GENeralized-Ensemble SImulation System (GENESIS) is a software package for molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of biological systems. It is designed to extend limitations in system size and accessible time scale by adopting highly parallelized schemes and enhanced conformational sampling algorithms. In this new version, GENESIS 1.1, new functions and advanced algorithms have been added. The all-atom and coarse-grained potential energy functions used in AMBER and GROMACS packages now become available in addition to CHARMM energy functions. The performance of MD simulations has been greatly improved by further optimization, multiple time-step integration, and hybrid (CPU + GPU) computing. The string method and replica-exchange umbrella sampling with flexible collective variable choice are used for finding the minimum free-energy pathway and obtaining free-energy profiles for conformational changes of a macromolecule. These new features increase the usefulness and power of GENESIS for modeling and simulation in biological research. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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To evaluate 2-cyanoacrylates as surgical adhesives, the bond strength in vivo as well as the tissue reaction was investigated using methyl-, ethyl-, isobutyl-, and ethoxyethyl-2-cyanoacrylate. In addition, their set time and spreading on blood were studied. When the 2-cyanoacrylates were applied to an incised site of rabbit skin, they could maintain the skin closure without suturing during the first week and the bond strength increased during the second week. Significant inflammatory response was observed around the subcutaneous tissue glued with methyl- and ethoxyethyl-2-cyanoacrylate and persisted for approximately one week. All the 2-cyanoacrylate polymers were absorbed and the tissues treated were healed two weeks after the operation. There was a mild inflammatory reaction in the tissue treated with ethyl- and isobutyl-2-cyanoacrylate, and their polymers still remained at the wound site at the second week postoperatively. The disappearance rate of the 2-cyanoacrylate polymers was roughly in proportion to the inflammatory tissue response. Ethoxyethyl-2-cyanoacrylate spread more broadly on tissues than the other 2-cyanoacrylates, while its set time was shorter than that of methyl- and ethyl-2-cyanoacrylates.

An experimental study of the photorefractive effect in a polymeric material containing carbazole and the second-order tricyanovinylcarbazole moieties as a side chain is presented. This polymeric system exhibits intrinsically both photoconductivity and the electro-optic effect. Absorptive and photorefractive gratings have been evidenced by four-wave-mixing experiments and electro-optic measurements. The properties of the photorefractive gratings are studied by investigating the electric-field dependence of the diffraction efficiency. The dynamics of the erase-write behavior of the gratings, as well as permanent photobleaching of the polymer, are described.