Observation of a centrality-dependent dijet asymmetry in lead-lead collisions at sqrt[S(NN)] =2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

By using the ATLAS detector, observations have been made of a centrality-dependent dijet asymmetry in the collisions of lead ions at the Large Hadron Collider. In a sample of lead-lead events with a per-nucleon center of mass energy of 2.76 TeV, selected with a minimum bias trigger, jets are reconstructed in fine-grained, longitudinally segmented electromagnetic and hadronic calorimeters. The transverse energies of dijets in opposite hemispheres are observed to become systematically more unbalanced with increasing event centrality leading to a large number of events which contain highly asymmetric dijets. This is the first observation of an enhancement of events with such large dijet asymmetries, not observed in proton-proton collisions, which may point to an interpretation in terms of strong jet energy loss in a hot, dense medium.     

'Genetics home reference': helping patients understand the role of genetics in health and disease

The surge of information generated by the Human Genome Project has left many health professionals and their patients struggling to understand the role of genetics in health and disease. To aid the lay public and health professionals, the US National Library of Medicine developed an online resource called 'Genetics Home Reference' (GHR), located at http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/. Launched in April 2003, GHR's goal is to help the public interpret the health implications of the Human Genome Project. It bridges the clinical questions of consumers and the rich technical data emerging from the sequenced human genome. The GHR web site is designed for easy navigation among summaries for genetic conditions and the related gene(s) and chromosome(s). This design strategy enhances the user's appreciation of how genes, chromosomes, and conditions are interrelated.     

The influence of Cu(2+) on the unfolding and refolding of intact and proteolytically processed beta(2)-microglobulin

Human beta(2)-microglobulin (beta(2)m) is an amyloidogenic protein in patients suffering from chronic kidney disease and especially in those patients that need intermittent hemodialysis for longer periods, e.g., when awaiting transplantation. While many in vitro conditions induce beta(2)m-amyloid formation from wild-type (wt) beta(2)m and while a number of structurally altered beta(2)m molecules are known to be conformationally unstable and amyloidogenic on their own, it is not known why beta(2)m-amyloid is generated in some dialysis patients. For many amyloid proteins it is known that divalent metal ions, especially Cu(2+), display strong binding and distinct destabilizing effects on protein conformation. The present study uses CE to assess conformational states of wt and cleaved beta(2)m (dK58-beta(2)m, beta(2)m cleaved at lysine-58, a modification found in the circulation of hemodialysis patients) in the presence of divalent metal ions. The experiments provide both qualitative and quantitative data showing the specific destabilizing effects of Cu(2+)-ions on the folding of wt beta(2)m. Both refolding after acid denaturation and solution structure of beta(2)m under otherwise native conditions are severely influenced by Cu(2+). An increased unfolding, aggregation, and induction of Congo red-reactive molecular species in Cu(2+)-incubated wt-beta(2)m could be demonstrated while the refolding kinetics of dK58-beta(2)m, already slower than the wt molecule, appeared not to be further decreased by Cu(2+). Given the interest in the actions of metal ions in other types of amyloidosis, including, e.g., Alzheimer's disease and the prion encephalopathies, the use of microelectrophoretic methods to monitor unfolding and refolding of biomolecules available in scarce amounts as shown in this study is an attractive option.     

Novel copolymers of styrene. 3. Some ring-substituted propyl 2-cyano-3-phenyl-2-propenoates

Novel trisubstituted ethylenes, ring-substituted propyl 2-cyano-3-phenyl-2-propenoates, RPhCH?C(CN)CO₂C₃H₇ (where R is 2-C₆H₅CH₂O, 3-C₆H₅CH₂O, 4-C₆H₅CH₂O, 4-CH₃COO, 3-CH₃CO, 4-CH₃CONH, 2-CN, 3-CN, 4-CN, 4-(CH₃)₂N, 4-(C₂H₅)₂N) were prepared and copolymerized with styrene. The monomers were synthesized by the piperidine catalyzed Knoevenagel condensation of ring-substituted benzaldehydes and propyl cyanoacetate, and characterized by CHN analysis, IR, ¹H and ¹³C-NMR. All the ethylenes were copolymerized with styrene (M₁) in solution with radical initiation (ABCN) at 70°C. The compositions of the copolymers were calculated from nitrogen analysis and the structures were analyzed by IR, ¹H and ¹³C-NMR. Decomposition of the copolymers in nitrogen occurred in two steps, first in the 200–500°C range with residue (2.7–8.6% wt.), which then decomposed in the 500–800°C range.     

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the diphoton decay channel with 4.9 fb(-1) of pp collision data at √s=7 TeV with ATLAS

A search for the standard model Higgs boson is performed in the diphoton decay channel. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.9 fb(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of √s=7 TeV. In the diphoton mass range 110-150 GeV, the largest excess with respect to the background-only hypothesis is observed at 126.5 GeV, with a local significance of 2.8 standard deviations. Taking the look-elsewhere effect into account in the range 110-150 GeV, this significance becomes 1.5 standard deviations. The standard model Higgs boson is excluded at 95% confidence level in the mass ranges of 113-115 GeV and 134.5-136 GeV.     

Search for scalar bottom quark pair production with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at sqrt[s]=7 TeV

The results of a search for pair production of the scalar partners of bottom quarks in 2.05 fb(-1) of pp collisions at sqrt[s]=7 TeV using the ATLAS experiment are reported. Scalar bottom quarks are searched for in events with large missing transverse momentum and two jets in the final state, where both jets are identified as originating from a bottom quark. In an R-parity conserving minimal supersymmetric scenario, assuming that the scalar bottom quark decays exclusively into a bottom quark and a neutralino, 95% confidence-level upper limits are obtained in the b(1) - χ(1)(0) mass plane such that for neutralino masses below 60 GeV scalar bottom masses up to 390 GeV are excluded.     

Solar cell sensitizer models [Ru(bpy-R)2(NCS)2] probed by spectroelectrochemistry

Complexes [Ru(bpy-R)(2)(NCS)(2)], where R = H (1), 4,4'-(CO(2)Et)(2) (2), 4,4'-(OMe)(2) (3), and 4,4'-Me(2) (4), were studied by spectroelectrochemistry in the UV-vis and IR regions and by in situ electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). The experimental information obtained for the frontier orbitals as supported and ascertained by density functional theory (DFT) calculations for 1 is relevant for the productive excited state. In addition to the parent 1, the ester complex 2 was chosen for its relationship to the carboxylate species involved for binding to TiO(2) in solar cells; the donor-substituted 3 and 4 allowed for better access to oxidized forms. Reflecting the metal-to-ligand (Ru → bpy) charge-transfer characteristics of the compounds, the electrochemical and EPR results for compounds 1-4 agree with previous notions of one metal-centered oxidation and several (bpy-R) ligand-centered reductions. The first one-electron reduction produces extensive IR absorption, including intraligand transitions and broad ligand-to-ligand intervalence charge-transfer transitions between the one-electron-reduced and unreduced bpy-R ligands. The electron addition to one remote bpy-R ligand does not significantly affect the N-C stretching frequency of the Ru(II)NCS unit. Upon oxidation of Ru(II) to Ru(III), however, the single N-C stretching band exhibits a splitting and a shift to lower energies. The DFT calculations serve to reproduce and understand these effects; they also suggest significant spin density on S for the oxidized form.     

Partnering a Three-Coordinate Gallium Cation with a Hydroborate Counter-Ion for the Catalytic Hydrosilylation of CO2

A novel β-diketiminate stabilized gallium hydride, (^DippL)Ga(Ad)H (where ( ^Dipp L)={HC(MeCDippN)₂}, Dipp=2,6-diisopropylphenyl and Ad=1-adamantyl), has been synthesized and shown to undergo insertion of carbon dioxide into the Ga−H bond under mild conditions. In this case, treatment of the resulting κ¹-formate complex with triethylsilane does not lead to regeneration of the hydride precursor. However, when combined with B(C₆F₅)₃, (^DippL)Ga(Ad)H catalyses the reductive hydrosilylation of CO₂. Under stoichiometric conditions, the addition of one equivalent of B(C₆F₅)₃ to (^DippL)Ga(Ad)H leads to the formation of a 3-coordinate cationic gallane complex, partnered with a hydroborate anion, [(^DippL)Ga(Ad)][HB(C₆F₅)₃]. This complex rapidly hydrometallates carbon dioxide and catalyses the selective reduction of CO₂ to the formaldehyde oxidation level at 60 °C in the presence of Et₃SiH (yielding H₂C(OSiEt₃)₂). When catalysis is undertaken in the presence of excess B(C₆F₅)₃, appreciable enhancement of activity is observed, with a corresponding reduction in selectivity: the product distribution includes H₂C(OSiEt₃)₂, CH₄ and O(SiEt₃)₂. While this system represents proof-of-concept in CO₂ hydrosilylation by a gallium hydride system, the TOF values obtained are relatively modest (max. 10 h⁻¹). This is attributed to the strength of binding of the formatoborate anion to the gallium centre in the catalytic intermediate (^DippL)Ga(Ad){OC(H)OB(C₆F₅)₃}, and the correspondingly slow rate of the turnover-limiting hydrosilylation step. In turn, this strength of binding can be related to the relatively high Lewis acidity measured for the [(^DippL)Ga(Ad)]⁺ cation (AN=69.8).     

Incorporation of Blood-Clotting Proteins into Phospholipid Langmuir Monolayers: A Fluorescence Microscopy Study

Phospholipid monolayers adsorbed at an air-water interface are model cell membranes and have been used in this work to study interactions with blood-clotting proteins. Factor I (non-membrane binding) was used as a control protein, and its association with L-alpha-dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine Langmuir monolayers was compared to factor VII, a membrane-binding protein. Fluorescence micrographs indicated that factor I penetration of the lipid monolayers in the phase transition region occurred extensively, causing condensation of the lipid film. The association of factor I with phospholipid monolayers was deemed nonspecific. Factor VII was shown to associate with the periphery of lipid domains in the absence of calcium ions, causing flattening of domain edges. In the presence of calcium, factor VII induced expansion of the lipid monolayer. This effect is a specific interaction attributed to exposure of hydrophobic residues upon calcium binding, followed by protein association with lipid hydrocarbon chains. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Lamé equations with algebraic solutions

In this paper we study Lamé equations L_n,By=0 in so-called algebraic form, having only algebraic functions as solution. In particular we provide a complete list of all finite groups that occur as the monodromy groups, together with a list of examples of such equations. We show that the set of such Lamé equations with is countable, up to scaling of the equation. This result follows from the general statement that the set of equivalent second-order equations, having algebraic solutions and all of whose integer local exponent differences are 1, is countable.