4,273 research outputs found
Distribution of the cytochromes of spinach chloroplasts between the appressed membranes of grana stacks and stroma-exposed thylakoid regions
Does functional photosytem II complex have an oxygen channel?
AbstractPhotosystem II complex (PSII) of thylakoid membranes uses light energy to oxidise extremely stable water and produce oxygen (2H2O→O2+4H++4e−). PSII is compared with cytochrome c oxidase that catalyses the opposite reaction coupled to proton translocation. Cytochrome c oxidase has proton and water channels, and a tentative oxygen channel. I propose that functional PSII complexes also need a specific oxygen channel to direct O2 from the water molecules bound to specific Mn atoms of the Mn cluster within PSII out to the membrane surface. The function of this channel will be to prevent oxygen being accessible to the radical pair P680+Pheo−, thereby preventing singlet oxygen generation from the triplet P680 state in functional PSII. The important role of singlet oxygen in structurally perturbed non-functional photosystem II is also discussed
Solid-state conformation of copolymers of ß-benzyl-L-aspartate with L-alanine, L-leucine, L-valine, γ-benzyl-L-glutamate, or ε-carbobenzoxy-L-lysine
The solid-state conformation of copolymers of ß-benzyl-L-aspartate [L-Asp(OBzl)] with L-leucine (L-Leu), L-alanine (L-Ala), L-valine (L-Val), γ-benzyl-L-glutamate [L-Glu(OBzl)], or ε-carbobenzoxy-L-lysine (Cbz-L-Lys) has been studied by ir spectroscopy and circular dichroism (CD). The ir spectra in the region of the amide I and II bands and in the region of 700-250 cm-1 have been determined. The results from the ir studies are in good agreement with data obtained by CD experiments. Incorporation of the amino acid residues mentioned above into poly[L-Asp(OBzl)] induces a change from the left-handed into the right-handed α-helix. This conformational change for the poly[L-Asp(OBzl)] copolymers was observed in the following composition ranges: L-Leu, 0-15 mol %; L-Ala, 0-32 mol %; L-Val, 0-8 mol %; L-Glu(OBzl), 3-10 mol %; and Cbz-L-Lys, 0-9 mol %
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Preclinical translation of exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem/stromal cells.
Exosomes are nanovesicles secreted by virtually all cells. Exosomes mediate the horizontal transfer of various macromolecules previously believed to be cell-autonomous in nature, including nonsecretory proteins, various classes of RNA, metabolites, and lipid membrane-associated factors. Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) appear to be particularly beneficial for enhancing recovery in various models of disease. To date, there have been more than 200 preclinical studies of exosome-based therapies in a number of different animal models. Despite a growing number of studies reporting the therapeutic properties of MSC-derived exosomes, their underlying mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, and scalable manufacturing remain largely outstanding questions. Here, we review the global trends associated with preclinical development of MSC-derived exosome-based therapies, including immunogenicity, source of exosomes, isolation methods, biodistribution, and disease categories tested to date. Although the in vivo data assessing the therapeutic properties of MSC-exosomes published to date are promising, several outstanding questions remain to be answered that warrant further preclinical investigation
A dynamical systems approach to the discrimination of the modes of operation of cryptographic systems
Evidence of signatures associated with cryptographic modes of operation is
established. Motivated by some analogies between cryptographic and dynamical
systems, in particular with chaos theory, we propose an algorithm based on
Lyapunov exponents of discrete dynamical systems to estimate the divergence
among ciphertexts as the encryption algorithm is applied iteratively. The
results allow to distinguish among six modes of operation, namely ECB, CBC,
OFB, CFB, CTR and PCBC using DES, IDEA, TEA and XTEA block ciphers of 64 bits,
as well as AES, RC6, Twofish, Seed, Serpent and Camellia block ciphers of 128
bits. Furthermore, the proposed methodology enables a classification of modes
of operation of cryptographic systems according to their strength.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Tissue compatibility of poly(hydroxypropylglutamate)-prazosin conjugates
Biocompatibility of an injectable biodegradable drug delivery system for prazosin was investigated in Sprague-Dawley rats by histological studies after subcutaneous injection ofpoly(hydroxypropyl glutamate)-prazosin (PHPG-prazosin) conjugate particles. The studies showed that (1) the acute inflammatory response to this injectable biodegradable polymeric prodrug system was mild and of only short duration, (2) the chronic inflammation was minimal to zero, (3) the fibrous capsule could be seen starting from 7 days and became more prominent at longer time periods, (4) a collagen network was formed into the injection site after 21 days, (5) the macrophages and foreign giant cells reacted to the globules of conjugate particles, and (6) no adverse reactions were identified. Focal inflammation and the formation of the fibrous capsule around the injection site were the significant histological findings in the histopathological studies. Therefore, it is concluded that the biodegradable injectable PHPG-prazosin carbamate polymeric prodrug system is tissue biocompatible
Type-II Bose-Mott insulators
The Mott insulating state formed from bosons is ubiquitous in solid He-4,
cold atom systems, Josephson junction networks and perhaps underdoped high-Tc
superconductors. We predict that close to the quantum phase transition to the
superconducting state the Mott insulator is not at all as featureless as is
commonly believed. In three dimensions there is a phase transition to a low
temperature state where, under influence of an external current, a
superconducting state consisting of a regular array of 'wires' that each carry
a quantized flux of supercurrent is realized. This prediction of the "type-II
Mott insulator" follows from a field theoretical weak-strong duality, showing
that this 'current lattice' is the dual of the famous Abrikosov lattice of
magnetic fluxes in normal superconductors. We argue that this can be exploited
to investigate experimentally whether preformed Cooper pairs exist in high-Tc
superconductors.Comment: RevTeX, 17 pages, 6 figures, published versio
Quantifying and monitoring functional Photosystem II and the stoichiometry of the two photosystems in leaf segments: Approaches and approximations
Given its unique function in light-induced
water oxidation and its susceptibility to photoinactivation
during photosynthesis, photosystem II (PS II) is often the
focus of studies of photosynthetic structure and function,
particularly in environmental stress conditions. Here we
review four approaches for quantifying or monitoring PS II
functionality or the stoichiometry of the two photosystems
in leaf segments, scrutinizing the approximations in each
approach. (1) Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters are
convenient to derive, but the information-rich signal suffers
from the localized nature of its detection in leaf tissue. (2)
The gross O2 yield per single-turnover flash in CO2-enriched
air is a more direct measurement of the functional
content, assuming that each functional PS II evolves one
O2 molecule after four flashes. However, the gross O2 yield
per single-turnover flash (multiplied by four) could overestimate
the content of functional PS II if mitochondrial
respiration is lower in flash illumination than in darkness.
(3) The cumulative delivery of electrons from PS II to P700? (oxidized primary donor in PS I) after a flash is
added to steady background far-red light is a whole-tissue
measurement, such that a single linear correlation with
functional PS II applies to leaves of all plant species
investigated so far. However, the magnitude obtained in a
simple analysis (with the signal normalized to the maximum
photo-oxidizable P700 signal), which should equal
the ratio of PS II to PS I centers, was too small to match the
independently-obtained photosystem stoichiometry. Further,
an under-estimation of functional PS II content could
occur if some electrons were intercepted before reaching
PS I. (4) The electrochromic signal from leaf segments
appears to reliably quantify the photosystem stoichiometry,
either by progressively photoinactivating PS II or suppressing
PS I via photo-oxidation of a known fraction of
the P700 with steady far-red light. Together, these
approaches have the potential for quantitatively probing PS
II in vivo in leaf segments, with prospects for application
of the latter two approaches in the field
Ground State Energy of the One-Dimensional Discrete Random Schr\"{o}dinger Operator with Bernoulli Potential
In this paper, we show the that the ground state energy of the one
dimensional Discrete Random Schroedinger Operator with Bernoulli Potential is
controlled asymptotically as the system size N goes to infinity by the random
variable \ell_N, the length the longest consecutive sequence of sites on the
lattice with potential equal to zero. Specifically, we will show that for
almost every realization of the potential the ground state energy behaves
asymptotically as in the sense that the ratio of
the quantities goes to one
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