduction mechanism has the potential to be of use in both diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound applications, and is the object of the study presented here. Although discrete dynamics models of this behaviour exist, a more comprehensive solution must be sought if changes in shape and deformation of individual beads are to be considered. Thus, the finite element method was used to investigate the dynamics of a granular chain of six, 1 mm diameter chrome steel spherical beads excited at one end using a sinusoidal displacement signal at 73 kHz. Output from this model was compared with the solution provided by the discrete dynamics model, and good overall agreement obtained. In addition, it was able to resolve the complex dynamics of the granular chain, including the multiple collisions which occur. It was demonstrated that under dynamic excitation conditions, the inability of discrete mechanics models to account for elastic deformation of the beads when these lose contact, could lead to discrepancies with experimental observations

Large-Scale Structure at z~2.5

We have made a statistically complete, unbiased survey of C IV systems toward a region of high QSO density near the South Galactic Pole using 25 lines of sight spanning $1.5<z<2.8$. Such a survey makes an excellent probe of large-scale structure at early epochs. We find evidence for structure on the $15-35h^{-1}$ proper Mpc scale ($H_0 \equiv 100$ km $s^{-1}$ Mpc${-1}$) as determined by the two point C IV - C IV absorber correlation function, and reject the null hypothesis that C IV systems are distributed randomly on such scales at the $\sim 3.5\sigma$ level. The structure likely reflects the distance between two groups of absorbers subtending $\sim~ 13 \times 5 \times 21h^{-3}$ and $\sim 7 \times 1 \times 15h^{-3}$ Mpc$^3$ at $z\sim 2.3$ and $z \sim 2.5$ respectively. There is also a marginal trend for the association of high rest equivalent width C IV absorbers and QSOs at similar redshifts but along different lines of sight. The total number of C IV systems detected is consistent with that which would be expected based on a survey using many widely separated lines of sight. Using the same data, we also find 11 Mg II absorbers in a complete survey toward 24 lines of sight; there is no evidence for Mg II - Mg II or Mg II - QSO clustering, though the sample size is likely still small to detect such structure if it exists.Comment: 56 pages including 32 of figures, in gzip-ed uuencoded postscript format, 1 long table not included, aastex4 package. Accepted for publication in ApJ Supplement

A local grid refinement technique based upon Richardson extrapolation

A grid-embedding technique for the solution of two-dimensional incompressible flows governed by the Navier-Stokes equations is presented. A single coarse grid covers the whole domain, and local grid refinement B carried out in the regions of high gradients without changing the basic grid structure. A finite volume method with collocated primitive variables is employed, ensuring conservation at the interfaces of embedded grids, as well as global conservation. The method is applied to the simulation of a turbulent flow past a backward facing step, the flow over a square obstacle, and the flow in a sudden pipe expansion, and the predictions are compared with data published in the literature. They show that neither the convergence rate nor the stability of the method are affected by the presence of embedded grids. The grid-embedding technique yields significant savings in computing time to achieve the same accuracy obtained wing conventional grids. (C) 1997 by Elsevier Science Inc