Structural changes in the 6CHBT liquid crystal doped with spherical, rodlike, and chainlike magnetic particles.

In this work the 4-(trans- 4'-n -hexylcyclohexyl)-isothiocyanatobenzene (6CHBT) liquid crystal was doped with differently shaped magnetite nanoparticles. The structural changes were observed by capacitance measurements and showed significant influence of the shape and size of the magnetic particles on the magnetic Fréedericksz transition. For the volume concentration phi= 2 x 10(-4) of the magnetic particles, the critical magnetic field was established for the pure liquid crystal, and for liquid crystals doped with spherical, chainlike, and rodlike magnetic particles. The influence of the magnetic field depends on the type of anchoring, which is characterized by the density of anchoring energy and by the initial orientation between the liquid crystal molecules and the magnetic moment of the magnetic particles. The experimental results indicated soft anchoring in the case of spherical magnetic particles and rigid anchoring in the case of rodlike and chainlike magnetic particles, with parallel initial orientation between the magnetic moments of the magnetic particles and director.

Occurrence of pS86/pEF47-related plasmids in gram-positive cocci.

A small, low-copy-number cryptic 5.5-kb plasmid, designated pEF47, was isolated from a rumen bacterium Enterococcus faecalis 47 and partially characterized. Comparisons by restriction and partial sequence analysis of pEF47 demonstrated high homology to pS86 plasmid, recently isolated from a human clinical strain E. faecalis S-86. PCR followed by sequence analysis and Southern hybridization showed that pS86/pEF47-related replicons are regularly encountered in plasmids from gram-positive cocci.

pSRD191, a new member of RepL replicating plasmid family from Selenomonas ruminantium.

A numerous plasmid population was detected in strain 19 of Selenomonas ruminantium. The population was found to consist of six plasmids in size ranging from 1.4 to more than 20kb. The smallest 1.4kb cryptic plasmid pSRD191 was further characterized. Sequence analysis identified a single ORF encoding the 177-residue putative replication protein (Rep191) which shared significant homology with RepL family of replication protein from Firmicutes (staphylococci and bacilli). PCR analysis and Southern hybridisation showed that pSRD191 related plasmids are frequently encountered in rumen selenomonads.