2,006 research outputs found
Formation of a carcinogenic aromatic amine from an azo dye by human skin bacteria in vitro
Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Azo dyes represent the major class of dyestuffs. They are metabolised to the corresponding amines by liver enzymes and the intestinal microflora following incorporation by both experimental animals and humans. For safety evaluation of the dermal exposure of consumers to azo dyes from wearing coloured textiles, a possible cleavage of azo dyes by the skin microflora should be considered since, in contrast to many dyes, aromatic amines are easily absorbed by the skin. A method for measuring the ability of human skin flora to reduce azo dyes was established. In a standard experiment, 361011 cells of a culture of Staphylococcus aureus wereincubatedinsyntheticsweat (pH 6.8, final volume 20 mL) at 288C for 24 h with Direct Blue 14 (C.I. 23850, DB 14). The reaction products were extracted and analysed using HPLC. The reduction product o-tolidine (3,3'-dimethylbenzidine, OT) could indeed be detected showing that the strain used was able to metabolise DB 14 to the corresponding aromatic amine. In addition to OT, two further metabolites of DB 14 were detected. Using mass spectrometry they were identified as 3,3'-dimethyl-4-amino-4'-hydroxybiphenyl and 3,3'-di methyl-4-aminobiphenyl. The ability to cleave azo dyes seems to be widely distributed among human skin bacteria, as, under these in vitro conditions, bacteria isolated from healthy human skin and human skin bacteria from strain collections also exhibited azo reductase activity. Further studies are in progress in order to include additional azo dyes and coloured textiles. At the moment, the meaning of the results with regard to consumer health cannot be finally assessed
Standortkonversion als Chance
Die Finanzierung der Bundeswehr-Reform bereitet dem Bundesverteidigungsminister beträchtliche Schwierigkeiten. Unter anderem sollen mittels der Schließung von Bundeswehrstandorten Finanzierungsreserven mobilisiert werden. Können die erwarteten Finanzmittel realisiert werden? Wie reagieren die Betroffenen auf die Standortkonversion? --
Design of one-dimensional Lambertian diffusers of light
We describe a method for designing a one-dimensional random surface that acts
as a Lambertian diffuser. The method is tested by means of rigorous computer
simulations and is shown to yield the desired scattering pattern.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
The Generation of Successive Unmarked Mutations and Chromosomal Insertion of Heterologous Genes in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Using Natural Transformation
We have developed a simple method of generating scarless, unmarked mutations in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae by exploiting the ability of this bacterium to undergo natural transformation, and with no need to introduce plasmids encoding recombinases or resolvases. This method involves two successive rounds of natural transformation using linear DNA: the first introduces a cassette carrying cat (which allows selection by chloramphenicol) and sacB (which allows counter-selection using sucrose) flanked by sequences to either side of the target gene; the second transformation utilises the flanking sequences ligated directly to each other in order to remove the cat-sacB cassette. In order to ensure efficient uptake of the target DNA during transformation, A. pleuropneumoniae uptake sequences are added into the constructs used in both rounds of transformation. This method can be used to generate multiple successive deletions and can also be used to introduce targeted point mutations or insertions of heterologous genes into the A. pleuropneumoniae chromosome for development of live attenuated vaccine strains. So far, we have applied this method to highly transformable isolates of serovars 8 (MIDG2331), which is the most prevalent in the UK, and 15 (HS143). By screening clinical isolates of other serovars, it should be possible to identify other amenable strains
Density of states of helium droplets
Accurate analytical expressions for the state densities of liquid He-4
droplets are derived, incorporating the ripplon and phonon degrees of freedom.
The microcanonical temperature and the ripplon angular momentum level density
are also evaluated. The approach is based on inversions and systematic
expansions of canonical thermodynamic properties.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Chaotic Scattering in the Regime of Weakly Overlapping Resonances
We measure the transmission and reflection amplitudes of microwaves in a
resonator coupled to two antennas at room temperature in the regime of weakly
overlapping resonances and in a frequency range of 3 to 16 GHz. Below 10.1 GHz
the resonator simulates a chaotic quantum system. The distribution of the
elements of the scattering matrix S is not Gaussian. The Fourier coefficients
of S are used for a best fit of the autocorrelation function if S to a
theoretical expression based on random--matrix theory. We find very good
agreement below but not above 10.1 GHz
Discrete Symmetries in the Weyl Expansion for Quantum Billiards
We consider two and three-dimensional quantum billiards with discrete
symmetries. We derive the first terms of the Weyl expansion for the level
density projected onto the irreducible representations of the symmetry group.
As an illustration the method is applied to the icosahedral billiard. The paper
was published in J. Phys. A /27/ (1994) 4317-4323Comment: 8 printed pages Latex fil
Universal spectral properties of spatially periodic quantum systems with chaotic classical dynamics
We consider a quasi one-dimensional chain of N chaotic scattering elements
with periodic boundary conditions. The classical dynamics of this system is
dominated by diffusion. The quantum theory, on the other hand, depends
crucially on whether the chain is disordered or invariant under lattice
translations. In the disordered case, the spectrum is dominated by Anderson
localization whereas in the periodic case, the spectrum is arranged in bands.
We investigate the special features in the spectral statistics for a periodic
chain. For finite N, we define spectral form factors involving correlations
both for identical and non-identical Bloch numbers. The short-time regime is
treated within the semiclassical approximation, where the spectral form factor
can be expressed in terms of a coarse-grained classical propagator which obeys
a diffusion equation with periodic boundary conditions. In the long-time
regime, the form factor decays algebraically towards an asymptotic constant. In
the limit , we derive a universal scaling function for the form
factor. The theory is supported by numerical results for quasi one-dimensional
periodic chains of coupled Sinai billiards.Comment: 33 pages, REVTeX, 13 figures (eps
Level density of a Fermi gas: average growth and fluctuations
We compute the level density of a two--component Fermi gas as a function of
the number of particles, angular momentum and excitation energy. The result
includes smooth low--energy corrections to the leading Bethe term (connected to
a generalization of the partition problem and Hardy--Ramanujan formula) plus
oscillatory corrections that describe shell effects. When applied to nuclear
level densities, the theory provides a unified formulation valid from
low--lying states up to levels entering the continuum. The comparison with
experimental data from neutron resonances gives excellent results.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Weyl asymptotics: From closed to open systems
We present microwave experiments on the symmetry reduced 5-disk billiard
studying the transition from a closed to an open system. The measured microwave
reflection signal is analyzed by means of the harmonic inversion and the
counting function of the resulting resonances is studied. For the closed system
this counting function shows the Weyl asymptotic with a leading exponent equal
to 2. By opening the system successively this exponent decreases smoothly to an
non-integer value. For the open systems the extraction of resonances by the
harmonic inversion becomes more challenging and the arising difficulties are
discussed. The results can be interpreted as a first experimental indication
for the fractal Weyl conjecture for resonances.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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