3,710 research outputs found
SpxA1 and SpxA2 act coordinately to fine-tune stress responses and virulence in Streptococcus pyogenes
SpxA is a unique transcriptional regulator highly conserved among members of the phylum Firmicutes that binds RNA polymerase and can act as an antiactivator. Why some Firmicutes members have two highly similar SpxA paralogs is not understood. Here, we show that the SpxA paralogs of the pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes, SpxA1 and SpxA2, act coordinately to regulate virulence by fine-tuning toxin expression and stress resistance. Construction and analysis of mutants revealed that SpxA1− mutants were defective for growth under aerobic conditions, while SpxA2− mutants had severely attenuated responses to multiple stresses, including thermal and oxidative stresses. SpxA1− mutants had enhanced resistance to the cationic antimicrobial molecule polymyxin B, while SpxA2− mutants were more sensitive. In a murine model of soft tissue infection, a SpxA1− mutant was highly attenuated. In contrast, the highly stress-sensitive SpxA2− mutant was hypervirulent, exhibiting more extensive tissue damage and a greater bacterial burden than the wild-type strain. SpxA1− attenuation was associated with reduced expression of several toxins, including the SpeB cysteine protease. In contrast, SpxA2− hypervirulence correlated with toxin overexpression and could be suppressed to wild-type levels by deletion of speB. These data show that SpxA1 and SpxA2 have opposing roles in virulence and stress resistance, suggesting that they act coordinately to fine-tune toxin expression in response to stress. SpxA2− hypervirulence also shows that stress resistance is not always essential for S. pyogenes pathogenesis in soft tissue
Theory of imaging a photonic crystal with transmission near-field optical microscopy
While near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) can provide optical
images with resolution much better than the diffraction limit, analysis and
interpretation of these images is often difficult. We present a theory of
imaging with transmission NSOM that includes the effects of tip field,
tip/sample coupling, light propagation through the sample and light collection.
We apply this theory to analyze experimental NSOM images of a nanochannel glass
(NCG) array obtained in transmission mode. The NCG is a triangular array of
dielectric rods in a dielectric glass matrix with a two-dimensional photonic
band structure. We determine the modes for the NCG photonic crystal and
simulate the observed data. The calculations show large contrast at low
numerical aperture (NA) of the collection optics and detailed structure at high
NA consistent with the observed images. We present calculations as a function
of NA to identify how the NCG photonic modes contribute to and determine the
spatial structure in these images. Calculations are presented as a function of
tip/sample position, sample index contrast and geometry, and aperture size to
identify the factors that determine image formation with transmission NSOM in
this experiment.Comment: 28 pages of ReVTex, 14 ps figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Correlated defects, metal-insulator transition, and magnetic order in ferromagnetic semiconductors
The effect of disorder on transport and magnetization in ferromagnetic III-V
semiconductors, in particular (Ga,Mn)As, is studied theoretically. We show that
Coulomb-induced correlations of the defect positions are crucial for the
transport and magnetic properties of these highly compensated materials. We
employ Monte Carlo simulations to obtain the correlated defect distributions.
Exact diagonalization gives reasonable results for the spectrum of valence-band
holes and the metal-insulator transition only for correlated disorder. Finally,
we show that the mean-field magnetization also depends crucially on defect
correlations.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX4, 5 figures include
Maximum elastic deformations of relativistic stars
We present a method for calculating the maximum elastic quadrupolar
deformations of relativistic stars, generalizing the previous Newtonian,
Cowling approximation integral given by [G. Ushomirsky et al., Mon. Not. R.
Astron. Soc. 319, 902 (2000)]. (We also present a method for Newtonian gravity
with no Cowling approximation.) We apply these methods to the m = 2 quadrupoles
most relevant for gravitational radiation in three cases: crustal deformations,
deformations of crystalline cores of hadron-quark hybrid stars, and
deformations of entirely crystalline color superconducting quark stars. In all
cases, we find suppressions of the quadrupole due to relativity compared to the
Newtonian Cowling approximation, particularly for compact stars. For the crust
these suppressions are up to a factor ~6, for hybrid stars they are up to ~4,
and for solid quark stars they are at most ~2, with slight enhancements instead
for low mass stars. We also explore ranges of masses and equations of state
more than in previous work, and find that for some parameters the maximum
quadrupoles can still be very large. Even with the relativistic suppressions,
we find that 1.4 solar mass stars can sustain crustal quadrupoles of a few
times 10^39 g cm^2 for the SLy equation of state or close to 10^40 g cm^2 for
equations of state that produce less compact stars. Solid quark stars of 1.4
solar masses can sustain quadrupoles of around 10^44 g cm^2. Hybrid stars
typically do not have solid cores at 1.4 solar masses, but the most massive
ones (~2 solar masses) can sustain quadrupoles of a few times 10^41 g cm^2 for
typical microphysical parameters and a few times 10^42 g cm^2 for extreme ones.
All of these quadrupoles assume a breaking strain of 0.1 and can be divided by
10^45 g cm^2 to yield the fiducial "ellipticities" quoted elsewhere.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, version accepted by PRD, including the
corrected maximum hybrid star quadrupoles (from the erratum to the shear
modulus calculation) and the corrected binding energy computatio
Inverse-kinematics one-neutron pickup with fast rare-isotope beams
New measurements and reaction model calculations are reported for single
neutron pickup reactions onto a fast \nuc{22}{Mg} secondary beam at 84 MeV per
nucleon. Measurements were made on both carbon and beryllium targets, having
very different structures, allowing a first investigation of the likely nature
of the pickup reaction mechanism. The measurements involve thick reaction
targets and -ray spectroscopy of the projectile-like reaction residue
for final-state resolution, that permit experiments with low incident beam
rates compared to traditional low-energy transfer reactions. From measured
longitudinal momentum distributions we show that the \nuc{12}{C}
(\nuc{22}{Mg},\nuc{23}{Mg}+\gamma)X reaction largely proceeds as a direct
two-body reaction, the neutron transfer producing bound \nuc{11}{C} target
residues. The corresponding reaction on the \nuc{9}{Be} target seems to largely
leave the \nuc{8}{Be} residual nucleus unbound at excitation energies high in
the continuum. We discuss the possible use of such fast-beam one-neutron pickup
reactions to track single-particle strength in exotic nuclei, and also their
expected sensitivity to neutron high- (intruder) states which are often
direct indicators of shell evolution and the disappearance of magic numbers in
the exotic regime.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
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TRAC-PF1/MOD3 calculations of Savannah River Laboratory Rig FA single-annulus heated experiments
This paper presents the results of TRAC-PF1/MOD3 benchmarks of the Rig FA experiments performed at the Savannah River Laboratory to simulate prototypic reactor fuel assembly behavior over a range of fluid conditions typical of the emergency cooling system (ECS) phase of a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). The primary purpose of this work was to use the SRL Rig FA tests to qualify the TRAC-PF1/MOD3 computer code and models for computing Mark-22 fuel assembly LOCA/ECS power limits. This qualification effort was part of a larger effort undertaken by the Los Alamos National Laboratory for the US Department of Energy to independently confirm power limits for the Savannah River Site K Reactor. The results of this benchmark effort as discussed in this paper demonstrate that TRAC/PF1/MOD3 coupled with proper modeling is capable of simulating thermal-hydraulic phenomena typical of that encountered in Mark-22 fuel assembly during LOCA/ECS conditions
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