572 research outputs found
Magnetic shell enhancements during magnetic disturbances
Magnetic shell enhancements during magnetic field disturbances from Langmuir probe observations of electron density on Ariel I satellit
Variability of the Vela Pulsar-wind Nebula Observed with Chandra
The observations of the pulsar-wind nebula (PWN) around the Vela pulsar with
the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory,
taken on 2000 April 30 and November 30, reveal its complex morphology
reminiscent of that of the Crab PWN. Comparison of the two observations shows
changes up to 30% in the surface brightness of the PWN features. Some of the
PWN elements show appreciable shifts, up to a few arcseconds (about 10^{16}
cm), and/or spectral changes. To elucidate the nature of the observed
variations, further monitoring of the Vela PWN is needed.Comment: 7 pages (incl. 3 embedded PS figures), AASTEX, uses emulateapj5.sty.
Submitted to ApJ Lett. For a high-resolution color PS image of Figure 3 (6.3
Mby), see http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/divas/velaneb_fig3.p
Modelling cell motility and chemotaxis with evolving surface finite elements
We present a mathematical and a computational framework for the modelling of cell motility. The cell membrane is represented by an evolving surface, with the movement of the cell determined by the interaction of various forces that act normal to the surface. We consider external forces such as those that may arise owing to inhomogeneities in the medium and a pressure that constrains the enclosed volume, as well as internal forces that arise from the reaction of the cells' surface to stretching and bending. We also consider a protrusive force associated with a reaction-diffusion system (RDS) posed on the cell membrane, with cell polarization modelled by this surface RDS. The computational method is based on an evolving surface finite-element method. The general method can account for the large deformations that arise in cell motility and allows the simulation of cell migration in three dimensions. We illustrate applications of the proposed modelling framework and numerical method by reporting on numerical simulations of a model for eukaryotic chemotaxis and a model for the persistent movement of keratocytes in two and three space dimensions. Movies of the simulated cells can be obtained from http://homepages.warwick.ac.uk/maskae/CV_Warwick/Chemotaxis.html
Surfaces immersed in Lie algebras associated with elliptic integrals
The main aim of this paper is to study soliton surfaces immersed in Lie
algebras associated with ordinary differential equations (ODE's) for elliptic
functions. That is, given a linear spectral problem for such an ODE in matrix
Lax representation, we search for the most general solution of the wave
function which satisfies the linear spectral problem. These solutions allow for
the explicit construction of soliton surfaces by the Fokas-Gel'fand formula for
immersion, as formulated in (Grundland and Post 2011) which is based on the
formalism of generalized vector fields and their prolongation structures. The
problem has been reduced to examining three types of symmetries, namely, a
conformal symmetry in the spectral parameter (known as the Sym-Tafel formula),
gauge transformations of the wave function and generalized symmetries of the
associated integrable ODE. The paper contains a detailed explanation of the
immersion theory of surfaces in Lie algebras in connection with ODE's as well
as an exposition of the main tools used to study their geometric
characteristics. Several examples of the Jacobian and P-Weierstrass elliptic
functions are included as illustrations of the theoretical results.Comment: 22 pages, 3 sets of figures. Keywords: Generalized symmetries,
integrable models, surfaces immersed in Lie algebra
Smooth Random Surfaces from Tight Immersions?
We investigate actions for dynamically triangulated random surfaces that
consist of a gaussian or area term plus the {\it modulus} of the gaussian
curvature and compare their behavior with both gaussian plus extrinsic
curvature and ``Steiner'' actions.Comment: 7 page
Splicing Modulation Results in Aberrant Isoforms and Protein Products of p53 Pathway Genes and the Sensitization of B Cells to Non-Genotoxic MDM2 Inhibition
Several molecular subtypes of cancer are highly dependent on splicing for cell survival. There is a general interest in the therapeutic targeting of splicing by small molecules. E7107, a first-in-class spliceosome inhibitor, showed strong growth inhibitory activities against a large variety of human cancer xenografts. Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is a clinically heterogeneous hematologic malignancy, with approximately 90% of cases being TP53 wild-type at diagnosis. An increasing number of studies are evaluating alternative targeted agents in CLL, including MDM2–p53 binding antagonists. In this study, we report the effect of splicing modulation on key proteins in the p53 signalling pathway, an important cell death pathway in B cells. Splicing modulation by E7107 treatment reduced full-length MDM2 production due to exon skipping, generating a consequent reciprocal p53 increase in TP53WT cells. It was especially noteworthy that a novel p21WAF1 isoform with compromised cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitory activity was produced due to intron retention. E7107 synergized with the MDM2 inhibitor RG7388, via dual MDM2 inhibition; by E7107 at the transcript level and by RG7388 at the protein level, producing greater p53 stabilisation and apoptosis. This study provides evidence for a synergistic MDM2 and spliceosome inhibitor combination as a novel approach to treat CLL and potentially other haematological malignancies
Hamiltonians for curves
We examine the equilibrium conditions of a curve in space when a local energy
penalty is associated with its extrinsic geometrical state characterized by its
curvature and torsion. To do this we tailor the theory of deformations to the
Frenet-Serret frame of the curve. The Euler-Lagrange equations describing
equilibrium are obtained; Noether's theorem is exploited to identify the
constants of integration of these equations as the Casimirs of the euclidean
group in three dimensions. While this system appears not to be integrable in
general, it {\it is} in various limits of interest. Let the energy density be
given as some function of the curvature and torsion, . If
is a linear function of either of its arguments but otherwise arbitrary, we
claim that the first integral associated with rotational invariance permits the
torsion to be expressed as the solution of an algebraic equation in
terms of the bending curvature, . The first integral associated with
translational invariance can then be cast as a quadrature for or for
.Comment: 17 page
Conformally invariant bending energy for hypersurfaces
The most general conformally invariant bending energy of a closed
four-dimensional surface, polynomial in the extrinsic curvature and its
derivatives, is constructed. This invariance manifests itself as a set of
constraints on the corresponding stress tensor. If the topology is fixed, there
are three independent polynomial invariants: two of these are the
straighforward quartic analogues of the quadratic Willmore energy for a
two-dimensional surface; one is intrinsic (the Weyl invariant), the other
extrinsic; the third invariant involves a sum of a quadratic in gradients of
the extrinsic curvature -- which is not itself invariant -- and a quartic in
the curvature. The four-dimensional energy quadratic in extrinsic curvature
plays a central role in this construction.Comment: 16 page
Periodic Variability During the X-ray Decline of 4U 1636-53
We report the onset of a large amplitude, statistically significant
periodicity (~46 d) in the RXTE/ASM data of the prototype X-ray burster 4U
1636-53, the X-ray flux of which has been gradually declining over the last
four years. This behaviour is remarkably similar to that observed in the
neutron star LMXB KS 1731-260, which is a long-term transient. We also report
on an INTEGRAL/IBIS observation of 4U 1636-53 during its decline phase, and
find that the hard X-ray flux (20-100 keV) indicates an apparent
anti-correlation with soft X-rays (2-12 keV). We argue that 4U 1636-53 is
transiting from activity to quiescence, as occurred in KS 1731-260. We also
suggest that the variability during the X-ray decline is the result of an
accretion rate variability related to the X-ray irradiation of the disc.Comment: 6 pages. Accepted by MNRA
DULIP: A dual luminescence-based co-immunoprecipitation assay for interactome mapping in mammalian cells
Mapping of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is critical for understanding protein function and complex biological processes. Here, we present DULIP, a dual luminescence-based co-immunoprecipitation assay, for systematic PPI mapping in mammalian cells. DULIP is a second-generation luminescence-based PPI screening method for the systematic and quantitative analysis of co-immunoprecipitations using two different luciferase tags. Benchmarking studies with positive and negative PPI reference sets revealed that DULIP allows the detection of interactions with high sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, the analysis of a PPI reference set with known binding affinities demonstrated that both low- and high-affinity interactions can be detected with DULIP assays. Finally, using the well-characterized interaction between Syntaxin-1 and Munc18, we found that DULIP is capable of detecting the effects of point mutations on interaction strength. Taken together, our studies demonstrate that DULIP is a sensitive and reliable method of great utility for systematic interactome research. It can be applied for interaction screening as well as for the validation of PPIs in mammalian cells. Moreover, DULIP permits the specific analysis of mutation-dependent binding patterns
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