742 research outputs found
Time-Dependent Current Partition in Mesoscopic Conductors
The currents at the terminals of a mesoscopic conductor are evaluated in the
presence of slowly oscillating potentials applied to the contacts of the
sample. The need to find a charge and current conserving solution to this
dynamic current partition problem is emphasized. We present results for the
electro-chemical admittance describing the long range Coulomb interaction in a
Hartree approach. For multiply connected samples we discuss the symmetry of the
admittance under reversal of an Aharonov-Bohm flux.Comment: 22 pages, 3 figures upon request, IBM RC 1971
Modern topics in theoretical nuclear physics
Over the past five years there have been profound advances in nuclear physics
based on effective field theory and the renormalization group. In this brief,
we summarize these advances and discuss how they impact our understanding of
nuclear systems and experiments that seek to unravel their unknowns. We discuss
future opportunities and focus on modern topics in low-energy nuclear physics,
with special attention to the strong connections to many-body atomic and
condensed matter physics, as well as to astrophysics. This makes it an exciting
era for nuclear physics.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, prepared for the Nuclear Physics Town Hall Meeting
at TRIUMF, Sept. 9-10, 2005, comments welcome, references adde
Restoration of Overlap Functions and Spectroscopic Factors in Nuclei
An asymptotic restoration procedure is applied for analyzing bound--state
overlap functions, separation energies and single--nucleon spectroscopic
factors by means of a model one--body density matrix emerging from the Jastrow
correlation method in its lowest order approximation for and
nuclei . Comparison is made with available experimental data and mean--field
and natural orbital representation results.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX style, to be published in Physical Review
Identification of hot-spot residues in protein-protein interactions by computational docking
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study of protein-protein interactions is becoming increasingly important for biotechnological and therapeutic reasons. We can define two major areas therein: the structural prediction of protein-protein binding mode, and the identification of the relevant residues for the interaction (so called 'hot-spots'). These hot-spot residues have high interest since they are considered one of the possible ways of disrupting a protein-protein interaction. Unfortunately, large-scale experimental measurement of residue contribution to the binding energy, based on alanine-scanning experiments, is costly and thus data is fairly limited. Recent computational approaches for hot-spot prediction have been reported, but they usually require the structure of the complex.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have applied here normalized interface propensity (<it>NIP</it>) values derived from rigid-body docking with electrostatics and desolvation scoring for the prediction of interaction hot-spots. This parameter identifies hot-spot residues on interacting proteins with predictive rates that are comparable to other existing methods (up to 80% positive predictive value), and the advantage of not requiring any prior structural knowledge of the complex.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The <it>NIP </it>values derived from rigid-body docking can reliably identify a number of hot-spot residues whose contribution to the interaction arises from electrostatics and desolvation effects. Our method can propose residues to guide experiments in complexes of biological or therapeutic interest, even in cases with no available 3D structure of the complex.</p
Nanostructured 3D Constructs Based on Chitosan and Chondroitin Sulphate Multilayers for Cartilage Tissue Engineering
Nanostructured three-dimensional constructs combining layer-by-layer technology (LbL) and template leaching were processed and evaluated as possible support structures for cartilage tissue engineering. Multilayered constructs were formed by depositing the polyelectrolytes chitosan (CHT) and chondroitin sulphate (CS) on either bidimensional glass surfaces or 3D packet of paraffin spheres. 2D CHT/CS multi-layered constructs proved to support the attachment and proliferation of bovine chondrocytes (BCH). The technology was transposed to 3D level and CHT/CS multi-layered hierarchical scaffolds were retrieved after paraffin leaching. The obtained nanostructured 3D constructs had a high porosity and water uptake capacity of about 300%. Dynamical mechanical analysis (DMA) showed the viscoelastic nature of the scaffolds. Cellular tests were performed with the culture of BCH and multipotent bone marrow derived stromal cells (hMSCs) up to 21 days in chondrogenic differentiation media. Together with scanning electronic microscopy analysis, viability tests and DNA quantification, our results clearly showed that cells attached, proliferated and were metabolically active over the entire scaffold. Cartilaginous extracellular matrix (ECM) formation was further assessed and results showed that GAG secretion occurred indicating the maintenance of the chondrogenic phenotype and the chondrogenic differentiation of hMSCs
Carrageenan-based hydrogels for the controlled delivery of PDGF-BB in bone tissue engineering applications
One of the major drawbacks found in most bone tissue engineering approaches developed so far consists in the
lack of strategies to promote vascularisation. Some studies have addressed different issues that may enhance
vascularisation in tissue engineered constructs, most of them involving the use of growth factors (GFs) that are
involved in the restitution of the vascularity in a damaged zone. The use of sustained delivery systems might also
play an important role in the re-establishment of angiogenesis. In this study, !-carrageenan, a naturally occurring
polymer, was used to develop hydrogel beads with the ability to incorporate GFs with the purpose of establishing
an effective angiogenesis mechanism. Some processing parameters were studied and their influence on the final
bead properties was evaluated. Platelet derived growth factor (PDGF-BB) was selected as the angiogenic factor
to incorporate in the developed beads, and the results demonstrate the achievement of an efficient encapsulation
and controlled release profile matching those usually required for the development of a fully functional vascular
network. In general, the obtained results demonstrate the potential of these systems for bone tissue engineering
applications.This work was supported by the European NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283), the European STREP HIPPOCRATES (NMP3-CT-2003-505758), and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the project PTDC/FIS/68517/2006 and through the V. Espirito Santo's Ph.D. grant (SFRH/BD/39486/2007)
Effects on and transfer across the blood-brain barrier in vitro—Comparison of organic and inorganic mercury species
Challenges in QCD matter physics - The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR
Substantial experimental and theoretical efforts worldwide are devoted to
explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. At LHC and top RHIC
energies, QCD matter is studied at very high temperatures and nearly vanishing
net-baryon densities. There is evidence that a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) was
created at experiments at RHIC and LHC. The transition from the QGP back to the
hadron gas is found to be a smooth cross over. For larger net-baryon densities
and lower temperatures, it is expected that the QCD phase diagram exhibits a
rich structure, such as a first-order phase transition between hadronic and
partonic matter which terminates in a critical point, or exotic phases like
quarkyonic matter. The discovery of these landmarks would be a breakthrough in
our understanding of the strong interaction and is therefore in the focus of
various high-energy heavy-ion research programs. The Compressed Baryonic Matter
(CBM) experiment at FAIR will play a unique role in the exploration of the QCD
phase diagram in the region of high net-baryon densities, because it is
designed to run at unprecedented interaction rates. High-rate operation is the
key prerequisite for high-precision measurements of multi-differential
observables and of rare diagnostic probes which are sensitive to the dense
phase of the nuclear fireball. The goal of the CBM experiment at SIS100
(sqrt(s_NN) = 2.7 - 4.9 GeV) is to discover fundamental properties of QCD
matter: the phase structure at large baryon-chemical potentials (mu_B > 500
MeV), effects of chiral symmetry, and the equation-of-state at high density as
it is expected to occur in the core of neutron stars. In this article, we
review the motivation for and the physics programme of CBM, including
activities before the start of data taking in 2022, in the context of the
worldwide efforts to explore high-density QCD matter.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Published in European Physical Journal
An effector from the Huanglongbing-associated pathogen targets citrus proteases
The citrus industry is facing an unprecedented challenge from Huanglongbing (HLB). All cultivars can be affected by the HLB-associated bacterium ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas) and there is no known resistance. Insight into HLB pathogenesis is urgently needed in order to develop effective management strategies. Here, we use Sec-delivered effector 1 (SDE1), which is conserved in all CLas isolates, as a molecular probe to understand CLas virulence. We show that SDE1 directly interacts with citrus papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs) and inhibits protease activity. PLCPs are defense-inducible and exhibit increased protein accumulation in CLas-infected trees, suggesting a role in citrus defense responses. We analyzed PLCP activity in field samples, revealing specific members that increase in abundance but remain unchanged in activity during infection. SDE1-expressing transgenic citrus also exhibit reduced PLCP activity. These data demonstrate that SDE1 inhibits citrus PLCPs, which are immune-related proteases that enhance defense responses in plants
Putting the Pieces Together: Integrative Modeling Platform Software for Structure Determination of Macromolecular Assemblies
A set of software tools for building and distributing models of macromolecular assemblies uses an integrative structure modeling approach, which casts the building of models as a computational optimization problem where information is encoded into a scoring function used to evaluate candidate models
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