435 research outputs found
Electrophysiology Measurements of Metal Transport by MntH2 from Enterococcus faecalis
Transition metals are essential trace elements and their high-affinity uptake is required for many organisms. Metal transporters are often characterised using metal-sensitive fluorescent dyes, limiting the metals and experimental conditions that can be studied. Here, we have tested whether metal transport by Enterococcus faecalis MntH2 can be measured with an electrophysiology method that is based on the solid-supported membrane technology. E. faecalis MntH2 belongs to the Natural Resistance-Associated Macrophage Protein (Nramp) family of proton-coupled transporters, which transport divalent transition metals and do not transport the earth metals. Electrophysiology confirms transport of Mn(II), Co(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) by MntH2. However, no uptake responses for Cu(II), Fe(II) and Ni(II) were observed, while the presence of these metals abolishes the uptake signals for Mn(II). Fluorescence assays confirm that Ni(II) is transported. The data are discussed with respect to properties and structures of Nramp-type family members and the ability of electrophysiology to measure charge transport and not directly substrate transport
Productive Partnerships for Food: Principles and Strategies
This article guides Extension educators in facilitating university-community partnerships in their locality. Principles and strategies for building effective and productive university-community partnerships around food that integrate research, education, and action are discussed, drawing from three examples. Partnerships are based on the principles of building off of community assets, diverse stakeholder involvement, guidance by community interests, and integration of research with practice. The partnership strategies encourage partners to develop common goals, clarify roles and responsibilities, develop protocols, commit the necessary resources, and create a flexible and trusting atmosphere. The need to balance multiple interests in a partnership is discussed
Application of quasi-Monte Carlo methods to PDEs with random coefficients -- an overview and tutorial
This article provides a high-level overview of some recent works on the
application of quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) methods to PDEs with random
coefficients. It is based on an in-depth survey of a similar title by the same
authors, with an accompanying software package which is also briefly discussed
here. Embedded in this article is a step-by-step tutorial of the required
analysis for the setting known as the uniform case with first order QMC rules.
The aim of this article is to provide an easy entry point for QMC experts
wanting to start research in this direction and for PDE analysts and
practitioners wanting to tap into contemporary QMC theory and methods.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1606.0661
Why Do Only Some Galaxy Clusters Have Cool Cores?
Flux-limited X-ray samples indicate that about half of rich galaxy clusters
have cool cores. Why do only some clusters have cool cores while others do not?
In this paper, cosmological N-body + Eulerian hydrodynamic simulations,
including radiative cooling and heating, are used to address this question as
we examine the formation and evolution of cool core (CC) and non-cool core
(NCC) clusters. These adaptive mesh refinement simulations produce both CC and
NCC clusters in the same volume. They have a peak resolution of 15.6 h^{-1} kpc
within a (256 h^{-1} Mpc)^3 box. Our simulations suggest that there are
important evolutionary differences between CC clusters and their NCC
counterparts. Many of the numerical CC clusters accreted mass more slowly over
time and grew enhanced cool cores via hierarchical mergers; when late major
mergers occurred, the CC's survived the collisions. By contrast, NCC clusters
experienced major mergers early in their evolution that destroyed embryonic
cool cores and produced conditions that prevented CC re-formation. As a result,
our simulations predict observationally testable distinctions in the properties
of CC and NCC beyond the core regions in clusters. In particular, we find
differences between CC versus NCC clusters in the shapes of X-ray surface
brightness profiles, between the temperatures and hardness ratios beyond the
cores, between the distribution of masses, and between their supercluster
environs. It also appears that CC clusters are no closer to hydrostatic
equilibrium than NCC clusters, an issue important for precision cosmology
measurements.Comment: 17 emulateapj pages, 17 figures, replaced with version accepted to
Ap
Activation of the innate immune receptor Dectin-1 upon formation of a 'phagocytic synapse'.
Innate immune cells must be able to distinguish between direct binding to microbes and detection of components shed from the surface of microbes located at a distance. Dectin-1 (also known as CLEC7A) is a pattern-recognition receptor expressed by myeloid phagocytes (macrophages, dendritic cells and neutrophils) that detects β-glucans in fungal cell walls and triggers direct cellular antimicrobial activity, including phagocytosis and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast to inflammatory responses stimulated upon detection of soluble ligands by other pattern-recognition receptors, such as Toll-like receptors (TLRs), these responses are only useful when a cell comes into direct contact with a microbe and must not be spuriously activated by soluble stimuli. In this study we show that, despite its ability to bind both soluble and particulate β-glucan polymers, Dectin-1 signalling is only activated by particulate β-glucans, which cluster the receptor in synapse-like structures from which regulatory tyrosine phosphatases CD45 and CD148 (also known as PTPRC and PTPRJ, respectively) are excluded (Supplementary Fig. 1). The 'phagocytic synapse' now provides a model mechanism by which innate immune receptors can distinguish direct microbial contact from detection of microbes at a distance, thereby initiating direct cellular antimicrobial responses only when they are required
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