Membrane switch hypothesis. 1. Cell density influences lateral domain structure of tumor cell membranes

The domain structure of human cancer cells membranes was investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in different phases of cell growth, and the results were compared to those obtained for nonmalignant cells. On the basis of computer simulation of the EPR spectra using a newly developed GHOST condensation routine it was suggested that plasma membranes of cancer cells have less lateral lipid domain types at confluent conditions than in the exponential growing phase, while in nonmalignant cells the domain structure does not change significantly during cell growth. In accordance to our experimental data we propose a membrane switch hypothesis: disappearance of certain membrane domain types might act as a switch promoting the clustering of membrane constituents into the active units in a common lipid membrane domain and thus influencing the physiology of cells.     

Rational approximations of viscous losses in vocal tract acoustic modeling

The modeling of viscous losses in acoustic wave transmission through tubes by a boundary layer approximation is valid if the thickness of the boundary layer is small compared to the hydraulic radius. A method was found to describe the viscous losses that extends the frequency range of the model to very low frequencies and very thin tubes. For higher frequencies, this method includes asymptotically the spectral effects of the boundary layer approximation. The method provides a simplification for the rational approximation of the spectral effects of viscous losses.     

Thioformaldehyde S-methylide and thioacetone S-methylide: an ab initio MO study of structure and cycloaddition reactivity

The mechanisms of cycloaddition of thioformaldehyde S-methylide and thioacetone S-methylide, as models for an alkyl-substituted ylide, to thioformaldehyde and thioacetone, as well as to ethene as a model for a C=C double bond have been studied by ab initio calculations. Restricted and unrestricted B3LYP/6-31G* calculations were performed for the geometries of ground states, transition structures, and intermediates. Although basis sets with more polarization functions were tested, the 6-31G* basis set was applied throughout. Single-point CASPT2 calculations are reported for analysis of the unsubstituted system. The stabilities of structures with high biradical character seem to be overestimated by DFT methods in comparison to CASPT2. The general trends of the results are independent of the level of theory. Thioformaldehyde adds to thioformaldehyde S-methylide without activation energy, and the activation energies for two-step biradical pathways to 1,3-dithiolane are low. C,S biradicals are more stable than C,C biradicals. The two-step cycloaddition is not competitive with the concerted cycloaddition. Methyl substitution in the 1,3-dipole and the dipolarophile does not change the mechanistic relationships. TSs for the concerted formation of the regioisomeric cycloadducts of thioacetone Smethylide and thioacetone were located. Concerted addition remains the preferred reaction. The reactivity of the C=S double bond is high relative to that of the C=C double bond.     

Heteroclinic cycles for reaction diffusion systems by forced symmetry-breaking

Recently it has been observed, that perturbations of symmetric ODE's can lead to highly nontrivial dynamics. In this paper we want to establish a similar result for certain nonlinear partial differential systems. Our results are applied to equations which are motivated from chemical reactions. In fact we show that the theory applies to the Brusselator on a sphere. To be more precise, we consider solutions of a semi-linear parabolic equation on the 2-sphere. When this equation has an axisymmetric equilibrium , the group orbit of (under rotations) gives a whole (invariant) manifold of equilibria. Under generic conditions we have that, after perturbing our equation by a (small) -equivariant perturbation, persists as an invariant manifold . However, the flow on is in general no longer trivial. Indeed, we find slow dynamics on and, in the case (the tetrahedral subgroup of ), we observe heteroclinic cycles. In the application to chemical systems we would expect intermittent behaviour. However, for the Brusselator equations this phenomenon is not stable. In order to see it in a physically relevant situation we need to introduce further terms to get a higher codimension bifurcation.

     

PM-IRRAS mapping of ultrathin molecular films with high spatial resolution

Polarization modulation infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS) is a very sensitive technique to characterize the degree of molecular ordering in thin films on metallic surfaces. This is the first report of the coupling of a PM-IRRAS microscope to a free electron laser (FEL), a light source of highest brilliance. Some FELs emit in the infrared region and permit the mapping of molecular properties at high lateral resolution. We studied the molecular orientation of octadecanephosphonic acid (OPA) attached to a gold surface with microstructured aluminum oxide islands on the gold. The spatial resolution achieved is 12 μm which corresponds to the diffraction limit of the infrared light used in this study. This is a substantial improvement compared to previous studies using a PM-IRRA accessory together with a commercial Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, where the lateral resolution is noise-limited rather than diffraction-limited. The spectral maps reveal that OPA is preferably attached to the aluminum oxide islands via the bidentate binding mode whereas the tridentate mode is dominating in case of OPA attached to the gold areas.