161 research outputs found
Effect of shape anisotropy on transport in a 2-dimensional computational model: Numerical simulations showing experimental features observed in biomembranes
We propose a 2-d computational model-system comprising a mixture of spheres
and the objects of some other shapes, interacting via the Lennard-Jones
potential. We propose a reliable and efficient numerical algorithm to obtain
void statistics. The void distribution, in turn, determines the selective
permeability across the system and bears a remarkable similarity with features
reported in certain biological experiments.Comment: 1 tex file, 2 sty files and 5 figures. To appear in Proc. of StatPhys
conference held in Calcutta, Physica A 199
Atmospheric concentration of pollen grains at human height
An atmospheric survey at human height (1.5-1.8 ft) was carried out from February 1988 to January 1990, in four different ecozones of the Delhi metropolis. The samples were collected by using Burkard Personal Volumetric Sampler at weekly intervals. The sampler was operating for 15 min three times a day (07, 14, 20 hrs). Altogether, 84 pollen types were identified. Some of the dominant pollen types recorded were Poaceae (25.1%), Cheno/Amaranthaceae (14.5%) and Ricinus communis (12.3%) followed by Morus, Cannabis, Prosopis, Parthenium and Artemisia. Weekly variations were recorded for the total number of pollen of different types in different months. Two major pollen seasons 1. February - April and 2. August - October were observed, although pollen was recorded throughout the year. Significant variation in total and individual pollen concentration was recorded from different inhabited areas in the same urban locality. Any definite daily pattern in the occurrence of pollen was not recorded. The concentration at lower height was also poor
Potential application of network descriptions for understanding conformational changes and protonation states of ABC transporters.
The ABC (ATP Binding Cassette) transporter protein superfamily comprises a large number of ubiquitous and functionally versatile proteins conserved from archaea to humans. ABC transporters have a key role in many human diseases and also in the development of multidrug resistance in cancer and in parasites. Although a dramatic progress has been achieved in ABC protein studies in the last decades, we are still far from a detailed understanding of their molecular functions. Several aspects of pharmacological ABC transporter targeting also remain unclear. Here we summarize the conformational and protonation changes of ABC transporters and the potential use of this information in pharmacological design. Network related methods, which recently became useful tools to describe protein structure and dynamics, have not been applied to study allosteric coupling in ABC proteins as yet. A detailed description of the strengths and limitations of these methods is given, and their potential use in describing ABC transporter dynamics is outlined. Finally, we highlight possible future aspects of pharmacological utilization of network methods and outline the future trends of this exciting field
Cell-mediated immune status in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity
Sixteen untreated patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity were tested for in vitro immune status in comparison with the normal healthy donors. The parameters investigated were total leukocyte and lymphocyte counts, percentages and absolute counts of T- and B-cells in circulation, subsets of T-cells identified by the Fc receptors, phytohemagglutinin (PHA), and mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) responses, natural killer (NK) and antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) activities, and circulating immune complexes (CICs). Eight of these patients were retested 3 to 6 months after surgery. The results showed that there was an increase in leukocyte and lymphocyte counts, an increase in the percentage and absolute number of B-lymphocytes, an increase in the percentage of T-gamma cells, suboptimal PHA and MLC responses, normal NK and ADCC activities, and increased levels of CICs in untreated oral cancer patients. In the postoperative stage, except for a reduction in leukocyte and lymphocyte counts, other abnormalities remained unchanged. The CICs in treated patients correlated with the tumor load in that in three patients showing recurrence, the CIC level remained elevated, whereas in patients without evidence of the disease the CIC level was either low or comparable to the upper normal limits
Fractional differentiability of nowhere differentiable functions and dimensions
Weierstrass's everywhere continuous but nowhere differentiable function is
shown to be locally continuously fractionally differentiable everywhere for all
orders below the `critical order' 2-s and not so for orders between 2-s and 1,
where s, 1<s<2 is the box dimension of the graph of the function. This
observation is consolidated in the general result showing a direct connection
between local fractional differentiability and the box dimension/ local Holder
exponent. Levy index for one dimensional Levy flights is shown to be the
critical order of its characteristic function. Local fractional derivatives of
multifractal signals (non-random functions) are shown to provide the local
Holder exponent. It is argued that Local fractional derivatives provide a
powerful tool to analyze pointwise behavior of irregular signals.Comment: minor changes, 19 pages, Late
Holder exponents of irregular signals and local fractional derivatives
It has been recognized recently that fractional calculus is useful for
handling scaling structures and processes. We begin this survey by pointing out
the relevance of the subject to physical situations. Then the essential
definitions and formulae from fractional calculus are summarized and their
immediate use in the study of scaling in physical systems is given. This is
followed by a brief summary of classical results. The main theme of the review
rests on the notion of local fractional derivatives. There is a direct
connection between local fractional differentiability properties and the
dimensions/ local Holder exponents of nowhere differentiable functions. It is
argued that local fractional derivatives provide a powerful tool to analyse the
pointwise behaviour of irregular signals and functions.Comment: 20 pages, Late
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