Mechanical properties of single motor molecules studied by three-dimensional thermal force probing in optical tweezers.

A new method combining three-dimensional (3D) force measurements in an optical trap with the analysis of thermally induced (Brownian) position fluctuations of a trapped probe was used to investigate the mechanical properties of a single molecule, the molecular motor kinesin. One kinesin molecule attached to the probe was bound in a rigorlike state to one microtubule. The optical trap was kept weak to measure the thermal forces acting on the probe, which were mainly counterbalanced by the kinesin tether. The stiffness of kinesin during stretching and compression with respect to its backbone axis were measured. Our results indicate that a section of kinesin close to the motor domain is the dominating element in the flexibility of the motor structure. The experiments demonstrate the power of 3D thermal fluctuation analysis to characterize mechanical properties of individual motor proteins and indicate its usefulness to study single molecule in general     

Einkristalluntersuchungen an Fluoroperowskiten MPdF3 (M = Rb,K) und PdF2

Single Crystal Investigations on Fluoroperovskites MPdF₃ (M = Rb, K) and PdF₂ Single crystal investigations on PdF₂ (violet) confirm the tetragonale rutile structure [1, 2] with a = 495.44(3) pm, c = 338.48(3) pm, Z = 2, space group P4₂/mnm-D (No. 136) (x_F = 0.3058(8)). RbPdF₃ and KPdF₃ have been obtained. RbPdF₃ and KPdF₃ both ruby-red single crystals crystallize cubic (perovskite-structure), space group Pm3m-O (No. 221) with a = 429.41(8) pm (RbPdF₃) respectively a = 424.30(4) pm (KPdF₃).     

Adsorption of the fluoride ion on the surface of various faces of a single crystal of silver: a quantum-chemical study

The fluoride ion adsorption from a gas phase on various faces of a single crystal of silver is studied by a density functional method within a cluster model for metal. The adsorption bond energy is found to increase in the series Ag(100) < Ag(111) < Ag(311) < Ag(110). A substantial structural and energetic heterogeneity of various adsorption sites is revealed. The results are utilized to simulate the electrochemical interface between individual faces of a single crystal of silver and aqueous solutions containing the fluoride ion. It is assumed that the adsorption potential may be represented as the sum of two contributions, one of which describes the metal–ion interaction and the other, the ion solvation energy. The plotted adsorption terms take into account partial degradation of the fluoride ion when adsorbed from an aqueous solution. Estimates of discreteness of the electrical double layer are presented. A conclusion on the maximum manifestation of specific adsorption of the fluoride ion for the Ag(100) face is made.Translated from Elektrokhimiya, Vol. 41, No. 2, 2005, pp. 232–238.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Nazmutdinov, Zinkicheva.This revised version was published online in April 2005 with corrections to the article note and article title and cover date.     

Towards advanced circuit board materials: adhesion of copper foil to ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene composite

Polyethylene based composites are attractive materials for advanced circuit board applications because of their unique combination of properties: low dielectric constant and loss factor, light weight, high flexural modulus and low thermal expansion coefficient controlled in all spatial directions. This investigation describes a process to consolidate chopped fibers of ultra‐high molecular weight polyethylene concurrently with its bonding to a copper foil. Bonding is affected by a thin sheet of low‐density polyethylene, incorporating a crosslinking agent with a concentration gradient across the sheets thickness. In this single step process, the composite material is formed and bonded to the metal foil, achieving good adhesion without the use of extraneous glue. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

predForm-Site: Formylation site prediction by incorporating multiple features and resolving data imbalance

Formylation is one of the newly discovered post-translational modifications in lysine residue which is responsible for different kinds of diseases. In this work, a novel predictor, named predForm-Site, has been developed to predict formylation sites with higher accuracy. We have integrated multiple sequence features for developing a more informative representation of formylation sites. Moreover, decision function of the underlying classifier have been optimized on skewed formylation dataset during prediction model training for prediction quality improvement. On the dataset used by LFPred and Formator predictor, predForm-Site achieved 99.5% sensitivity, 99.8% specificity and 99.8% overall accuracy with AUC of 0.999 in the jackknife test. In the independent test, it has also achieved more than 97% sensitivity and 99% specificity. Similarly, in benchmarking with recent method CKSAAP_FormSite, the proposed predictor significantly outperformed in all the measures, particularly sensitivity by around 20%, specificity by nearly 30% and overall accuracy by more than 22%. These experimental results show that the proposed predForm-Site can be used as a complementary tool for the fast exploration of formylation sites. For convenience of the scientific community, predForm-Site has been deployed as an online tool, accessible at http://103.99.176.239:8080/predForm-Site.     

A combination of modified particle swarm optimization algorithm and support vector machine for gene selection and tumor classification

In the analysis of gene expression profiles, the number of tissue samples with genes expression levels available is usually small compared with the number of genes. This can lead either to possible overfitting or even to a complete failure in analysis of microarray data. The selection of genes that are really indicative of the tissue classification concerned is becoming one of the key steps in microarray studies. In the present paper, we have combined the modified discrete particle swarm optimization (PSO) and support vector machines (SVM) for tumor classification. The modified discrete PSO is applied to select genes, while SVM is used as the classifier or the evaluator. The proposed approach is used to the microarray data of 22 normal and 40 colon tumor tissues and showed good prediction performance. It has been demonstrated that the modified PSO is a useful tool for gene selection and mining high dimension data.     

Multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism analysis of 36 mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms for haplogrouping of East Asian populations

We present a reliable, rapid, and economical multiplex amplified product-length polymorphism (APLP) method for analyzing the haplogroup-diagnostic mitochondrial single-nucleotide polymorphisms (mtSNPs) in East Asian populations. By examining only 36 haplogroup-specific mtSNPs in the coding region by using four 9-multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and subsequent electrophoresis, we could safely assign 1815 individuals from 8 populations of Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Germans to 45 relevant haplogroups. This multiplex APLP analysis of coding-region mtSNPs for haplogrouping is especially useful not only for molecular phylogenetic studies but also for large-scale association studies due to its rapid and economical nature. This is the first panel of mtSNPs in the coding region to be used for haplogrouping of East Asian populations.     

Micro-Determination of Protein Containing SH– and –S–S– Groups Based on the Polarographic wave of an Electroactive Derivative

This paper presents a new simple and sensitive method for the micro-determination of protein containing SH– and –S–S– groups based on the single sweep polarographic wave of an electroactive derivative. In 0.04molL^–1 Na₃PO₄ and 0.2% ascorbic acid solution, protein is heated in a boiling water bath for 15min, the reaction product giving a sensitive reduction wave at –0.70V (vs. SCE). The wave height is linearly proportional to the concentration of protein. The calibration curves of bovine serum albumin (BSA), human serum albumin (HSA), ovalbumin (OVA) and lysozyme (Lyso) are constructed under the optimal conditions. For BSA and HSA, the linear ranges and detection limits are 0.05–24mgL^–1 and 0.02mgL^–1, respectively. The method has been applied to the determination of protein in human serum samples with satisfactory results. The mechanism of the polarographic wave was also studied, and the results show that S^2– ion is released from the protein molecule during the derivatization reaction, the wave being attributed to the reduction of HgS.     

电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法测定镍基单晶高温合金中Mo、W、Ta、Re、Ru时元素之间相互干扰的消除与校正的研究

称取镍基单晶高温合金0.100 0g于聚四氟乙烯烧杯中,先令其与盐酸9mL和硝酸1mL加热反应,待反应缓慢时滴加氢氟酸2mL并继续加热使样品完全溶解。加入500g·L^-1酒石酸溶液2mL,冷却至室温,在塑料容量瓶中加水定容至100.0mL。按仪器工作条件采用电感耦合等离子体原子发射光谱法测定其中5种合金元素(Mo、W、Ta、Re、Ru)的含量,选择分析谱线依次为204.598,207.911,240.063,197.312,240.272nm。结果发现:除了Re外,其余4种元素的测定中均受共存元素的光谱干扰,严重影响了测定结果的准确性。为克服其干扰,除了采用基体匹配法消除镍的基体干扰外,试验采用混合校正系数矩阵法对测定结果进行校准。通过一系列试验计算得到混合校准系数矩阵K,并应用于模拟样品的分析。结果表明:经过矩阵K的校准,所测定的5种元素的准确度显著提高,达到了消除共存元素之间光谱干扰的目的。通过精密度试验,测得上述5种元素测定值的相对标准偏差(n=11)均在1.5%以下,并通过标准加入法进行回收试验,测得5种元素的回收率为97.0%~105%。     

铌酸锂单晶光纤包层研究

通过镁离子内扩散铌酸锂单晶光纤，以改变晶纤表层的折射率，首次在国内实现了沿不同轴向生长、不同掺杂的铌酸锂单晶光纤的芯－包层波导结构。通过匹配扩散温度、扩散时间、ＭｇＯ膜厚等扩散参数及选择合适的晶纤直径，实现了晶纤具有阶跃和抛物折射率分布的包层，并对包层晶纤的模式特性进行了观察，得到低次模传输。