The contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle depends on the reversible phosphorylation of the 20,000 Da myosin light chains (MLC₂₀). The phosphorylation reaction, which is catalyzed by myosin light chain kinase and results in contraction, has been well characterized. In contr…
The House of Wisdom was a library and learning institution in Baghdad in the ninth century CE, early in the Islamic Golden Age. Its most famous scholar was Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, often credited with developing the new field that we now call algebra. In this work, I stud…
To gain insight into the structure of the nucleon, we pursue the development of the phenomenological model of Islam et al. (IIFS model) for high energy elastic pp and p ̄p scattering. We determine the energy dependence of the parameters of the IIFS model using the available elast…
Propagation of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies is associated with the conversion of normal prion protein, PrPC, into a misfolded, oligomeric form, PrPSc. While the high-resolution structure of PrPC is well characterized, the structural properties of PrPSc remain elusiv…
The genotoxic effects of bis -electrophiles are generally attributed to their ability to cross-link biomolecules. While DNA-DNA cross-linking mediated by 1,2,3,4-diepoxybutane (DEB) and antitumor nitrogen mustards is well characterized and thought to be largely responsible for t…
The high temperature superconductivity in cuprates is realized by off-stoichiometric doping. In addition to contributing carriers to the CuO2 planes, the dopants inherently introduce local disorder into the systems. Using the X-ray diffuse scattering technique, we studied the do…
Amphiphilic hydrogels with different molecular architecture were successfully synthesized by two methods: (1) Williamson ether synthesis with linear or hyperbranched poly [(p-chloromethyl) styrene], PPCMSt and poly(ethylene glycol), PEG, and (2) nucleophilic substitution reactio…
A series of nanostructured activated carbons have been synthesized from poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), and its derivatives. These carbons, with surface area exceeding 3000 m2/g and with average pore diameters of ≤ 20 Å, are proven to be superior hydrogen storage materials, wit…
CAD is a multifunctional protein which catalyzes the three steps that initiate pyrimidine biosynthesis, namely, carbamyl phosphate synthetase, asparate transcarbamylase, and dihydroorotase. In hamster cells the protein is coded for by a 7.5 kb mRNA. A 3′ end CAD clone containing…
A series of 3-n-alkyl-1-vinylimidazolium iodides and their corresponding polymers was investigated for their catalytic behavior in a phase transfer reaction. Kinetic efficiency was confirmed to be a function of alkyl chain length and catalyst concentration. The system chosen for…