159 research outputs found
A functional BH3 domain in an aquaporin from Leishmania infantum.
Despite the absence of sequences showing significant similarity to any of the members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins in protozoa, experiments carried out in yeast or trypanosomatids have demonstrated that ectopic expression of some of these members alters their response to different death stimuli. Because the BH3 domain is the smallest common signature in all the proteins of this family of apoptosis regulators and also because they are essential for molecular interactions between antagonistic members, we looked for sequences with significant similarity to the BH3 motif in the Leishmania infantum genome. Among the top scoring ones, we found the MYLALQNLGDEV amino-acid stretch at the C terminus of a previously described aquaporin, now renamed as Li-BH3AQP. This motif is highly conserved in homologous proteins from other species of the Leishmania genus. The association of Li-BH3AQP with human Bcl-XL was demonstrated by both co-immunoprecipitation and yeast two-hybrid experiments. Ectopic expression of Li-BH3AQP reduced viability of HeLa cells and this deleterious effect was abrogated by the simultaneous overexpression of Bcl-XL. Although we were not able to demonstrate a reduction in parasite viability when the protein was overexpressed in Leishmania promastigotes, a prodeath effect could be observed when the parasites overexpressing Li-BH3AQP were treated with staurosporine or antimycin A. Surprisingly, these parasites were more resistant, compared with wild-type parasites, to hypotonic stress or nutrient deprivation. The prodeath activity was abolished upon replacement of two highly conserved amino acids in this BH3 domain. Taken together, these results point to Li-BH3AQP as the first non-enzymatic protein ever described in trypanosomatids that is involved in cell death
Experimental proof of faster-is-slower in systems of frictional particles flowing through constrictions
The "faster-is-slower" (FIS) effect was first predicted by computer simulations of the egress of pedestrians through a narrow exit D. Helbing, I. J. Farkas, and T. Vicsek, Nature (London) 407, 487 (2000)NATUAS0028-083610.1038/35035023]. FIS refers to the finding that, under certain conditions, an excess of the individuals'' vigor in the attempt to exit causes a decrease in the flow rate. In general, this effect is identified by the appearance of a minimum when plotting the total evacuation time of a crowd as a function of the pedestrian desired velocity. Here, we experimentally show that the FIS effect indeed occurs in three different systems of discrete particles flowing through a constriction: (a) humans evacuating a room, (b) a herd of sheep entering a barn, and (c) grains flowing out a 2D hopper over a vibrated incline. This finding suggests that FIS is a universal phenomenon for active matter passing through a narrowing
Towards a relevant set of state variables to describe static granular packings
We analyze, experimentally and numerically, the steady states, obtained by tapping, of a two-dimensional granular layer. Contrary to the usual assumption, we show that the reversible (steady state branch) of the
density-acceleration curve is nonmonotonous. Accordingly, steady states with the same mean volume can be reached by tapping the system with very different intensities. Simulations of dissipative frictional disks show that equal volume steady states have different values of the force moment tensor. Additionally, we find that steady states of equal stress can be obtained by changing the duration of the taps; however, these states present distinct mean volumes. These results confirm previous speculations that the volume and the force moment tensor are both needed to describe univocally equilibrium states in static granular assemblies
Relevance of system size to the steady-state properties of tapped granular systems
We investigate the steady-state packing fraction ϕ and force moment tensor Σ of quasi-two-dimensional granular columns subjected to tapping. Systems of different height h and width L are considered. We find that ϕ and Σ, which describe the macroscopic state of the system, are insensitive to L for L>50d (with d the grain diameter). However, results for granular columns of different heights cannot be conciliated. This suggests that comparison between results of different laboratories on this type of experiments can be done only for systems of same height. We show that a parameter ɛ=1+(Aω)^{2}/(2gh), with A and ω the amplitude and frequency of the tap and g the acceleration of gravity, can be defined to characterize the tap intensity. This parameter is based on the effective flight of the granular bed, which takes into account the h dependency. When ϕ is plotted as a function of ɛ, the data collapses for systems of different h. However, this parameter alone is unable to determine the steady state to be reached since different Σ can be observed for a given ɛ if different column heights are considered
Arches and contact forces in a granular pile
Assemblies of granular particles mechanically stable under their own weight
contain arches. These are structural units identified as sets of mutually
stable grains. It is generally assumed that these arches shield the weight
above them and should bear most of the stress in the system. We test such
hypothesis by studying the stress born by in-arch and out-of-arch grains. We
show that, indeed, particles in arches withstand larger stresses. In
particular, the isotropic stress tends to be larger for in-arch-grains whereas
the anisotropic component is marginally distinguishable between the two types
of particles. The contact force distributions demonstrate that an exponential
tail (compatible with the maximization of entropy under no extra constraints)
is followed only by the out-of-arch contacts. In-arch contacts seem to be
compatible with a Gaussian distribution consistent with a recently introduced
approach that takes into account constraints imposed by the local force balance
on grains.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, major revisio
A search for periodic modulations of the solar neutrino flux in Super-Kamiokande-I
A search for periodic modulations of the solar neutrino flux was performed
using the Super-Kamiokande-I data taken from May 31st, 1996 to July 15th, 2001.
The detector's capability of measuring the exact time of events, combined with
a relatively high yield of solar neutrino events, allows a search for
short-time variations in the observed flux. We employed the Lomb test to look
for periodic modulations of the observed solar neutrino flux. The obtained
periodogram is consistent with statistical fluctuation and no significant
periodicity was found
Experimental proof of faster-is-slower in systems of frictional particles flowing through constrictions
The “faster-is-slower” (FIS) effect was first predicted by computer simulations of the egress of pedestrians
through a narrow exit [D. Helbing, I. J. Farkas, and T. Vicsek, Nature (London) 407, 487 (2000)]. FIS refers to the
finding that, under certain conditions, an excess of the individuals’ vigor in the attempt to exit causes a decrease
in the flow rate. In general, this effect is identified by the appearance of a minimum when plotting the total
evacuation time of a crowd as a function of the pedestrian desired velocity. Here, we experimentally show that the
FIS effect indeed occurs in three different systems of discrete particles flowing through a constriction: (a) humans
evacuating a room, (b) a herd of sheep entering a barn, and (c) grains flowing out a 2D hopper over a vibrated
incline. This finding suggests that FIS is a universal phenomenon for active matter passing through a narrowing
Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
The elliptic, , triangular, , and quadrangular, , azimuthal
anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles,
pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at TeV
with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the
event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the
pseudo-rapidity range at different collision centralities and as a
function of transverse momentum, , out to GeV/.
The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on
transverse momentum for GeV/. The small dependence
of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane
and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow
fluctuations up to GeV/. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton
elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least
GeV/ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out
to high .Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published
version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186
Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at TeV
The -differential production cross sections of the prompt (B
feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D, D, and D in the rapidity
range , and for transverse momentum GeV/, were
measured in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ALICE
detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic
decays DK, DK, DD, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a
nb event sample collected in 2011 with a
minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space
the -differential production cross sections at TeV
and our previous measurements at TeV. The results were compared
to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of
cdbar D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined.Comment: 20 pages, 5 captioned figures, 4 tables, authors from page 15,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/307
Particle-yield modification in jet-like azimuthal di-hadron correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV
The yield of charged particles associated with high- trigger
particles ( GeV/) is measured with the ALICE detector in
Pb-Pb collisions at = 2.76 TeV relative to proton-proton
collisions at the same energy. The conditional per-trigger yields are extracted
from the narrow jet-like correlation peaks in azimuthal di-hadron correlations.
In the 5% most central collisions, we observe that the yield of associated
charged particles with transverse momenta GeV/ on the
away-side drops to about 60% of that observed in pp collisions, while on the
near-side a moderate enhancement of 20-30% is found.Comment: 15 pages, 2 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 10,
published version, figures at
http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/350
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