Absence of Spontaneous Magnetic Fields due to Time-Reversal Symmetry Breaking in Bulk Superconducting UTe_{2}.

We have investigated the low-temperature local magnetic properties in the bulk of molten salt-flux (MSF)-grown single crystals of the candidate odd-parity superconductor UTe_{2} by zero-field muon spin relaxation (µSR). In contrast to previous µSR studies of UTe_{2} single crystals grown by a chemical vapor transport method, we find no evidence of magnetic clusters or electronic moments fluctuating slow enough to cause a discernible relaxation of the zero-field µSR asymmetry spectrum. Consequently, our measurements on MSF-grown single crystals rule out the generation of spontaneous magnetic fields in the bulk that would occur near impurities or lattice defects if the superconducting state of UTe_{2} breaks time-reversal symmetry. This result suggests that UTe_{2} is characterized by a single-component superconducting order parameter.

Dynamical ground state in the XY pyrochlore Yb2GaSbO7.

The magnetic ground state of the pyrochlore Yb2GaSbO7 has remained an enigma for nearly a decade. The persistent spin fluctuations observed by muon spin relaxation measurements at low temperatures have not been adequately explained for this material using existing theories for quantum magnetism. Here we report on the synthesis and characterisation of Yb2GaSbO7 to elucidate the central physics at play. Through DC and AC magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and neutron scattering experiments, we observe evidence for a dynamical ground state that makes Yb2GaSbO7 a promising candidate for disorder-induced spin-liquid or spin-singlet behaviour. This state is quite fragile, being tuned to a splayed ferromagnet in a modest magnetic field µ0Hc∼1.5T.

Methamphetamine causes differential regulation of pro-death and anti-death Bcl-2 genes in the mouse neocortex.

Bcl-2, an inner mitochondrial membrane protein, inhibits apoptotic neuronal cell death. Expression of Bcl-2 inhibits cell death by decreasing the net cellular generation of reactive oxygen species. Studies by different investigators have provided unimpeachable evidence of a role for oxygen-based free radicals in methamphetamine (METH) -induced neurotoxicity. In addition, studies from our laboratory have shown that immortalized rat neuronal cells that overexpress Bcl-2 are protected against METH-induced apoptosis in vitro. Moreover, the amphetamines can cause differential changes in the expression of Bcl-X splice variants in primary cortical cell cultures. These observations suggested that METH might also cause perturbations of Bcl-2-related genes when administered to rodents. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine whether the use of METH might indeed be associated with transcriptional and translational changes in the expression of Bcl-2-related genes in the mouse brain. Here we report that a toxic regimen of METH did cause significant increases in the pro-death Bcl-2 family genes BAD, BAX, and BID. Concomitantly, there were significant decreases in the anti-death genes Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL. These results thus support the notion that injections of toxic doses of METH trigger the activation of the programmed death pathway in the mammalian brain.

Expression of human adenosine deaminase after fusion of adenosine deaminase-deficient cells with mouse fibroblasts.

Two human choriocarcinoma cell lines were shown to be deficient in adenosine deaminase (ADA; adenosine aminohydrolase, EC 3.5.4.4) such that they did not produce bands on starch gels after electrophoresis and histochemical staining. Radiometric assay indicated that their ADA specific activity was approximately 2% that of HeLa (human) cell controls. Subclone analysis of one of the lines indicated that this deficiency was representative of individual cells of the line. After fusion of these cells with mouse fibroblasts having high ADA activity, most independently isolated hybrid clones expressed one of two, or both, additional (to the mouse) bands of ADA activity after electrophoresis. The expression of these extra bands in hybrids was dependent upon actual fusion. The phenomenon was observed in 30 of 45 independently derived hybrid clones from four different fusion experiments involving two different parental lines from each species. The pattern of appearance of the extra bands in independent hybrid clones and the tendency of a hybrid clone to lose one of the extra bands through subsequent passages suggests that the bands were the products of human genetic material. The extra bands electrophoretically comigrated with human ADA 1 and 2 from human ADA-1-2 heterozygotes and the faster-migrating of the two extra bands comigrated with human ADA 1 from HeLa cells. Therefore, we suggest that the bands appearing in hybrids are the products of the 1 and 2 alleles of the human ADA locus. The human cells used for fusion were deficient in ADA activity but contained the genetic information for ADA 1 and 2. Fusion with mouse cells having ADA activity resulted in the activation of both human gene products coded for on separate homologous chromosomes. We conclude that the human ADA locus is under manipulatable genetic regulation.

Correlation of in vivo malignancy with in vitro properties of human-mouse hybrid cells.

The in vivo tumorigenicity of malignant mouse-nonmalignant human somatic cell hybrids was correlated with the in vitro characteristics. The renal adenocarcinoma mouse cell line RAG and the normal, diploid human cell line Wl-38 were used as the fusion parents. Five independent RAG Wl 38 hybrid clones were tested for concanavalin A (Con A) agglutination patterns, in vitro invasiveness, and tumor formation in immunosuppressed mice. Tests on the parental lines showed that RAG cells agglutinated at much lower levels of Con A than the Wl-38 cells. RAG cells overgrew Wl-38 cells in the in vitro invasiveness assay. RAG cells readily formed tumors in untreated adult or young immunosuppressed mice, whereas the Wl-38 cells did not. The five hybrid clones were all similar, since they had Con A agglutination levels intermediate to those of both parents, though patterns were more "tumor-like", overgrew the Wl-38 cells in the invasiveness assay, and formed tumors in immunosuppressed mice.