ALBERT

Description: We report the results of sun-photometric measurements of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) over the Arabian Sea along with synchronous Ocean Color Monitor (OCM-II) derived AOT estimates during December 12, 2009–January 10, 2010. Relatively higher values of Angstrom exponent (α) around 1.2 near coast and 0.2–0.8 in the India’s EEZ, observed during the cruise period, indicate the presence of smaller particles near the coast due to anthropogenic activities; and larger particles in the India’s EEZ due to advection of pollutants from Indian subcontinent via long-range transport. Results related to α and its derivative reveal four different aerosol types (urban-industrial, desert-dust, clean-marine, and mixed-type) with varying fraction during the study period. Surface radiative forcing due to aerosols is found to be 20 W/m2 over India’s EEZ. OCM-derived AOTs showed good corroboration with in situ measurements with a correlation coefficient of about 0.95. A reasonably good correlation was also observed between AOT and wind speed (R = 0.6); AOT and relative humidity (R = 0.58). The concurrent MODIS AOT data also agree well with those observed by the OCEANSAT (OCM-II) satellite during the campaign period.

Description: Self-poled ultra-thin ferroelectric PbZr 0.52 Ti 0.48 O 3 (PZT) (5 and 7 nm) films have been grown by pulsed laser deposition technique on ferromagnetic La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 (LSMO) (30 nm) to check the effect of polar capping on magnetization for ferroelectric tunnel junction devices. PZT/LSMO heterostructures with thick polar PZT (7 nm) capping show nearly 100% enhancement in magnetization compared with thin polar PZT (5 nm) films, probably due to excess hole transfer from the ferroelectric to the ferromagnetic layers. Core-level x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies revealed the presence of larger Mn 3s exchange splitting and higher Mn 3+ /Mn 4+ ion ratio in the LSMO with 7 nm polar capping.

Description: The SrZrO 3 is a well known high-k dielectric constant (∼22) and high optical bandgap (∼5.8 eV) material and one of the potential candidates for future generation nanoelectronic logic elements (8 nm node technology) beyond silicon. Its dielectric behavior is fairly robust and frequency independent till 470 K; however, it suffers a strong small-polaron based electronic phase transition (T e ) linking 650 to 750 K. The impedance spectroscopy measurements revealed the presence of conducting grains and grain boundaries at elevated temperature which provide energetic mobile charge carriers with activation energy in the range of 0.7 to 1.2 eV supporting the oxygen ions and proton conduction. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy measurements suggest the presence of weak non-stoichiometric O 2− anions and hydroxyl species bound to different sites at the surface and bulk. These thermally activated charge carriers at elevated temperature significantly contribute to the polaronic based dielectric anomaly and conductivity. Our dielectric anomaly supports pseudo phase transition due to high degree of change in ZrO 6 octahedral angle in the temperature range of 650–750 K, where electron density and phonon vibration affect the dielectric and conductivity properties.

Description: ABSTRACT With the advancement of human race, different anthropogenic activities have heaped the environment with chemicals that can cause alteration in the immune system of exposed organism. As a first line of barrier, the evolutionary conserved innate immunity is crucial for the health of an organism. However, there is paucity of information regarding in vivo assessment of the effect of environmental chemicals on innate immunity. Therefore, we examined the effect of a widely used environmental chemical, Cr(VI), on humoral innate immune response using Drosophila melanogaster . The adverse effect of Cr(VI) on host humoral response was characterized by decreased gene expression of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the exposed organism. Concurrently, a significantly decreased transcription of humoral pathway receptors (Toll and PGRP) and triglyceride level along with inhibition of antioxidant enzyme activities were observed in exposed organism. This in turn weakened the immune response of exposed organism that was manifested by their reduced resistance against bacterial infection. In addition, overexpression of the components of humoral immunity particularly Diptericin benefits Drosophila from Cr(VI)-induced humoral immune-suppressive effect. To our knowledge, this is the first report regarding negative impact of an environmental chemical on humoral innate immune response of Drosophila along with subsequent protection by AMPs, which may provide novel insight into host–chemical interactions. Also, our data validate the utility and sensitivity of Drosophila as a model that could be used for screening the possible risk of environmental chemicals on innate immunity with minimum ethical concern that can be further extrapolated to higher organisms. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol, 2014.

Description: Crystal Growth & Design DOI: 10.1021/cg5001649

Description: Author(s): R. S. Dhaka, A. K. Shukla, K. Horn, and S. R. Barman [Phys. Rev. B 84, 245404] Published Wed Dec 07, 2011

Description: The present paper deals with the study of a generalized Mittag-Leffler function and associated fractional operator. The operator has been discussed in the space of Lebesgue measurable functions. The compositio...

Description: The functions of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are primarily mediated and modulated by three families of proteins: the heterotrimeric G proteins, the G-protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) and the arrestins. G proteins mediate activation of second-messenger-generating enzymes and other effectors, GRKs phosphorylate activated receptors, and arrestins subsequently bind phosphorylated receptors and cause receptor desensitization. Arrestins activated by interaction with phosphorylated receptors can also mediate G-protein-independent signalling by serving as adaptors to link receptors to numerous signalling pathways. Despite their central role in regulation and signalling of GPCRs, a structural understanding of beta-arrestin activation and interaction with GPCRs is still lacking. Here we report the crystal structure of beta-arrestin-1 (also called arrestin-2) in complex with a fully phosphorylated 29-amino-acid carboxy-terminal peptide derived from the human V2 vasopressin receptor (V2Rpp). This peptide has previously been shown to functionally and conformationally activate beta-arrestin-1 (ref. 5). To capture this active conformation, we used a conformationally selective synthetic antibody fragment (Fab30) that recognizes the phosphopeptide-activated state of beta-arrestin-1. The structure of the beta-arrestin-1-V2Rpp-Fab30 complex shows marked conformational differences in beta-arrestin-1 compared to its inactive conformation. These include rotation of the amino- and carboxy-terminal domains relative to each other, and a major reorientation of the 'lariat loop' implicated in maintaining the inactive state of beta-arrestin-1. These results reveal, at high resolution, a receptor-interacting interface on beta-arrestin, and they indicate a potentially general molecular mechanism for activation of these multifunctional signalling and regulatory proteins.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654799/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3654799/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Shukla, Arun K -- Manglik, Aashish -- Kruse, Andrew C -- Xiao, Kunhong -- Reis, Rosana I -- Tseng, Wei-Chou -- Staus, Dean P -- Hilger, Daniel -- Uysal, Serdar -- Huang, Li-Yin -- Paduch, Marcin -- Tripathi-Shukla, Prachi -- Koide, Akiko -- Koide, Shohei -- Weis, William I -- Kossiakoff, Anthony A -- Kobilka, Brian K -- Lefkowitz, Robert J -- GM072688/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM087519/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HL 075443/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HL16037/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HL70631/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- NS028471/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- P41 RR011823/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL016037/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL070631/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS028471/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- U01 GM094588/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- U54 GM074946/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2013 May 2;497(7447):137-41. doi: 10.1038/nature12120. Epub 2013 Apr 21.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23604254" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are critically regulated by beta-arrestins, which not only desensitize G-protein signalling but also initiate a G-protein-independent wave of signalling. A recent surge of structural data on a number of GPCRs, including the beta2 adrenergic receptor (beta2AR)-G-protein complex, has provided novel insights into the structural basis of receptor activation. However, complementary information has been lacking on the recruitment of beta-arrestins to activated GPCRs, primarily owing to challenges in obtaining stable receptor-beta-arrestin complexes for structural studies. Here we devised a strategy for forming and purifying a functional human beta2AR-beta-arrestin-1 complex that allowed us to visualize its architecture by single-particle negative-stain electron microscopy and to characterize the interactions between beta2AR and beta-arrestin 1 using hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) and chemical crosslinking. Electron microscopy two-dimensional averages and three-dimensional reconstructions reveal bimodal binding of beta-arrestin 1 to the beta2AR, involving two separate sets of interactions, one with the phosphorylated carboxy terminus of the receptor and the other with its seven-transmembrane core. Areas of reduced HDX together with identification of crosslinked residues suggest engagement of the finger loop of beta-arrestin 1 with the seven-transmembrane core of the receptor. In contrast, focal areas of raised HDX levels indicate regions of increased dynamics in both the N and C domains of beta-arrestin 1 when coupled to the beta2AR. A molecular model of the beta2AR-beta-arrestin signalling complex was made by docking activated beta-arrestin 1 and beta2AR crystal structures into the electron microscopy map densities with constraints provided by HDX-MS and crosslinking, allowing us to obtain valuable insights into the overall architecture of a receptor-arrestin complex. The dynamic and structural information presented here provides a framework for better understanding the basis of GPCR regulation by arrestins.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4134437/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4134437/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Shukla, Arun K -- Westfield, Gerwin H -- Xiao, Kunhong -- Reis, Rosana I -- Huang, Li-Yin -- Tripathi-Shukla, Prachi -- Qian, Jiang -- Li, Sheng -- Blanc, Adi -- Oleskie, Austin N -- Dosey, Anne M -- Su, Min -- Liang, Cui-Rong -- Gu, Ling-Ling -- Shan, Jin-Ming -- Chen, Xin -- Hanna, Rachel -- Choi, Minjung -- Yao, Xiao Jie -- Klink, Bjoern U -- Kahsai, Alem W -- Sidhu, Sachdev S -- Koide, Shohei -- Penczek, Pawel A -- Kossiakoff, Anthony A -- Woods, Virgil L Jr -- Kobilka, Brian K -- Skiniotis, Georgios -- Lefkowitz, Robert J -- DK090165/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- GM072688/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM087519/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- GM60635/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- HL075443/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HL16037/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- HL70631/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- MOP-93725/Canadian Institutes of Health Research/Canada -- NS028471/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 DK090165/DK/NIDDK NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM060635/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 GM072688/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL016037/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 HL070631/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS028471/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- UL1 TR000430/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- Howard Hughes Medical Institute/ -- England -- Nature. 2014 Aug 14;512(7513):218-22. doi: 10.1038/nature13430. Epub 2014 Jun 22.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉1] Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA [2] Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 208016, India. [3]. ; 1] Life Sciences Institute and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA [2]. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA [2]. ; Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA. ; Life Sciences Institute and Department of Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA. ; School of Pharmaceutical &Life Sciences, Changzhou University, Changzhou, Jiangsu 213164, China. ; Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3E1, Canada. ; Department of Biochemistry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. ; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, Texas 77054, USA. ; 1] Department of Chemistry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA [2]. ; Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 279 Campus Drive, Stanford, California 94305, USA. ; 1] Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA [2] Department of Biochemistry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA [3] Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25043026" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: We report the results of sun-photometric measurements of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) in India’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) over the Arabian Sea along with synchronous Ocean Color Monitor (OCM-II) derived AOT estimates during December 12, 2009–January 10, 2010. Relatively higher values of Angstrom exponent (α) around 1.2 near coast and 0.2–0.8 in the India’s EEZ, observed during the cruise period, indicate the presence of smaller particles near the coast due to anthropogenic activities; and larger particles in the India’s EEZ due to advection of pollutants from Indian subcontinent via long-range transport. Results related to α and its derivative reveal four different aerosol types (urban-industrial, desert-dust, clean-marine, and mixed-type) with varying fraction during the study period. Surface radiative forcing due to aerosols is found to be 20 W/m2 over India’s EEZ. OCM-derived AOTs showed good corroboration with in situ measurements with a correlation coefficient of about 0.95. A reasonably good correlation was also observed between AOT and wind speed (R = 0.6); AOT and relative humidity (R = 0.58). The concurrent MODIS AOT data also agree well with those observed by the OCEANSAT (OCM-II) satellite during the campaign period.