Casein kinase 2 interacts with and phosphorylates ataxin-3

Objective Machado-Joseph disease （MJD）/Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 （SCA3） is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of polyglutamine tract near the C-terminus of the MJD1 gene product, ataxin-3. The precise mechanism of the MJD/SCA3 pathogenesis remains unclear. A growing body of evidence demonstrates that phosphorylation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases. However, few kinases are known to phosphorylate ataxin-3. The present study is to explore whether ataxin-3 is a substrate of casein kinase 2 （CK2）. Methods The interaction between ataxin-3 and CK2 was identified by glutathione S-transferase （GST） pull-down assay and co-immunoprecipition assay. The phosphorylation of ataxin-3 by CK2 was measured by in vitro phosphorylation assays. Results （1） Both wild type and expanded ataxin-3 interacted with CK2α and CK2β in vitro. （2） In 293 cells, both wild type and expanded ataxin-3 interacted with CK2β, but not CK2α. （3） CK2 phosphorylated wild type and expanded ataxin-3. Conclusion Ataxin-3 is a substrate of protein kinase CK2.

Schrdinger Cat States in a Mesoscopic Josephson Junction

To study the nonclassical effects of the mesoscopic Josephson junction in the presence of a nonclassical microwave, the mesoscopic Josephson junction and the field were both treated quantum mechanically, and the external field approximation was used. It is shown that if the external field is in the coherent state and the state of the junction is initially prepared in the vacuum state, the state of the junction can evolve into a quantum superposition of two coherent states. The Schrdinger cat states can be produced in a mesoscopic Josephson junction.

Dynamic Behavior of Voltage Across Small Capacitance Josephson Junction

Aim To study the dynamic behavior of voltage across small capacitance Josephson junction. Methods A model of the mesoscopic Josephson junction coupled with a single mode quantized radiation field was used. Results A Gaussian type envelope factor exhibiting quantum collapse and revival(CR) phenomenon was obtained. Conclusion It is shown that for the squeezed state the time evolution of the voltage can exhibit drastically quantum CR phenomenon.

Zero-Point Energy and Fluctuation in a Field-Josephson Junction-Coupled System

To investigate the interaction of a mesoscopic Josephson junction with a single mode quantized electromagnetic field, the diagnonalizing process of the coupled system Hamiltonian was performed by using an unitary transformation. Zero? point energy and zero? point fluctuation of the coupled system were shown. For the ground state of the coupled system, the quantum fluctuations of the flux and charge operators in the field and junction subsystems can exhibit smaller quantum noise than the zero point fluctuations of the individual subsystems. Thus, when the coupled system is in its lowest energy state, which means that no radiation appear, the two subsystems exhibit nonclassical behavior.

PolyQ-expanded ataxin-3 interacts with full-length ataxin-3 in a polyQ length-dependent manner

Objective Machado-Joseph disease （MJD）, also known as spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 （SCA3）, is a dominant neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expansion of the polyglutamine （polyQ） tract in MJD-1 gene product, ataxin-3 （AT3）. This disease is characterized by the formation of intraneuronal inclusions, but the mechanism underlying their formation is still poorly understood. The present study is to explore the relationship between wild type （WT） AT3 and polyQ expanded AT3. Methods Mouse neuroblastoma （N2a） cells or HEK293 cells were co-transfected with WTAT3 and different truncated forms of expanded AT3. The expressions of WT AT3 and the truncated forms of expanded AT3 were detected by Western blotting, and observed by an inverted fluorescent microscope. The interactions between AT3 and different truncated forms of expanded AT3 were detected by immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down assays. Results Using fluorescent microscope, we observed that the truncated forms of expanded AT3 aggregate in transfected cells, and the full-length WT AT3 is recruited onto the aggregates. However, no aggregates were observed in cells transfected with the truncated forms of WT AT3. Immunoprecipitation and GST pull-down analyses indicate that WT AT3 interacts with the truncated AT3 in a polyQ length-dependent manner. Conclusion WT AT3 deposits in the aggregation that was formed by polyQ expanded AT3, which suggests that the formation of AT3 aggregation may affect the normal function of WT AT3 and increase polyQ protein toxicity in MJD.

Quantum Fluctuation Properties in Mesoscopic Josephson Junction

An effective bosonic Hamiltonian describing the interaction of a mesoscopic Josephson junction with a quantized radiation field is studied. It is shown that when the field is initially in a coherent state and the junction initially in its lowest energy level state, the state of the coupled field-mesoscopic Josephson junction system can evolve to a squeezed state. A detailed analysis about the quantum fluctuation of the coupled system is given.

Quantum Dynamics of Two Capacitively Coupled Superconducting Islands via josephson Junctions

In this paper, we consider a system consisting of two capacitively coupled superconducting islands viaJosephson junctions. We show that it can be reduced to two coupling harmonic oscillators under certain conditions,and can be solved exactly in terms of a displacing transformation, a beam-splitter-like transformation, and a squeezingtransformation. It is found that the system evolves by a rotated-squeezed-coherent state when the system is initially in acoherent state. Quantum dynamics of the Cooper pairs in the two superconducting islands are investigated. It is shownthat the number of the Cooper pairs in the two islands evolves periodically.

Epitome of Research on the History of Science and Technology in China:A Review of the Book Series History of Science and Technology in Pre-Modern China in Comparison with Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China

The early twenty-first century witnessed the publication of the book series Zhongguo kexue jishu shi中国科学技术史(History of science and technology in pre-modern China),which was initiated and organized by the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences,Chinese Academy of Sciences,and compiled by a multitude of Chinese scholars.In comparison with Science and Civilisation in China by Dr.Joseph Needham,Zhongguo kexue jishu shi is superior in the layout characteristics,literature collection,research and explication,field investigation,and simulation experiments.

Continuous Variable Entanglement of Two Mesoscopic Josephson Junctions Induced by a Thermal Radiation Field

The continuous-variable （CV） entanglement between two mesoscopic Josephson junctions is studied and the time-dependent characteristic function in Wigner representation for the Josephson junction subsystem driven by a singlemode thermal field is analytically obtained. It is found that an initial lowest energy state of the junction subsystem can evolve into a two-mode entangled Gaussian state through the interaction with the thermal radiation field. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of the temperature on the entanglement of the junctions and find that the CV entanglement of the two junctions shows the critical behavior with respect to the temperature.

Localized Asymmetric Atomic Matter Waves in Two-Component Bose-Einstein Condensates Coupled with Two-Photon Microwave Field

We investigate localized atomic matter waves in the two-photon microwave field. Interestingly, the oscillations two-component Bose-Einstein condensates coupled by of localized atomic matter waves will gradually decay and finally become non-oscillating behavior even if existing coupling field. In particular, atom numbers occupied in two different hyperfine spin states will appear asymmetric occupations after some time evolution.

On Bosonic Magnetic Flux Operator and Bosonic Faraday Operator Formula

In the literature about mesoscopic Josephson devices the magnetic flux is considered as an operator, the fundamental commutative relation between the magnetic flux operator and the Cooper-pair charge operator is usually preengaged. In this paper we show that such a relation can be deduced from the basic Bose operators＇ commutative relation through the entangled state representation. The Faraday formula in bosonic form is then equivalent to the second Josephson equation. The current operator equation for LC mesoscopic circuit is also derived.

Teleportation for an Unknown Entangled State Without Any Joint Measurement via Josephson Charge Qubits

An experimentally feasible scheme for teleportation of an arbitrary unknown entangled state is proposed. Our scheme is based on Josephson charge qubits, where we do not need any joint measurement. Moreover the successful probability and fidelity of the teleportation can both reach 1.0. The current scheme can be realized within the current experimental technology.

Appearance of Spatial-Temporal Noise in Super-conducting Junction and Its Effect on Transport of Electron Pairs

Transport of electron pairs in super-conducting junction with spatial-temporal noise is investigated. We show that the spatial-temporal noise can produce the current of the electron pairs, which stems from a symmetry breaking of the system induced by the correlation of the spatial-temporal noise with the phase difference. It is found that there is a positive current for the electron pairs, exhibiting a peak with increasing the values of some parameters of the noises. The results provide a theoretical foundation for the further investigation of the super-conducting junction.

On Harmonic Approximation for Large Josephson Junction Coupling Charge Qubits

We revisit the harmonic approximation (HA) for a large Josephson junction interacting with some charge qubits through the variational approach for the quantum dynamics of the junction-qubit coupling system. By making use of numerical calculation and analytical treatment, the conditions under which HA works well can be precisely presented to control the parameters implementing the two-qubit quantum logical gate through the couplings to the large junction with harmonic oscillator Hamiltonian.

Cavity-Induced Self-Trapping of a Bose Josephson Junction

We investigate the self-trapping of a Bose Josephson junction, which is dispersively coupled to a driven optical cavity. The cavity-induced nonlinearity is presented analytically, and its effect results in the appearance of the self-trapping for the Bose-Einstein condensates in the Josephson oscillation regime. In addition, there exists competition between the nonlinearities induced by the interatomic interaction and by the driven cavity for the emergences of self-trapping. Our results show that the driven cavity can be utilized as a possible tool to produce the self-trapping for the condensates with weak interatomic interaction.

Indelible Rules of Josephson Coupling Energy and Zero-Point Energy in High-Tc Cuprates

This paper shows that the Josephson coupling energy and the zero-point energy have indelible rules on the superfluid density and the superconductivity in the high-Tc cuprates. This paper also shows that the values of Tc at underdoped and overdoped regions are determined by the damage conditions of the phase coherence in the classical and the quantum XY-models, respectively.

Josephson Current in Superconductor-Ferromagnet／Insulator／d-Wave Superconductor Junctions

Solving the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equation, the energy levels of bound statesare obtained in the ferromagnetic superconductor. The Josephson currents in a ferromagneticsuperconductor/Insulator/d-wave superconductor junction are calculated as a function of the exchangefield, temperature, and insulating barrier strength. It is found that the Josephson criticalcurrent is always suppressed by the presence of exchange Geld h and depends on crystalline axisorientation of d-wave superconductor.

dc Josephson Effect in s-Wave Superconductor/Ferromagnet Insulator/p-Wave Superconductor Junctions

The Josephson currents in s-wave superconductor/ferromagnet insulator/p-wave superconductor（s/FI/p） junctions are calculated as a function of temperature and the phase taking into account the roughness scattering effect at interface. The phase dependence of the Josephson current I （φ） between s-wave and px-wave superconductor is predicted to be sin（2φ）. The ferromagnet scattering effect, the barrier strength, and the roughness strength at interface suppress the dc currents in s/FI/p junction.

PHASE-LOCKED 2-D JOSEPHSON JUNCTION ARRAYS AS SUBMILLIMETER OSCILLATORS

This letter presents the results of numerical simulations for phase-locked 2-D Joseph-son junction array oscillator. The simulation result shows that the junctions of 2-D array can mutually phase-locked in a considerable area if the parameters can be carefully selected. The oscillators are formed with up to 33 identical Nb/AIOx/Nb junctions, and the junctions are connected with Nb microstrip resonators. Optimum structure parameters for oscillator circuit design can be obtained with these simulation results.