Investigation of Highly Designable Dented Structures in HP Model with Hydrogen Bond Energy

Some highly designable protein structures have dented on the surface of their native structures, and are not full compactly folded. According to hydrophobic-polar （HP） model the most designable structures are full compactly folded. To investigate the designability of the dented structures, we introduce the hydrogen bond energy in the secondary structures by using the secondary-structure-favored HP model proposed by Ou-yang etc. The result shows that the average designability increases with the strength of the hydrogen bond. The designabilities of the structures with same dented shape increase exponentially with the number of secondary structure sites. The dented structures can have the highest designabilities for a certain value of hydrogen bond energy density.     

Density functional theory study on the insertion reaction mechanism of dibromocarbene with formaldehyde

The insertion reaction mechanism of CBr2 with CH3CH2O has been studied by using the B3LYP/6-311G(d) and CCSD(T)/6-311G(d) at single point. The geometries of reactions,transition state and products were completely optimized. All the transition state is verified by the vibrational analysis and the internal re-action coordinate (IRC) calculations. The results show that reaction (1) is the dominant reaction path,which proceeds via two steps: i) two reactants form an intermediate (IM1),which is an exothermal re-action of 8.62 kJ·mol?1 without energy barrier; ii) P1 is obtained via the TS1 and the H-shift,in which the energy barrier is 44.53 kJ·mol?1. The statistical thermodynamics and Eyring transition state theory with Wigner correction are used to study the thermodynamic and kinetic characters of this reaction in temperature range from 100 to 2200 K. The results show that the appropriate reaction temperature ranges from 200 to 1900 K at 1.0 atm,in which the reaction has a bigger spontaneity capability,equi-librium constant (K) and higher rate constant (k).     

Determining method and conditional factors of electrochemical fingerprint of Chinese traditional medicine

The thermodynamic systems and kinetic model suitable for the electrochemical token of the compo-nent throng in Chinese traditional medicines have been analyzed. It has been indicated that the damp oscillatory reactions in the non-equilibrium close system and open system without the supplement of dissipative substance have important significance for the throng token and analysis of chemical com-ponents in Chinese traditional medicines. Various factors influencing the electrochemical fingerprint,such as reactant species and their concentrations,electrode types,temperature,stir rate,the kind,dosage and granularity of Chinese traditional medicines,have amply been researched by the B-Z os-cillatory reaction which used malonic acid as a main dissipative substance. In addition,the quantitative information about the chemical components in Chinese traditional medicines has been discussed in detail. The method and its conditions for determining the electrochemical fingerprint used in scientifi-cally distinguishing and evaluating Chinese traditional medicines have successfully been put forward.     

IL-1β regulates the mouse Fas ligand expression in corneal endothelial cells

Constitutively expressed Fas ligand (FasL) in several distinct epithelial cell types appears to protect tissues by inducing apoptosis of Fas immune cells during inflammatory reactions. To study the rela-tionship of FasL and inflammation process in cornea,we examined the effects of inflammatory cytokine IL-1β on the FasL production,expression and cytotoxic function in corneal endothelial cells. In this paper,we demonstrate that IL-1β inhibits the FasL production and expression in corneal endothelial cells. The promoter activities of FasL in these cells are reduced by IL-1β in a dose-dependent manner. Finally,we also find that IL-1β block the cytotoxic effects of FasL derived from corneal endothelial cells to the Fas target cells. These data support the view that FasL derived from corneal endothelial cells modulate inflammation within cornea.     

Analysis of fragrance composition in three cultivars of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Osmanthus fragrans</Emphasis> Albus group flower by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

With supercritical CO2 fluid extraction(SCFE), essential oil was extracted from three cultivars of Xianning osmanthus. The fresh osmanthus flower was processed with a petroleum ether digestion method to produce the extractum. The yields of essential oil and extractum were 0.19 % and 0.13 % (m/m) respectively. The essential oil and fragrance composition and content extracted were analyzed with gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS). The result showed that essential oil contained 36.99%(area/total area) of ionone, ionol and 13.11% of linalool; ionone and ionol contained in extractum were as high as up to 33.33%, while linalool up to 21.92%. Whether essential oil or extractum contains only about 40% fat acid and other ester matters. None of environmental estrogen (phthalic ester) was found in fragrance ingredients. The result also showed that the quality of O. fragrans Albus group fragrance in Xianning is better than that produced in Hangzhou and Anhui districts.     

Normalized transfer function for characterizing conversion efficiency and harmonic distortion of all-optical sampling

A novel method for characterizing the nonlinearity of all-optical sampling is proposed based on the normalized transfer function.Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.Furthermore,an all-optical sampling experiment is performed to verify our method.Both simulation and experiment show consistency between our method and the measurements.The method only requires normalization and polynomial fitting of the transfer curve,and enables direct expression of the nonlinearity with the coefficients of the normalized transfer function.     

A venomous arthropod in the Early Cambrian Sea

A number of recently evolved animals possess poison glands for feeding and/or defense.However,examples of such animals are rare in the fossil record.We report a fossil arthropod Isoxys curvirostratus from the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China.This species is regarded as the oldest known venomous arthropod based on the presence of venomous glands in its head region.The adult animal is 2-5 cm long and the body is covered entirely with a carapace.The presence of large stalk eyes and a pair of stout grasping appendages with a terminal spine suggest it was raptorial.Interestingly,the two pear-shaped,three-dimensionally preserved objects that are present in the head region and at the base of the grasping appendages closely resemble the venom glands of some living arthropods in size,shape,and position.These features indicate that the presence of venomous predators could date back 520 million years.Furthermore,our observations suggest that the feeding strategies and organs adapted for this purpose had already reached a high level of diversity and anatomical sophistication in the Early Cambrian ecosystems.     

Tight lower bound of consecutive lengths for QC-LDPC codes with girth at least ten

For an arbitrary (3,L) quasi-cyclic(QC) low-density parity-check (LDPC) code with girth at least ten, a tight lower bound of the consecutive lengths is presented. For an arbitrary length above the bound the corresponding LDPC code necessarily has a girth at least ten, and for the length equal to the bound, the resultant code inevitably has a girth smaller than ten. This new conclusion can be well applied to some important issues, such as the proofs of the existence of large girth QC-LDPC codes, the construction of large girth QC-LDPC codes based on the Chinese remainder theorem, as well as the construction of LDPC codes with the guaranteed error correction capability.     

Role of Tip60 tumor suppressor in DNA repair pathway

To prevent the damage caused by DNA strand breaks, eukaryotic cells have evolved a series of highly conserved DNA repair mechanisms. The ubiquitously expressed acetyltransferase, Tip60, plays a central role in ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia mutated) activation which is involved in DNA repair. Recent work uncovered a new mechanism of ATM activation mediated by Tip60 and demonstrated that histone methylation, specifically, trimethylation of histone H3, is a key factor in the process. Here, we review the current understanding of how Tip60 is activated and how it activates ATM in response to DNA damage.     

Potential influence of water level changes on energy flows in a lake food web

Large seasonal water-level fluctuations may influence isotopic signatures of primary producers and the types and amounts of these potential food sources accessible to aquatic fauna of Poyang Lake,the largest freshwater lake in China.In this study,the isotopic signatures of primary producers and consumers were determined,stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis and mixing models were combined to investigate the influence of water levels on the diet and isotopic composition of Poyang Lake fish and inverteb...