BACKGROUND Bipolar spindle assembly is critical for achieving accurate segregation of chromosomes. In the absence of centrosomes, meiotic spindles achieve bipolarity by a combination of chromosome-initiated microtubule nucleation and stabilization and motor-driven organization of microtubules. Once assembled, the spindle structure is maintained on a relatively long time scale despite the high t...

Vibrational sum-frequency generation (vSFG) measurements in the frequency and time domains reveal that the interfacial hydrogen bonded OH stretch at the water/calcium fluoride interface is composed of two populations oriented oppositely. The time-resolved vSFG free-induction decay suggested that, whereas the strongly hydrogen bonded OH vibrational stretches, centered near 3140 ± 11 cm-1, are or...

The kinesin-related motor protein CHO1/MKLP1 was initially thought to be expressed only in mitotic cells, where it presumably transports oppositely oriented microtubules relative to one another in the spindle mid-zone. We have recently shown that CHO1/MKLP1 is also expressed in cultured neuronal cells, where it is enriched in developing dendrites [Sharp et al. (1997a) J. Cell Biol., 138, 833-84...

A thin film consisting of highly ordered and vertically oriented silica mesochannels (SMCs) was prepared on the indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass electrode surface by chronopotentiometry. The mesochannel has a uniform pore size of 2-3 nm in diameter and a positively charged surface due to grafted ammonium groups. The electrostatic and steric effects resulted from control of the surface charge...

A graph, consisting of undirected edges, can be represented as a sum of two digraphs, consisting of oppositely oriented directed edges. Gutman and Plath in [J. Serb. Chem. Soc. 66 (2001), 237–241] showed that for annulenes, the eigenvalue spectrum of the graph is equal to the sum of the eigenvalue spectra of respective two digraphs. Here we exhibit a number of other graphs with this property.

An important component of conventional sense, antisense, and double-strand RNA-based gene silencing constructs is the transcriptional terminator. Here, we show that this regulatory element becomes obsolete when gene fragments are positioned between two oppositely oriented and functionally active promoters. The resulting convergent transcription triggers gene silencing that is at least as effect...

We have studied mitochondrial gene expression and metabolic function in a human lymphoblastoid cell-line homoplasmic for the np 7445, deafness-associated mitochondrial DNA mutation. The mutation maps to the 3' termini of the oppositely oriented genes encoding cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) and tRNA-ser(UCN). In comparison with control lymphoblastoid cells, we detected a marked depletion (> ...

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a method for modulating cortical excitability by weak constant electrical current that is applied through scalp electrodes. Although often described in terms of anodal or cathodal stimulation, depending on which scalp electrode pole is proximal to the cortical region of interest, it is the orientation of neuronal structures relative to the direc...

The core components of the planar cell polarity (PCP) signaling system, including both transmembrane and peripheral membrane associated proteins, form asymmetric complexes that bridge apical intercellular junctions. While these can assemble in either orientation, coordinated cell polarization requires the enrichment of complexes of a given orientation at specific junctions. This might occur by ...