Quantitative analysis of ZO-1 colocalization with Cx43 gap junction plaques in cultures of rat neonatal cardiomyocytes.

The gap junction (GJ) is an aggregate of intercellular channels that facilitates cytoplasmic interchange of ions, second messengers, and other molecules of less than 1000 Da between cells. In excitable organs such as heart and brain, GJs configure extended intercellular pathways for stable and long-term propagation of action potential. In a previous study in adult rat heart, we have shown that the Drosophila disks-large related protein ZO-1 shows low to moderate colocalization at myocyte borders with the GJ protein Cx43. In the present study, we detail a protocol for characterizing the pattern and level of colocalization of ZO-1 with Cx43 in cultures of neonatal myocytes at the level of individual GJ plaques. The data indicate that ZO-1 shows on average a partial 26.6% overlap (SD = 11.3%) with Cx43 GJ plaques. There is a strong positive correlation between GJ plaque size and area of ZO-1 colocalization, indicating that the level of associated ZO-1 scales with the area of the GJ plaque. Qualitatively, the most prominent colocalization occurs at the plaque perimeter. These studies may provide insight into the presently unknown biological function of ZO-1 interaction with Cx43.     

NMR and theoretical calculations: a unified view of the cis/trans isomerization of 2-substituted thiazolidines containing peptides

The cis/trans isomerization of peptides containing the pseudoproline (4R)-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid Cys(Psi (R1,R2) pro) is investigated from both an experimental and a theoretical point of view by NMR and DFT calculations. A series of Ac-Cys(Psi(R1,R2) pro)-OCH3 and Ac-Cys(Psi(R1,R2) pro)-NHCH3 peptides were prepared to assess the influence of the substitution at the C2 position as well as of the amide following the thiazolidine residue. For each compound, the cis/trans ratio along with free energy, the puckering of the thiazolidine ring and the free rotational energy barrier are reported and discussed. We observe there is a pronounced effect of the C2 substituents and of the chirality upon the cis/trans ratio with the population of the cis content in the order (2R)-Cys(Psi(CH3,H) pro)<(2S)-Cys(Psi(H,CH3) pro)相似文献   

Effect of an impinging shock wave on a partially opened door

The behavior of an aluminum door hanging at the exit of an open shock tube at different angles, from 5 $^\circ $ to 85 $^\circ $ , and thereby providing partially open space for the exiting flow, was investigated experimentally. Experiments were conducted with an incident shock wave Mach number of $M_\mathrm{is}=1.1$ impinging on the partially opened door. Both pressure measurements in the vicinity of the door, on its center and inside the shock tube, and schlieren visualization were undertaken for studying the door movement and its maximum opening angle relative to its initial position. It was found that for an initial opening angle smaller than 25 $^\circ $ the door opened completely while for larger angles its motion is marginal. In addition, for an initial door opening angle of about 10 $^\circ $ the lowest pressures were recorded inside the shock tube behind the evolving waves after exiting of the incident shock wave. The present experimental results may be useful to numerical studies of fluid–structure interactions, e.g., in designing safety valves in jet engines. Such a device is needed for preventing rupture in the case when a sudden overpressure pulse is generated inside the aircraft engine compartment.     

A software framework based on a conceptual unified model for evolutionary multiobjective optimization: ParadisEO-MOEO

This paper presents a general-purpose software framework dedicated to the design and the implementation of evolutionary multiobjective optimization techniques: ParadisEO-MOEO. A concise overview of evolutionary algorithms for multiobjective optimization is given. A substantial number of methods has been proposed so far, and an attempt of conceptually unifying existing approaches is presented here. Based on a fine-grained decomposition and following the main issues of fitness assignment, diversity preservation and elitism, a conceptual model is proposed and is validated by regarding a number of state-of-the-art algorithms as simple variants of the same structure. This model is then incorporated into the ParadisEO-MOEO software framework. This framework has proven its validity and high flexibility by enabling the resolution of many academic, real-world and hard multiobjective optimization problems.     

Synergies between operations research and data mining: The emerging use of multi-objective approaches

Operations research and data mining already have a long-established common history. Indeed, with the growing size of databases and the amount of data available, data mining has become crucial in modern science and industry. Data mining problems raise interesting challenges for several research domains, and in particular for operations research, as very large search spaces of solutions need to be explored. Hence, many operations research methods have been proposed to deal with such challenging problems. But the relationships between these two domains are not limited to these natural applications of operations research approaches. The counterpart is also important to consider, since data mining approaches have also been applied to improve operations research techniques. The aim of this article is to highlight the interplay between these two research disciplines. A particular emphasis will be placed on the emerging theme of applying multi-objective approaches in this context.     

Hybridizing exact methods and metaheuristics: A taxonomy

The interest about hybrid optimization methods has grown for the last few years. Indeed, more and more papers about cooperation between heuristics and exact techniques are published. In this paper, we propose to extend an existing taxonomy for hybrid methods involving heuristic approaches in order to consider cooperative schemes between exact methods and metaheuristics. First, we propose some natural approaches for the different schemes of cooperation encountered, and we analyse, for each model, some examples taken from the literature. Then we recall and complement the proposed grammar and provide an annotated bibliography.     

Investigation of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability with stereolithographed interfaces

A novel method to set highly accurate initial conditions has been designed in the context of shock tube experiments for the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability study. Stereolithography has been used to design the membrane supports which initially materialize the gaseous interface. The visualizations of both heavy-light and light-heavy sinusoidal interfaces were carried out with laser sheet diagnostics. Experiments are in very good agreement with theory and simulations for the heavy-light case, but probably due to the membrane effects, quickly deviate from them in the light-heavy configuration.     

Salt effects on the interaction of an amphiphilic model molecule with immobilized phosphatidylcholine monolayers

The retention of hydrocortisone (used as an amphiphilic model solute) on an immobilized artificial membrane (IAM) column was investigated in relation to the mobile phase concentration of three sodium salts (representing different rankings in the Hofmeister series, i.e. perchlorate, chloride and sulfate) in order to provide insight into the nature of the solute interactions with phospholipid monolayers. The influence of the salt series on solute retention was found to follow the Hofmeister series, emphasizing the role of hydrophobic effect in the solute retention mechanism on phospholipid monolayers. Retention models based on the extended Wyman relations (preferential interaction theory) were developed to analyze more quantitatively the salt effects on the hydrocortisone retention factor. This analysis as well as additional thermodynamic study suggested that the hydrocortisone binding to IAM involved both an insertion into the hydrophobic inside governed by hydrophobic effects and contacts with the interfacial region implying interactions such as van der Waals interactions/hydrogen bonds between the solute hydroxyl groups and the polar headgroups of phospholipidmonolayers.