4,770 research outputs found
Analysis of U1snRNP-specific A protein cross-linked complexes
AbstractThe organization of the UlsnRNP-specific A protein (34 kDa) has been analyzed by 12 and 16 Ã… thiol-reversible chemical cross-linking and Western blotting. A-containing cross-linked complexes had molecular masses of 43, 47, 56, 62, 67, 105 and 125 kDa. None of these complexes could be cross-linked following ribonuclease digestion, suggesting that UsnRNA may play important roles in the spatial organization of A and other proteins. Moreover, the data suggest that A is proximal to, and may have interactions with, UsnRNP-specific proteins C and 70 kDa as well as with UsnRNP-common proteins B, E and G
Disassembly and reconstitution of the Ca2+-sensitive thin filaments of vascular smooth muscle
AbstractThe Ca2+-sensitive thin filaments of aorta smooth muscle have been, disassembled into their constituent proteins, actin, tropomyosin and a 120-kDa protein. The 120-kDa protein bound to aorta actin-tropomyosin and inhibited its ability to activate myosin MgATPase. This inhibition correlated with the binding of one 120-kDa protein molecule per 29 actin monomers. Upon the addition of calmodulin to the actintropomyosin-120-kDa protein complex, the inhibition was relieved in 10−4 M Ca2+ but not 10−9 M Ca2+. The full release of inhibition was not accompanied by a full release of 120-kDa protein binding to actintropomyosin. A fully active, Ca2+-sensitive aorta thin filament has thus been reconstituted from just four components: actin, tropomyosin, 120-kDa protein and calmodulin
Intensified array camera imaging of solid surface combustion aboard the NASA Learjet
An intensified array camera was used to image weakly luminous flames spreading over thermally thin paper samples in a low gravity environment aboard the NASA-Lewis Learjet. The aircraft offers 10 to 20 sec of reduced gravity during execution of a Keplerian trajectory and allows the use of instrumentation that is delicate or requires higher electrical power than is available in drop towers. The intensified array camera is a charge intensified device type that responds to light between 400 and 900 nm and has a minimum sensitivity of 10(exp 6) footcandles. The paper sample, either ashless filter paper or a lab wiper, burns inside a sealed chamber which is filled with 21, 18, or 15 pct. oxygen in nitrogen at one atmosphere. The camera views the edge of the paper and its output is recorded on videotape. Flame positions are measured every 0.1 sec to calculate flame spread rates. Comparisons with drop tower data indicate that the flame shapes and spread rates are affected by the residual g level in the aircraft
Possibilities for Measurement and Compensation of Stray DC Electric Fields Acting on Drag-Free Test Masses
DC electric fields can combine with test mass charging and thermal dielectric
voltage noise to create significant force noise acting on the drag-free test
masses in the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) gravitational wave
mission. This paper proposes a simple technique to measure and compensate
average stray DC potentials at the mV level, yielding substantial reduction in
this source of force noise. We discuss the attainable resolution for both
flight and ground based experiments.Comment: To be published in Advances in Space Research, COSPAR 2002 conference
proceedings (6 pages, 3 figures
Bundling of actin filaments by aorta caldesmon is not related to its regulatory function
AbstractCa2+-sensitive thin filaments from vascular smooth muscle were disassembled into their constituent proteins, actin, tropomyosin and caldesmon. Caldesmon bound to both actin and to actin-tropomyosin and inhibited actin-tropomyosin activation of skeletal muscle myosin MgATPase. It also promoted the aggregation of actin or actin-tropomyosin into parallel aligned bundles. Quantitative electron microscopy measurements showed that with 1.1 μM actin-tropomyosin, 1.6 ± 0.5% (n = 3) of the filaments were in bundles. At 0.073 μM, caldesmon inhibited MgATPase activity by 50%, whereas bundling was 3.0 ± 1.3% (n = 4). At 0.37 μM caldesmon, MgATPase inhibition was 83% while 28.1 ± 6.9% (n = 4) of filaments were in bundles. Experiments at 4.4 μM in which MgATPase and bundling were measured in the same samples gave similar results. Small bundles of 2–3 filaments showed the most frequent occurrence at 1.1 μM actin. At 4.4 μM actin the most common bundle size was 3-5 filaments, with the occasional occurrence of large bundles consisting of up to 120 filaments. The incidence of bundling was the same in the presence and absence of tropomyosin. Thus caldesmon can induce the formation of actin bundles but this property bears no relationship to its inhibition of MgATPase activity
Carcass Characteristics of Bulls, Heifers and Steers as Influenced by Ration and Market Weight
High feed grain prices, a growing worldwide demand for animal protein, and increasing demand for lean, high quality beef make it imperative that beef volume and production efficiency increase. Because of high feed costs it is important to know how concentrate level in the ration and market weight influence production efficiency and carcass composition of different sex groups. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of market weight and ration concentrate level on the quant itative and qualitative carcass traits of yearling bulls, bull calves, heifers and steers
Absence of singular superconducting fluctuation corrections to thermal conductivity
We evaluate the superconducting fluctuation corrections to thermal
conductivity in the normal state which diverge as T approaches T_c. We find
zero total contribution for one, two and three-dimensional superconductors for
arbitrary impurity concentration. The method used is diagrammatic many-body
theory, and all contributions -- Aslamazov-Larkin (AL), Maki-Thompson (MT), and
density-of-states (DOS) -- are considered. The AL contribution is convergent,
whilst the divergences of the DOS and MT diagrams exactly cancel.Comment: 4 pages text; 2 figure
Perturbative spectrum of Trapped Weakly Interacting Bosons in Two Dimensions
We study a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate under rotation in the limit of
weak, translational and rotational invariant two-particle interactions. We use
the perturbation-theory approach (the large-N expansion) to calculate the
ground-state energy and the excitation spectrum in the asymptotic limit where
the total number of particles N goes to infinity while keeping the total
angular momentum L finite. Calculating the probabilities of different
configurations of angular momentum in the exact eigenstates gives us a clear
view of the physical content of excitations. We briefly discuss the case of
repulsive contact interaction.Comment: Revtex, 10 pages, 1 table, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Electromagnetic Dissociation of Nuclei in Heavy-Ion Collisions
Large discrepancies have been observed between measured Electromagnetic
Dissociation(ED) cross sections and the predictions of the semiclassical
Weiz\"acker-Williams-Fermi(WWF) method. In this paper, the validity of the
semiclassical approximation is examined. The total cross section for
electromagnetic excitation of a nuclear target by a spinless projectile is
calculated in first Born approximation, neglecting recoil. The final result is
expressed in terms of correlation functions and convoluted densities in
configuration space. The result agrees with the WWF approximation to leading
order(unretarded electric dipole approximation), but the method allows an
analytic evaluation of the cutoff, which is determined by the details of the
electric dipole transition charge density. Using the Goldhaber-Teller model of
that density, and uniform charge densities for both projectile and target, the
cutoff is determined for the total cross section in the nonrelativistic limit,
and found to be smaller than values currently used for ED calculations. In
addition, cross sections are calculated using a phenomenological momentum space
cutoff designed to model final state interactions. For moderate projectile
energies, the calculated ED cross section is found to be smaller than the
semiclassical result, in qualitative agreement with experiment.Comment: 28 page
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