452 research outputs found
Singular continuous spectra in a pseudo-integrable billiard
The pseudo-integrable barrier billiard invented by Hannay and McCraw [J.
Phys. A 23, 887 (1990)] -- rectangular billiard with line-segment barrier
placed on a symmetry axis -- is generalized. It is proven that the flow on
invariant surfaces of genus two exhibits a singular continuous spectral
component.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
α-Tocopherols modify the membrane dipole potential leading to modulation of ligand binding by P-glycoprotein
Journal ArticleThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from ASBMB via the DOI in this record.α-Tocopherol (vitamin E) has attracted considerable attention as a potential protective or palliative agent. In vitro, its free radical-scavenging antioxidant action has been widely demonstrated. In vivo, however, vitamin E treatment exhibits negligible benefits against oxidative stress. α-Tocopherol influences lipid ordering within biological membranes and its derivatives have been suggested to inhibit the multi-drug efflux pump, P-glycoprotein (P-gp). This study employs the fluorescent membrane probe, 1-(3-sulfonatopropyl)-4-[β[2-(di-n-octylamino)-6-naphthyl]vinyl] pyridinium betaine, to investigate whether these effects are connected via influences on the membrane dipole potential (MDP), an intrinsic property of biological membranes previously demonstrated to modulate P-gp activity. α-Tocopherol and its non-free radical-scavenging succinate analog induced similar decreases in the MDP of phosphatidylcholine vesicles. α-Tocopherol succinate also reduced the MDP of T-lymphocytes, subsequently decreasing the binding affinity of saquinavir for P-gp. Additionally, α-tocopherol succinate demonstrated a preference for cholesterol-treated (membrane microdomain enriched) cells over membrane cholesterol-depleted cells. Microdomain disruption via cholesterol depletion decreased saquinavir's affinity for P-gp, potentially implicating these structures in the influence of α-tocopherol succinate on P-gp. This study provides evidence of a microdomain dipole potential-dependent mechanism by which α-tocopherol analogs influence P-gp activity. These findings have implications for the use of α-tocopherol derivatives for drug delivery across biological barriers
Semiclassical Quantisation Using Diffractive Orbits
Diffraction, in the context of semiclassical mechanics, describes the manner
in which quantum mechanics smooths over discontinuities in the classical
mechanics. An important example is a billiard with sharp corners; its
semiclassical quantisation requires the inclusion of diffractive periodic
orbits in addition to classical periodic orbits. In this paper we construct the
corresponding zeta function and apply it to a scattering problem which has only
diffractive periodic orbits. We find that the resonances are accurately given
by the zeros of the diffractive zeta function.Comment: Revtex document. Submitted to PRL. Figures available on reques
Scale Anomaly and Quantum Chaos in the Billiards with Pointlike Scatterers
We argue that the random-matrix like energy spectra found in pseudointegrable
billiards with pointlike scatterers are related to the quantum violation of
scale invariance of classical analogue system. It is shown that the behavior of
the running coupling constant explains the key characteristics of the level
statistics of pseudointegrable billiards.Comment: 10 pages, RevTex file, uuencode
Classical Dynamics of Anyons and the Quantum Spectrum
In this paper we show that (a) all the known exact solutions of the problem
of N-anyons in oscillator potential precisely arise from the collective degrees
of freedom, (b) the system is pseudo-integrable ala Richens and Berry. We
conclude that the exact solutions are trivial thermodynamically as well as
dynamically.Comment: 19 pages, ReVTeX, IMSc/93/0
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