Solution conformation by NMR and molecular modeling of three sulfide-free somatostatin octapeptide analogs compared to angiopeptin

Summary The conformation in dimethylsulfoxide of the somatostatin derivative angiopeptin and of three disulfide-free analogs was estimated by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at room temperature. The resulting 3D molecular graphics were compared and shown to reflect the observed differences in the inhibition of restenosis after rat aorta balloon injury by these octapeptide inhibitors. Angiopeptin and its active analog 2 displayed a relatively rigid conformation of the cyclic hexapeptide backbone due to the presence of two well-defined hydrogen bonds, further stabilized by a third hydrogen bond outside the ring. No such constraints were detected for the two biologically inactive analogs, which, compared to 2, had a two-atom longer or shorter hexapeptide ring. The well-defined structure of compound 2 may serve as an improved pharmacophore for this new class of drugs.     

A regularity result for critical points of conformally invariant functionals

Let be an open set inR ² andI be a conformally invariant functional defined onH ¹(,R ^d ). Letu be a critical point ofI. We show that, ifu is apriori assumed to be bounded, thenu is smooth in , up to (ifu _| is smooth). This is a partial (positive) answer to a conjecture of S. Hildebrandt [13]. As an application, we establish a regularity result for weak solutions to the equation of surfaces of prescribed mean curvature in a three-dimensional compact riemannian manifold.     

Finite strains at the tip of a crack in a sheet of hyperelastic material: I. Homogeneous case

This paper describes an asymptotic analysis of the strain and stress fields at the tip of a crack in a sheet of incompressible hyperelastic material. The investigations are carried out within the framework of finite elastostatics and for the class of Generalized Neo-Hookean materials. Both the symmetric (mode I) and non-symmetric (mixed-mode) cases are considered. It is shown that the latter situation corresponds locally to a rigid body rotation of the symmetric fields. The effect of the hardening parameter on crack tip blunting is investigated analytically and numerically.     

Congresses,conferences, symposia,meetings, and seminars in the field of chemical sciences held in 1995–1996

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Congresses, conferences, symposia, meetings, and seminars in the field of chemical sciences held in 1995–1996     

Optimality of a Threshold Policy in theM/M/ queue with repeated vacations

Consider anM/M/1 queueing system with server vacations where the server is turned off as soon as the queue gets empty. We assume that the vacation durations form a sequence of i.i.d. random variables with exponential distribution. At the end of a vacation period, the server may either be turned on if the queue is non empty or take another vacation. The following costs are incurred: a holding cost ofh per unit of time and per customer in the system and a fixed cost of each time the server is turned on. We show that there exists a threshold policy that minimizes the long-run average cost criterion. The approach we use was first proposed in Blanc et al. (1990) and enables us to determine explicitly the optimal threshold and the optimal long-run average cost in terms of the model parameters.     

Preparation and characterization of Fully stoichiometric SrCoO3 by electrochemical oxidation

A nearly stoichiometric SrCoO₃ phase had been prepared up to now only using high oxygen pressure. A new method for preparing fully stoichiometric SrCoO₃ has been proposed using electrochemical oxidation. Brownmillerite-type SrCoO_2.50 is oxidized into a completely stoichiometric perovskite at a potential of 500 mV for 180 hours at room temperature in alkaline media (1 M KOH). The oxidized phase has a cubic unit cell (a=383.5 pm). It is metallic and, at temperatures below T=280 K, it shows ferromagnetic behavior. The magnetic moment at 0 K is 2.1 μ_B. The physical properties of SrCoO_3.00 have been explained in terms of partial occupancy of a σ*e band.     

Some remarks on R-contact flows

Let (M, ) be an R-contact manifold, then the set of periodic points of the characteristic vector field is a nonempty union of closed, totally geodesic odd-dimensional submanifolds. Moreover, the R-metric cannot have nonpositive sectional curvature. We also prove that no R-contact form can exist on any torus.