340 research outputs found
Functional analysis of block 5, one of the highly conserved amino acid sequences in the 130-kDa CryIVA protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis
AbstractThere are five amino acid sequences highly conserved among Bacillus thuringiensis ÎŽ-endotoxins. We have changed the amino acid residues in block 5, one of the conserved sequences, of CryIVA. When the amino acid residues with charged side chains were replaced by others, the amount of production of the altered CryIVA protein was markedly decreased. It is suggested that the decrease is caused by the unstable conformation of the altered CryIVA protein molecule, as judged by digestion with trypsin and thermolysin. On the other hand, the substitution of amino acid residues in block 5 did not affect the insecticidal activity of CryIVA. These results strongly suggest that block 5 of CryIVA is one of the stability-determining elements of the protoxin molecule
Construction of signed distance functions with an elliptic equation
Motivated by recent progress of structural optimization problems, the paper
presents a new method for constructing the distance function to the boundary of
given sets of interest, which simplifies the optimization procedure. We extend
the celebrated Varadhan's elliptic equation theory in 1967 by adding the source
term to the equation, in which we encode the information about the set. We will
also establish the rate of convergence in this new framework, which is sharp at
least in the one-dimensional case
Vertical Structure of the Transition Zone from Infalling Rotating Envelope to Disk in the Class 0 Protostar, IRAS04368+2557
We have resolved for the first time the radial and vertical structure of the
almost edge-on envelope/disk system of the low-mass Class 0 protostar L1527.
For that, we have used ALMA observations with a spatial resolution of
0.250.13 and
0.370.23 at 0.8 mm and 1.2 mm,
respectively. The L1527 dust continuum emission has a deconvolved size of 78 au
21 au, and shows a flared disk-like structure. A thin
infalling-rotating envelope is seen in the CCH emission outward of about 150
au, and its thickness is increased by a factor of 2 inward of it. This radius
lies between the centrifugal radius (200 au) and the centrifugal barrier of the
infalling-rotating envelope (100 au). The gas stagnates in front of the
centrifugal barrier and moves toward vertical directions. SO emission is
concentrated around and inside the centrifugal barrier. The rotation speed of
the SO emitting gas is found to be decelerated around the centrifugal barrier.
A part of the angular momentum could be extracted by the gas which moves away
from the mid-plane around the centrifugal barrier. If this is the case, the
centrifugal barrier would be related to the launching mechanism of low velocity
outflows, such as disk winds
Predisposition for borderline personality disorder with comorbid major depression is associated with that for polycystic ovary syndrome in female Japanese population
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common lifestyle-related endocrinopathy in women of reproductive age and is associated with several mental health problems. We examined the genotypic distributions of IRS-1 Gly972Arg and CYP11B2 -344T/C, which were previously described as influencing PCOS, and assayed the serum levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), in a set of female patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) with comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) (n = 50) and age-matched control subjects (n = 100), to investigate the predisposition for BPD with MDD. The results showed that the patients were more frequently IRS-1 972Arg variant allele carriers (P = 0.013; OR 6.68; 95% CI = 1.30â34.43) and homozygous for the CYP11B2 â344C variant allele (P = 0.022; OR = 3.32; 95% CI = 1.18â9.35) than the control subjects. The IL-6 level was significantly higher in the patients than in the controls (P < 0.0001). There was no significant difference in the serum TNF-α level between patients with BPD with MDD and the healthy comparison group (P = 0.5273). In conclusion, the predisposition for BPD with MDD is associated with that for PCOS, in the female Japanese population. An elevated serum IL-6 level is considered to be a possible biomarker of BPD with MDD
Cosmological Baryon Asymmetry in Supersymmetric Standard Models and Heavy Particle Effects
Cosmological baryon asymmetry B is studied in supersymmetric standard models,
assuming the electroweak reprocessing of B and L. Only when the soft
supersymmetry breaking is taken into account, B is proportional to the
primordial B-L in the supersymmetric standard models. The ratio is
found to be about one percent less than the nonsupersymmetric case. Even if the
primordial B-L vanishes, scalar-leptons can be more efficient than leptons to
generate B provided that mixing angles among scalar leptons satisfy
.Comment: 11 pages in LaTex, 3 PostScript figures include
Up-regulation of Na+,K+-ATPase α3-isoform and down-regulation of the α1-isoform in human colorectal cancer
AbstractWe investigated expression levels of Na+,K+-ATPase α-isoforms and their ATPase activities in human colorectal cancer tissue and the accompanying normal mucosa. A decrease in expression of the α1-isoform protein was observed in all sampled cancer tissues compared with the normal mucosae. The level of ouabain (5 ΌM)-sensitive Na+,K+-ATPase activity in carcinomas was 81±5% that of in the normal mucosae. The mRNA expression of α2- and α4-isoforms was decreased in almost all the carcinoma samples. Interestingly, the expression level of the α3-isoform protein in the cancer tissue was higher than that of the normal mucosa. These results indicate that a decrease in the α1-isoform expression and an increase in the α3-isoform expression may be associated with colorectal cancer
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