Adiabatic cooling of antiprotons

Adiabatic cooling is shown to be a simple and effective method to cool many charged particles in a trap to very low temperatures. Up to 3×10(6) p are cooled to 3.5 K-10(3) times more cold p and a 3 times lower p temperature than previously reported. A second cooling method cools p plasmas via the synchrotron radiation of embedded e(-) (with many fewer e(-) than p in preparation for adiabatic cooling. No p are lost during either process-a significant advantage for rare particles.     

Spin-label saturation-recovery EPR at W-band: applications to eye lens lipid membranes

Saturation-recovery (SR) EPR at W-band (94 GHz) to obtain profiles of the membrane fluidity and profiles of the oxygen transport parameter is demonstrated for lens lipid membranes using phosphatidylcholine (n-PC), stearic acid (n-SASL), and cholesterol analog (ASL and CSL) spin labels, and compared with results obtained in parallel experiments at X-band (9.4 GHz). Membranes were derived from the total lipids extracted from 2-year-old porcine lens cortex and nucleus. Two findings are especially significant. First, measurements of the spin-lattice relaxation times T1 for n-PCs allowed T1 profiles across the membrane to be obtained. These profiles reflect local membrane properties differently than profiles of the order parameter. Profiles obtained at W-band are, however, shifted to longer T1 values compared to those obtained at X-band. Second, using cholesterol analog spin labels and relaxation agents (hydrophobic oxygen and water-soluble NiEDDA), the cholesterol bilayer domain was discriminated in membranes made from lipids of the lens nucleus. However, membranes made from cortical lipids show a single homogeneous environment. Profiles of the oxygen transport parameter obtained from W-band measurements are practically identical to those obtained from X-band measurements, and are very similar to those obtained earlier at X-band for membranes made of 2-year-old bovine cortical and nuclear lens lipids (M. Raguz, J. Widomska, J. Dillon, E.R. Gaillard, W.K. Subczynski, Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1788 (2009) 2380-2388). Results demonstrate that SR EPR at W-band has the potential to be a powerful tool for studying samples of small volume, ～30 nL, compared with the sample volume of ～3 μL at X-band.     

On Mincʼs sheltered middle path

This paper shows that a construction, which was introduced by Piotr Minc in connection with a problem that came from Helly type theorems and that allows to replace three PL-arcs with a “sheltered middle path”, can in the case of general (non-PL) paths result in the topologist?s sine curve.     

Apoptosis-accommodating Effect of Nitric Oxide in Photodynamically Stressed Tumor Cells

Using a 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-photodynamic therapy model, we have discovered a new effect of nitric oxide (NO)—the ability to accommodate apoptosis. When sensitized by disseminated ALA-generated protoporphyrin IX, COH-BR1 tumor cells in glucose-containing medium died mainly by necrosis with a low level of apoptosis. Introduced before light at a nontoxic concentration, the NO donor SPNO inhibited necrosis, but supported apoptosis such that the latter became predominant in the remaining cell death. Accompanying this was a large increase in caspase-3/7 activation. SPNO-supported apoptosis was more pronounced when glucose-deprived cells were compared with glucose-replenished, SPNO-treated counterparts. SPNO plus glucose also suppressed plasma membrane-damaging lipid peroxidation and loss of cellular ATP under photostress. The NO effect is attributed to membrane protection with maintenance of sufficient glycolytic ATP to sustain apoptosis.     

Cartesian product stabilization of 3-manifolds

The Cartesian product of a closed, orientable prime geometric 3-manifold and a closed orientable surface is unique except for the case of the Cartesian product of a special class of Seifert manifolds and a torus. The same type of uniqueness holds for stabilization of 3-manifolds by an n-dimensional torus. Cartesian squares of Seifert fibered 3-manifolds are completely classified.