1,425 research outputs found
Tyloses Structure
A tylosis is an outgrowth from vertical or ray parenchyma cells through bordered pits into the lumen of a xylem vessel element. This study reports additional information on the ontogeny of tyloses, formation of the developing tylosis wall, and chemical composition of the tylosis wall. The development and structure of tyloses in several species of oak (Quercus) were studied with the transmitting and scanning electron microscopes. The tylosis wall was layered with a complement of wall layers found in xylem elements. Cellulose and lignin were constituents of the tylosis wall
Spatial and temporal characterization of a Bessel beam produced using a conical mirror
We experimentally analyze a Bessel beam produced with a conical mirror,
paying particular attention to its superluminal and diffraction-free
properties. We spatially characterized the beam in the radial and on-axis
dimensions, and verified that the central peak does not spread over a
propagation distance of 73 cm. In addition, we measured the superluminal phase
and group velocities of the beam in free space. Both spatial and temporal
measurements show good agreement with the theoretical predictions.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Crackling Noise, Power Spectra and Disorder Induced Critical Scaling
Crackling noise is observed in many disordered non-equilibrium systems in
response to slowly changing external conditions. Examples range from Barkhausen
noise in magnets to acoustic emission in martensites to earthquakes. Using the
non-equilibrium random field Ising model, we derive universal scaling
predictions for the dependence of the associated power spectra on the disorder
and field sweep rate, near an underlying disorder-induced non-equilibrium
critical point. Our theory applies to certain systems in which the crackling
noise results from avalanche-like response to a (slowly) increasing external
driving force, and is characterized by a broad power law scaling regime of the
power spectra. We compute the critical exponents and discuss the relevance of
the results to experiments.Comment: 27 Latex Pages, 14 eps figure
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Modulating Myeloid Immune Cell Migration Using Multivalently Presented Monosaccharide Ligands for Advanced Immunotherapy
Due to their importance for the outcome of the inflammatory response, the motile myeloid cells are a focus of novel treatment options. The interplay of selectins and their ligands with leukocytes and endothelial cells, which mediate endothelial attachment and transmigration of immune cells, can be modulated by selectinābinding structures. Here, a library of selectinātargeting ligands coupled to either gold, silver, iron oxide nanospheres, or quantum dots of 5ā10Ā nm in size is used to systematically study their impact on immune cell motility. The multivalent presentation of the carbohydrate mimetics results in very low subānanomolar binding to L āselectin. Using human primary monocytes, granulocytes, lymphocytes, and macrophages, it is shown that the ligands exhibit only minor effects on uptake, whereas the motility of leukocytes is critically affected as observed in migration assays evaluated by flow cytometry. The carbohydrate mimetic ring structure, sulfation, in particular, and the degree of ligand presentation, are constituents which cohere in this process. Specific carbohydrate ligands can thus selectively regulate leukocyte subsets. These data form the basis for advanced immunotherapy which inhibits the amplification of inflammation by restricting leukocyte influx to injured tissue sites. Furthermore, the targeting ligands may complement existing treatment options for inflammatory diseases
Structure-based inhibitor design by using protein models for the development of antiparasitic agents.
A phase I/IIa clinical trial of a recombinant Rho protein antagonist in acute spinal cord injury.
Multiple lines of evidence have validated the Rho pathway as important in controlling the neuronal response to growth inhibitory proteins after central nervous system (CNS) injury. A drug called BA-210 (trademarked as Cethrin(Ā®)) blocks activation of Rho and has shown promise in pre-clinical animal studies in being used to treat spinal cord injury (SCI). This is a report of a Phase I/IIa clinical study designed to test the safety and tolerability of the drug, and the neurological status of patients following the administration of a single dose of BA-210 applied during surgery following acute SCI. Patients with thoracic (T2-T12) or cervical (C4-T1) SCI were sequentially recruited for this dose-ranging (0.3āmg to 9āmg Cethrin), multi-center study of 48 patients with complete American Spinal Injury Association assessment (ASIA) A. Vital signs; clinical laboratory tests; computed tomography (CT) scans of the spine, head, and abdomen; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine, and ASIA assessment were performed in the pre-study period and in follow-up periods out to 1 year after treatment. The treatment-emergent adverse events that were reported were typical for a population of acute SCI patients, and no serious adverse events were attributed to the drug. The pharmacokinetic analysis showed low levels of systemic exposure to the drug, and there was high inter-patient variability. Changes in ASIA motor scores from baseline were low across all dose groups in thoracic patients (1.8Ā±5.1) and larger in cervical patients (18.6Ā±19.3). The largest change in motor score was observed in the cervical patients treated with 3āmg of Cethrin in whom a 27.3Ā±13.3 point improvement in ASIA motor score at 12 months was observed. Approximately 6% of thoracic patients converted from ASIA A to ASIA C or D compared to 31% of cervical patients and 66% for the 3-mg cervical cohort. Although the patient numbers are small, the observed motor recovery in this open-label trial suggests that BA-210 may increase neurological recovery after complete SCI. Further clinical trials with Cethrin in SCI patients are planned, to establish evidence of efficacy
FLUORESCENCE STUDIES ON PHOTOSYNTHETIC PIGMENT DEVELOPMENT IN RHODOPSEUDOMONAS SPHEROIDES * , ā
When bleached, aerobically grown cells of Rhodopseudomonas spheroides are transferred to semi-aerobic conditions to induce bacteriochlorophyll synthesis, a new fluorescence band, with a maximum at 790 nm, is observed in addition to the 885 nm emission maximum normally seen in pigmented cells. The 790 nm fluorescence may be due to bacterio-chlorophyll which has not been bound into the chromatophore membrane. The quantum yield of the 885 nm fluorescence is at first relatively high and then, about 1 hour after transfer, drops to the level found in pigmented photosynthetic cells. The coupling to the rest of the photo-synthetic apparatus, as indicated by the effect of dithionite on the fluorescence, also seems to occur during the first hour of pigment development, which suggests that the onset of fluorescence quenching is due at least in part to the synthesis of photochemical reaction centers. Continuation of these studies should provide new information on the formation, structure and molecular interactions of the pigments and the photosynthetic membranes.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73322/1/j.1751-1097.1968.tb08021.x.pd
Accurate Galactic 21-cm H I measurements with the NRAO Green Bank Telescope
Aims: We devise a data reduction and calibration system for producing
highly-accurate 21-cm H I spectra from the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) of the
NRAO.
Methods: A theoretical analysis of the all-sky response of the GBT at 21 cm
is made, augmented by extensive maps of the far sidelobes. Observations of
radio sources and the Moon are made to check the resulting aperture and main
beam efficiencies.
Results: The all-sky model made for the response of the GBT at 21 cm is used
to correct for "stray" 21-cm radiation reaching the receiver through the
sidelobes rather than the main beam. This reduces systematic errors in 21-cm
measurements by about an order of magnitude, allowing accurate 21-cm H I
spectra to be made at about 9' angular resolution with the GBT. At this
resolution the procedures discussed here allow for measurement of total
integrated Galactic H I line emission, W, with errors of 3 K km s^-1,
equivalent to errors in optically thin N_HI of 5 x 10^18 cm^-2.Comment: 49 pages, 25 figures; A&A, in pres
Sigref ā A Symbolic Bisimulation Tool Box
We present a uniform signature-based approach to compute the most popular bisimulations. Our approach is implemented symbolically using BDDs, which enables the handling of very large transition systems. Signatures for the bisimulations are built up from a few generic building blocks, which naturally correspond to efficient BDD operations. Thus, the definition of an appropriate signature is the key for a rapid development of algorithms for other types of bisimulation.
We provide experimental evidence of the viability of this approach by presenting computational results for many bisimulations on real-world instances. The experiments show cases where our framework can handle state spaces efficiently that are far too large to handle for any tool that requires an explicit state space description.
This work was partly supported by the German Research Council (DFG) as part of the Transregional Collaborative Research Center āAutomatic Verification and Analysis of Complex Systemsā (SFB/TR 14 AVACS). See www.avacs.org for more information
DXL: a sounding rocket mission for the study of solar wind charge exchange and local hot bubble X-ray emission
The Diffuse X-rays from the Local galaxy (DXL) mission is an approved
sounding rocket project with a first launch scheduled around December 2012. Its
goal is to identify and separate the X-ray emission generated by solar wind
charge exchange from that of the local hot bubble to improve our understanding
of both. With 1,000 cm2 proportional counters and grasp of about 10 cm2 sr both
in the 1/4 and 3/4 keV bands, DXL will achieve in a 5-minute flight what cannot
be achieved by current and future X-ray satellites.Comment: 15 Pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication on Experimental
Astronom
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