GLUT-4 phosphorylation and its intrinsic activity. Mechanism of Ca(2+)-induced inhibition of insulin-stimulated glucose transport

In this study, we examined the influence of high levels of cytosolic calcium on phosphorylation status and function of GLUT-4 in isolated rat adipocytes. Intracellular calcium was elevated by exposing adipocytes to either extracellular ATP (1.6 mM) or thapsigargin (100 nM). Both agents increased cytosolic calcium 2-3 fold. While basal glucose uptake was unaffected, both ATP and thapsigargin reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport by 40-70% (p < 0.05). Neither ATP nor thapsigargin affected GLUT-4 content or its translocation from the low density microsomes to the plasma membrane (PM). In contrast, GLUT-4 immunoprecipitated from the PM of adipocytes exposed to either ATP or thapsigargin was phosphorylated to a greater extent than the GLUT-4 isolated from control cells. ATP and thapsigargin also abolished insulin-stimulated dephosphorylation of GLUT-4. At the same time, GLUT-4 intrinsic activity was significantly reduced in adipocytes with high levels of cytosolic calcium (p < 0.05). Preincubation of adipocytes with cAMP antagonist, RpcAMP (10(-4) M), and calcium channel blocker, nitrendipine (30 microM), improved the ability of insulin to dephosphorylate GLUT-4 and restored insulin-stimulated GLUT-4 intrinsic activity. We conclude that elevated levels of cytosolic calcium interfere with insulin's ability to dephosphorylate GLUT-4, thus reducing its intrinsic activity.     

Adaptive-Multilevel BDDC and its parallel implementation

We combine the adaptive and multilevel approaches to the BDDC and formulate a method which allows an adaptive selection of constraints on each decomposition level. We also present a strategy for the solution of local eigenvalue problems in the adaptive algorithm using the LOBPCG method with a preconditioner based on standard components of the BDDC. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated on several engineering problems. It appears that the Adaptive-Multilevel BDDC algorithm is able to effectively detect troublesome parts on each decomposition level and improve convergence of the method. The developed open-source parallel implementation shows a good scalability as well as applicability to very large problems and core counts.     

pH effects on catalytic ozonation of carboxylic acids with metal on metal oxides catalysts

Summary The pH influence on the catalytic ozonation of small carboxylic acids (succinic (SA), chloroacetic (CAA) and pyruvic (PA) acids) was studied and compared to ozonation alone. In the acidic systems, the conversion of these carboxylic acids and total organic carbon (TOC) during the catalytic ozonation is mainly due to the catalytic effect. Experiments on SA indicate that in the pH range 3.6–5.0, in contrast to the ozone behavior, the efficiency of the catalytic ozonation system is decreased with increasing pH due to the change of charges on the catalyst surface. In the basic pH range (7.2–10.0), the effect of the ozonation alone becomes important and the reaction in the presence of the catalyst is a combined effect of ozonation alone and catalytic oxidation. Although the apparent SA conversion by the catalytic ozonation in the basic systems is higher than in the acidic systems, the Total Organic Carbon conversion is not so much higher than in the latter. During the ozonation with the same catalyst, more than 80 of the CAA converted are mineralized. The oxidation of CAA leads to almost equimolar release of chloride ions. This ion has no detrimental influence on the catalytic effects under our experimental conditions. However, in the very dilute systems with pH value lower than the pKa of CAA, when the CAA concentration is decreased to about 0.6mM, the catalytic oxidation is almost stopped. The low concentration of the dissociated CAA induces only weak adsorption and consequently small reaction rates. The total elimination of CAA with low concentration can be reached only if the pH is increased above the pKa. In addition to the distinct pH effect in the ozonation and catalytic ozonation system observed in this work, a further demonstration that separate mechanisms are involved in the two processes is provided by the analysis of oxidation by-products of pyruvic acid.     

Low-temperature-GaAs device used simultaneously as a mode-locking device and as a photoconductive switch

We present a low-temperature-grown GaAs device that combines the features of mode locking and photoconductive switching. The mode-locking mechanism is based on intensity-dependent defocusing. Additionally, the generated carriers produce an electrical signal in the biased switch geometry. This technique allows for simultaneous generation of synchronized optical and electrical pulse trains with a single device.     

Density of Liquid Tantalum and Estimation of Critical Point Data

In order to determine the density of tantalum over the entire liquid phase (at the pressure applied) and several hundred K into the super-heated region, the method of ohmic pulse-heating was applied. For this purpose, images of the thermal radial expansion of the resistively heated sample wires were taken with an adapted CCD system. A newly integrated high-power photoflash and improved triggering of the experiment allowed the acquisition of high-contrast shadow images of the expanding wires. To reduce the uncertainty arising from simultaneous pyrometric temperature measurement, the change in normal spectral emissivity as a function of temperature was additionally taken into account. In this work, the density versus temperature relationship of tantalum is reported and compared to existing literature data. From the newly obtained liquid-phase density, critical point data of tantalum, such as critical temperature and critical density, were estimated via an extrapolation procedure. Furthermore, an estimate of the phase diagram in the density versus temperature plane is given. The work is concluded by a rigorous density uncertainty estimation according to the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM).