31 research outputs found
Reversed anisotropies and thermal contraction of FCC (110) surfaces
The observed anisotropies of surface vibrations for unreconstructed FCC metal
(110) surfaces are often reversed from the "common sense" expectation. The
source of these reversals is investigated by performing ab initio density
functional theory calculations to obtain the surface force constant tensors for
Ag(110), Cu(110) and Al(110). The most striking result is a large enhancement
in the coupling between the first and third layers of the relaxed surface,
which strongly reduces the amplitude of out-of-plane vibrations of atoms in the
first layer. This also provides a simple explanation for the thermal
contraction of interlayer distances. Both the anisotropies and the thermal
contraction arise primarily as a result of the bond topology, with all three
(110) surfaces showing similar behavior.Comment: 13 pages, in revtex format, plus 1 postscript figur
Surface state atoms and their contribution to the surface tension of quantum liquids
We investigate the new type of excitations on the surface of liquid helium.
These excitations, called surfons, appear because helium atoms have discrete
energy level at the liquid surface, being attracted to the surface by the van
der Waals force and repulsed at a hard-core interatomic distance. The
concentration of the surfons increases with temperature. The surfons propagate
along the surface and form a two-dimensional gas. Basing on the simple model of
the surfon microscopic structure, we estimate the surfon activation energy and
effective mass for both helium isotopes. We also calculate the contribution of
the surfons to the temperature dependence of the surface tension. This
contribution explains the great and long-standing discrepancy between theory
and experiment on this temperature dependence in both helium isotopes. The
achieved agreement between our theory and experiment is extremely high. The
comparison with experiment allows to extract the surfon activation energy and
effective mass. The values of these surfon microscopic parameters are in a
reasonable agreement with the calculated from the proposed simple model of
surfon structure.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Reliable assessment of telomere maintenance mechanisms in neuroblastoma
BACKGROUND: Telomere maintenance mechanisms (TMM) are a hallmark of high-risk neuroblastoma, and are conferred by activation of telomerase or alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT). However, detection of TMM is not yet part of the clinical routine, and consensus on TMM detection, especially on ALT assessment, remains to be achieved. METHODS: Whole genome sequencing (WGS) data of 68 primary neuroblastoma samples were analyzed. Telomere length was calculated from WGS data or by telomere restriction fragment analysis (n = 39). ALT was assessed by C-circle assay (CCA, n = 67) and detection of ALT-associated PML nuclear bodies (APB) by combined fluorescence in situ hybridization and immunofluorescence staining (n = 68). RNA sequencing was performed (n = 64) to determine expression of TERT and telomeric long non-coding RNA (TERRA). Telomerase activity was examined by telomerase repeat amplification protocol (TRAP, n = 15). RESULTS: Tumors were considered as telomerase-positive if they harbored a TERT rearrangement, MYCN amplification or high TERT expression (45.6%, 31/68), and ALT-positive if they were positive for APB and CCA (19.1%, 13/68). If all these markers were absent, tumors were considered TMM-negative (25.0%, 17/68). According to these criteria, the majority of samples were classified unambiguously (89.7%, 61/68). Assessment of additional ALT-associated parameters clarified the TMM status of the remaining seven cases with high likelihood: ALT-positive tumors had higher TERRA expression, longer telomeres, more telomere insertions, a characteristic pattern of telomere variant repeats, and were associated with ATRX mutations. CONCLUSIONS: We here propose a workflow to reliably detect TMM in neuroblastoma. We show that unambiguous classification is feasible following a stepwise approach that determines both, activation of telomerase and ALT. The workflow proposed in this study can be used in clinical routine and provides a framework to systematically and reliably determine telomere maintenance mechanisms for risk stratification and treatment allocation of neuroblastoma patients
JAK2 and MPL gene mutations in V617F-negative myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Item does not contain fulltextWe report three novel mutations in JAK2 exons 12, 19 and 25 in V617F-negative patients with polycythemia vera, essential thrombocythemia and idiopathic myelofibrosis. Scanning of JAK2 exons 12-25 and MPL exon 10 revealed the presence of JAK2 alterations in six and MPL W515L/K mutations in five of 34 patients with myeloproliferative disorders. Our results confirm that routine JAK2 analysis should include exon 12 mutations in polycythemia vera patients. MPL gene mutations seem to be associated with thrombocytosis, regardless of the type of myeloproliferative neoplasm.1 maart 201
Recommended from our members