Self- generated disorder and structural glass formation in homopolymer globules

We have investigated the interrelation between the spin glasses and the structural glasses. Spin glasses in this case are random magnets without reflection symmetry (e.g. $p$ - spin interaction spin glasses and Potts glasses) which contain quenched disorder, whereas the structural glasses are here exemplified by the homopolymeric globule, which can be viewed as a liquid of connected molecules on nano scales. It is argued that the homopolymeric globule problem can be mapped onto a disorder field theoretical model whose effective Hamiltonian resembles the corresponding one for the spin glass model. In this sense the disorder in the globule is self - generated (in contrast to spin glasses) and can be related with competitive interactions (virial coefficients of different signs) and the chain connectivity. The work is aimed at giving a quantitative description of this analogy. We have investigated the phase diagram of the homopolymeric globule where the transition line from the liquid to glassy globule is treated in terms of the replica symmetry breaking paradigm. The configurational entropy temperature dependence is also discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

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Mitochondrial efficiency in rat skeletal muscle: influence of respiration rate, substrate and muscle type.

Aim: To investigate the hypothesis that mitochondrial efficiency (i.e. P/O ratio) is higher in type I than in type II fibres during submaximal rates of respiration. Methods: Mitochondria were isolated from rat soleus and extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles, representing type I and type II fibres, respectively. Mitochondrial efficiency (P/O ratio) was determined with pyruvate (Pyr) or palmitoyl-L-carnitine (PC) during submaximal (constant rate of ADP infusion) and maximal (Vmax, state 3) rates of respiration and fitted to monoexponential functions. Results: There was no difference in Vmax between PC and Pyr in soleus but in EDL Vmax with PC was only 58% of that with Pyr. The activity of 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (HAD) was 3-fold higher in soleus than in EDL. P/O ratio at Vmax was 8-9% lower with PC (2.33±0.02 (soleus) and 2.30±0.02 (EDL)) than with Pyr (2.52±0.03 (soleus) and 2.54±0.03 (EDL)) but not different between the two muscles (P>0.05). P/O ratio was low at low rates of respiration and increased exponentially when the rate of respiration increased. The asymptotes of the curves were similar to P/O ratio at Vmax. P/O ratio at submaximal respirations was not different between soleus and EDL neither with Pyr nor with PC. Conclusion: Mitochondrial efficiency, as determined in vitro, was not significantly different in the two fibre types neither at Vmax nor at submaximal rates of respiration. The low Vmax for PC oxidation in EDL may relate to low activity of β-oxidation.The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.co