12,312 research outputs found
Outstanding intraindividual genetic diversity in fissiparous planarians (Dugesia, Platyhelminthes) with facultative sex.
Predicted genetic consequences of asexuality include high intraindividual genetic diversity (i.e., the Meselson effect) and accumulation of deleterious mutations (i.e., Muller’s Ratchet), among others. These consequences have been largely studied in parthenogenetic organisms, but studies on fissiparous species are scarce. Differing from parthenogens, fissiparous organisms inherit part of the soma of the progenitor, including somatic mutations. Thus, in the long term, fissiparous reproduction may also result in genetic mosaicism, besides the presence of the Meselson effect and Muller’s Ratchet. Dugesiidae planarians show outstanding regeneration capabilities, allowing them to naturally reproduce by fission, either strictly or combined with sex (facultative). Therefore, they are an ideal model to analyze the genetic footprint of fissiparous reproduction, both when it is alternated with sex and when it is the only mode of reproduction
Non-thermal radiation from Cygnus X-1 corona
Cygnus X-1 was the first X-ray source widely accepted to be a black hole
candidate and remains among the most studied astronomical objects in its class.
The detection of non-thermal radio, hard X-rays and gamma rays reveals the fact
that this kind of objects are capable of accelerating particles up to very high
energies.
In order to explain the electromagnetic emission from Cygnus X-1 in the
low-hard state we present a model of a black hole corona with both relativistic
lepton and hadron content. We characterize the corona as a two-temperature hot
plasma plus a mixed non-thermal population in which energetic particles
interact with magnetic, photon and matter fields. Our calculations include the
radiation emitted by secondary particles (pions, muons and electron/positron
pairs). Finally, we take into account the effects of photon absorption. We
compare the results obtained from our model with data of Cygnus X-1 obtained by
the COMPTEL instrument.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, presented as a poster in HEPRO II, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, October 26-30 2009 / accepted for publication in Int. Jour. Mod.
Phys.
Theoretical optical and x-ray spectra of liquid and solid H_2O
Theoretical optical and x-ray spectra of model structures of water and ice
are calculated using a many-body perturbation theory, Bethe-Salpeter equation
(BSE) approach implemented in the valence- and core-excitation codes AI2NBSE
and OCEAN. These codes use ab initio density functional theory wave functions
from a plane-wave, pseudopotential code, quasi-particle self energy
corrections, and a BSE treatment of particle-hole interactions. The approach
improves upon independent-particle methods through the inclusion of a complex,
energy-dependent self energy and screened particle-hole interactions to account
for inelastic losses and excitonic effects. These many-body effects are found
to be crucial for quantitative calculations of ice and water spectra
Temperature distribution in an ECAL electronic box
In the design of the ECAL Cooling System a particular interest is represented by the temperature distribution in an electronic box. ECAL is one of the sub-detectors of CMS, it will house 82.728 crystals of lead tungstate, which have to work within a very tight temperature spread of ± 0.05 K. To ensure adequate operating conditions it is of the uppermost importance that the heat dissipated in the electronic boxes is transferred to the power cooling circuit, preventing it to reach the regulating cooling circuit and thus provoking unacceptable temperatures on the crystals. For this reason a simulation of the boxes was performed and analysed
Evidence for a Dinuclear Active Site in the Metallo-β-lactamase BcII with Substoichiometric Co(II): A New Model for Uptake
Metallo-β-lactamases are zinc-dependent enzymes that constitute one of the main resistance mechanisms to β-lactam antibiotics. Metallo-β-lactamases have been characterized both in mono- and dimetallic forms. Despite many studies, the role of each metal binding site in substrate binding and catalysis is still unclear. This is mostly due to the difficulties in assessing the metal content and site occupancy in solution. For this reason, Co(II) has been utilized as a useful probe of the active site structure. We have employed UV-visible, EPR, and NMR spectroscopy to study Co(II) binding to the metallo-β-lactamase BcII from Bacillus cereus. The spectroscopic features were attributed to the two canonical metal binding sites, the 3H (His116, His118, and His196) and DCH (Asp120, Cys221, and His263) sites. These data clearly reveal the coexistence of mononuclear and dinuclear Co(II)-loaded forms at Co(II)/enzyme ratios as low as 0.6. This picture is consistent with the macroscopic dissociation constants here determined from competition binding experiments. A spectral feature previously assigned to the DCH site in the dinuclear species corresponds to a third, weakly bound Co(II) site. The present work emphasizes the importance of using different spectroscopic techniques to follow the metal content and localization during metallo-β-lactamase turnover
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