Search results for "Radiation"

Effect of T-R conformational change on sickle-cell hemoglobin interactions and aggregation

2004

We compare the role of a conformational switch and that of a point mutation in the thermodynamic stability of a protein solution and in the consequent propensity toward aggregation. We study sickle-cell hemoglobin (HbS), the beta6 Glu-Val point mutant of adult human hemoglobin (HbA), in its R (CO-liganded) conformation, and compare its aggregation properties to those of both HbS and HbA in their T (unliganded) conformation. Static and dynamic light scattering measurements performed for various hemoglobin concentrations showed critical divergences with mean field exponents as temperature was increased. This allowed determining spinodal data points T(S)(c) by extrapolation. These points were …

Self-assembly of a bioelastomeric structure: solution dynamics and the spinodal and coacervation lines.

1990

The stability, metastability, and instability regions of aqueous solutions of a representative synthetic bioelastomeric polymer, poly (Val-Pro-Gly-Val-Gly), were determined by a combined use of elastic and quasi-elastic light scattering experiments. The approach followed here offers the attractive advantage of singling out the relevant contributions to the total scattering even in the presence of traces of noninteracting larger sized impurities. Conclusions so reached were checked by means of independent experiments. The present results provide descriptions of the very early events in the physics of bioelastogenesis in terms of general polymer science and phase transitions, and in terms of …

Protein aggregation/crystallization and minor structural changes: universal versus specific aspects.

2007

AbstractProtein association covers wide interests in biophysics, protein science, and biotechnologies, and it is often viewed as governed by conformation details. More recently, the existence of a universal physical principle governing aggregation/crystallization processes has been suggested by a series of experiments and shown to be linked to the universal scaling properties of concentration fluctuations occurring in the proximity of a phase transition (spinodal demixing in the specific case). Such properties have provided a quantitative basis for capturing kinetic association data on a universal master curve, ruled by the normalized distance of the state of the system from its instability…

Low dose splenic irradiation in myelofibrosis: outcomes and toxicity of three radiation schedule

2009

Is dust a suitable material for retrospective personal dosimetry?

2010

This work investigates the feasibility of using silicates contained in dust for retrospective individual dosimetry in case of a radiation accident or a radiological attack involving people not wearing physical dosimeters. It is well known that minerals (silicates) can be used for dosimetry and dust already plays an important role in the field of food irradiation detection using luminescence techniques as described in the European Standards (EN 13751 and EN 1788). This paper explores the feasibility of conducting retrospective personal dosimetry on the basis of thermoluminescence analysis of silicates extracted from dust on objects that people usually wear (e.g. jewelry, watches, keys and co…

The effect of ISM absorption on stellar activity measurements and its relevance for exoplanet studies

2017

Past UV and optical observations of stars hosting hot Jupiters have shown that some of these stars present an anomalously low chromospheric activity, significantly below the basal level. For WASP-13, observations have shown that the apparent lack of activity is possibly caused by absorption from the intervening ISM. Inspired by this result, we study the effect of ISM absorption on activity measurements (S and logR'$_{\rm HK}$ indices) for main-sequence late-type stars. To this end, we employ synthetic stellar photospheric spectra combined with varying amounts of chromospheric emission and ISM absorption. We present the effect of ISM absorption on activity measurements by varying several ins…

Bright hot impacts by erupted fragments falling back on the Sun: UV redshifts in stellar accretion

2014

A solar eruption after a flare on 7 Jun 2011 produced EUV-bright impacts of fallbacks far from the eruption site, observed with the Solar Dynamics Observatory. These impacts can be taken as a template for the impact of stellar accretion flows. Broad red-shifted UV lines have been commonly observed in young accreting stars. Here we study the emission from the impacts in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly's UV channels and compare the inferred velocity distribution to stellar observations. We model the impacts with 2D hydrodynamic simulations. We find that the localised UV 1600A emission and its timing with respect to the EUV emission can be explained by the impact of a cloud of fragments. The …

Tuning active Brownian motion with shot noise energy pulses

2009

The main aim of this work is to explore the possibility of modeling the biological energy support mediated by absorption of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) as an energetic shot noise. We develop a general model with discrete input of energy pulses and study shot-noise-driven ratchets. We consider these ratchets as prototypes of Brownian motors driven by energy-rich ATP molecules. Our model is a stochastic machine able to acquire energy from the environment and convert it into kinetic energy of motion. We present characteristic features and demonstrate the possibility of tuning these motors by adapting the mean frequency of the discrete energy inputs, which are described as a special shot noise…

Scattering studies of large scale structures at the ultra small angle neutron scattering instrument S18

2002

Abstract In recent years ultra small angle neutron scattering (USANS) has developed into a powerful standard method for large scale structure investigations. The upgraded instrument S18 at the ILL's 58 MW high flux reactor is operated routinely with increasing beam time demand. The performance of the instrument and its abilities will be discussed in this paper. A peak to background ratio better than 10 5 is reached using Agamalian's tail reduction method. A q -range from 2.10 −5 up to 5.10 −2 A −1 can be covered. This allows a clear overlap with standard pinhole SANS instruments. The new way collecting scattering data logarithmically equidistant in q -space saves measuring time. This allows…

High-resolution particle sizing by optical tracking of single colloidal particles

1997

Abstract The motion of individual Brownian particles is observed using the confocal Tracking Microscope recently introduced by Schatzel (K. Schatzel, W. G. Neumann, J. Muller and B. Materzok, App. Opt. 31 (1992) 770–778). Particles are laterally trapped in a strongly focused laser beam. By evaluating the light-pressure-induced drift velocity and the backscattered intensity we are able to detemine particle size histograms with a resolution better than 2%. This is demonstrated on a mixture of seven species of polystyrene latex spheres in the diameter range between 300 and 450 nm, where six classes of diameters are identified. We discuss the scope of the method and potential applications.