Secondary and Tertiary Structure of Polysaccharides in Solutions and Gels

Many polysaccharide chains can adopt ordered helical and ribbon-like secondary structures. It seems however that these chains are often so stiff and extended that the cooperative interactions necessary for stability in the solvent environment can only be achieved when inter-chain as well as intra-chain interactions are favorable. Hence we commonly find two-or more-stranded associations of helices, of ribbons, or of helices with ribbons. These can be regarded as tertiary and higher levels of structure. The ordered secondary structure characteristically requires a regular repeating sequence of sugar residues, and the termination of this sequence by insertion of a residue of different type may also terminate the secondary structure and hence the association in which it is involved. This is the mechanism by which native polysaccharides may link up to form three dimensional networks, or gels, in which state they perform their natural roles in maintaining the hydration and integrity of biological tissues. For several polysaccharides there is evidence that the mechanism of biological control over the fine topology and properties of the gel network is mediated by enzymes which modify sugar residues at the polymer level to change the pattern of “interrupting” sugar residues.     

The characterization and use of different antibodies against the hsp70 major heat shock protein family for the development of an immunoassay.

The hsp70 family of major stress proteins is composed of several different members exhibiting similar structural and functional properties. In order to obtain an antiserum with wide epitope reactivity, rabbits were immunized with a mixture of native and denatured hsp70 purified from bovine muscle by ATP-affinity chromatography. Screening for antibody specificity was performed by a "sandwich" enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting analyses demonstrated that the polyclonal antiserum obtained by us and a monoclonal antibody raised against a different preparation of antigen recognized the same determinant on the native hsp70 molecule (inducible form). With a different specificity the polyclonal antiserum recognized only the denatured monomers of the other members of the hsp70 family. These results are discussed in relation to the immunological features of the hsp70 molecule and to the development of an immunoassay for the detection of hsp70 in cell and tissue extracts.     

Construction of Graded Covariant GL(m/n) Modules Using Tableaux

Irreducible covariant tensor modules for the Lie supergroups GL(m/n) and the Lie superalgebras gl(m/n) and sl(m/n) are obtained through the use of Young tableaux techniques. The starting point is the graded permutation action, first introduced by Dondi and Jarvis, on V ^l . The isomorphism between this group of actions and the symmetric group S _l enables the graded generalization of the Young symmetrizers, and hence of the column relations and Garnir relations, to be made. Consequently, corresponding to each partition of l an irreducible GL(m/n) module may be obtained as a submodule of V ^l . A basis for the module labeled by the partition is provided by GL(m/n)–standard tableaux of shape defined by Berele and Regev. The reduction of an arbitrary tableau to standard form is accomplished through the use of graded column relations and graded Garnir relations. The standardization procedure is algorithmic and allows matrix representations of the Lie superalgebras gl(m/n) and sl(m/n) to be constructed explicitly over the field of rational numbers. All the various steps of the standardization algorithm are exemplified, as well as the explicit construction of matrices representing particular elements of gl(m/n) and sl(m/n).     

Polynomial neural network for linear and non-linear model selection in quantitative-structure activity relationship studies on the internet

This article presents a self-organising multilayered iterative algorithm that provides linear and non-linear polynomial regression models thus allowing the user to control the number and the power of the terms in the models. The accuracy of the algorithm is compared to the partial least squares (PLS) algorithm using fourteen data sets in quantitative-structure activity relationship studies. The calculated data show that the proposed method is able to select simple models characterized by a high prediction ability and thus provides a considerable interest in quantitative-structure activity relationship studies. The software is developed using client-server protocol (Java and C++ languages) and is available for world-wide users on the Web site of the authors.     

Multipoint boundary value problems with discontinuities II. Convergence of the initial value adjusting method

In this paper we give a proof for convergence of the initial value adjusting method, described in detail in part I, based on Kantorovich's theorem. Under standard assumptions on the dynamics, boundary conditions, and initial approximations, a quadratic convergence rate is obtained.     

Low-level flow-induced acoustic resonances in ducts

Acoustic resonances are generated by air moving past a plate with a semi-circular leading edge located in a duct. The sound stimulates the small separation bubble near the leading edge to shed vortices into the boundary layer at the sound frequency. The acoustic energy required to sustain the resonances is generated as these vortices pass the trailing edge of the plate.     

A sensitive, rapid ferricyanide-mediated toxicity bioassay developed using Escherichia coli

A need for rapid toxicity techniques has seen recent research into developing new microbiological assays and characterising their toxicity responses using a range of substances. A microbiological bioassay that determines changes in ferricyanide-mediated respiration for toxicity measurement (FM-TOX) shows particular promise. The development and optimisation of an improved FM-TOX method, incorporating novel features, is described using Escherichia coli as the biocatalyst. Omission of an exogenous carbon source, used in previously described FM-TOX assays, substantially improves the assay sensitivity. In addition, the development of a two-step procedure (toxicant exposure followed by determination of microbial respiratory activity) was found to enhance the inhibition of E. coli by 3,5-dichlorophenol and four other toxicants, compared to single-step procedures. Other assay parameters, such as the ferricyanide concentration, exposure times and optical density of the biocatalyst were also optimised, sometimes based on practical aspects. Toxicity tests were carried out using the adopted technique on both organic and inorganic toxicants, with classic sigmoid-shaped dose-response curves observed, as well as some non-standard responses. IC₅₀ data is presented for a number of common toxicants. The optimised assay provides a good foundation for further toxicity testing using E. coli, as well as the potential for expanding the technique to utilise other bacteria with complementary toxicity responses, thereby allowing use of the assay in a range of applications.     

Effects of sound on flow separation from blunt flat plates

The effect of sound on the flow around plates with semicircular or square leading edges and square trailing edges located in a low turbulence open jet has been studied. In all circumstances the length of the leading edge separation bubbles associated with square leading edge plates was found to oscillate. When sound was applied to the flow around these plates, the leading edge shear layers reattached closer to the leading edge and the oscillations in bubble length occurred at the applied sound frequency, generating patches of concentrated vorticity in the boundary layers. These vorticity patches moved downstream near the plate surface and then beyond the trailing edge to form vortex cores in a street with a Strouhal number equal to the applied sound value. Sometimes these vortex streets are unstable and break down into streets with Strouhal numbers approaching those observed without sound. These effects of sound were not observed in the flow around plates with semicircular leading edges. Without sound, square leading edge plates of intermediate length did not shed regular vortex streets.     

Limit theorems for the median deviation

Summary In this paper, we obtain a strong law and central limit theorem for the median deviation under only very mild smoothness conditions on the underlying distribution. Under an additional condition implied by symmetry, we derive a weak Bahadur representation for the median deviation and establish the asymptotic equivalence of the median deviation and the semi-interquartile range.     

Tangential 1-blocks over GF(3)

In a fundamental paper on the algebraic theory of graph colouring Tutte [2] proves that the only tangential 1-block over GF(2) is the geometry corresponding to the polygon matroid of the graph K₃. For a good discussion of the problem and a direct proof of Tutte's theorem see Aigner [1, p. 373].

The purpose of this note is to prove the following result.