9,110 research outputs found
Requirements for contractility in disordered cytoskeletal bundles
Actomyosin contractility is essential for biological force generation, and is
well understood in highly organized structures such as striated muscle.
Additionally, actomyosin bundles devoid of this organization are known to
contract both in vivo and in vitro, which cannot be described by standard
muscle models. To narrow down the search for possible contraction mechanisms in
these systems, we investigate their microscopic symmetries. We show that
contractile behavior requires non-identical motors that generate large enough
forces to probe the nonlinear elastic behavior of F-actin. This suggests a role
for filament buckling in the contraction of these bundles, consistent with
recent experimental results on reconstituted actomyosin bundles.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures; text shortene
The Prediction of Mass of Z'-Boson from Mixing
B_q^0-B_^0 bar mixing offers a profound probe into the effects of new
physics beyond the Standard Model. In this paper, and
mass differences are considered taking the effect of both
Z-and Z' -mediated flavour-changing neutral currents in the
mixing (q = d, s). Our estimated mass of Z' boson is accessible at the
experiments LHC and B-factories in near future.Comment: 11 pages, 02 Figure
Directed transport and localization in phase-modulated driven lattices
We explore the dynamics of non-interacting particles loaded into a
phase-modulated one-dimensional lattice formed by laterally oscillating square
barriers. Tuning the parameters of the driven unit cell of the lattice selected
parts of the classical phase space can be manipulated in a controllable manner.
We find superdiffusion in position space for all parameters regimes. A directed
current of an ensemble of particles can be created through locally breaking the
spatiotemporal symmetries of the time-driven potential. Magnitude and direction
of the current are tunable. Several mechanisms for transient localization and
trapping of particles in different wells of the driven unit cell are presented
and analyzed
QCD near the Light Cone
Starting from the QCD Lagrangian, we present the QCD Hamiltonian for near
light cone coordinates. We study the dynamics of the gluonic zero modes of this
Hamiltonian. The strong coupling solutions serve as a basis for the complete
problem. We discuss the importance of zero modes for the confinement mechanism.Comment: 32 pages, ReVTeX, 2 Encapsulated PostScript figure
Local Spectral Density for a Periodically Driven System of Coupled Quantum States with Strong Imperfection in Unperturbed Energies
A random matrix theory approach is applied in order to analyze the
localization properties of local spectral density for a generic system of
coupled quantum states with strong static imperfection in the unperturbed
energy levels. The system is excited by an external periodic field, the
temporal profile of which is close to monochromatic one. The shape of local
spectral density is shown to be well described by the contour obtained from a
relevant model of periodically driven two-states system with irreversible
losses to an external thermal bath. The shape width and the inverse
participation ratio are determined as functions both of the Rabi frequency and
of parameters specifying the localization effect for our system in the absence
of external field.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Optics and Spectroscop
Comment on Mie Scattering from a Sonoluminescing Bubble with High Spatial and Temporal Resolution [Physical Review E 61, 5253 (2000)]
A key parameter underlying the existence of sonoluminescence (SL)is the time
relative to SL at which acoustic energy is radiated from the collapsed bubble.
Light scattering is one route to this quantity. We disagree with the statement
of Gompf and Pecha that -highly compressed water causes the minimum in
scattered light to occur 700ps before SL- and that this effect leads to an
overestimate of the bubble wall velocity. We discuss potential artifacts in
their experimental arrangement and correct their description of previous
experiments on Mie scattering.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
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High thymidylate synthase gene expression predicts poor outcome after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma.
IntroductionPrognosis after resection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is highly variable. Compared to clinicopathologic factors, the use of molecular markers to predict outcome has not been well studied. We investigated the prognostic importance of thymidylate synthase (TS) gene expression and polymorphisms in patients after resection of HCC.MethodsPatients who underwent complete resection of HCC for whom tissue was available were identified. TS gene expression level and polymorphisms were determined in HCC specimens. Prognostic factors were evaluated using Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazard models.ResultsThe study included 67 patients. In univariate analysis, variables that negatively influenced survival included TNM stage, microvascular invasion, and high TS expression. For the high TS expression group, median survival was 54 months and 5-year actuarial survival was 47%. For the low TS expression group, median survival was not reached and the 5-year actuarial survival was 91%. In multivariate analysis, only high TS expression remained an independent predictor of poor survival (HR = 10.77, 95% CI 1.36-84.91; P = 0.02). TS gene polymorphisms were not associated with TS expression or overall survival.ConclusionsHigh TS expression predicts poor outcome after resection of HCC. Molecular markers might be robust predictors of patient outcome after resection of HCC
Penguin decays of B mesons
Penguin, or loop, decays of B mesons induce effective flavor-changing neutral
currents, which are forbidden at tree level in the Standard Model. These decays
give special insight into the CKM matrix and are sensitive to non-standard
model effects. In this review, we give a historical and theoretical
introduction to penguins and a description of the various types of penguin
processes: electromagnetic, electroweak, and gluonic. We review the
experimental searches for penguin decays, including the measurements of the
electromagnetic penguins b -> s gamma and B -> K* gamma and gluonic penguins B
-> K pi, B+ -> omega K+ and B -> eta' K, and their implications for the
Standard Model and New Physics. We conclude by exploring the future prospects
for penguin physics.Comment: 49 pages, LATEX, 30 embedded figures, submitted to Annual Reviews of
Nuclear and Particle Scienc
Local Magnetization in the Boundary Ising Chain at Finite Temperature
We study the local magnetization in the 2-D Ising model at its critical
temperature on a semi-infinite cylinder geometry, and with a nonzero magnetic
field applied at the circular boundary of circumference . This model
is equivalent to the semi-infinite quantum critical 1-D transverse field Ising
model at temperature , with a symmetry-breaking field
applied at the point boundary. Using conformal field theory methods
we obtain the full scaling function for the local magnetization analytically in
the continuum limit, thereby refining the previous results of Leclair, Lesage
and Saleur in Ref. \onlinecite{Leclair}. The validity of our result as the
continuum limit of the 1-D lattice model is confirmed numerically, exploiting a
modified Jordan-Wigner representation. Applications of the result are
discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure
Multiple prebiotic metals mediate translation.
Today, Mg2+ is an essential cofactor with diverse structural and functional roles in life's oldest macromolecular machine, the translation system. We tested whether ancient Earth conditions (low O2, high Fe2+, and high Mn2+) can revert the ribosome to a functional ancestral state. First, SHAPE (selective 2'-hydroxyl acylation analyzed by primer extension) was used to compare the effect of Mg2+, Fe2+, and Mn2+ on the tertiary structure of rRNA. Then, we used in vitro translation reactions to test whether Fe2+ or Mn2+ could mediate protein production, and quantified ribosomal metal content. We found that (i) Mg2+, Fe2+, and Mn2+ had strikingly similar effects on rRNA folding; (ii) Fe2+ and Mn2+ can replace Mg2+ as the dominant divalent cation during translation of mRNA to functional protein; and (iii) Fe and Mn associate extensively with the ribosome. Given that the translation system originated and matured when Fe2+ and Mn2+ were abundant, these findings suggest that Fe2+ and Mn2+ played a role in early ribosomal evolution
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