1,523 research outputs found
Counter-propagating radiative shock experiments on the Orion laser and the formation of radiative precursors
We present results from new experiments to study the dynamics of radiative
shocks, reverse shocks and radiative precursors. Laser ablation of a solid
piston by the Orion high-power laser at AWE Aldermaston UK was used to drive
radiative shocks into a gas cell initially pressurised between and $1.0 \
bar with different noble gases. Shocks propagated at {80 \pm 10 \ km/s} and
experienced strong radiative cooling resulting in post-shock compressions of {
\times 25 \pm 2}. A combination of X-ray backlighting, optical self-emission
streak imaging and interferometry (multi-frame and streak imaging) were used to
simultaneously study both the shock front and the radiative precursor. These
experiments present a new configuration to produce counter-propagating
radiative shocks, allowing for the study of reverse shocks and providing a
unique platform for numerical validation. In addition, the radiative shocks
were able to expand freely into a large gas volume without being confined by
the walls of the gas cell. This allows for 3-D effects of the shocks to be
studied which, in principle, could lead to a more direct comparison to
astrophysical phenomena. By maintaining a constant mass density between
different gas fills the shocks evolved with similar hydrodynamics but the
radiative precursor was found to extend significantly further in higher atomic
number gases (\sim4$ times further in xenon than neon). Finally, 1-D and 2-D
radiative-hydrodynamic simulations are presented showing good agreement with
the experimental data.Comment: HEDLA 2016 conference proceeding
Dynamic Allostery in the Methionine Repressor Revealed by Force Distribution Analysis
Many fundamental cellular processes such as gene expression are tightly regulated by protein allostery. Allosteric signal propagation from the regulatory to the active site requires long-range communication, the molecular mechanism of which remains a matter of debate. A classical example for long-range allostery is the activation of the methionine repressor MetJ, a transcription factor. Binding of its co-repressor SAM increases its affinity for DNA several-fold, but has no visible conformational effect on its DNA binding interface. Our molecular dynamics simulations indicate correlated domain motions within MetJ, and quenching of these dynamics upon SAM binding entropically favors DNA binding. From monitoring conformational fluctuations alone, it is not obvious how the presence of SAM is communicated through the largely rigid core of MetJ and how SAM thereby is able to regulate MetJ dynamics. We here directly monitored the propagation of internal forces through the MetJ structure, instead of relying on conformational changes as conventionally done. Our force distribution analysis successfully revealed the molecular network for strain propagation, which connects collective domain motions through the protein core. Parts of the network are directly affected by SAM binding, giving rise to the observed quenching of fluctuations. Our results are in good agreement with experimental data. The force distribution analysis suggests itself as a valuable tool to gain insight into the molecular function of a whole class of allosteric proteins
Oxidative stress in children late after Kawasaki disease: relationship with carotid atherosclerosis and stiffness
Background: Persistent arterial dysfunction in patients with a history of Kawasaki disease (KD) and an integral role of oxidative stress in the development of cardiovascular disease are increasingly recognized. We sought to test the hypothesis that oxidative stress is increased in KD patients and related to carotid atherosclerotic changes and stiffness. Methods: We compared the serum levels of oxidative stress biomarkers, carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), and carotid stiffness index among KD patients with coronary aneurysms (n = 32), those without coronary complications (n = 19), and controls (n = 32). Results: Compared with controls, patients with coronary aneurysms had significantly higher serum levels of malonaldehyde (2.62 ± 0.12 μM vs 2.22 ± 0.07 μM, p = 0.014) and hydroperoxides (26.50 ± 1.13 μM vs 22.50 ± 0.62 μM, p = 0.008). A linear trend of the magnitude of oxidative stress in relation to inflammatory damage was observed for malonaldehyde (p = 0.018) and hydroperoxides (p = 0.014) levels. Serum malonaldehyde and hydroperoxide levels correlated positively with carotid IMT (p < 0.001 and p = 0.034, respectively) and stiffness index (p = 0.001 and p = 0.021, respectively). Multiple linear regression analysis identified serum malonaldehyde level as a significant determinant of carotid IMT (β = 0.31, p = 0.006) and stiffness (β = 0.27, p = 0.008). Conclusion: Our findings suggestoxidative stress is increased in KD patients with coronary aneurysms and is associated with carotid intima-media thickening and stiffening. © 2008 Cheung et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.published_or_final_versio
Identified charged hadron production in p+p collisions at sqrt(s)=200 and 62.4 GeV
Transverse momentum distributions and yields for , ,
and in collisions at =200 and 62.4 GeV at midrapidity
are measured by the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC). These data provide important baseline spectra for comparisons with
identified particle spectra in heavy ion collisions at RHIC. We present the
inverse slope parameter , mean transverse momentum and
yield per unit rapidity at each energy, and compare them to other
measurements at different in and collisions. We
also present the scaling properties such as scaling, scaling on the
spectra between different energies. To discuss the mechanism of the
particle production in collisions, the measured spectra are compared to
next-to-leading-order or next-to-leading-logarithmic perturbative quantum
chromodynamics calculations.Comment: 431 authors from 62 institutions, 32 pages, 23 figures, and 18
tables. Submitted to Physical Review C. Plain text data tables for the points
plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be)
publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
Production of and mesons in UU collisions at GeV
The PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider measured
and mesons at midrapidity in UU collisions at
GeV in a wide transverse momentum range. Measurements were performed in the
decay modes. A strong suppression of
and meson production at high transverse momentum was observed in
central UU collisions relative to binary scaled results. Yields of
and mesons measured in UU collisions show similar suppression
pattern to the ones measured in AuAu collisions at
GeV for similar numbers of participant nucleons. The / ratios do
not show dependence on centrality or transverse momentum, and are consistent
with previously measured values in hadron-hadron, hadron-nucleus,
nucleus-nucleus, and collisions.Comment: 403 authors from 72 institutions, 13 pages, 6 figures, 7 tables, 2012
data. v2 is version accepted by Physical Review C. Plain text data tables for
the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are
(or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm
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