Characteristics and possible functions of mitochondrial Ca2+ transport mechanisms

AbstractMitochondria produce around 92% of the ATP used in the typical animal cell by oxidative phosphorylation using energy from their electrochemical proton gradient. Intramitochondrial free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]m) has been found to be an important component of control of the rate of this ATP production. In addition, [Ca2+]m also controls the opening of a large pore in the inner mitochondrial membrane, the permeability transition pore (PTP), which plays a role in mitochondrial control of programmed cell death or apoptosis. Therefore, [Ca2+]m can control whether the cell has sufficient ATP to fulfill its functions and survive or is condemned to death. Ca2+ is also one of the most important second messengers within the cytosol, signaling changes in cellular response through Ca2+ pulses or transients. Mitochondria can also sequester Ca2+ from these transients so as to modify the shape of Ca2+ signaling transients or control their location within the cell. All of this is controlled by the action of four or five mitochondrial Ca2+ transport mechanisms and the PTP. The characteristics of these mechanisms of Ca2+ transport and a discussion of how they might function are described in this paper

Quantized algebras of functions on homogeneous spaces with Poisson stabilizers

Let G be a simply connected semisimple compact Lie group with standard Poisson structure, K a closed Poisson-Lie subgroup, 0<q<1. We study a quantization C(G_q/K_q) of the algebra of continuous functions on G/K. Using results of Soibelman and Dijkhuizen-Stokman we classify the irreducible representations of C(G_q/K_q) and obtain a composition series for C(G_q/K_q). We describe closures of the symplectic leaves of G/K refining the well-known description in the case of flag manifolds in terms of the Bruhat order. We then show that the same rules describe the topology on the spectrum of C(G_q/K_q). Next we show that the family of C*-algebras C(G_q/K_q), 0<q\le1, has a canonical structure of a continuous field of C*-algebras and provides a strict deformation quantization of the Poisson algebra \C[G/K]. Finally, extending a result of Nagy, we show that C(G_q/K_q) is canonically KK-equivalent to C(G/K).Comment: 23 pages; minor changes, typos correcte

Quantum planes and quantum cylinders from Poisson homogeneous spaces

Quantum planes and a new quantum cylinder are obtained as quantization of Poisson homogeneous spaces of two different Poisson structures on classical Euclidean group E(2).Comment: 13 pages, plain Tex, no figure

SPECTRAL CORRECTION FACTORS FOR CONVENTIONAL NEUTRON DOSE METERS USED IN HIGH-ENERGY NEUTRON ENVIRONMENTS-IMPROVED AND EXTENDED RESULTS BASED ON A COMPLETE SURVEY OF ALL NEUTRON SPECTRA IN IAEA-TRS-403

This paper presents improved and extended results of our previous study on corrections for conventional neutron dose meters used in environments with high-energy neutrons (En > 10 MeV). Conventional moderated-type neutron dose meters tend to underestimate the dose contribution of high-energy neutrons because of the opposite trends of dose conversion coefficients and detection efficiencies as the neutron energy increases. A practical correction scheme was proposed based on analysis of hundreds of neutron spectra in the IAEA-TRS-403 report. By comparing 252Cf-calibrated dose responses with reference values derived from fluence-to-dose conversion coefficients, this study provides recommendations for neutron field characterization and the corresponding dose correction factors. Further sensitivity studies confirm the appropriateness of the proposed scheme and indicate that (1) the spectral correction factors are nearly independent of the selection of three commonly used calibration sources: 252Cf, 241Am-Be and 239Pu-Be; (2) the derived correction factors for Bonner spheres of various sizes (6”−9”) are similar in trend and (3) practical high-energy neutron indexes based on measurements can be established to facilitate the application of these correction factors in workplaces

Impurity Band Conduction in a High Temperature Ferromagnetic Semiconductor

The band structure of a prototypical dilute ferromagnetic semiconductor, Ga$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$As, is studied across the phase diagram via optical spectroscopy. We prove that the Fermi energy ($E_{F}$) resides in a Mn induced impurity band (IB). This conclusion is based upon careful analysis of the frequency and temperature dependence of the optical conductivity ($\sigma_{1}(\omega,T)$). From our analysis of $\sigma_{1}(\omega,T)$ we infer a large effective mass ($m^*$) of the carriers, supporting the view that conduction occurs in an IB. Our results also provide useful insights into the transport properties of Mn-doped GaAs.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

An Obstruction to Quantization of the Sphere

In the standard example of strict deformation quantization of the symplectic sphere $S^2$, the set of allowed values of the quantization parameter $\hbar$ is not connected; indeed, it is almost discrete. Li recently constructed a class of examples (including $S^2$) in which $\hbar$ can take any value in an interval, but these examples are badly behaved. Here, I identify a natural additional axiom for strict deformation quantization and prove that it implies that the parameter set for quantizing $S^2$ is never connected.Comment: 23 page. v2: changed sign conventio

On elementary extensions in Fuzzy Predicate Logics

10 páginas.-- Comunicación presentada a la International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems (IPMU) celebrada en Dortmund (Alemania) del 28 de Junio al 2 de Julio de 2010.Our work is a contribution to the model-theoretic study of equality-free fuzzy predicate logics. We give a characterization of ele- mentary equivalence in fuzzy predicate logics using elementary exten- sions and introduce an strengthening of this notion, the so-called strong elementary equivalence. Using the method of diagrams developed in [5] and elementary extensions we present a counterexample to Conjectures 1 and 2 of [8].Research partially funded by the spanish projects CONSOLIDER (CSD2007- 0022), MULOG2 (TIN2007-68005-C04-01) and ARINF (TIN2009-14704-C03-03) by the ESF Eurocores-LogICCC/MICINN project FFI2008-03126- E/FILO and by the Generalitat de Catalunya under the grants 2009-SGR 1433 and 1434.Peer reviewe