60 research outputs found
Shot noise in mesoscopic systems
This is a review of shot noise, the time-dependent fluctuations in the
electrical current due to the discreteness of the electron charge, in small
conductors. The shot-noise power can be smaller than that of a Poisson process
as a result of correlations in the electron transmission imposed by the Pauli
principle. This suppression takes on simple universal values in a symmetric
double-barrier junction (suppression factor 1/2), a disordered metal (factor
1/3), and a chaotic cavity (factor 1/4). Loss of phase coherence has no effect
on this shot-noise suppression, while thermalization of the electrons due to
electron-electron scattering increases the shot noise slightly. Sub-Poissonian
shot noise has been observed experimentally. So far unobserved phenomena
involve the interplay of shot noise with the Aharonov-Bohm effect, Andreev
reflection, and the fractional quantum Hall effect.Comment: 37 pages, Latex, 10 figures (eps). To be published in "Mesoscopic
Electron Transport," edited by L. P. Kouwenhoven, G. Schoen, and L. L. Sohn,
NATO ASI Series E (Kluwer Academic Publishing, Dordrecht
Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays
The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device
in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken
during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the
number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for
all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The
efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments
reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per
layer is approximately 5 ns
Phage Display against Corneal Epithelial Cells Produced Bioactive Peptides That Inhibit Aspergillus Adhesion to the Corneas
Dissection of host-pathogen interactions is important for both understanding the pathogenesis of infectious diseases and developing therapeutics for the infectious diseases like various infectious keratitis. To enhance the knowledge about pathogenesis infectious keratitis, a random 12-mer peptide phage display library was screened against cultured human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC). Fourteen sequences were obtained and BLASTp analysis showed that most of their homologue counterparts in GenBank were for defined or putative proteins in various pathogens. Based on known or predicted functions of the homologue proteins, ten synthetic peptides (Pc-A to Pc-J) were measured for their affinity to bind cells and their potential efficacy to interfere with pathogen adhesion to the cells. Besides binding to HCEC, most of them also bound to human corneal stromal cells and umbilical endothelial cells to different extents. When added to HCEC culture, the peptides induced expression of MyD88 and IL-17 in HCEC, and the stimulated cell culture medium showed fungicidal potency to various extents. While peptides Pc-C and Pc-E inhibited Aspergillus fumigatus (A.f) adhesion to HCEC in a dose-dependent manner, the similar inhibition ability of peptides Pc-A and Pc-B required presence of their homologue ligand Alb1p on A.f. When utilized in an eyeball organ culture model and an in vivo A.f keratitis model established in mouse, Pc-C and Pc-E inhibited fungal adhesion to corneas, hence decreased corneal disruption caused by inflammatory infiltration. Affinity pull-down of HCEC membrane proteins with peptide Pc-C revealed several molecules as potential receptors for this peptide. In conclusion, besides proving that phage display-selected peptides could be utilized to interfere with adhesion of pathogens to host cells, hence could be exploited for managing infectious diseases including infectious keratitis, we also proposed that the phage display technique and the resultant peptides could be used to explore host-pathogen interactions at molecular levels
Revisiting the Myths of Protein Interior: Studying Proteins with Mass-Fractal Hydrophobicity-Fractal and Polarizability-Fractal Dimensions
A robust marker to describe mass, hydrophobicity and polarizability distribution holds the key to deciphering structural and folding constraints within proteins. Since each of these distributions is inhomogeneous in nature, the construct should be sensitive in describing the patterns therein. We show, for the first time, that the hydrophobicity and polarizability distributions in protein interior follow fractal scaling. It is found that (barring âall-Îąâ) all the major structural classes of proteins have an amount of unused hydrophobicity left in them. This amount of untapped hydrophobicity is observed to be greater in thermophilic proteins, than that in their (structurally aligned) mesophilic counterparts. âAll-βâ(thermophilic, mesophilic alike) proteins are found to have maximum amount of unused hydrophobicity, while âall-Îąâ proteins have been found to have minimum polarizability. A non-trivial dependency is observed between dielectric constant and hydrophobicity distributions within (Îą+β) and âall-Îąâ proteins, whereas absolutely no dependency is found between them in the âall-βâ class. This study proves that proteins are not as optimally packed as they are supposed to be. It is also proved that origin of Îą-helices are possibly not hydrophobic but electrostatic; whereas β-sheets are predominantly hydrophobic in nature. Significance of this study lies in protein engineering studies; because it quantifies the extent of packing that ensures protein functionality. It shows that myths regarding protein interior organization might obfuscate our knowledge of actual reality. However, if the later is studied with a robust marker of strong mathematical basis, unknown correlations can still be unearthed; which help us to understand the nature of hydrophobicity, causality behind protein folding, and the importance of anisotropic electrostatics in stabilizing a highly complex structure named âproteinsâ
Management of intra-abdominal infections : recommendations by the WSES 2016 consensus conference
This paper reports on the consensus conference on the management of intra-abdominal infections (IAIs) which was held on July 23, 2016, in Dublin, Ireland, as a part of the annual World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) meeting. This document covers all aspects of the management of IAIs. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation recommendation is used, and this document represents the executive summary of the consensus conference findings.Peer reviewe
Aligning the CMS Muon Chambers with the Muon Alignment System during an Extended Cosmic Ray Run
Peer reviewe
Effect of skilled reaching training and enriched environment on generation of oligodendrocytes in the adult sensorimotor cortex and corpus callosum
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