Quantum dynamics of a nanomagnet in a rotating field

Quantum dynamics of a two-state spin system in a rotating magnetic field has been studied. Analytical and numerical results for the transition probability have been obtained along the lines of the Landau-Zener-Stueckelberg theory. The effect of various kinds of noise on the evolution of the system has been analyzed.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Allosteric modulation of retinal GABA receptors by ascorbic acid

Ionotropic GABA receptors (GABAA and GABAC) belong to the Cys-loop receptor family of ligand-gated ion channels. GABAC receptors are highly expressed in the retina, mainly localized at the axon terminals of bipolar cells. Ascorbic acid, an endogenous redox agent, modulates the function of diverse proteins, and basal levels of ascorbic acid in the retina are very high. However, the effect of ascorbic acid on retinal GABA receptors has not been studied. Here we show that the function of GABAC and GABAA receptors is regulated by ascorbic acid. Patch-clamp recordings from bipolar cell terminals in goldfish retinal slices revealed that GABAC receptor-mediated currents activated by tonic background levels of extracellular GABA, and GABAC currents elicited by local GABA puffs, are both significantly enhanced by ascorbic acid. In addition, a significant rundown of GABA puff-evoked currents was observed in the absence of ascorbic acid. GABA-evoked Cl- currents mediated by homomeric ρ1 GABAC receptors expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes were also potentiated by ascorbic acid in a concentration-dependent, stereo-specific, reversible, and voltage-independent manner. Studies involving the chemical modification of sulfhydryl groups showed that the two Cys-loop cysteines and histidine 141, all located in the ρ1 subunit extracellular domain, each play a key role in the modulation of GABAC receptors by ascorbic acid. Additionally, we show that retinal GABAA IPSCs and heterologously expressed GABAA receptor currents are similarly augmented by ascorbic acid. Our results suggest that ascorbic acid may act as an endogenous agent capable of potentiating GABAergic neurotransmission in the CNS.Fil: Calero, Cecilia Ines. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Vickers, Evan. Oregon Health and Science University; Estados UnidosFil: Cid, Gustavo Moraga. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Aguayo, Luis G.. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: von Gersdorff, Henrique. Oregon Health and Science University; Estados UnidosFil: Calvo, Daniel Juan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; Argentin

Cinética de la biosorción de Cr(VI) con hueso de aceituna

En este trabajo se ha estudiado la cinética de biosorción de cromo(VI) usando hueso de aceituna como sólido sorbente.Los resultados muestran que el Cr(VI) es en parte retirado por el hueso y en parte reducido a Cr(III) y que, a partir de un tiempo de contacto próximo a 300 minutos, el porcentaje retirado de Cr(VI) y Cr total se mantiene constante, lo que indica que no se produce ninguno de los dos procesos. Así mismo, la capacidad de eliminación de Cr (VI) que tiene el hueso de aceituna disminuye con el aumento del pH, siendo este descenso mucho más acusado a pH>2. Para el Cr total los valores de la capacidad de eliminación resultan inferiores a los obtenidos para Cr(VI), lo que pone de manifiesto el efecto dela reducción de Cr(VI) a Cr(III). Los resultados experimentalesse han ajustado a los modelos de pseudo-primer orden, pseudo-segundo orden, Elovich y difusión intraparticular, siendo el modelo de pseudo-segundo orden el que mejor reproduce la cinética del proceso en todas las condiciones experimentales utilizadas. Finalmente, el efecto de la temperatura en la cinética del proceso muestra que, para Cr(VI), la capacidad de biosorción y la constante cinética aumentan cuando la  temperatura se eleva de 25 a 60 ºC, permaneciendo ambos parámetros prácticamente constantes cuando la temperaturaaumenta hasta 80 ºC

Efecto de diferentes tratamientos químicos en las características sorbentes de residuos derivados de la industria olivarera

En este trabajo se han caracterizado, mediante técnicas potenciométricas y análisis de IR, tres residuos de la industria olivarera (hueso de aceituna, alpeorujo y ramón del olivo) para su aplicación como biosorbentes de metales pesados antes y después de ser sometidos a diversos tratamientos químicos. Las titulaciones potenciométricas y los espectros de IR han mostrado que, tanto para el hueso de aceituna como para el ramón, el tratamiento con NaOH aumenta considerablemente la concentración de grupos activos y esto se ha manifestado en un aumento de la capacidad de bioadsorción de plomo. Así, en el caso del hueso y para una concentración inicial de Pb(II) de 80 mg/L, la capacidad de bioadsorción ha pasado de 3,54 mg/g para el hueso sin tratar a 7,32 mg/g para el hueso tratado. Para el alpeorujo, aunque la concentración de grupos activos es mayor en el sólido sin tratar o tratado con hexano, la capacidad de bioadsorciones mayor para el alpeorujo tratado con NaOH.En general, el tratamiento con HCl y con agua destilada ha eliminado los componentes solubles de los residuos, por lo que la concentración total de grupos activos es menor, siendo esta disminución muy notable en el alpeorujo y el ramón

Transcription-dependent silencing of inducible convergent transgenes in transgenic mice.

BACKGROUND: Silencing of transgenes in mice is a common phenomenon typically associated with short multi-copy transgenes. We have investigated the regulation of the highly inducible human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating-factor gene (Csf2) in transgenic mice. RESULTS: In the absence of any previous history of transcriptional activation, this transgene was expressed in T lineage cells at the correct inducible level in all lines of mice tested. In contrast, the transgene was silenced in a specific subset of lines in T cells that had encountered a previous episode of activation. Transgene silencing appeared to be both transcription-dependent and mediated by epigenetic mechanisms. Silencing was accompanied by loss of DNase I hypersensitive sites and inability to recruit RNA polymerase II upon stimulation. This pattern of silencing was reflected by increased methylation and decreased acetylation of histone H3 K9 in the transgene. We found that silenced lines were specifically associated with a single pair of tail-to-tail inverted repeated copies of the transgene embedded within a multi-copy array. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that epigenetic transgene silencing can result from convergent transcription of inverted repeats which can lead to silencing of an entire multi-copy transgene array. This mechanism may account for a significant proportion of the reported cases of transgene inactivation in mice.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

ρ parameter and H 0 → ℓ i ℓ j in models with TeV sterile neutrinos

The presence of massive sterile neutrinos N mixed with the active ones induces flavor violating processes in the charged lepton sector at the loop level. In particular, the amplitude of H 0 → ¯ ℓ i ℓ j is expected to be proportional to the product of heavy-light Yukawa couplings y i y j = 2 s ν i s ν j m 2 N / v 2 , where s ν i , j express the heavy-light neutrino mixings. Here, we revisit these Higgs decays in the most generic extension of the neutrino sector, focusing on large values of y i . We show that decoupling effects and a cancellation between the two dominant contributions to these processes makes the amplitude about 100 times smaller than anticipated. We find that perturbative values of y i giving an acceptable contribution to the ρ parameter imply B ( H 0 → ¯ ℓ i ℓ j ) < 10 − 8 for any lepton flavors, a rate that is not accessible at current colliders.Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities FPA2016-78220-C3 PID2019-107844GB-C21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033Junta de Andalucia FQM 101 SOMM17/6104/UGR P18-FR-1962 P18-FR-5057Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT

Life-cycle assessment of the thermal and catalytic pyrolysis over sepiolite of face masks

Since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, extensive quantities of face masks have been used and discarded. Most of these masks end up in landfills, causing a high environmental impact and no benefits. However, there are alternative ways to deal with this waste in a more sustainable way. For example, valorisation of face masks through pyrolysis has received special attention because it offers efficient application to produce a liquid oil that can be used as a diesel substitute and a solid char that can be used as an activated carbon substitute after activation. In this context, this study applies the Life-Cycle Assessment methodology to quantify and analyse the environmental impacts of different treatment scenarios based on the pyrolysis of surgical masks and FFP2 masks. It also compares their environmental performance with the conventional practice of landfilling. The scenarios studied include both thermal and catalytic pyrolysis by using sepiolite, a low-cost material abundant in Spain. Data on the pyrolysis process were obtained from laboratory experiments. It was found that the use of the produced oil as a diesel substitute very significantly reduces the environmental impact in all pyrolysis scenarios. Consequently, the pyrolysis of face masks can reduce the environmental impact caused by the treatment of this waste material. Furthermore, the thermal pyrolysis performs environmentally better than the catalytic pyrolysis. In all scenarios, freshwater ecotoxicity and marine ecotoxicity are the environmental impact categories that cause the highest environmental impact overall

Evaluación de la biosorción de cobre con cáscara de almendra

En este trabajo se analiza el potencial de la cáscara de almendra para su utilización como biosorbente de cobre presente en disoluciones acuosas. En primer lugar, se realizó una caracterización físico-química del biosorbente. Así, se ha determinado que los poros que posee la cáscara de almendra son mesoporos, con un ancho deporo medio de 54,5 Å y que la cantidad total de grupos activos es de 0,592 mmol/g, siendo el grupo carboxílico el mayoritario. A continuación, se analizó la influencia de las principales variables que intervienen en el proceso de biosorción. Se ha encontrado que el pH es uno de los parámetros más importantes que controlan la eliminación de cobre con cáscara de almendra, obteniéndose la máxima eficiencia del proceso a pH=5. El estudio cinético reveló que, en general, el proceso es rápido, aunque puede dividirse en dos etapas, una primera más rápida (primeros 20 minutos) y otra segunda etapa donde el proceso transcurre de forma más lenta. Se ha encontrado que el modelo de pseudo-segundo orden reproduce de forma adecuada el proceso. Por otra parte, el estudio del equilibrio mostró que a medida que aumenta la concentración inicial de cobre, se eleva la capacidad de biosorción del sólido hasta alcanzar un valor prácticamente constante para concentraciones superiores a 100 mg/L. El modelo de Langmuires el que mejor reproduce los resultados experimentales, obteniéndose una capacidad máxima de biosorción decobre de 9,44 mg/g