Personality profiles and the "russian soul": Literary and scholarly views evaluated

Many domestic and foreign observers have claimed that Russians have a unique constellation of personality traits that mirrors their distinctive historical and cultural experience. To examine the hypothesized uniqueness of Russian personality, members of the Russian Character and Personality Survey collected data from 39 samples in 33 administrative areas of the Russian Federation. Respondents (N = 7,065) identified an ethnically Russian adult or college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the target using the Russian observer-rating version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The mean personality profile of Russians was very similar to the international average based on 50 different countries, debunking the myth of a unique Russian soul.The small variations from world norms did not converge with depictions of Russian national character in fiction and the scholarly literature. New items intended to capture distinctive, emic aspects of Russian personality provided no new information beyond the familiar Big Five dimensions. Religion, ethnicity, and beliefs about the uniqueness of the Russian character and the malleability of personality traits had little effect on personality ratings. Perceptions of the Russian soul do not seem to be based on the personality traits of Russians

Heterologous Expression of Membrane Proteins: Choosing the Appropriate Host

International audienceBACKGROUND: Membrane proteins are the targets of 50% of drugs, although they only represent 1% of total cellular proteins. The first major bottleneck on the route to their functional and structural characterisation is their overexpression; and simply choosing the right system can involve many months of trial and error. This work is intended as a guide to where to start when faced with heterologous expression of a membrane protein. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The expression of 20 membrane proteins, both peripheral and integral, in three prokaryotic (E. coli, L. lactis, R. sphaeroides) and three eukaryotic (A. thaliana, N. benthamiana, Sf9 insect cells) hosts was tested. The proteins tested were of various origins (bacteria, plants and mammals), functions (transporters, receptors, enzymes) and topologies (between 0 and 13 transmembrane segments). The Gateway system was used to clone all 20 genes into appropriate vectors for the hosts to be tested. Culture conditions were optimised for each host, and specific strategies were tested, such as the use of Mistic fusions in E. coli. 17 of the 20 proteins were produced at adequate yields for functional and, in some cases, structural studies. We have formulated general recommendations to assist with choosing an appropriate system based on our observations of protein behaviour in the different hosts. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Most of the methods presented here can be quite easily implemented in other laboratories. The results highlight certain factors that should be considered when selecting an expression host. The decision aide provided should help both newcomers and old-hands to select the best system for their favourite membrane protein

The Wigner-Vlasov formalizm for time-dependent quantum oscillator

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation of the problem of a harmonic oscillator with time-depending frequencies in the framework of the Vlasov theory and the Wigner function apparatus for quantum systems in the phase space. A new method is proposed to find an exact solution of this problem using a relation of the Vlasov equation chain with the Schr\"odinger equation and with the Moyal equation for the Wigner function. A method of averaging the energy function over the Wigner function in the phase space can be used to obtain time-dependent energy spectrum for a quantum system. The Vlasov equation solution can be represented in the form of characteristics satisfying the Hill equation. A particular case of the Hill equation, namely the Mathieu equation with unstable solutions, has been considered in details. An analysis of the dynamics of an unstable quantum system shows that the phase space square bounded with the Wigner function level line conserves in time, but the phase space square bounded with the energy function line increases. In this case the Vlasov equation characteristic is situated on the crosspoint of the Wigner function level line and the energy function line. This crosspoint moves in time with a trajectory that represents the unstable system dynamics. Each such trajectory has its own energy, and averaging these energies over the Wigner function results in time-dependent discreet energy spectrum for the whole system. An explicit expression has been obtained for the Wigner function of the 4th rank in the generalized phase space $\left\{ x,p,\dot{p},\ddot{p} \right\}.$Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

Different effects of two Poloxamers (L61 and F68) on the conductance of bilayer lipid membranes

The integral conductance of planar lipid bilayer membranes in the presence of two Poloxamers (Pluronics) L61 and F68 with the same lengths of hydrophobic poly(propylene oxide) blocks and the different lengths of hydrophilic poly(ethylene oxide) blocks increases with an increase in the concentration of both Pluronics; however, the shape of the conductance-concentration curves is super linear for L61 and sublinear for F68. In the presence of both Pluronics, rare discrete current jumps are observed against the background of continuous current. At high concentrations, the I–V curves of membranes with both L61 and F68 became nonlinear at sufficiently low voltages but differed significantly. At voltages greater than 50 mV, the conductance of membranes with L61 increased sharply and quantized jumps were observed toward higher conductance, which could be interpreted as the appearance of additional pores. On the contrary, the conductance of membranes with F68 decreased and quantized jumps to lower conductance were observed, which could be interpreted as blocking of already existing pores. We attributed the differences in the conductance-concentration and I–V curves of these two Pluronics to their different effects on the dynamics of membrane hydration and, accordingly, on the probability of formation of conducting pores

Estimation of the parameters of the Smoluchowski equation describing the occurrence of pores in a bilayer lipid membrane under soft poration

The conductive lipid pores occurring in planar bilayer membranes are known to manifest themselves experimentally as current fluctuations. Reliable recording of such fluctuations during phase transitions, as well as in membranes with various additives (for example, SDS), allows one to determine the characteristics of hypothetical hydrophilic pores, namely, their number, sizes, lifetimes, and duration of time intervals between pores. Because, in contrast with electroporation, the emergence of pores in a membrane does not require high voltages, this process is called soft poration. Studying the characteristics of pores under soft poration allows us to estimate the parameters of the Smoluchowski equation and compare them with the corresponding parameters used to describe electroporation. In this work, the experimental characteristics of current fluctuations in the membrane with the addition of SDS to the bulk solution were used to estimate the parameters of the Smoluchowski equation: the pore edge tension, the energy of the hydrophobic pore/hydrophilic pore barrier, the coefficient of pore diffusion in the radius space, the initial distribution density of the number of pores, and the attempt rate density of the lipids in a membrane. The obtained estimates are close to the parameter values used in studies of electroporation

Personality profiles and the "russian soul": Literary and scholarly views evaluated

Many domestic and foreign observers have claimed that Russians have a unique constellation of personality traits that mirrors their distinctive historical and cultural experience. To examine the hypothesized uniqueness of Russian personality, members of the Russian Character and Personality Survey collected data from 39 samples in 33 administrative areas of the Russian Federation. Respondents (N = 7,065) identified an ethnically Russian adult or college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the target using the Russian observer-rating version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The mean personality profile of Russians was very similar to the international average based on 50 different countries, debunking the myth of a unique Russian soul.The small variations from world norms did not converge with depictions of Russian national character in fiction and the scholarly literature. New items intended to capture distinctive, emic aspects of Russian personality provided no new information beyond the familiar Big Five dimensions. Religion, ethnicity, and beliefs about the uniqueness of the Russian character and the malleability of personality traits had little effect on personality ratings. Perceptions of the Russian soul do not seem to be based on the personality traits of Russians

Personality profiles and the "russian soul": Literary and scholarly views evaluated

Many domestic and foreign observers have claimed that Russians have a unique constellation of personality traits that mirrors their distinctive historical and cultural experience. To examine the hypothesized uniqueness of Russian personality, members of the Russian Character and Personality Survey collected data from 39 samples in 33 administrative areas of the Russian Federation. Respondents (N = 7,065) identified an ethnically Russian adult or college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the target using the Russian observer-rating version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The mean personality profile of Russians was very similar to the international average based on 50 different countries, debunking the myth of a unique Russian soul.The small variations from world norms did not converge with depictions of Russian national character in fiction and the scholarly literature. New items intended to capture distinctive, emic aspects of Russian personality provided no new information beyond the familiar Big Five dimensions. Religion, ethnicity, and beliefs about the uniqueness of the Russian character and the malleability of personality traits had little effect on personality ratings. Perceptions of the Russian soul do not seem to be based on the personality traits of Russians

Personality profiles and the "russian soul": Literary and scholarly views evaluated

Many domestic and foreign observers have claimed that Russians have a unique constellation of personality traits that mirrors their distinctive historical and cultural experience. To examine the hypothesized uniqueness of Russian personality, members of the Russian Character and Personality Survey collected data from 39 samples in 33 administrative areas of the Russian Federation. Respondents (N = 7,065) identified an ethnically Russian adult or college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the target using the Russian observer-rating version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The mean personality profile of Russians was very similar to the international average based on 50 different countries, debunking the myth of a unique Russian soul.The small variations from world norms did not converge with depictions of Russian national character in fiction and the scholarly literature. New items intended to capture distinctive, emic aspects of Russian personality provided no new information beyond the familiar Big Five dimensions. Religion, ethnicity, and beliefs about the uniqueness of the Russian character and the malleability of personality traits had little effect on personality ratings. Perceptions of the Russian soul do not seem to be based on the personality traits of Russians

Personality Profiles and the "Russian Soul": Literary and Scholarly Views Evaluated

Many domestic and foreign observers have claimed that Russians have a unique constellation of personality traits that mirrors their distinctive historical and cultural experience. To examine the hypothesized uniqueness of Russian personality, members of the Russian Character and Personality Survey collected data from 39 samples in 33 administrative areas of the Russian Federation. Respondents (N = 7,065) identified an ethnically Russian adult or college-aged man or woman whom they knew well and rated the target using the Russian observer-rating version of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. The mean personality profile of Russians was very similar to the international average based on 50 different countries, debunking the myth of a unique Russian soul. The small variations from world norms did not converge with depictions of Russian national character in fiction and the scholarly literature. New items intended to capture distinctive, emic aspects of Russian personality provided no new information beyond the familiar Big Five dimensions. Religion, ethnicity, and beliefs about the uniqueness of the Russian character and the malleability of personality traits had little effect on personality ratings. Perceptions of the Russian soul do not seem to be based on the personality traits of Russians