Electron and hole states in quantum-dot quantum wells within a spherical 8-band model

In order to study heterostructures composed both of materials with strongly different parameters and of materials with narrow band gaps, we have developed an approach, which combines the spherical 8-band effective-mass Hamiltonian and the Burt's envelope function representation. Using this method, electron and hole states are calculated in CdS/HgS/CdS/H_2O and CdTe/HgTe/CdTe/H_2O quantum-dot quantum-well heterostructures. Radial components of the wave functions of the lowest S and P electron and hole states in typical quantum-dot quantum wells (QDQWs) are presented as a function of radius. The 6-band-hole components of the radial wave functions of an electron in the 8-band model have amplitudes comparable with the amplitude of the corresponding 2-band-electron component. This is a consequence of the coupling between the conduction and valence bands, which gives a strong nonparabolicity of the conduction band. At the same time, the 2-band-electron component of the radial wave functions of a hole in the 8-band model is small compared with the amplitudes of the corresponding 6-band-hole components. It is shown that in the CdS/HgS/CdS/H_2O QDQW holes in the lowest states are strongly localized in the well region (HgS). On the contrary, electrons in this QDQW and both electron and holes in the CdTe/HgTe/CdTe/H_2O QDQW are distributed through the entire dot. The importance of the developed theory for QDQWs is proven by the fact that in contrast to our rigorous 8-band model, there appear spurious states within the commonly used symmetrized 8-band model.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected]

Dependent coordinates in path integral measure factorization

The transformation of the path integral measure under the reduction procedure in the dynamical systems with a symmetry is considered. The investigation is carried out in the case of the Wiener--type path integrals that are used for description of the diffusion on a smooth compact Riemannian manifold with the given free isometric action of the compact semisimple unimodular Lie group. The transformation of the path integral, which factorizes the path integral measure, is based on the application of the optimal nonlinear filtering equation from the stochastic theory. The integral relation between the kernels of the original and reduced semigroup are obtained.Comment: LaTeX2e, 28 page

On "Dotsenko-Fateev" representation of the toric conformal blocks

We demonstrate that the recent ansatz of arXiv:1009.5553, inspired by the original remark due to R.Dijkgraaf and C.Vafa, reproduces the toric conformal blocks in the same sense that the spherical blocks are given by the integral representation of arXiv:1001.0563 with a peculiar choice of open integration contours for screening insertions. In other words, we provide some evidence that the toric conformal blocks are reproduced by appropriate beta-ensembles not only in the large-N limit, but also at finite N. The check is explicitly performed at the first two levels for the 1-point toric functions. Generalizations to higher genera are briefly discussed.Comment: 10 page

Challenges of beta-deformation

A brief review of problems, arising in the study of the beta-deformation, also known as "refinement", which appears as a central difficult element in a number of related modern subjects: beta \neq 1 is responsible for deviation from free fermions in 2d conformal theories, from symmetric omega-backgrounds with epsilon_2 = - epsilon_1 in instanton sums in 4d SYM theories, from eigenvalue matrix models to beta-ensembles, from HOMFLY to super-polynomials in Chern-Simons theory, from quantum groups to elliptic and hyperbolic algebras etc. The main attention is paid to the context of AGT relation and its possible generalizations.Comment: 20 page

N-Terminal Arginines Modulate Plasma-Membrane Localization of Kv7.1/KCNE1 Channel Complexes

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The slow delayed rectifier current (I(Ks)) is important for cardiac action potential termination. The underlying channel is composed of Kv7.1 α-subunits and KCNE1 β-subunits. While most evidence suggests a role of KCNE1 transmembrane domain and C-terminus for the interaction, the N-terminal KCNE1 polymorphism 38G is associated with reduced I(Ks) and atrial fibrillation (a human arrhythmia). Structure-function relationship of the KCNE1 N-terminus for I(Ks) modulation is poorly understood and was subject of this study. METHODS: We studied N-terminal KCNE1 constructs disrupting structurally important positively charged amino-acids (arginines) at positions 32, 33, 36 as well as KCNE1 constructs that modify position 38 including an N-terminal truncation mutation. Experimental procedures included molecular cloning, patch-clamp recording, protein biochemistry, real-time-PCR and confocal microscopy. RESULTS: All KCNE1 constructs physically interacted with Kv7.1. I(Ks) resulting from co-expression of Kv7.1 with non-atrial fibrillation '38S' was greater than with any other construct. Ionic currents resulting from co-transfection of a KCNE1 mutant with arginine substitutions ('38G-3xA') were comparable to currents evoked from cells transfected with an N-terminally truncated KCNE1-construct ('Δ1-38'). Western-blots from plasma-membrane preparations and confocal images consistently showed a greater amount of Kv7.1 protein at the plasma-membrane in cells co-transfected with the non-atrial fibrillation KCNE1-38S than with any other construct. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study indicate that N-terminal arginines in positions 32, 33, 36 of KCNE1 are important for reconstitution of I(Ks). Furthermore, our results hint towards a role of these N-terminal amino-acids in membrane representation of the delayed rectifier channel complex

Arrested neural and advanced mesenchymal differentiation of glioblastoma cells-comparative study with neural progenitors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although features of variable differentiation in glioblastoma cell cultures have been reported, a comparative analysis of differentiation properties of normal neural GFAP positive progenitors, and those shown by glioblastoma cells, has not been performed.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Following methods were used to compare glioblastoma cells and GFAP+NNP (NHA): exposure to neural differentiation medium, exposure to adipogenic and osteogenic medium, western blot analysis, immunocytochemistry, single cell assay, BrdU incorporation assay. To characterize glioblastoma cells <it>EGFR </it>amplification analysis, LOH/MSI analysis, and <it>P53 </it>nucleotide sequence analysis were performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p><it>In vitro </it>differentiation of cancer cells derived from eight glioblastomas was compared with GFAP-positive normal neural progenitors (GFAP+NNP). Prior to exposure to differentiation medium, both types of cells showed similar multilineage phenotype (CD44+/MAP2+/GFAP+/Vimentin+/Beta III-tubulin+/Fibronectin+) and were positive for SOX-2 and Nestin. In contrast to GFAP+NNP, an efficient differentiation arrest was observed in all cell lines isolated from glioblastomas. Nevertheless, a subpopulation of cells isolated from four glioblastomas differentiated after serum-starvation with varying efficiency into derivatives indistinguishable from the neural derivatives of GFAP+NNP. Moreover, the cells derived from a majority of glioblastomas (7 out of 8), as well as GFAP+NNP, showed features of mesenchymal differentiation when exposed to medium with serum.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results showed that stable co-expression of multilineage markers by glioblastoma cells resulted from differentiation arrest. According to our data up to 95% of glioblastoma cells can present <it>in vitro </it>multilineage phenotype. The mesenchymal differentiation of glioblastoma cells is advanced and similar to mesenchymal differentiation of normal neural progenitors GFAP+NNP.</p