Gravity modes as a way to distinguish between hydrogen- and helium-burning red giant stars

Red giants are evolved stars that have exhausted the supply of hydrogen in their cores and instead burn hydrogen in a surrounding shell. Once a red giant is sufficiently evolved, the helium in the core also undergoes fusion. Outstanding issues in our understanding of red giants include uncertainties in the amount of mass lost at the surface before helium ignition and the amount of internal mixing from rotation and other processes. Progress is hampered by our inability to distinguish between red giants burning helium in the core and those still only burning hydrogen in a shell. Asteroseismology offers a way forward, being a powerful tool for probing the internal structures of stars using their natural oscillation frequencies. Here we report observations of gravity-mode period spacings in red giants that permit a distinction between evolutionary stages to be made. We use high-precision photometry obtained by the Kepler spacecraft over more than a year to measure oscillations in several hundred red giants. We find many stars whose dipole modes show sequences with approximately regular period spacings. These stars fall into two clear groups, allowing us to distinguish unambiguously between hydrogen-shell-burning stars (period spacing mostly ～ 50 seconds) and those that are also burning helium (period spacing ～ 100 to 300 seconds).     

Structure of a nanobody-stabilized active state of the β(2) adrenoceptor

G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) exhibit a spectrum of functional behaviours in response to natural and synthetic ligands. Recent crystal structures provide insights into inactive states of several GPCRs. Efforts to obtain an agonist-bound active-state GPCR structure have proven difficult due to the inherent instability of this state in the absence of a G protein. We generated a camelid antibody fragment (nanobody) to the human β(2) adrenergic receptor (β(2)AR) that exhibits G protein-like behaviour, and obtained an agonist-bound, active-state crystal structure of the receptor-nanobody complex. Comparison with the inactive β(2)AR structure reveals subtle changes in the binding pocket; however, these small changes are associated with an 11?? outward movement of the cytoplasmic end of transmembrane segment 6, and rearrangements of transmembrane segments 5 and 7 that are remarkably similar to those observed in opsin, an active form of rhodopsin. This structure provides insights into the process of agonist binding and activation.     

Crystal structure of the β2 adrenergic receptor-Gs protein complex

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are responsible for the majority of cellular responses to hormones and neurotransmitters as well as the senses of sight, olfaction and taste. The paradigm of GPCR signalling is the activation of a heterotrimeric GTP binding protein (G protein) by an agonist-occupied receptor. The β(2) adrenergic receptor (β(2)AR) activation of Gs, the stimulatory G protein for adenylyl cyclase, has long been a model system for GPCR signalling. Here we present the crystal structure of the active state ternary complex composed of agonist-occupied monomeric β(2)AR and nucleotide-free Gs heterotrimer. The principal interactions between the β(2)AR and Gs involve the amino- and carboxy-terminal α-helices of Gs, with conformational changes propagating to the nucleotide-binding pocket. The largest conformational changes in the β(2)AR include a 14 ? outward movement at the cytoplasmic end of transmembrane segment 6 (TM6) and an α-helical extension of the cytoplasmic end of TM5. The most surprising observation is a major displacement of the α-helical domain of Gαs relative to the Ras-like GTPase domain. This crystal structure represents the first high-resolution view of transmembrane signalling by a GPCR.     

The relation between cell proliferation and adenylate cyclase activity in grafts of 3-methylcholanthrene induced mouse uterine cervical tumors

Summary In transplanted uterine cervical tumors, induced by 3-methylcholanthrene, a significant negative correlation was obtained between adenylate cyclase activity and cell proliferation.     

Acidolytic cleavage of peptide bonds during acetylation

Zusammenfassung Eine Spaltung von Peptiden tritt auf, wenn versucht wird, gewisse Derivate in an sich üblicher Weise herzustellen. Damit wird auf die Möglichkeit einer Fehlinterpretation hingewiesen.     

Induced seed protein mutant of barley

. 51%. () 29% 9% - . .

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Seed samples may be obtained upon application toH. Doll.     

Repopulation of thymus,spleen and bone-marrow of irradiated AKR mice injected with normal or irradiated bone-marrow cells

Résumé L'utilisation d'une race de souris (AKR/T1Ald) ne possédant que 38 chromosomes a permis de montrer que les cellules de moelle que l'on injecte à un individu irradié repeuplent directement la moelle, le thymus et la rate du receveur. Si le donneur est irradié, la pénétration des cellules n'est importante que dans la rate du receveur.

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Acknowledgements. This work was supported by grants from the Fonds de la Recherche scientifique fondamentale collective. The helpful assistance of Mr.G. Linden andG. Mattelin is gratefully acknowledged.     

The properties of neuraminidase-treated crystalline ceruloplasmin

Résumé On sait que la plasmine céruléenne crystalline rétroplacentaire humaine ainsi qua la plasmine apocérulécnne empêchent l'hémaglutination virale. Cet effet pourrait être attribué aux résidus d'acide sialique, car l'action préventive disparaît après traitement de la plasmine céruléenne par la neuraminidase.     

A superconductor to superfluid phase transition in liquid metallic hydrogen

Although hydrogen is the simplest of atoms, it does not form the simplest of solids or liquids. Quantum effects in these phases are considerable (a consequence of the light proton mass) and they have a demonstrable and often puzzling influence on many physical properties, including spatial order. To date, the structure of dense hydrogen remains experimentally elusive. Recent studies of the melting curve of hydrogen indicate that at high (but experimentally accessible) pressures, compressed hydrogen will adopt a liquid state, even at low temperatures. In reaching this phase, hydrogen is also projected to pass through an insulator-to-metal transition. This raises the possibility of new state of matter: a near ground-state liquid metal, and its ordered states in the quantum domain. Ordered quantum fluids are traditionally categorized as superconductors or superfluids; these respective systems feature dissipationless electrical currents or mass flow. Here we report a topological analysis of the projected phase of liquid metallic hydrogen, finding that it may represent a new type of ordered quantum fluid. Specifically, we show that liquid metallic hydrogen cannot be categorized exclusively as a superconductor or superfluid. We predict that, in the presence of a magnetic field, liquid metallic hydrogen will exhibit several phase transitions to ordered states, ranging from superconductors to superfluids.