Roles and regulation of membrane-associated serine proteases

Pericellular proteolytic activity affects many aspects of cellular behaviour, via mechanisms involving processing of the extracellular matrix, growth factors and receptors. The serine proteases have exquisitely sensitive regulatory mechanisms in this setting, involving both receptor-bound and transmembrane proteases. Receptor-bound proteases are exemplified by the uPA (urokinase plasminogen activator)/uPAR (uPAR receptor) plasminogen activation system. The mechanisms initiating the activity of this proteolytic system on the cell surface, a critical regulatory point, are poorly understood. We have found that the expression of the TTSP (type II transmembrane serine protease) matriptase is highly regulated in leucocytes, and correlates with the presence of active uPA on their surface. Using siRNA (small interfering RNA), we have demonstrated that matriptase specifically activates uPAR-associated pro-uPA. The uPA/uPAR system has been implicated in the activation of the plasminogen-related growth factor HGF (hepatocyte growth factor). However, we find no evidence for this, but instead that HGF can be activated by both matriptase and the related TTSP hepsin in purified systems. Hepsin is of particular interest, as the proteolytic cleavage sequence of HGF is an ‘ideal substrate’ for hepsin and membrane-associated hepsin activates HGF with high efficiency. Both of these TTSPs can be activated autocatalytically at the cell surface, an unusual mechanism among the serine proteases. Therefore these TTSPs have the capacity to be true upstream initiators of proteolytic activity with subsequent downstream effects on cell behaviour

Interface resistance of disordered magnetic multilayers

We study the effect of interface disorder on the spin-dependent interface resistances of Co/Cu, Fe/Cr and Au/Ag multilayers using a newly developed method for calculating transmission matrices from first-principles. The efficient implementation using tight-binding linear-muffin-tin orbitals allows us to model interface disorder using large lateral supercells whereby specular and diffuse scattering are treated on an equal footing. Without introducing any free parameters, quantitative agreement with experiment is obtained. We predict that disorder {\it reduces} the majority-spin interface resistance of Fe/Cr(100) multilayers by a factor 3.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR

Local Phonon Density of States in an Elastic Substrate

The local, eigenfunction-weighted acoustic phonon density of states (DOS) tensor is calculated for a model substrate consisting of a semi-infinite isotropic elastic continuum with a stress-free surface. On the surface, the local DOS is proportional to the square of the frequency, as for the three-dimensional Debye model, but with a constant of proportionality that is considerably enhanced compared to the Debye value, a consequence of the Rayleigh surface modes. The local DOS tensor at the surface is also anisotropic, as expected. Inside the substrate the local DOS is both spatially anisotropic and non-quadratic in frequency. However, at large depths, the local DOS approaches the isotropic Debye value. The results are applied to a Si substrate.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, RevTe

Tunable far infrared studies of molecular parameters in support of stratospheric measurements

Lab studies were made in support of far infrared spectroscopy of the stratosphere using the Tunable Far InfraRed (TuFIR) method of ultrahigh resolution spectroscopy and, more recently, spectroscopic and retrieval calculations performed in support of satellite-based atmospheric measurement programs: the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME), and the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY)

Do Tactile Activities During Good Citizenship Lessons Minimize Misbehavior More Than Activities Using Traditional Strategies?

https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/student_scholarship_posters/1195/thumbnail.jp

HIV infection and domestic smoke exposure, but not human papillomavirus, are risk factors for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in Zambia: a case-control study

(c) 2015 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Hot QCD equations of state and RHIC

We show how hot QCD equations of states can be adapted to make definite predictions for quark-gluon plasma at RHIC. We consider equations of state up to $O(g^5)$ and $O[g^6(ln(1/g)+\delta)]$. Our method involves the extraction of equilibrium distribution functions for gluons and quarks from these equations of state by capturing the the interaction effects entirely in the effective chemical potentials. We further utilize these distribution functions to study the screening length in hot QCD and dissociation phenomenon of heavy quarkonia states by combining this understanding with the semi-classical transport theory.Comment: Based on poster presented during quark matter-2008(4-10 Feb 2008) Jaipur India; 4 Pages, 2 eps fig

In-situ measurements of total reactive nitrogen, total water vapor, and aerosols in polar stratospheric clouds in the Antarctic stratosphere

Measurements of total reactive nitrogen, NOy, total water vapor, and aerosols were made as part of the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment. The measurements were made using instruments located onboard the NASA ER-2 aircrafts which conducted twelve flights over the Antarctic continent reaching altitudes of 18 km at 72 S latitude. Each instrument utilized an ambient air sample and provided a measurement up to 1 Hz or every 200 m of flight path. The data presented focus on the flights of Aug. 17th and 18th during which Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs) were encountered containing concentrations of 0.5 to 1.0 micron diameter aerosols greater than 1 cm/cu. The temperature pressure during these events ranged as low as 184 K near 75 mb pressure, with water values near 3.5 ppm by volume (ppmv). With the exception of two short periods, the PSC activity was observed at temperatures above the frost point of water over ice. The data gathered during these flights are analyzed and presented