2'-O-[2-(guanidinium)ethyl]-modified oligonucleotides: stabilizing effect on duplex and triplex structures

[structure: see text] Oligonucleotides with a novel 2'-O-[2-(guanidinium)ethyl] (2'-O-GE) modification have been synthesized using a novel protecting group strategy for the guanidinium group. This modification enhances the binding affinity of oligonucleotides to RNA as well as duplex DNA (DeltaT(m) 3.2 degrees C per modification). The 2'-O-GE modified oligonucleotides exhibited exceptional resistance to nuclease degradation. The crystal structure of a palindromic duplex formed by a DNA oligonucleotide with a single 2'-O-GE modification was solved at 1.16 A resolution.     

On an additive representation function

Let A be an infinite subset of natural numbers, and X a positive real number. Let r(n) denotes the number of solution of the equation n=a₁+a₂ where a₁?a₂ and a₁, a₂∈A. Also let |A(X)| denotes the number of natural numbers which are less than or equal to X and belong to A. For those A which satisfy the condition that for all sufficiently large natural numbers n we have r(n)≠1, we improve the lower bound of |A(X)| given by Nicolas et. al. [NRS98]. The bound which we obtain is essentially best possible.     

Enhanced intravenous transgene expression in mouse lung using cyclic-head cationic lipids

Herein, we report enhanced intravenous mouse lung transfection using novel cyclic-head-group analogs of usually open-head cationic transfection lipids. Design and synthesis of the new cyclic-head lipid N,N-di-n-tetradecyl-3,4-dihydroxy-pyrrolidinium chloride (lipid 1) and its higher alkyl-chain analogs (lipids 2-4) and relative in vitro and in vivo gene transfer efficacies of cyclic-head lipids 1-4 to their corresponding open-head analogs [lipid 5, namely N,N-di-n-tetradecyl-N,N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ammonium chloride and its higher alkyl-chain analogs, lipids 6-8] have been described. In stark contrast to comparable in vitro transfection efficacies of both the cyclic- and open-head lipids, lipids 1-4 with cyclic heads were found to be significantly more efficient (by 5- to 11-fold) in transfecting mouse lung than their corresponding open-head analogs (5-8) upon intravenous administration. The cyclic-head lipid 3 with di-stearyl hydrophobic tail was found to be the most promising for future applications.     

Mutagenicity and DNA damage studies of N-acyloxy-N-alkoxyamides--the role of electrophilic nitrogen

N-Acyloxy-N-alkoxyamides are anomeric amides that are direct-acting mutagens. They have been shown to damage DNA in the major and the minor grooves in a pH and sequence-selective manner. In acidic media, they damage adenines at N3 in the minor groove but above neutral pH, only guanine is damaged at N7 in the major groove. Both the acyloxy leaving group and the alkoxy group at the amide nitrogen are responsible for their electrophilicity and Salmonella mutagenicities in TA 100 and DNA damage data confirm that the mutagens react with DNA in an intact form, rather than by solvolysis to electrophilic nitrenium ions in the cytosol, or in vitro, prior to reacting with DNA. Hydrophobicity plays a role in both mutagenicity and DNA damage.     

Prospects of detecting baryon and quark superfluidity from cooling neutron stars

Baryon and quark superfluidity in the cooling of neutron stars are investigated. Future observations will allow us to constrain combinations of the neutron or Lambda-hyperon pairing gaps and the star's mass. However, in a hybrid star with a mixed phase of hadrons and quarks, quark gaps larger than a few tenths of an MeV render quark matter virtually invisible for cooling. If the quark gap is smaller, quark superfluidity could be important, but its effects will be nearly impossible to distinguish from those of other baryonic constituents.     

Resonant tunneling of ultracold atoms through vacuum induced potentials

We demonstrate resonant tunneling of ultracold atoms through potentials produced by the interaction of atoms with the vacuum field of a system of cavities. We show the close connection of the transmission characteristics to the resonant states in vacuum induced potentials. Transmission of cold atoms, though sharing some features with tunneling in finite semiconductor superlattices, is strongly dependent on the coherent addition of amplitudes from various wells and barriers.     

Anharmonic properties of rocksalt structure solids

An effort has been made for obtaining the anharmonic properties of rocksalt structure solids starting from primary physical parameters viz. nearest-neighbor distance and hardness parameter assuming long- and short-range potentials at elevated temperatures. The elastic energy density for a deformed crystal can be expanded as power series of strains for obtaining coefficients of quadratic, cubic and quartic terms which are known as the second-, third- and fourth-order elastic constants, respectively. When the values of the higher-order elastic constants are known for a crystal, many of the anharmonic properties of the crystal can be treated within the limit of the continuum approximation in a quantitative manner. In this study, higher-order elastic constants are computed up to their melting temperature for rocksalt structure solids, which are alkali cyanides, sodium and potassium halides. The first order pressure derivatives of second- and third-order elastic constants, the second-order pressure derivatives of second-order elastic constants and partial contractions are also evaluated at different temperatures for these substances. The results thus obtained are compared with experimental data and found in well agreement with present values.     

A numerical study of the target system of an ADSS with different flow guides

The mechanical design of the target module of an accelerator driven subcritical nuclear reactor system (ADSS) calls for an analysis of the related thermal-hydraulic issues because of large amount of heat deposition in the spallation region during the course of nuclear interactions with the molten lead bismuth eutectic (LBE) target. The LBE also should carry the entire heat generated as a consequence of the spallation reaction. The problem of heat removal by the LBE is a challenging thermal-hydraulic issue. For this, one has to examine the flows of low Prandtl number fluids (LBE) in a complex ADSS geometry. In this study, the equations governing the laminar flow and thermal energy are solved numerically using the streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin (SUPG) finite element (FE) method. The target systems with a straight and a nozzle guide have been considered. The principal purpose of the analysis is to trace the flow and temperature distribution and thereby to check the suitability of the flow guide in avoiding the recirculation or stagnation zones in the flow space that may lead to hot spots.