Phytochrome modulation of calcium fluxes in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) protoplasts

Employing the metallochromic dye murexide and by monitoring the uptake of radiolabelled calcium, photoreversible calcium fluxes were measured in wheat leaf protoplast suspensions. Results obtained by both methods were identical - red light promoted and subsequent far-red irradiation reversed an influx of Ca++ ions into the protoplasts. These findings imply phytochrome regulation of Ca++ fluxes across the plasma membrane. The influx of Ca++ stimulated by 2 min red irradiation could be maintained in total darkness for the initial 16-18 min after illumination, after which a 6-8 min efflux process was triggered and the basal Ca++ level restored. Verapamil, a calcium channel blocker, inhibited the red-promoted influx, whereas the far-red mediated efflux could be checked by the use of the ATPase inhibitor vanadate, and also by the calmodulin antagonist chlorpromazine, thus suggesting a role of ion channels and pumps in phytochrome-controlled Ca++ fluxes. The possible involvement of phosphoinositides in phytochrome-modulated calcium fluxes was also investigated

Molecular analysis of autosomal dominant hereditary ataxias in the Indian population: high frequency of SCA2 and evidence for a common founder mutation

Expansion of CTG/CAG trinucleotide repeats has been shown to cause a number of autosomal dominant cerebellar ataxias (ADCA) such as SCA1, SCA2, SCA3/MJD, SCA6, SCA7, SCA8 and DRPLA. There is a wide variation in the clinical phenotype and prevalence of these ataxias in different populations. An analysis of ataxias in 42 Indian families indicates that SCA2 is the most frequent amongst all the ADCAs we have studied. In the SCA2 families, together with an intergenerational increase in repeat size, a horizontal increase with the birth order of the offspring was also observed, indicating an important role for parental age in repeat instability. This was strengthened by the detection of a pair of dizygotic twins with expanded alleles showing the same repeat number. Haplotype analysis indicates the presence of a common founder chromosome for the expanded allele in the Indian population. Polymorphism of CAG repeats in 135 normal individuals at the SCA loci studied showed similarity to the Caucasian population but was significantly different from the Japanese population

Quantum mechanics in multiply connected spaces

This paper analyses quantum mechanics in multiply connected spaces. It is shown that the multiple connectedness of the configuration space of a physical system can determine the quantum nature of physical observables, such as the angular momentum. In particular, quantum mechanics in compactified Kaluza-Klein spaces is examined. These compactified spaces give rise to an additional angular momentum which can adopt half-integer values and, therefore, may be identified with the intrinsic spin of a quantum particle.Comment: Latex 15 page

Time and length scales of autocrine signals in three dimensions

A model of autocrine signaling in cultures of suspended cells is developed on the basis of the effective medium approximation. The fraction of autocrine ligands, the mean and distribution of distances traveled by paracrine ligands before binding, as well as the mean and distribution of the ligand lifetime are derived. Interferon signaling by dendritic immune cells is considered as an illustration.Comment: 15 page

Respon Fisiologi Domba pada Sistem Pemeliharaan dan Pemberian Jenis Konsentrat Berbeda

Sheep is one of the livestock commodities that is developed and utilized by farmer to meet the increasing demand of animal protein. This study aimed to investigate physiological responses of local sheep that were kept on different raising system and given different type concentrate. The study used 24 heads of local sheep with an average initial live weight of 19.79±2.47kg. The experiment was set up in a completely randomized design with two factors. The first factor was rearing system (intensive and semi intensive) and second factor was type of concentrate feed (green and comercial concentrates). The parameters observed were heart rate, rectal temperature, respiration rate, differential leukocytes N/L and cortisol hormone levels. The data were analyzed by repeated mensure analysis of variance (repeted ANOVA). The results showed that the type of concentrate did not affect blood profile and cortisol hormone levels. Sheep’s physiological response (respiration rate, heart rate and rectal temperature) were significantly (P0 <0.5) influenced by rearing system

Ultra-soft 100 nm Thick Zero Poisson’s Ratio Film with 60% Reversible Compressibility

About a 100 nm thick multilayer film of nanoparticle monolayers and polymer layers is shown to behave like cellular-foam with a modulus below 100 KPa. The 1.25 cm radius film adhered to a rigid surface can be compressed reversibly to 60% strain. The more than four orders of magnitude lower modulus compared to its constituents is explained by considering local bending in the (nano)cellular structure, similar to cork and wings of beetles. As the rigidity of the polymer backbone is increased in just four monolayers the modulus of the composite increases by over 70%. Electro-optical map of the strain distribution over the area of compression and increase in modulus with thickness indicates the films have zero Poisson’s ratio

Measuring Wind Turbine Parameters Using Microcontroller as Data Acquisition

ABSTRACT: The energy extracted from wind with the help of wind turbines is used to produce electricity. Hundreds of wind turbines combine together to form wind farms. They are connected to electrical power transmission network. Wind power can be used as an alternative to fossil fuels as it is widely available. wind turbines are used for converting wind energy into useful form of energy. In this paper the various parameters of wind are measured and monitored by setting up a system. The parameters are pressure, current ,voltage and direction. The interface to pc is done using a microcontroller which is used as a data acquisition system and proteus design suite is used for simulation. The idea of using microcontroller as a data acquisition will be economic and more convenient for the user

Coalescence of Two Spinning Black Holes: An Effective One-Body Approach

We generalize to the case of spinning black holes a recently introduced ``effective one-body'' approach to the general relativistic dynamics of binary systems. The combination of the effective one-body approach, and of a Pad\'e definition of some crucial effective radial functions, is shown to define a dynamics with much improved post-Newtonian convergence properties, even for black hole separations of the order of $6 GM / c^2$. We discuss the approximate existence of a two-parameter family of ``spherical orbits'' (with constant radius), and, of a corresponding one-parameter family of ``last stable spherical orbits'' (LSSO). These orbits are of special interest for forthcoming LIGO/VIRGO/GEO gravitational wave observations. It is argued that for most (but not all) of the parameter space of two spinning holes the effective one-body approach gives a reliable analytical tool for describing the dynamics of the last orbits before coalescence. This tool predicts, in a quantitative way, how certain spin orientations increase the binding energy of the LSSO. This leads to a detection bias, in LIGO/VIRGO/GEO observations, favouring spinning black hole systems, and makes it urgent to complete the conservative effective one-body dynamics given here by adding (resummed) radiation reaction effects, and by constructing gravitational waveform templates that include spin effects. Finally, our approach predicts that the spin of the final hole formed by the coalescence of two arbitrarily spinning holes never approaches extremality.Comment: 26 pages, two eps figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. D, minor updating of the text, clarifications added and inclusion of a few new reference