1,104 research outputs found
A Clean Energy Future: The Policy Environment of Public Service Enterprise Group
The very nature of environmental policy permeates all areas of society; climate change, in its essence, is inherently a public dilemma. Thus, strategies to address and mitigate the adverse effects of the climate crisis, whether originating from governmental actors or private corporations, must consider and account for the many stakeholders who stand to be impacted by its far-reaching policy. For a company such as PSEG to implement effective climate policy, it is required that they develop, maintain, and leverage relationships with multiple stakeholders at the municipal, county, state, and federal levels, as well as promote a positive reputation among its ratepayers (who possess a valuable double function as both customers for the utility and as constituents for local politicians). Hence, the complexity belonging to environmental policy combined with the essential services provided by an energy company, constitute a fascinating lens through which to analyze the influence of a policy environment on the policy cycle
Entanglement sharing in Jahn-Teller model in the presence of a magnetic field
We discuss the ground state entanglement of the
Jahn-Teller model in the presence of a strong transverse magnetic field as a
function of the vibronic coupling strength. A complete characterization is
given of the phenomenon of entanglement sharing in a system composed by a qubit
coupled to two bosonic modes. Using the residual -tangle, we find that
three-partite entanglement is significantly present in the system in the
parameter region near the bifurcation point of the corresponding classical
model
In-cell NMR reveals potential precursor of toxic species from SOD1 fALS mutants
Mutations in the superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) gene are related to familial cases of
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS). Here we exploit in-cell NMR to characterize the protein
folding and maturation of a series of fALS-linked SOD1 mutants in human cells and to obtain
insight into their behaviour in the cellular context, at the molecular level. The effect of various
mutations on SOD1 maturation are investigated by changing the availability of metal ions in
the cells, and by coexpressing the copper chaperone for SOD1, hCCS. We observe for most of
the mutants the occurrence of an unstructured SOD1 species, unable to bind zinc.
This species may be a common precursor of potentially toxic oligomeric species, that are
associated with fALS. Coexpression of hCCS in the presence of copper restores the correct
maturation of the SOD1 mutants and prevents the formation of the unstructured species,
confirming that hCCS also acts as a molecular chaperone
Intracellular Binding/Unbinding Kinetics of Approved Drugs to Carbonic Anhydrase II Observed by in-Cell NMR
Candidate drugs rationally designed in vitro often fail due to low efficacy in vivo caused by low tissue availability or because of unwanted side effects. To overcome the limitations of in vitro rational drug design, the binding of candidate drugs to their target needs to be evaluated in the cellular context. Here, we applied in-cell NMR to investigate the binding of a set of approved drugs to the isoform II of carbonic anhydrase (CA) in living human cells. Some compounds were originally developed toward other targets and were later found to inhibit CAs. We observed strikingly different dose- and time-dependent binding, wherein some drugs exhibited a more complex behavior than others. Specifically, some compounds were shown to gradually unbind from intracellular CA II, even in the presence of free compound in the external medium, therefore preventing the quantitative formation of a stable protein-ligand complex. Such observations could be correlated to the known off-target binding activity of these compounds, suggesting that this approach could provide information on the pharmacokinetic profiles of lead candidates at the early stages of multitarget drug design
Nuclear halo and the coherent nuclear interaction
The unusual structure of Li11, the first halo nucleus found, is analyzed by
the Preparata model of nuclear structure. By applying Coherent Nucleus Theory,
we obtain an interaction potential for the halo-neutrons that rightly
reproduces the fundamental state of the system.Comment: 9 pages Submitted to International Journal of Modern Physics E
(IJMPE
Embodiment design of soft continuum robots
This article presents the results of a multidisciplinary project where mechatronic engineers worked alongside biologists to develop a soft robotic arm that captures key features of octopus anatomy and neurophysiology. The concept of embodiment (the dynamic coupling between sensory-motor control, anatomy, materials and environment that allows for the animal to achieve adaptive behaviours) is used as a starting point for the design process but tempered by current engineering technologies and approaches. In this article, the embodied design requirements are first discussed from a robotic viewpoint by taking into account real-life engineering limitations; then, the motor control schemes inspired by octopus nervous system are investigated. Finally, the mechanical and control design of a prototype is presented that appropriately blends bio-inspiration and engineering limitations. Simulated and experimental results show that the developed continuum robotic arm is able to reproduce octopus-like motions for bending, reaching and grasping
Determination of intracellular protein-ligand binding affinity by competition binding in-cell NMR
Structure-based drug development suffers from high attrition rates due to the poor activity of lead compounds in cellular and animal models caused by low cell penetrance, off-target binding or changes in the conformation of the target protein in the cellular environment. The latter two effects cause a change in the apparent binding affinity of the compound, which is indirectly assessed by cellular activity assays. To date, direct measurement of the intracellular binding affinity remains a challenging task. In this work, in-cell NMR spectroscopy was applied to measure intracellular dissociation constants in the nanomolar range by means of protein-observed competition binding experiments. Competition binding curves relative to a reference compound could be retrieved either from a series of independent cell samples or from a single real-time NMR bioreactor run. The method was validated using a set of sulfonamide-based inhibitors of human carbonic anhydrase II with known activity in the subnanomolar to submicromolar range. The intracellular affinities were similar to those obtained in vitro, indicating that these compounds selectively bind to the intracellular target. In principle, the approach can be applied to any soluble intracellular target that gives rise to measurable chemical shift changes upon ligand binding
Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph Observations of Magellanic Cloud Planetary Nebulae: the nature of dust in low metallicity circumstellar ejecta
We present 5 - 40 micron spectroscopy of 41 planetary nebulae (PNe) in the
Magellanic Clouds, observed with the Infrared Spectrograph on board the Spitzer
Space Telescope. The spectra show the presence of a combination of nebular
emission lines and solid-state features from dust, superimposed on the thermal
IR continuum.
By analyzing the 25 LMC and 16 SMC PNe in our sample we found that the IR
spectra of 14 LMC and 4 SMC PNe are dominated by nebular emission lines, while
the other spectra show solid-state features. We observed that the solid-state
features are compatible with carbon-rich dust grains (SiC, polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), etc.) in most cases, except in three PNe showing
oxygen-rich dust features. The frequency of carbonaceous dust features is
generally higher in LMC than in SMC PNe.
The spectral analysis allowed the correlations of the dust characteristics
with the gas composition and morphology, and the properties of the central
stars. We found that: 1) all PNe with carbonaceous dust features have C/O>1,
none of these being bipolar or otherwise highly asymmetric; 2) all PNe with
oxygen-rich dust features have C/O<1, with probable high mass progenitors if
derived from single-star evolution (these PNe are either bipolar or highly
asymmetric); 3) the dust temperature tracks the nebular and stellar evolution;
and 4) the dust production efficiency depends on metallicity, with low
metallicity environments not favoring dust production.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal, in pres
Prone versus supine position for adjuvant breast radiotherapy: a prospective study in patients with pendulous breasts.
Purpose: To analyze dosimetric parameters of patients receiving adjuvant breast radiotherapy (RT) in the prone
versus supine position.
Methods and materials: Forty-one out of 55 patients with pendulous breasts and candidates for adjuvant RT were
enrolled in the study after informed consent. They underwent computed tomography (CT)-simulation in both prone
and supine position. Target and non target volumes were outlined on CT images. Prescribed dose was 50 Gy delivered
by two tangential photon fields followed by 10 Gy electron boost. Target coverage and dose homogeneity to clinical
target volume (CTV) and planning target volume (PTV) were assessed by V95, V105 and V107 and dose to lung, heart
and left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) by V5, V10, V20, and mean and maximum dose. Data were analyzed
by Student\u2019s t-test.
Results: CTV and PTV coverage was significantly better in supine than in prone position. Lung V5, V10, and V20 were
significantly lower in prone than in supine position. Heart V5, V10, V20, and LAD mean and maximum dose, in the 17
patients with left breast tumor, were lower in prone than in supine position, but without statistical significance. Based
on treatment planning data and on treatment feasibility, 29/41 patients (70.7%) were treated in prone position. Acute
and late toxicities of patients treated in prone and in supine position were not statistically different.
Conclusion: Prone position is a favorable alternative for irradiation of mammary gland in patients with pendulous
breasts and in our series was adopted in 71% of the cases
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