Subgroups of a Direct Product of Groups that Satisfy the Strong Frattini Argument

We give criteria to characterize subgroups of a direct product of finite solvable groups that satisfy the strong Frattini argument.     

Discovering novel targets for autoantibodies in dilated cardiomyopathy

There is increasing evidence that a large proportion of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) cases are mediated by autoimmune processes. Since DCM is a fatal disorder with rapid aggravation and is the leading cause of heart transplantation, further insights into disease pathogenesis are needed. Recent studies have separated the pathogenic capacity of autoantibodies and initial clinical trials removing such autoantibodies via immunoadsorption have been promising. In order to elucidate the full autoantibody repertoire involved in DCM, we applied an autoantibody screening test using ventricular and atrial proteomes as autoantigenic sources and subsequently tested the autoantibody-binding patterns of sera from dogs with spontaneous DCM. With this method, we detected five potentially DCM-related autoantigens which were identified by MS as being: myosin heavy chain cardiac muscle alpha isoform, alpha cardiac actin, mitochondrial aconitate hydratase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), and brain glycogen phosphorylase (GPBB). The recovery of two known DCM autoantigens (myosin heavy chain and alpha cardiac actin) and the discovery of three novel autoantigens (mitochondrial aconitate hydratase, GADPH, and GPBB) underscore the efficacy of this experimental method and the significance of the spontaneous canine DCM model.     

Neutralizing the Impact of the Virulence Factor LecA from Pseudomonas aeruginosa on Human Cells with New Glycomimetic Inhibitors

Bacterial adhesion, biofilm formation and host cell invasion of the ESKAPE pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa require the tetravalent lectins LecA and LecB, which are therefore drug targets to fight these infections. Recently, we have reported highly potent divalent galactosides as specific LecA inhibitors. However, they suffered from very low solubility and an intrinsic chemical instability due to two acylhydrazone motifs, which precluded further biological evaluation. Here, we isosterically substituted the acylhydrazones and systematically varied linker identity and length between the two galactosides necessary for LecA binding. The optimized divalent LecA ligands showed improved stability and were up to 1000-fold more soluble. Importantly, these properties now enabled their biological characterization. The lead compound L2 potently inhibited LecA binding to lung epithelial cells, restored wound closure in a scratch assay and reduced the invasiveness of P. aeruginosa into host cells.     

Mutually permutable subgroups and Fitting classes

Let G = AB be the mutually permutable product of the subgroups A and B. It is shown that if A and B are contained in a Fitting class , then the commutator subgroup G′ of G is also contained in . Received: 14 August 2006 Revised: 17 September 2006     

Field induced Increase of Pitch in Planar Cholesteric Liquid Crystals

In cholesteric liquid crystals the application of an electric field parallel to the helix axis can change the wavelength of selective reflection. For decreasing pitch of the studied mixtures, the colour shift becomes more stable against the field-induced transformation of the initial Grandjean structure into a confocal texture. In compounds with a low crossover frequency, a field induced increase of the pitch was observed at the switching between low and high frequency fields. The investigations allow new conclusions on the origin of the colour shift.     

Mössbauer effect in superconducting tin-europium-molybdenum-sulfides

Mössbauer spectra of¹¹⁹Sn in Sn_1–z Eu _z Mo₆S₈ (z=0, 1/3, 2/3) have been measured in the temperature range 4.9 KT293 K. The spectra consist of a quadrupole doublett with unequal intensities at all temperatures. The Debye-Waller factor, the isomeric shift and the asymmetry of the intensity of the quadrupole components show irregularities between 50 K and 110 K which are interpreted as arising from a structural phase transition. The temperature dependence of the Debye-Waller factor can be approximated by a simple phonon spectrum. No quantitative explanation can be given for the large values of the asymmetry. Evidence is presented that this behavior is connected with the properties of the librational modes of the Mo₆S₈-units in the crystal.     

Kinks and rotations in long Josephson junctions

Kinks and rotations are studied in long Josephson junctions for small and large surface losses. Geometric singular perturbation theory is used to prove existence for small surface losses, while numerical continuation is necessary to handle large surface losses. A survey of the system behaviour in terms of dissipation parameters and bias current is given. Linear orbital stability for kinks is proved for small surface losses by calculating the spectrum of the linearized problem. The spectrum is split into essential spectrum and discrete spectrum. For the determination of the discrete spectrum, robustness of exponential dichotomies is used. Puiseux series together with perturbation theory for linear operators are an essential tool. In a final step, a smooth Evans function together with geometric singular perturbation theory is used to count eigenvalues. For kinks, non‐linear orbital stability is shown. For this purpose, the asymptotic behaviour of a semigroup is given and the theory of centre and stable manifolds is applied. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.