Magnetic octupole order in : A polarized neutron diffraction study

Recently, in phase IV of Ce_xLa_1-xB₆, weak but distinct superlattice reflections from the order parameter of phase IV have been detected by our unpolarized neutron scattering experiment [K. Kuwahara, K. Iwasa, M. Kohgi, N. Aso, M. Sera, F. Iga, J. Phys. Soc. Japan 76 (2007) 093702]. The scattering vector dependence of the intensity of superlattice reflections is quite unusual; the intensity is stronger for high scattering vectors. This result strongly indicates that the order parameter of phase IV is the magnetic octupole. However, the possibility that the observed superlattice reflections are due to lattice distortions could not be completely ruled out only on the basis of the unpolarized neutron scattering experiment. To confirm that the superlattice reflections are magnetic, therefore, we have performed a single crystal polarized neutron diffraction experiment on Ce_0.7La_0.3B₆. The obtained result has clearly shown that the time reversal symmetry is broken by the order parameter of phase IV. This is further evidence for the magnetic octupole order in Ce_xLa_1-xB₆.     

Inhibition of increasing effect of vanadate on glycogen content and lipoprotein lipase activity in fat pads by 5-N,N-hexamethylene amiloride.

Sodium orthovanadate (vanadate) increased the glycogen content in isolated rat fat pads in a dose-dependent manner up to 2 mM. Biochanin A, a specific inhibitor of tyrosine kinases, inhibited the increasing effect of vanadate or insulin on both glycogen content and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity in fat pads. The increasing effect of vanadate on glycogen content was not decreased by the replacement of Na+ with choline ion in the incubation medium. 5-N,N-Hexamethylene amiloride, a potent inhibitor of the Na+/H+ exchange system, showed a 50%-inhibition of the vanadate-increased LPL activity and glycogen content at 25 and 80 microM, respectively, suggesting that mechanisms of the inhibition differ in part between the vanadate actions. Furthermore, a similar inhibitory profile of the vanadate-increased glycogen content was observed with incubation in the presence of absence of Na+ in the medium. These results suggest that the activation of the Na+/H+ exchange system by vanadate is not involved in an increase in the glycogen content in fat pads.     

A quantum dot conjugated sugar ball and its cellular uptake. On the size effects of endocytosis in the subviral region

The lipophilic CdSe quantum dot (QD) coated with trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPOQD) can be extracted from chloroform into water upon interaction with macrocyclic glycocluster amphiphile 1. The QD-conjugated and highly fluorescent sugar ball of a size of 15 nm (TOPOQD1) thus solubilized in water readily invades Hela cells via endocytosis. The endocytic activity of TOPOQD1 (15 nm), in light of those of the micellar homoaggregate of 1 (5 nm) and the virus-like 1-DNA conjugate (50 nm) as references, reveals a dramatic size effect (50 > 15 > 5) in the subviral size region. The optimal size at approximately 50 nm indicates that size complementarity which governs molecular recognition in small host-guest systems also plays key roles in the encapsulation of nanometric guest particles by the endocytic vesicles (相似文献   

Sb-NMR/NQR study of CeIrSb

We report Sb-NMR/NQR measurements on a valence fluctuating compound CeIrSb, which is isostructural to the Kondo semiconductors CeRhSb and CeNiSn. The nuclear spin-lattice relaxation rate divided by temperature, 1/T₁T has a maximum around 300 K and considerably decreases in proportion to T² when cooling down, followed by a 1/T₁T∼const. behavior below 20 K. These results indicate that CeIrSb has a V-shaped pseudogap with a residual density of states at the Fermi level. The size of pseudogap for CeIrSb is estimated to be about 350 K, which is one order of magnitude larger than the values of 28 K for CeRhSb and 14 K for CeNiSn. The larger size of energy gap in CeIrSb may be attributed to much stronger c-f hybridization than those for CeRhSb and CeNiSn.     

On connected domination in unit ball graphs

Given a simple undirected graph, the minimum connected dominating set problem is to find a minimum cardinality subset of vertices D inducing a connected subgraph such that each vertex outside D has at least one neighbor in D. Approximations of minimum connected dominating sets are often used to represent a virtual routing backbone in wireless networks. This paper first proposes a constant-ratio approximation algorithm for the minimum connected dominating set problem in unit ball graphs and then introduces and studies the edge-weighted bottleneck connected dominating set problem, which seeks a minimum edge weight in the graph such that the corresponding bottleneck subgraph has a connected dominating set of size k. In wireless network applications this problem can be used to determine an optimal transmission range for a network with a predefined size of the virtual backbone. We show that the problem is hard to approximate within a factor better than 2 in graphs whose edge weights satisfy the triangle inequality and provide a 3-approximation algorithm for such graphs. We also show that for fixed k the problem is polynomially solvable in unit disk and unit ball graphs.     

Indonesian propolis: chemical composition, biological activity and botanical origin

From a biologically active extract of Indonesian propolis from East Java, 11 compounds were isolated and identified: four alk(en)ylresorcinols (obtained as an inseparable mixture) (1-4) were isolated for the first time from propolis, along with four prenylflavanones (6-9) and three cycloartane-type triterpenes (5, 10 and 11). The structures of the components were elucidated based on their spectral properties. All prenylflavanones demonstrated significant radical scavenging activity against diphenylpicrylhydrazyl radicals, and compound 6 showed significant antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. For the first time Macaranga tanarius L. and Mangifera indica L. are shown as plant sources of Indonesian propolis.