bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Contribution to the Red List of Pakistan: a case study of the narrow endemic Silene longisepala (Caryophyllaceae)
Authors: Ali Haidar , Qaiser M.
Published: November 2011

Silene longisepala Nasir (Caryophyllaceae) is a plant endemic to Chitral District in mountainous north-west Pakistan. This taxon was previously known from only two localities. In field studies during 2005–2007, 24 new localities in lower Chitral were discovered. We found 608 mature individual plants in 22 localities in 2005, 520 mature individuals in 17 localities in 2006, and 531 mature individuals in 18 localities in 2007. Considering the population size in 2007, an extent of occurrence of 3,587 km2 and area of occupancy of 104 km2, we recommend that the species is categorized as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The main threat to the species is habitat destruction from road construction, land conversion for agriculture and soil erosion following deforestation; we witnessed the direct effects of these pressures on S. longisepala during our fieldwork. In some localities, however, S. longisepala is fortuitously protected by the general inaccessibility of its habitat. There is no legal framework in Pakistan for the protection of rare and endemic plant taxa on private lands and therefore ex situ conservation may be required for narrow endemics such as S. longisepala. Our methodology in this study, in which we combined detailed field surveys with monitoring, could form a model for conservation research on rare and endemic plant taxa in Pakistan and elsewhere.
Predation on livestock by large carnivores in the tropical lowlands of Guatemala
Authors: Soto-Shoender José R. , Giuliano William M.
Published: November 2011

Conflict with humans is a significant source of mortality in carnivore populations yet information on this issue is lacking for some areas where threatened carnivores such as the jaguarPanthera oncainteract with humans. We interviewed cattle ranchers to examine patterns of predation on livestock by carnivores in the tropical lowlands of Guatemala and to determine if the ranchers applied management practices recommended to prevent such predation by large felids. Additionally, we compared ranches with and without attacks on livestock to determine whether ranch characteristics and landscape structure near ranches explains the variations in the occurrence of livestock predation by carnivores. Cattle losses to carnivores represented 0.7% of the cattle stock in all ranches surveyed. Jaguars were most often accused of livestock attacks (suggesting a negative perception of this felid in the area), followed by pumasPuma concolorand coyotesCanis latrans. Males and smaller cattle were most often attacked and general patterns of attacks on livestock were similar to sites previously studied in the neotropics. Landscape structure around ranches (e.g. forest cover, distance to forest, bodies of water and human settlements) best explained the probability of predation on livestock. Outreach programmes and conflict mitigation measures need to be implemented for those ranches that are distant from human settlements but near forest cover and water sources. The co-occurrence of predation by jaguars, pumas and coyotes is particular to Mesoamerica and conflict mitigation strategies proposed in studies elsewhere may need to be altered, and evaluated, to be effective in this region.
Murine hybridoma-derived antibodies in the processing of antigens for the immunodiagnosis of hydatid (Echinococcus granulosus) infection in sheep
Authors: Craig P. S. , Hocking R. E. , Mitchell G. F. , Rickard M. D.
Published: November 2011

Mice experimentally infected with the hydatid parasite Echinococcus granulosus (secondary echinococcosis), were used as spleen cell donors for hybridoma production. Two hybridomas were produced which secreted antibody with anti-E. granulosus cyst fluid (EgCF) activity. Radio-immunoassays comparing the binding of these hybridoma-derived antibodies to E. granulosus versus several other antigen preparations from sheep parasites showed that the antibodies had a high degree of specificity for the hydatid parasite. However, using a panel of clinically defined sheep sera in a competitive radio-immunoassay, the binding of the hybridoma-derived antibodies to EgCF was inhibited strongly by sera from sheep infected with the common parasites Fasciola hepatica and Taenia hydatigena. When the hybridoma-derived antibodies were conjugated to CNBr-activated Sepharose and the crude EgCF applied to the affinity column, the ‘run through’ antigen preparation showed a significant increase in specificity for experimental E. granulosus infection. A useful means of applying the hybridoma technology in the development of new immunodiagnostic reagents may be to select those murine hybridomas which produce high-affinity, cross-reacting antibodies and to use these antibodies in the processing of homologous antigen by affinity chromatography.
Observations on the structure and function of the haemoglobin from the cuticle ofNippostrongylus brasiliensis(Nematoda)
Authors: Sharpe M. J. , Lee D. L.
Published: November 2011

The fluid layer within the cuticle of the nematodeNippostrongylus brasiliensiscontains haemoglobin. The absorbance spectra of the haemoglobins extracted from whole nematodes were measured spectrophoto-metrically and the spectra of cuticular haemoglobin in individual living nematodes was obtained by microdensitometry. Adult female nematodes were confined under cover-slips in oxygenated saline and measurements of optical density of a small area of the cuticular haemoglobin were taken at 10 sec intervals. The optical density decreased over a period of 4 min at 543 nm and increased at 553 nm indicating deoxygenation of the cuticular haemoglobin; irrigation with fresh saline restored the haemoglobin to its oxygenated state. This demonstrates that cuticular haemoglobin loads and unloads oxygen in the living animal. Isoelectric focusing showed that mature nematodes have haemoglobins which are isoelectric around pH 7·0 and at pH 9·8. Isolated cuticular fluid contained the haemoglobin which was isoelectric at pH 9·8, but no other haemoglobin, and immature adults, which do not have cuticular haemoglobin, contained only those haemoglobins which were isoelectric at pH 7·0. Sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and column chromatography showed that the molecular weight of the cuticular haemoglobin sub-unit is 16·9–17·5 × 103Daltons and that the haemoglobin exists primarily as a tetrameric molecule with a molecular weight of 65–75 × 103Daltons. The presence of cuticular haemoglobin may allow adultNippostrongylusto exploit oxygen-deficient areas within the environment of the rat's intestine where it would otherwise be unable to survive for prolonged periods.
Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis: insights on subcellular distribution and biochemical properties of heparin-binding proteins
Authors: DE CASTRO CÔRTES LUZIA MONTEIRO , DE SOUZA PEREIRA MIRIAN CLAUDIA , DE OLIVEIRA FRANCISCO ODÊNCIO RODRIGUES , CORTE-REAL SUZANA , DA SILVA FRANKLIN SOUZA , PEREIRA BERNARDO ACÁCIO SANTINI , DE FÁTIMA MADEIRA MARIA , DE MORAES MARCIA TEREZINHA BARONI , BRAZIL REGINALDO PEÇANHA , ALVES CARLOS ROBERTO
Published: November 2011

Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease and an important public health issue. Glycosaminoglycan ligands inLeishmaniaparasites are potential targets for new strategies to control this disease. We report the subcellular distribution of heparin-binding proteins (HBPs) inLeishmania (Viannia) braziliensisand specific biochemical characteristics ofL. (V.) braziliensisHBPs. Promastigotes were fractionated, and flagella and membrane samples were applied to HiTrap Heparin affinity chromatography columns. Heparin-bound fractions from flagella and membrane samples were designated HBP Ffand HBP Mf, respectively. Fraction HBP Ffpresented a higher concentration of HBPs relative to HBP Mf, and SDS-PAGE analyses showed 2 major protein bands in both fractions (65 and 55 kDa). The 65 kDa band showed gelatinolytic activity and was sensitive to inhibition by 1,10-phenanthroline. The localization of HBPs on the promastigote surfaces was confirmed using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor analysis by binding the parasites to a heparin-coated sensor chip; that was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by pre-incubating the parasites with variable concentrations of heparin, thus indicating distinct heparin-binding capacities for the two fractions. In conclusion, protein fractions isolated from either the flagella or membranes ofL. (V.) braziliensispromastigotes have characteristics of metallo-proteinases and are able to bind to glycosaminoglycans.
Curcumin alleviates eosinophilic meningitis through reduction of eosinophil count following albendazole treatment againstAngiostrongylus cantonensisin mice
Authors: SHYU LING-YUH , CHANG HAN-HSIN , HSU JENG-DONG , LIN DAVID PEI-CHENG , TENG YING-HOCK , LEE HSIU-HSIUNG
Published: November 2011

Angiostrongylus cantonensis(A. cantonensis) is the most common cause of parasitic eosinophilic meningitis worldwide. By using an animal model of BALB/c mice infected withA. cantonensis, previous studies indicated that the anthelmintic drug, albendazole, could killA. cantonensislarvae and prevent further infection. However, the dead larvae will induce severe immune responses targeting at brain tissues. To alleviate the detrimental effects caused by the dead larvae, we administered curcumin, a traditional anti-inflammatory agent, as a complementary treatment in addition to albendazole therapy, to determine whether curcumin could be beneficial for treatment. The results showed that although curcumin treatment alone did not reduce worm number, combined treatment by albendazole and curcumin helped to reduce eosinophil count in the cerebrospinal fluid, better than using albendazole alone. This alleviating effect did not affect albendazole treatment alone, since histological analysis showed similar worm eradication with or without addition of curcumin. Nevertheless, curcumin treatment alone and combined albendazole-curcumin treatment did not inhibit MMP-9 expression in the brain tissue. In conclusion, curcumin, when used as a complementary treatment to albendazole, could help to alleviate eosinophilic meningitis through suppression of eosinophil count in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Lifting mixing properties by Rokhlin cocycles
Authors: LEMAŃCZYK MARIUSZ , PARREAU FRANÇOIS
Published: November 2011

We study the problem of lifting various mixing properties from a base automorphismT∈Aut(X,ℬ,μ) to skew products of the formTφ,𝒮, where φ:X→Gis a cocycle with values in a locally compact Abelian groupG, 𝒮=(Sg)g∈Gis a measurable representation ofGinAut(Y,𝒞,ν) andTφ,𝒮acts on the product space (X×Y,ℬ⊗𝒞,μ⊗ν) byIt is also shown that wheneverTis ergodic (mildly mixing, mixing) butTφ,𝒮is not ergodic (is not mildly mixing, not mixing), then, on a non-trivial factor 𝒜⊂𝒞 of 𝒮, the corresponding Rokhlin cocyclex↦Sφ(x)∣𝒜is a coboundary (a quasi-coboundary).
Architecture and New Play Development at the National Theatre, 1907–2010
Authors: Haslett Rosalind
Published: November 2011

In recent criticism a perceived dichotomy has emerged between ‘new writing’ and ‘new work’ for the theatre. In this article Rosalind Haslett contends that this dichotomy is often reflected in the infrastructure of theatre organizations and theatre spaces themselves. Thus ‘new writing’ is seen to refer to a literary process which takes place in a conventional theatre building, while ‘new work’ tends to occur in non-traditional forms and spaces. The relationship between non-conventional spaces and the performance work that might take place in them has received some critical attention, but there has been less exploration of the ways in which theatre architecture can inform the processes which surround new writing for the theatre. Tracing the history of the National Theatre in London back to its origins, long before it occupied a building of its own, Rosalind Haslett explores the relationship between the policies and processes taking place within the organization and the physical and architectural development of actualizing its building. She suggests that, if the layout of a theatre building has the power to influence the kind of work and the modes of production which take place within it, the activities of the individuals and organizations residing within such structures can also drive architectural change. Rosalind Haslett is Lecturer in Dramatic Literature at Newcastle University. Her research interests include dramaturgy and literature management, theatre architecture, and theatre history.
Why Were Biological Analogies in Economics “A Bad Thing”? Edith Penrose's Battles against Social Darwinism and McCarthyism
Authors: Levallois Clement
Published: November 2011

Argument

The heuristic value of evolutionary biology for economics is still much under debate. We suggest that in addition to analytical considerations, socio-cultural values can well be at stake in this issue. To demonstrate it, we use a historical case and focus on the criticism of biological analogies in the theory of the firm formulated by economist Edith Penrose in postwar United States. We find that in addition to the analytical arguments developed in her paper, she perceived that biological analogies were suspect of a conservative bias – as in social Darwinism. We explain this perception by documenting the broader context of Edith Penrose's personal and professional evolution, from her student days at Berkeley to her defense of Owen Lattimore against McCarthyism. We conclude that in the case under study at least, science and values were certainly intertwined in accounting for her skepticism towards biological analogies – insight we develop in the conclusion about today's relationships between biology and economics.
Bentham on Presumed Offences
Authors: SCHAUER FREDERICK
Published: November 2011

In the Principles of the Penal Code, Jeremy Bentham described offences that he labelled presumed or evidentiary. The conduct penalized under such offences is punished not because it is intrinsically wrong, but because it probabilistically indicates the presence of an intrinsic wrong. Bentham was sceptical of the need to create offences, but grudgingly accepted their value in light of deficiencies in procedure and the judiciary. These days the scepticism is even greater, with courts and commentators in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere believing that such ‘proxy’ offences deny a defendant the right to establish that he did not engage in the conduct that the presumed offence probabilistically but not necessarily indicates. On closer analysis, however, such scepticism appears unjustified. Almost all offences, and indeed almost all legal rules, are premised on a probabilistic relationship between the behaviour the rule encompasses and the behaviour that is the rule-maker's real concern. Presumed offences may make this relationship especially obvious, but it is a relationship that exists whenever the law operates by the use of rules.
Colburn on Covert Influences
Authors: BRUCKNER DONALD W.
Published: November 2011

In ‘Autonomy and Adaptive Preferences’, Ben Colburn claims that preferences formed through covert influences are defective. I show that Colburn's argument fails to establish that anything is wrong with preferences formed in this manner.
Truthing gap: imagining a relational geography of the uninhabitable
Authors: Lee Rona
Published: November 2011

During 2008–10, I was the Artist in Residence of the Leverhulme Trust, at the National Oceanography Centre, (NOCS), Southampton, working with sonar geophysicist Dr Tim Le Bas, exploring methods of seabed mapping and undersea survey. During this period I documented aspects of oceanographic study, learnt processes used by my scientific colleagues, conducted performative interventions and made works in direct response to the context of NOCS. The work produced was shown at an exhibition at University of Wales Institute, Cardiff in 2009 and will be developed into a larger exhibition at the John Hansard Gallery, Southampton in 2012. This article constitutes both a re-presentation of my primary research and a reflection on the methods I adopted to address the issues raised by my inquiries. Works produced are both referred to directly and represented via supplementary documentation.
‘Sybaris is the land where it wishes to take us’: luxurious insertions in Picturesque gardens
Authors: Condello Annette
Published: November 2011

Towards the end of the eighteenth century, the discovery of Pompeii attracted European aristocrats to include the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Southern Italy) on their Grand Tour itinerary. Similarly, Sybaris, an ancient Greek colonial polis also directed aristocratic attention to the region. French painter and engraver Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non and his entourage of architects most famously documented the ruinous Sybaris and exported its imagery back to France. In parallel with these developments, interest in recreating sybaritic images within luxurious Picturesque gardens arose. Drawing upon a pair of garden case studies, Monsieur de Monville's Broken Column House (1780–81) at Désert de Retz, Chambourcy, and Queen Marie-Antoinette's hameau (1783) within the Petit Trianon Gardens at Versailles, this paper examines the sybaritic images, their influences and the ethical values of the creators of these gardens. Monville and Marie-Antoinette were, for instance, charged of excess. This paper is concerned with the way in which these sybaritic places were configured and how they encapsulated a mythic Sybaris, and argues that the charges of excess levelled against their creators partly stemmed from the unusual and sybaritic effects to be found at their private entertainment gardens.
Disordered Spheres with Extensive Overlap in Projection: Image Simulation and Analysis
Authors: Chan Christopher D. , Seitz Michelle E. , Winey Karen I.
Published: November 2011

This article simulates highly overlapped projections of spherical particles that are distributed randomly in space. The size and number of the features in the projections are examined as well as how these features change with particle size and concentration. First, there are discernable features in projection even when particles overlap extensively, and the size of these discernable features is the expected size of an individual particle. Second, the number of features increases with specimen thickness at a rate of t0.543 when the specimen thickness is below a critical value and becomes independent of specimen thickness at higher thicknesses. A criterion is established for the critical thickness based on particle size and particle volume fraction. When the specimen thickness is known and smaller than the critical thickness, a single representative transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (or scanning TEM) image exhibiting extensive particle overlap can be used to determine the size and number density of the spherical particles.
Are human made disasters different?
Authors: Sederer L. I.
Published: November 2011

The author distinguishes natural from human made disasters, and identifies their traumatic effects. He stresses the impact on both individuals and communities. Lessons learned from the NYC World Trade Center bombings are offered. He concludes with a universal prescription for responding to disasters.
Der Kopf turnt Saltos ...!
Authors: Steggemann Yvonne , Weigelt Matthias
Published: November 2011

Zusammenfassung. Studien zum menschlichen Spiegelneuronensystem zeigen, dass die gleichen korrespondierenden Repräsentationen nicht nur bei der eigenen Ausführung einer Handlung, sondern auch beim Betrachten derselben Ausführung aktiviert werden. Dabei wird das Wahrnehmen fremder Handlungen durch die Bewegungserfahrung des Beobachters moduliert. Wir sind der Frage nachgegangen, ob motorische Expertise nicht nur das Wahrnehmen fremder Handlungen beeinflusst, sondern ob sich Bewegungsexpertise auch auf die Leistung in mentalen Rotationstests mit menschlichen Figuren auswirkt. Dafür wurden Sportler/innen mit (z. B. Kunstturnern) und ohne Rotationsexpertise in einer Rotationsaufgabe, welche eine perspektivische Transformation provoziert, getestet. Stimuli waren Bilder einer weiblichen Person in Vorder- und Rückansicht, die in einer von acht verschiedenen Winkelorientierungen dargeboten wurden. Die Aufgabe der Probanden bestand darin, schnellstmöglich zu entscheiden, ob die dargestellte Person den rechten oder linken Arm seitlich ausgestreckt hält. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einen selektiven Einfluss motorischer Expertise auf die Rotationsleistung. Danach können Rotationsexperten/innen andere Personen nicht generell schneller identifizieren. Sie profitieren jedoch insbesondere dann von ihrer Bewegungserfahrung, wenn Personen in ungewöhnlichen, nicht-alltäglichen Körperorientierungen gezeigt werden. Der Vorteil für Rotationsexperten/innen zeigt sich somit nur dann, wenn sie ihr bewegungsspezifisches Wissen, d. h. ihre Bewegungserfahrungen mit Drehungen und ungewöhnlichen Körperorientierungen im Raum, nutzen können.
Remote sensing of the magnetosphere from zero‐kilometer altitude
Authors: Bryant Chad R. , Manuel John
Published: November 2011

Canadian Geospace Monitoring Science Meeting; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, 20 February 2011 Ground‐based instrument arrays provide an effective and low‐cost means of remotely sensing the magnetosphereionosphere‐ thermosphere system (i.e., geospace). Such distributed arrays provide spatial and temporal coverage unmatched by in situ satellite observations. When complementary instrument arrays simultaneously observe the same region of geospace, the resulting data sets provide a wealth of information for geospace research and space weather forecasting. The Canadian Geospace Monitoring program (CGSM), and its ancestors, has supported deployment and operation of such instrument arrays across northern Canada since the early 1980s.
An ionospheric precursor to the Tohoku earthquake
Authors: Balcerak Ernie
Published: November 2011

Most scientists believe that earthquakes are inherently unpredictable, and reports of various kinds of earthquake precursor signals have been difficult to verify. However, in a new study, Heki reports a possible ionospheric precursor to the devastating 11 March 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake in Japan. Analyzing data from the Japanese GPS network, he detected an increase in the total electron content (TEC) in the ionosphere above the focal region of the earthquake beginning about 40 minutes before the quake. The TEC enhancement reached about 8% above the background electron content. The increase in TEC was greatest above the earthquake epicenter and diminished with distance from the epicenter. The author also analyzed GPS records from previous earthquakes and found that similar ionospheric anomalies occurred before the 2010 Mw 8.8 Chile earthquake and possibly the 2004 Sumatra Mw 9.2 earthquake and the 1994 Mw 8.3 Hokkaido earthquake, but TEC enhancements were not seen before smaller earthquakes.
Predicting interannual variability in evapotranspiration rates
Authors: Schultz Colin
Published: November 2011

The amount of evapotranspiration (ET), the sum of all the water that evaporates from the surface or is drawn up through plants and vented as vapor, is a strong controlling factor for the amount of water left over for other purposes, such as groundwater recharge or surface runoff. Understanding how ET rates vary from year to year is challenging, because the change is inherently controlled by small‐scale variations in vegetation type and density, soil properties, and meteorological conditions. Yet there has been some success understanding variations in ET at the watershed scale. Analyzing daily measurements of evapotranspiration for 547 watersheds across the United States from 1983 to 2006, Cheng et al. identified a strong linear relationship between two slightly different ratios: the ratio between the watershed's potential evapotranspiration (PET) and precipitation and that between observed ET and precipitation. This is surprising because many previous studies suggested a nonlinear relationship between the two ratios by following the Budyko framework, a dominant approach in water cycle modeling that relates ET rates to the amount of energy and water in the system.
Cenozoic foreland basin system in the central Andes of northwestern Argentina: Implications for Andean geodynamics and modes of deformation
Authors: DeCelles P. G. , Carrapa B. , Horton B. K. , Gehrels G. E.
Published: November 2011

Cenozoic strata in the central Andes of northwestern Argentina record the development and migration of a regional foreland basin system analogous to the modern Chaco‐Paraná alluvial plain. Paleocene‐lower Eocene fluvial and lacustrine deposits are overlain by middle‐upper Eocene hypermature paleosols or an erosional disconformity representing 10–15 Myr. This ‘supersol/disconformity’ zone is traceable over a 200,000 km2 area in the Andean thrust belt, and is overlain by 2–6 km of upward coarsening, eastward thinning, upper Eocene through lower Miocene fluvial and eolian deposits. Middle Miocene‐Pliocene fluvial, lacustrine, and alluvial fan deposits occupy local depocenters with contractional growth structures. Paleocurrent and petrographic data demonstrate westerly provenance of quartzolithic and feldspatholithic sediments. Detrital zircon ages from Cenozoic sandstones cluster at 470–491, 522–544, 555–994, and 1024–1096 Ma. Proterozoic‐Mesozoic clastic and igneous rocks in the Puna and Cordillera Oriental yield similar age clusters, and served as sources of the zircons in the Cenozoic deposits. Arc‐derived zircons become prominent in Oligo‐Miocene deposits and provide new chronostratigraphic constraints. Sediment accumulation rate increased from ∼20 m/Myr during Paleocene‐Eocene time to 200–600 m/Myr during the middle to late Miocene. The new data suggest that a flexural foreland basin formed during Paleocene time and migrated at least 600 km eastward at an unsteady pace dictated by periods of abrupt eastward propagation of the orogenic strain front. Despite differences in deformation style between Bolivia and northwestern Argentina, lithosphere in these two regions flexed similarly in response to eastward encroachment of a comparable orogenic load beginning during late Paleocene time.
Structural Biology in Polyamine Drug Discovery
Authors: Bale Shridhar , Ealick* Steven E.
Published: November 2011

The polyamine biosynthetic pathway is the subject of multiple structural studies intended to aid drug design against various types of cancer and parasitic infections. The crystal structures of many enzymes in the pathway have been elucidated, and the active sites characterized to facilitate structure-based drug design. S-Adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC), a critical enzyme involved in the early stage of the pathway, catalyzes the conversion of S-adenosylmethionine to decarboxylated S-adenosylmethionine, which is then committed to polyamine biosynthesis. AdoMetDC utilizes the unusual pyruvoyl cofactor, which is generated via an autocatalytic serinolysis. In humans, the polyamine putrescine is known to accelerate the internal serinolysis reaction in the AdoMetDC proenzyme as well as the decarboxylation reaction catalyzed by the active enzyme. The crystal structures of human AdoMetDC (hAdoMetDC), mutants and complexes with S-adenosylmethionine methyl ester (MeAdoMet) and other substrate analogs provided insights into internal serinolysis, putrescine activation, catalysis and active site interactions. The crystal structures of the complexes aided the structure-based drug design of a series of new substrate analogs with improved inhibition towards hAdoMetDC. In addition, virtual screening of the active site of hAdoMetDC with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) diversity set of 1990 compounds followed by experimental testing resulted in a selection of drug-like compounds containing novel binding cores with IC50 values in the low micromolar range. Additional crystal structures of AdoMetDC from Solanum tuberosum, Thermotoga maritima and Aquifex aeolicus reveal evolutionary links between eukaryotes and prokaryotes.
Role of Fluorine in Weak Interactions in Co-crystals
Authors: Sunil Seetha Lekshmi , Nayak Susanta K. , Hathwar Venkatesha R. , Chopra Deepak , Guru Row Tayur N.
Published: November 2011

The presence of the C–F bond (commonly referred to as organic fluorine) in a large number of pharmaceutically relevant compounds suggests that it may be used in the production of novel salts and co-crystals that have intermolecular interactions involving fluorine. There is an ongoing debate in this context as fluorine is characterized by its high electronegativity, relatively small size and very low polarizability. The propensity of hydrogen to participate in generating highly directional and energetically stable hydrogen bonds has been exploited in the design of co-crystals and salts of many pharmaceutical compounds. A direct extension of this property to fluorine, however, is not plausible and thus intermolecular interactions involving fluorine must be quantified. Recent results and new approaches designed to evaluate organic fluorine which provide useful inputs for the design of co-crystals and salts are discussed in this chapter.
Analytical Techniques and Strategies for Salt/Co-crystal Characterization
Authors: Reutzel-Edens Susan M.
Published: November 2011

Salts and co-crystals provide numerous options for tailoring the physical properties of an active pharmaceutical ingredient to meet the needs of a drug product. Navigating the frequently complex solid form landscapes of drugs, their salts and co-crystals, however, requires ready access to reliable solid-state characterization techniques to ensure that a suitable form is identified and a robust crystallization process is developed to select for it. Crystallography, spectroscopy, microscopy, thermal techniques and moisture sorption analysis are routinely used to examine the structures and properties of pharmaceutical solids. In this contribution, analytical techniques and strategies for characterizing salt and co-crystal forms, probing ionization in the solid state and assessing thermodynamic stability are presented.
Co-crystals: Commercial Opportunities and Patent Considerations
Authors: Hoffman Marcel , Lindeman Jeffrey A.
Published: November 2011

This chapter focuses on some ways in which co-crystals may translate into new patents and commercial value and some considerations for accomplishing this. It is clear that the success of co-crystals in commercialization and as new patents is tied to their unique chemical composition, crystalline structure, and properties. Engineering pharmaceutical properties using co-crystals can create new commercial value for an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and extend its patent life. This value comes from the composition of the co-crystal as well as from its crystalline form. Patenting co-crystals captures this value in the form of intellectual property. Yet, co-crystal patents have their own unique aspects that need to be addressed: definition of “co-crystal” and patentability of co-crystals information needed for effective co-crystal patents. What is clear is that co-crystals do present opportunities, commercially and in the form of patents, and the way to those opportunities is to engage the chemistry of the co-crystals and take advantage of that chemistry.
Defining the role of TRIP6 in cell physiology and cancer
Authors: Willier Semjon , Butt Elke , Richter Günther H.S. , Burdach Stefan , Grunewald Thomas G.P.
Published: November 2011

Integrating signals from the ECM (extracellular matrix) via the cell surface into the nucleus is an essential feature of multicellular life and often malfunctions in cancer. To date many signal transducers known as shuttle proteins have been identified that act as both: a cytoskeletal and a signalling protein. Here, we highlight the interesting member of the Zyxin family TRIP6 [thyroid receptor interactor protein 6; also designated ZRP‐1 (zyxin‐related protein 1)] and review current literature to define its role in cell physiology and cancer. TRIP6 is a versatile scaffolding protein at FAs (focal adhesions) involved in cytoskeletal organization, coordinated cell migration and tissue invasion. Via its LIM and TDC domains TRIP6 interacts with different components of the LPA (lysophosphatidic acid), NF‐κB (nuclear factor κB), glucocorticoid and AMPK (AMP‐activated protein kinase) signalling pathway and thereby modulates their activity. Within the nucleus TRIP6 acts as a transcriptional cofactor regulating the transcriptional responses of these pathways. Moreover, intranuclear TRIP6 associates with proteins ensuring telomere protection and hence may contribute to genome stability. Accordingly, TRIP6 is engaged in key cellular processes such as cell proliferation, differentiation and survival. These diverse functions of TRIP6 are found to be dysregulated in various cancers and may have pleiotropic roles in tumour initiation, tumour growth and metastasis, which turn TRIP6 into an attractive candidate for cancer diagnosis and targeted therapy.
Anti‐proliferative effect of rosiglitazone on angiotensin II‐induced vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation is mediated by the mTOR pathway
Authors: Kim Jung‐Sun , Kim Il‐Kwon , Lee Se‐Yeon , Song Byeong‐Wook , Cha Min‐Ji , Song Heesang , Choi Eunmi , Lim Soyeon , Ham Onju , Jang Yangsoo , Hwang Ki‐Chul
Published: November 2011

VSMC (vascular smooth muscle cell) proliferation contributes significantly to intimal thickening in atherosclerosis, restenosis and venous bypass graft diseases. Ang II (angiotensin II) has been implicated in VSMC proliferation though the activation of multiple growth‐promoting signals. Although TZDs (thiazolidinediones) can inhibit VSMC proliferation and reduce Ang II‐induced fibrosis, the mechanism underlying the inhibition of VSMC proliferation and fibrosis needs elucidation. We have used primary cultured rat aortic VSMCs and specific antibodies to investigate the inhibitory mechanism of rosiglitazone on Ang II‐induced VSMC proliferation. Rosiglitazone treatment significantly inhibited Ang II‐induced rat aortic VSMC proliferation in a dose‐dependent manner. Western blot analysis showed that rosiglitazone significantly lowered phosphorylated ERK1/2 (extracellular‐signal‐regulated kinase 1/2), Akt (also known as protein kinase B), mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), p70S6K (70 kDa S6 kinase) and 4EBP1 (eukaryotic initiation factor 4E‐binding protein) levels in Ang II‐treated VSMCs. In addition, PPAR‐α (peroxisome‐proliferator‐activated receptor α) mRNA increased significantly and CTGF (connective tissue growth factor), Fn (fibronectin) and Col III (collagen III) levels decreased significantly. The results demonstrate that the rosiglitazone directly inhibits the pro‐atherosclerotic effect of Ang II on rat aortic VSMCs. It also attenuates Ang II‐induced ECM (extracellular matrix) molecules and CTGF production in rat aortic VSMCs, reducing fibrosis. Importantly, PPAR‐α activation mediates these effects, in part, through the mTOR‐p70S6K and −4EBP1 system.
Kitt Peak solar telescope to support Skylab project
Authors: Scott John T.
Published: November 2011

Around the middle of July, solar astronomers at Kitt Peak National Observatory expect to be making the first observations with their new vacuum telescope. With its 60-cm aperture and 33-cm diameter solar image, the new instrument will be complementary to the much larger McMath telescope (150-cm aperture, 80-cm solar image) also at Kitt Peak; it will provide daily monitoring of the sun's magnetic activity on a routine basis not possible with the McMath telescope, which is normally used for individual research projects by KPNO staff members and visiting astronomers.
Do earthquakes give advance warning signals?
Authors: Lubkin Gloria B.
Published: November 2011

Recent developments in seismology suggest that certain premonitory effects can be used to predict that earthquakes will occur in a given location. The developments have aroused great interest in the geophysics community, but some skepticism has also been expressed.
Microscopic quantum interference in the theory of superconductivity
Authors: Cooper Leon N.
Published: November 2011

It is an honor and a pleasure to speak to you today about the theory of superconductivity. In a short lecture one can no more than touch on the long history of experimental and theoretical work on this subject before 1957. Nor can one hope to give an adequate account of how our understanding of superconductivity has evolved since that time. The theory we presented in 1957, applied to uniform materials in the weak-coupling limit so defining an ideal superconductor, has been extended in almost every imaginable direction. To these developments so many authors have contributed that we can make no pretense of doing them justice. I will confine myself here to an outline of some of the main features of our 1957 theory, an indication of directions taken since and a discussion of quantum interference effects due to the single-spin pairing in superconductors which might be considered the microscopic analogue of the effects discussed by Professor Schrieffer.
Anomalous water: an end to the anomaly
Authors: Levi Barbara G.
Published: November 2011

Several years ago the possible discovery of a form of water with anomalous properties—high density, high refractive index, low vapor pressure, low melting point—generated intense experimentation and heated debate (PHYSICS TODAY, September 1969, page 61; October 1970, page 17). In a new book (Recent Advances in Adhesion, edited by Lieng-Huang Lee of Xerox Corp), Boris V. Deryaguin, whose group of workers at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow first reported this anomalous water (later called “polywater” by others to suggest a polymeric structure), has concurred with his former opponents that the observed properties are caused by the presence of impurities rather than by a new structure of the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Deryaguin states that he and his coworkers, using an electron-probe technique, detected silicon and/or some other impurities in even the cleanest samples of anomalous material.
CERN and NAL groups claim evidence for neutral currents
Authors: Lubkin Gloria B.
Published: November 2011

Two experiments, one at CERN and the other at the National Accelerator Laboratory, are showing evidence for the existence of neutral currents. They are finding events in which a neutrino interacts with a nucleon and, instead of producing a muon or an electron, yields hadrons without a charged lepton. Because of the recent interest in theories that attempt to unify the weak and electromagnetic interactions, such as those proposed by Steven Weinberg (PHYSICS TODAY, April 1972, page 17) and by Abdus Salam, the new observations are exciting great interest. These theories generally require the existence of neutral currents.
Electron–hole droplets in germanium and silicon
Authors: Rothenberg Marian S.
Published: November 2011

When a new state of a well-known substance is found, enthusiasm spreads as theorists try to predict its properties and experimenters to verify its existence. This excitement has certainly followed the discovery of a condensed metallic phase in germanium and silicon. The apparent confirmation of conducting electron-hole “droplets” (about 1 micron in size) at temperatures of a few Kelvin is particularly good news for manybody theory because germanium and silicon are probably the best studied of all semiconductors and offer clean, simple systems for testing ideas.
Colliding-beam results upset quark advocates
Authors: Lubkin Gloria B.
Published: November 2011

New experiments on electron–positron annihilation are causing great excitement and some consternation among advocates of quarks, partons, light-cone algebra and asymptotic freedom. All these theories predict that the ratio R of the cross section for producing hadrons to the cross section for producing two muons should be a constant for sufficiently high energy. The constant can be anywhere from 2/3 to 6, in theories now in vogue. It was generally believed that we were already at sufficiently high energy for this asymptotic behavior to be observable.
“Fourth sound” in helium-three confirms superfluidity
Authors: Levi Barbara G.
Published: November 2011

An experiment at the University of California at La Jolla, based on the propagation of fourth sound, appears to provide the first really direct evidence for superfluidity in He3. Over the past two years (PHYSICS TODAY, October 1972, page 17 and July 1973, page 17), a variety of experiments have studied the curious behavior of He3 below a few millidegrees Kelvin, where it undergoes two transitions, both in the liquid—“A” near 2.6 mK and “B” near 2.0 mK (at a melting pressure near 34.4 bar). These experiments measured various properties characteristic of a superfluid, ranging from nuclear magnetic resonance to viscosity.
Solar-energy collector accepts diffused sunlight
Authors: Saar Robert A.
Published: November 2011

Harvesting the sun's bounty of energy is a nontrivial problem—the sun is a nonstationary and often a poorly concentrated source of energy. Another attempt to overcome these difficulties is resulting from a collaboration between workers at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. The project, with recently announced funding from the Atomic Energy Commission ($140 000), has reached the stage where prototype collectors have been constructed. These collectors do not need to be redirected during the day and can collect isotropic light more effectively than many earlier designs.
AIP in 1973—a year of publishing
Authors: Koch H. William
Published: November 2011

A year of publishing—this is how the American Institute of Physics would characterize 1973 if asked to summarize its many-faceted activities during that year in a single phrase. This may seem surprising, when some such statement as “publishing is still the major business of the Institute” has become a cliché in these annual reports. But in 1973 the number of interlocking trends and changes in AIP programs connecting in some way with publishing activities was unusually high. Examples range from expected to unexpected changes and include instances involving the publishing effort both directly and indirectly.
Many groups report laser-induced isotope separation
Authors: Lubkin Gloria B.
Published: November 2011

In an exciting post-deadline session at the Eighth International Quantum Electronics Conference in San Francisco this June five groups reported experimental results on laser-induced isotope separation. One of the groups was able to separate small quantities of U235. A successful method of doing this on a large scale would obviously be of great commercial interest and is undoubtedly the motivation of many workers in the field. It is clear that laser isotope separation will be the focus of considerable attention for quite a while.
Acoustic properties of air-saturated porous materials containing dead-end porosity
Authors: Dupont T. , Leclaire P. , Sicot O. , Gong X. L. , Panneton R.
Published: November 2011

This study examines the acoustic properties of materials with complex micro-geometry containing partially open or dead-end (DE) porosity. One of these kinds of materials can be obtained from dissolving salt grains embedded in a solid metal matrix with the help of water. The solid matrix is obtained after the metal, in liquid form, has invaded the granular material formed by the salt particles at negative pressure and high temperature, and after cooling and solidification of the metal. Comparisons between theoretical and experimental results show that the classical Johnson-Champoux-Allard model does not quite accurately predict the acoustic behavior. These results suggest that the assumptions of the Biot theory may not all be fulfilled and that cavity resonators and dead ends can be present in the material. The first part of the study proposes a simple model to account for this geometry. Based upon this model, two acoustic transfer matrices are developed: one for non-symmetric and one for symmetric dead-end porous elements. It is thought that this model can be used to study the acoustic absorption and sound transmission properties of the type of material previously described. In the second part, a series of simplified samples are proposed and tested with a three-microphone impedance tube to validate the exposed model. Finally, the third part compares the predictions of the exposed model to the impedance tube results on a real aluminum foam sample containing dead-end pores. These first results are encouraging and show that this simple model also provides a good prediction for these materials with more complicated microstructure.
Finding communities in weighted networks through synchronization
Authors: Lou Xuyang , Suykens Johan A. K.
Published: November 2011

Community detection in weighted networks is an important challenge. In this paper, we introduce a local weight ratio scheme for identifying the community structures of weighted networks within the context of the Kuramoto model by taking into account weights of links. The proposed scheme takes full advantage of the information of the link density among vertices and the closeness of relations between each vertex and its neighbors. By means of this scheme, we explore the connection between community structures and dynamic time scales of synchronization. Moreover, we can also unravel the hierarchical structures of weighted networks with a well-defined connectivity pattern by the synchronization process. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on both computer-generated benchmark graphs and real-world networks.
Fast, externally triggered, digital phase controller for an optical lattice
Authors: Sadgrove Mark , Nakagawa Ken'ichi
Published: November 2011

We present a method to control the phase of an optical lattice according to an external trigger signal. The method has a latency of less than 30 μs. Two phase locked digital synthesizers provide the driving signal for two acousto-optic modulators which control the frequency and phase of the counter-propagating beams which form a standing wave (optical lattice). A micro-controller with an external interrupt function is connected to the desired external signal, and updates the phase register of one of the synthesizers when the external signal changes. The standing wave (period λ/2 = 390 nm) can be moved by units of 49 nm with a mean jitter of 28 nm. The phase change is well known due to the digital nature of the synthesizer, and does not need calibration. The uses of the scheme include coherent control of atomic matter-wave dynamics.
Validating Raman spectroscopic calibrations of phonon deformation potentials in silicon single crystals: A comparison between ball-on-ring and micro-indentation methods
Authors: Miyatake Takahiro , Pezzotti Giuseppe
Published: November 2011

Of main interest in the present work is a quantitative comparison between the phonon deformation potential (PDP) values determined for silicon single crystals by two different calibration methods: (i) a macroscopic method exploiting the stress field developed in a ball-on-ring (biaxial) bending configuration; and (ii) a microscopic method using the residual stress field stored around an indentation print. A comparison between the two methods helps to establish the reliability limits for experimental stress analyses in the (001), (011), and (111) planes of silicon devices by means of polarized Raman spectroscopy. Emphasis is also placed on evaluating the degree of precision involved with using a closed-form equation (i.e., as proposed by other authors), which describes the stress state when different crystallographic planes of the Si sample are loaded in the ball-on- ring jig. A comparison between stress profiles obtained by such equations and those computed by the finite element method (FEM) in the loaded disk reveals a clear discrepancy for the (011) plane. Such a discrepancy could be attributed to elastic coupling and anisotropic effects (particularly relevant along the 〈011〉 direction), which can lead to errors up to 15% in computing the stress field stored in the silicon lattice.