Occultation of X-rays from Scorpius X-1 by small trans-neptunian objects

Since the discovery of the trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) in 1992, nearly one thousand new members have been added to our Solar System, several of which are as big as--or even larger than--Pluto. The properties of the population of TNOs, such as the size distribution and the total number, are valuable information for understanding the formation of the Solar System, but direct observation is only possible for larger objects with diameters above several tens of kilometres. Smaller objects, which are expected to be more abundant, might be found when they occult background stars, but hitherto there have been no definite detections. Here we report the discovery of such occultation events at millisecond timescales in the X-ray light curve of Scorpius X-1. The estimated sizes of these occulting TNOs are < or =100 m. Their abundance is in line with an extrapolation of the distribution of sizes of larger TNOs.     

Conformational entropy in molecular recognition by proteins

Molecular recognition by proteins is fundamental to almost every biological process, particularly the protein associations underlying cellular signal transduction. Understanding the basis for protein-protein interactions requires the full characterization of the thermodynamics of their association. Historically it has been virtually impossible to experimentally estimate changes in protein conformational entropy, a potentially important component of the free energy of protein association. However, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has emerged as a powerful tool for characterizing the dynamics of proteins. Here we employ changes in conformational dynamics as a proxy for corresponding changes in conformational entropy. We find that the change in internal dynamics of the protein calmodulin varies significantly on binding a variety of target domains. Surprisingly, the apparent change in the corresponding conformational entropy is linearly related to the change in the overall binding entropy. This indicates that changes in protein conformational entropy can contribute significantly to the free energy of protein-ligand association.     

Linear processing of spatial cues in primary auditory cortex.

To determine the direction of a sound source in space, animals must process a variety of auditory spatial cues, including interaural level and time differences, as well as changes in the sound spectrum caused by the direction-dependent filtering of sound by the outer ear. Behavioural deficits observed when primary auditory cortex (A1) is damaged have led to the widespread view that A1 may have an essential role in this complex computational task. Here we show, however, that the spatial selectivity exhibited by the large majority of A1 neurons is well predicted by a simple linear model, which assumes that neurons additively integrate sound levels in each frequency band and ear. The success of this linear model is surprising, given that computing sound source direction is a necessarily nonlinear operation. However, because linear operations preserve information, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that A1 may also form a gateway to higher, more specialized cortical areas.     

Effect of PLA Knitted Structure on the Mechanical Properties of Composite Vascular Scaffold

A new entire biodegradable scaffold has been developed which does not require precelluiarization before transplantation. This new kind of vascular scaffold prototype made from porous poly- e-caprolactone （PCL） membrane to provide three-dimensional environment for cell growth, and embedded with weft-knitted polylactic acid （PLA） fabric to support mechanics. The aim of this paper is to study the variation tendency of mechanical properties with the fabric spacing changing. The basic geometrical parameters were measured to characterize properties of the samples. The tensile and compressive elastic recovery of the samples were tested by the universal mechanical tester and radial compression apparatus, respectively. Both tensile and compressive properties enhanced when reducing the fabric spacing of the composite vascular scaffold.