Layer-by-layer growth of thin amorphous solid water films on Pt(111) and Pd(111)

The growth of amorphous solid water (ASW) films on Pt(111) is investigated using rare gas (e.g., Kr) physisorption. Temperature programmed desorption of Kr is sensitive to the structure of thin water films and can be used to assess the growth modes of these films. At all temperatures that are experimentally accessible (20-155 K), the first layer of water wets Pt(111). Over a wide temperature range (20-120 K), ASW films wet the substrate and grow approximately layer by layer for at least the first three layers. In contrast to the ASW films, crystalline ice films do not wet the water monolayer on Pt(111). Virtually identical results were obtained for ASW films on epitaxial Pd(111) films grown on Pt(111). The desorption rates of thin ASW and crystalline ice films suggest that the relative free energies of the films are responsible for the different growth modes. However, at low temperatures, surface relaxation or "transient mobility" is primarily responsible for the relative smoothness of the films. A simple model of the surface relaxation semiquantitatively accounts for the observations.     

Inhibition of Ampicillin-resistance in Bacteria by Modified DNAzymes

To overcome ampicillin-resistance of bacteria which is believed to attribute their endogenous B-lactamase, we designed three 10-23 DNAzymes（Dz1, Dz2. Dz3） targeting the coding region of B-lactamase mRNA and examined their inhibitory capabilities of the ampicillin-resistance of TEM-1 and TEM-3 bacteria. Dz1 was a traditional 10-23 DNAzyme, Dz2 was the mutant of Dz1 by addition of the protected nucleotide to each ann of the enzyme, and Dz3 was a mutant of Dz1 at antisense arms of which phosphorothioate modifications were made. Kinetic analysis, bacterial growth, and β-lactamase activity measurement showed that all the three DNAzymes worked efficiently in vitro and in vivo. A 9 hours bacterial growth inhibition test showed that the inhibition rates of TEM-1 bacteria by Dz1, Dz2, and Dz3 were 27%, 50%, and 29%, respectively. In addition, the inhibition rates of TEM-3 bacteria by those three DNAzymes were found io be 49%, 58%, and 45%, respectively. The current findings suggest that DNAzymes may become potential candidates of alternative inhibitors for bacteria drug-resistance.     

Monte carlo simulations of polymer surfaces in a cubic lattice, 1 development of a simulation algorithm and first results

A method is presented which allows to simulate surface properties of a model polymer system (in addition to bulk properties). The decisive parameter which controls the equilibrium concentration of empty sites within the bulk phase as well as the surface properties is the attractive energy operating between nonbonded neighbouring polymer segments. In effect, by varying this parameter between -0,5 and -1,5 the volume fraction of vacancies in the bulk phase changed from 0,183 to 0,003. All the parameters defined in order to characterize the “roughness” of the surface indicate that the surface gets smoother and smoother with increasing attractive segment-segment interaction and, accordingly, also with decreasing bulk equilibrium concentration of vacancies.