Adaptive undivided wheel opener

Adaptive undivided wheel opener is a special purpose tool used to tighten and loosen all the nuts of wheel at the same time with less effort. It uses bevel gear assembly for transmitting torque to the nuts and lock – nut arrangement have been used to make the system adjustable to the required pitch length. The most desired advantage is that the total time consumed in the process is very less. It can open and refit the wheel with same tool. Tool is simple in design and easily portable along with vehicle

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) finger prints evidencing high genetic variability among marine angiosperms of India

In India 14 seagrass species can be found with monospecific genera (Enhalus, Thalassia and Syringodium), Cymodocea with two species and Halophila and Halodule represented by more than two taxonomically complex species. Considering this, the present study was made to understand the level and pattern of genetic variability among these species collected from Tamilnadu coast, India. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was used to evaluate the level of polymorphism existing between the species. Out of the 12 primers tested, 10 primers amplified 415 DNA fragments with an average of 41.5 fragments per primer. Of the total 415 amplified fragments only 123 (29.7%) were monomorphic and the remaining 292 (70.3%) were polymorphic for Indian seagrass species. Among the 10 primers used four are identified as the key primers capable of distinguishing all the Indian seagrasses with a high degree of polymorphism and bringing representative polymorphic alleles in all the tested seagrasses. From the present investigation, this study shows that the RAPD marker technique can be used not only as a tool to analyse genetic diversity but also to resolve the taxonomic uncertainties existing in the Indian seagrasses. The efficiency of these primers in bringing out the genetic polymorphism or homogeneity among different populations of the Halophila and Halodule complex still has to be tested before recommending these primers as an identification tool for Indian seagrasses. Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 201

Minimum and Maximum Limit to Number of Myosin II Motors Participating in an Ensemble Motility

Extensive research on centrifugal compressors has been planned to define diffuser stall limits for a group of stages characterized by low blade-outlet-width-to-impeller-radius-ratio. Very little data is available on this centrifugal compressor family, especially for the last stage configuration. In addition, the most important stall diffuser prediction criteria barely cover this machine type. Many experimental tests have been planned to investigate several geometry variations. A simulated stage with a backward channel upstream, a 2D impeller with a vaneless diffuser and a constant cross section volute downstream constitute the basic geometry. Several diffuser geometries with different widths, pinch shapes, diffusion ratios were tested. Test results and conclusions are shown in the paper in terms of critical diffuser inlet flow angles, flow coefficients at stall inception and stage working ranges. The main task of the present work is to increase the knowledge and the amount of available data to characterize rotating stall phenomena, in particular for very narrow stages

Application of simultaneous active and reactive power modulation of SMES unit under unequal mode for power system stabilization

Vol.14, No. 2, May 199

Quantitative Imaging of Protein-Protein Interactions by Multiphoton Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy using a Streak camera

Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) using multiphoton excitation techniques is now finding an important place in quantitative imaging of protein-protein interactions and intracellular physiology. We review here the recent developments in multiphoton FLIM methods and also present a description of a novel multiphoton FLIM system using a streak camera that was developed in our laboratory. We provide an example of a typical application of the system in which we measure the fluorescence resonance energy transfer between a donor/acceptor pair of fluorescent proteins within a cellular specimen.Comment: Overview of FLIM techniques, StreakFLIM instrument, FRET application

GABA transporter function, oligomerization state, and anchoring: correlates with subcellularly resolved FRET

The mouse γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter mGAT1 was expressed in neuroblastoma 2a cells. 19 mGAT1 designs incorporating fluorescent proteins were functionally characterized by [^3H]GABA uptake in assays that responded to several experimental variables, including the mutations and pharmacological manipulation of the cytoskeleton. Oligomerization and subsequent trafficking of mGAT1 were studied in several subcellular regions of live cells using localized fluorescence, acceptor photobleach Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and pixel-by-pixel analysis of normalized FRET (NFRET) images. Nine constructs were functionally indistinguishable from wild-type mGAT1 and provided information about normal mGAT1 assembly and trafficking. The remainder had compromised [^3H]GABA uptake due to observable oligomerization and/or trafficking deficits; the data help to determine regions of mGAT1 sequence involved in these processes. Acceptor photobleach FRET detected mGAT1 oligomerization, but richer information was obtained from analyzing the distribution of all-pixel NFRET amplitudes. We also analyzed such distributions restricted to cellular subregions. Distributions were fit to either two or three Gaussian components. Two of the components, present for all mGAT1 constructs that oligomerized, may represent dimers and high-order oligomers (probably tetramers), respectively. Only wild-type functioning constructs displayed three components; the additional component apparently had the highest mean NFRET amplitude. Near the cell periphery, wild-type functioning constructs displayed the highest NFRET. In this subregion, the highest NFRET component represented ~30% of all pixels, similar to the percentage of mGAT1 from the acutely recycling pool resident in the plasma membrane in the basal state. Blocking the mGAT1 C terminus postsynaptic density 95/discs large/zona occludens 1 (PDZ)-interacting domain abolished the highest amplitude component from the NFRET distributions. Disrupting the actin cytoskeleton in cells expressing wild-type functioning transporters moved the highest amplitude component from the cell periphery to perinuclear regions. Thus, pixel-by-pixel NFRET analysis resolved three distinct forms of GAT1: dimers, high-order oligomers, and transporters associated via PDZ-mediated interactions with the actin cytoskeleton and/or with the exocyst

The degradation of p53 and its major E3 ligase Mdm2 is differentially dependent on the proteasomal ubiquitin receptor S5a.

p53 and its major E3 ligase Mdm2 are both ubiquitinated and targeted to the proteasome for degradation. Despite the importance of this in regulating the p53 pathway, little is known about the mechanisms of proteasomal recognition of ubiquitinated p53 and Mdm2. In this study, we show that knockdown of the proteasomal ubiquitin receptor S5a/PSMD4/Rpn10 inhibits p53 protein degradation and results in the accumulation of ubiquitinated p53. Overexpression of a dominant-negative deletion of S5a lacking its ubiquitin-interacting motifs (UIM)s, but which can be incorporated into the proteasome, also causes the stabilization of p53. Furthermore, small-interferring RNA (siRNA) rescue experiments confirm that the UIMs of S5a are required for the maintenance of low p53 levels. These observations indicate that S5a participates in the recognition of ubiquitinated p53 by the proteasome. In contrast, targeting S5a has no effect on the rate of degradation of Mdm2, indicating that proteasomal recognition of Mdm2 can be mediated by an S5a-independent pathway. S5a knockdown results in an increase in the transcriptional activity of p53. The selective stabilization of p53 and not Mdm2 provides a mechanism for p53 activation. Depletion of S5a causes a p53-dependent decrease in cell proliferation, demonstrating that p53 can have a dominant role in the response to targeting S5a. This study provides evidence for alternative pathways of proteasomal recognition of p53 and Mdm2. Differences in recognition by the proteasome could provide a means to modulate the relative stability of p53 and Mdm2 in response to cellular signals. In addition, they could be exploited for p53-activating therapies. This work shows that the degradation of proteins by the proteasome can be selectively dependent on S5a in human cells, and that this selectivity can extend to an E3 ubiquitin ligase and its substrate

A novel high-content immunofluorescence assay as a tool to identify at the single cell level γ-globin inducing compounds

The identification of drugs capable of reactivating γ-globin to ameliorate β-thalassemia and Sickle Cell anemia is still a challenge, as available γ-globin inducers still have limited clinical indications. High-throughput screenings (HTS) aimed to identify new potentially therapeutic drugs require suitable first-step-screening methods combining the possibility to detect variation in the γ/β globin ratio with the robustness of a cell line. We took advantage of a K562 cell line variant expressing β-globin (β-K562) to set up a new multiplexed high-content immunofluorescence assay for the quantification of γ-and β-globin content at single-cell level. The assay was validated by using the known globin inducers hemin, hydroxyurea and butyric acid and further tested in a pilot screening that confirmed HDACs as targets for γ-globin induction (as proved by siRNA-mediated HDAC3 knockdown and by treatment with HDACs inhibitors entinostat and dacinostat) and identified Heme-oxygenases as novel candidate targets for γ-globin induction. Indeed, Heme-oxygenase2 siRNA knockdown as well as its inhibition by Tin protoporphyrin-IX (TinPPIX) greatly increased γ-globin expression. This result is particularly interesting as several metalloporphyrins have already been developed for clinical uses and could be tested (alone or in combination with other drugs) to improve pharmacological γ-globin reactivation for the treatment of β-hemoglobinopathie