Thankfully, the operative site of a fractured hip is well away find more from respiratory muscles and by itself is unlikely to interfere with breathing in the postoperative period unlike thoracic or abdominal surgery. Patients

with marginal pulmonary reserves may still proceed to surgery provided there is adequate availability of postoperative monitoring, pulmonary rehabilitation and ventilator support if required. Preoperative cardiac risk stratification The use of consensus guidelines Excellent guidelines are available to assist with preoperative cardiac risk evaluation and decision making [17, 18]; however, it is recognized that there may be times when difficulties may arise in following these guidelines. There may be differences in availability of expertise or resources in different institutions. There may also be patient-related limitations such as difficulty in obtaining an accurate functional status from elderly patients with limited mobility. They may not be stressed to the point of cardiac ischemia in their daily life and is therefore “asymptomatic”. Nevertheless, the spirit selleck chemicals of the guidelines

should apply and is summed up in this statement: “The overriding theme of this document is that intervention is rarely necessary to simply lower the risk of surgery unless such intervention is indicated irrespective of the preoperative context. The purpose of preoperative evaluation is not to give Go6983 nmr medical clearance but rather to perform an evaluation of the patient’s current medical status; make recommendations concerning the evaluation, management, and risk of cardiac problems over the entire perioperative period;

and provide a clinical risk profile that the patient, primary physician and non-physician caregivers, anaesthesiologist, and surgeon can use in making treatment decisions that may influence short- and long-term cardiac outcomes. No test should be performed unless it is likely to influence patient treatment. The goal of the consultation is the optimal care Baf-A1 order of the patient.”[18] Important cardiac conditions requiring evaluation Accordingly, those with unstable coronary syndromes, such as unstable or severe angina or a recent myocardial infarction (7 days to 1 month), decompensated heart failure, significant arrhythmias (including supraventricular arrhythmias with ventricular rate above 100, high-grade atrioventricular heart blocks) and severe valvular disease should undergo cardiac evaluation. Evaluation should also be performed where uncertainty exists over the diagnosis (e.g. dyspnoea of unknown origin) and for those with pacemakers (to review its indication, evaluate the battery life and resetting the mode if indicated). The purpose of these consultations is to confirm diagnosis, delineate the severity of the disease and whether there is any room for improvement with medical treatment in light of the clinical findings and not to obtain a medical clearance for anaesthesia from our physician colleagues.

FEMS Microbiol Rev 2005,29(1):83–98.PubMedCrossRef 18. Frankel G, Candy DC, Everest P, Dougan G:

Characterization of the C-terminal domains of intimin-like proteins of enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli , Citrobacter freundii , and Hafnia alvei . Infect Immun 1994,62(5):1835–1842.PubMed 19. Kelly G, Prasannan S, Daniell S, Fleming K, Frankel G, Dougan G, Connerton I, Matthews S: Structure of the cell-adhesion fragment of intimin from enteropathogenic Escherichia coli . Nat Struct Biol 1999,6(4):313–318.PubMedCrossRef 20. Jerse AE, Kaper JB: The eae gene of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli encodes a 94-kilodalton membrane protein, BAY 63-2521 concentration the expression of which is influenced by the EAF plasmid. Infect Immun 1991,59(12):4302–4309.PubMed 21. Deibel C, Kramer S, Chakraborty T, Ebel F: EspE, a novel secreted protein of attaching and effacing bacteria, is directly translocated into infected host cells, where it appears as a tyrosine-phosphorylated 90 kDa protein. Mol Microbiol 1998,28(3):463–474.PubMedCrossRef

22. Kenny B, DeVinney R, Stein M, Reinscheid DJ, Frey EA, Finlay BB: Enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) transfers its receptor for intimate adherence into mammalian cells. Cell 1997,91(4):511–520.PubMedCrossRef 23. Knutton S, Baldwin T, Williams PH, McNeish AS: Actin accumulation at sites of bacterial adhesion to tissue culture cells: basis of a new diagnostic test for enteropathogenic and enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli selleck inhibitor . Infect Immun 1989,57(4):1290–1298.PubMed 24. Sinclair JF, Dean-Nystrom EA, O’Brien AD: The established intimin receptor Tir and the putative eucaryotic intimin receptors nucleolin and

β1 integrin localize at or near the site of enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7 adherence to Acesulfame Potassium enterocytes in vivo . Infect Immun 2006,74(2):1255–1265.PubMedCrossRef 25. Frankel G, Lider O, Hershkoviz R, Mould AP, Kachalsky SG, Candy DC, Cahalon L, Humphries MJ, Dougan G: The cell-binding domain of intimin from enteropathogenic Escherichia coli binds to β1 integrins. J Biol Chem 1996,271(34):20359–20364.PubMedCrossRef 26. Sinclair JF, O’Brien AD: Intimin types α, β, and γ bind to nucleolin with equivalent affinity but lower avidity than to the translocated intimin receptor. J Biol Chem 2004,279(32):33751–33758.PubMedCrossRef 27. Reece S, Simmons CP, Fitzhenry RJ, Batchelor M, Hale C, Matthews S, Phillips AD, Dougan G, Frankel G: Mutagenesis of Captisol mw conserved tryptophan residues within the receptor-binding domain of intimin: influence on binding activity and virulence. Microbiology 2002,148(Pt 3):657–665.PubMed 28. Frankel G, Candy DC, Fabiani E, Adu-Bobie J, Gil S, Novakova M, Phillips AD, Dougan G: Molecular characterization of a carboxy-terminal eukaryotic-cell-binding domain of intimin from enteropathogenic Escherichia coli . Infect Immun 1995,63(11):4323–4328.PubMed 29.

Rapidly growing knowledge about the protein-protein

interaction (PPI) networks (interactome) for hosts and pathogens is beginning to be used to create network-based models [6]. A network analysis approach to a virus-human protein interactome network revealed that host interactors tend to be enriched in proteins that are highly connected in the cellular network Selleck MK-0457 [7]. These “”hub proteins”" are thought to be essential for normal cell functioning and during pathogenesis. Therefore, clarification of the genetic picture of hepatocarcinogenesis caused by HBV infection might provide clues toward achieving a decrease in the incidence of HCC and establishing effective treatments[8]. In this study, we attempted to catalogue all published interactions between HBV and human proteins, particularly human proteins associated with hepatocellular carcinomas, for an in-depth review and understanding of these interactions. Our aim was to enhance insight into HBV replication and pathogenesis on a cellular level, in order to assist in accelerating the development of effective therapeutics. Methods Text mining of human proteins that interact with HBV and are associated with HCC To facilitate the development of a database describing HBV and

human protein interactions, a detailed literature search was carried out on the PubMed database to analyze binary interactions between HBV and human proteins. We used the automatic text mining pipeline method of NLP (find more Natural see more Language Processing), followed by an expert curation process, independent of the results obtained at this step. The data compilation process included publications until January 2009. In brief, we first

searched the document using relevant keywords and transformed it into XML format. We then used the Lingpipe Kit sentence tokenization tool (sentence partition) to separate the abstract text into a single sentence. Follow-up analysis used the sentence as a basic unit. The human genes mentioned in the sentences were extracted using ABNER software [9], and the gene name was normalized based on the Entrez database in order to facilitate analysis and comparison. For example, an extracted Dipeptidyl peptidase conjunction gene description such as “”STAT3/5 gene”" would be resolved into STAT3 gene and STAT5 gene. We built a protein-protein interaction verb dictionary [10], including terms such as repress, regulate, inhibit, interact, phosphorylate, down-regulate and up-regulate. All of the verbs and their variants were derived from the BioNLP project http://​bionlp.​sourceforge.​net/​. Using the Lingpipe Toolkit, we then detected protein interaction verbs in sentences and gathered the HBV protein and synonym names (compiled from the Entrez database).

9 ± 0.3 × 109 2.0 ± 0.3 × 109 1.2 ± 0.1 × 109 Δgsp – 2.6 ± 0.3 × 109 6.2 ± 0.2 × 109 2.4 ± 0.2 × 109 1.2 ± 0.1 × 109 ΔsslE – 2.7 ± 0.1 × 109 5.7 ± 0.2 × 109 2.3 ± 0.3 × 109 1.2 ± 0.1 × 109 Wild-type + 5.8 ± 0.3 × 106 3.2 ± 0.1 × 106 1.6 ± 0.1

× 106 3.1 ± 0.1 × 105 Δgsp + 7.9 ± 0.9 × 106 4.1 ± 0.2 × 106 2.2 ± 0.2 × 106 5.7 ± 0.3 × 105 ΔsslE + 6.3 ± 0.3 × 106 4.1 ± 0.3 × 106 2.1 ± 0.4 × 106 5.0 ± 0.6 × 105 a –, no urea present; +, 1.15 M urea present. b Colony-forming units per ml of culture at the indicated time after inoculation, Selleck PXD101 shown as means ± SEM for at least three replicate plate counts. Discussion and conclusions Strains within the species Escherichia coli encode different combinations of type II secretion systems, each of which secrete different effectors and presumably

provide specific advantageous phenotypes selleck compound to their host organisms. To this point, the only T2SS shown to be functional in non-pathogenic E. coli strains is the chitinase-secreting T2SSα, which is the sole T2SS encoded by E. coli K-12 [13, 14] and whose role in natural environments is unknown. We demonstrate here that, surprisingly, the T2SSβ that promotes virulence of the enterotoxic strain H10407 and the enteropathogenic strain E2348/69 is conserved, and secretes a virulence factor homolog, in the non-pathogenic E. coli W strain. To our knowledge, this is the first time a virulence-associated type II secretion system has been shown to function in non-pathogenic E. coli. Deletion of sslE could be complemented in trans,

indicating that an sslE disruption does not prevent expression or assembly of T2SSβ in E. coli W. We observed that E. coli W preferentially secretes SslE under nutrient-rich conditions Histamine H2 receptor at human body temperature (37°C), which suggests that SslE may be a colonization factor in non-pathogenic strains. The regulation of SslE secretion in other strains is unclear, but expression of genes encoding the LT-secreting T2SSβ in E. coli H10407 was also shown to be upregulated at host-associated temperatures [11]. We hope that DAPT concentration future experiments will elucidate the role of SslE in host colonization by non-pathogenic E. coli. If secretion of SslE indeed aids diverse E. coli in gut colonization, it is perhaps surprising that some gut-derived isolates of E. coli, such as K-12 and O157:H7, lack the T2SS responsible for SslE secretion. Such strains may compensate for the loss of biofilm-forming propensity using other mechanisms; strains bearing the F plasmid (such as wild-type K-12) may rely on F pilus-mediated aggregation [15], for example. The genes encoding the SslE-secreting T2SSβ are present adjacent to the pheV tRNA gene, which appears to be a hypervariable locus in E. coli[16–18], so they may be randomly lost at a relatively high rate. Indeed, a comparison between phylogeny and T2SSα/T2SSβ presence suggests independent losses of T2SSβ in non-pathogenic strains (Figure 1).

Expression vectors for the V domain of Alix (pcGNM2/hAlix(364–716) have been described

[54]. The EIAV Gag expression vector (pPRE/GagEIAV) has been described [71]. Metabolic labeling and immunoprecipitation The protocol for radiolabeling and immunoprecipitation of cell and virus lysates has been described in detail previously [72]. Briefly, transfected cells were starved for 30 min in RPMI medium lacking Met and Cys. Thereafter, cells were incubated for 2–3 h in RPMI medium supplemented with FBS and [35S]Met/Cys. Culture supernatants were filtered and subjected to ultracentrifugation at 100,000 x g for 45 min. Cell and virion samples Stattic price were lysed in cell lysis buffer (0.5% AZD1390 in vitro Triton X-100, 300 mM NaCl, 50 mM Tris [pH 7.5] containing protease inhibitors [Complete; Roche]). Thereafter, they were immunoprecipitated either with

HIV-Ig (Kindly provided by the NIH AIDS research and reference reagent program) or anti-WNV serum (Kindly provided by Dr. Robert B. Tesh, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston) coated Protein A beads. Immunoprecipitated cell lysates were washed three times in RIPA buffer and once with SDS-DOC wash (0.1% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 300 mM NaCl, 50 mM Tris [pH 7.5], 2.5 mM deoxycholic acid), resolved by SDS-PAGE followed by PhosphorImager analysis. Virus release efficiency was calculated as ratio of virion associated versus total cell plus virion associated HIV-1 Gag or WNV E protein. Renilla based virus release

assay The overall strategy for this assay is summarized in Figure 2A. 293T cells were transfected with CprME and WNV Ren/Rep plasmids [46]. Culture supernatants were harvested 24 h post BLZ945 mouse transfection and cells lysed and read for ren-luc activity using the Dual Glo luciferase assay substrate (Promega). Equal volume of the harvested supernatants were then used to infect 293T cells, cells lysed and read for luciferase activity (virion-associated) 24 h post infection. Virus release was calculated as ratio of virion associated ren-luc/(cell+virion associated ren-luc) activity. The overall strategy is summarized in Figure 2A. Sequence analysis Selected Flavivirus proteins were downloaded from NCBI [42]. The NCBI database was searched for sequences for complete or almost full length (>3300 amino acids) polyproteins from Flaviviruses RANTES and selected the ones with species name including West Nile Virus. If multiple sequences were available per virus name, only the longest sequence was considered. This yielded 11 different West Nile virus sequences with separate strain designations (strain name and GI numbers shown in alignment). The downloaded sequences were aligned with MAFFT [43] and the respective motif regions visualized in Jalview [44] using ClustalX-like coloring based on physicochemical properties and conservation. To systematically count the frequency of YCYL and PAAP motif variants in WNV, we first identified significant protein hits (E<0.

For a-Si and μc-Si, we adopt the optical database from [15]; while for Ag and ZnO, the optical constants

are from Palik [16]. Since p and n regions considered are lightly doped, along with their thin thicknesses (tens of nanometers), the semiconductor doping can be deemed to bring neglectable BKM120 mouse effect on the optical absorption. FEM calculation also demonstrates that (1) the absorption of top TCO is stable under FK228 in vivo various configurations and (2) the bottom TCO absorption is very weak because the short-wavelength light has almost been depleted completely before reaching the bottom. For these reasons, the photoactive absorption (P abs) can be obtained by eliminating the top TCO absorption from the total absorption calculated from RCWA, and the total photocurrent J tot is then predicted roughly from P abs under the assumption of perfect internal quantum process. The above optical treatment can reflect

the total absorption and overall photocurrent characteristics of the tandem SCs to some extent. However, perfect carrier transportation is generally not possible. A realistic device-oriented simulation for SCs requires performing an optical-electrical simulation by connecting the electromagnetic and carrier transport calculations simultaneously (see [9, 17, 18] for details). For the tandem cells, we need the optical-electrical simulations I-BET151 solubility dmso for both top and bottom junctions with carrier generation, recombination, transport, and collection mechanisms totally included. The carrier generation profile in each junction Cediranib (AZD2171) is from the electromagnetic calculation. This way, the actual external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) and short-circuit photocurrent densities (J aSi and J μcSi) of the two junctions can be achieved, yielding the J sc = min(J aSi, J μcSi). With the dark current response calculated [18], we can construct the current–voltage (J-V) curve for the tandem TFSCs and carefully evaluate the cell performance, such as open-circuit voltage

(V oc) and light-conversion efficiency (η) under various nanophotonic designs. Results and discussion As the featured size of the nanopattern is comparable to the wavelength, the strong light-matter interaction is extremely sensitive to the geometric configurations, providing an efficient way of controlling sub-wavelength light-trapping behaviors. In this study, the integrated absorption is determined by the key parameters of the 2D grating, i.e., the height (d g ), pitches (Λ x , Λ y ), and widths (b x, b y ). Two-dimensional RCWA facilitates to find the optimized total photocurrent J tot (= J aSi + J μcSi) by properly designing Λ and duty cycle b/Λ in both directions.

One of the essential technologies used to fabricate nanoscale structures is atomic force microscopy (AFM), which is a tip-based nanomechanical machining method that possesses the advantages of precise spatial MDV3100 clinical trial resolution, in situ imaging, and other unique features, including the inexpensive device, relatively easy control and operation [4]. Especially, the AFM-based friction-induced nanomechanical method, which belongs to one of the AFM-based nanofabrication methods, is looked on as a new way for forming complex nanostructures [5, 6]. Ripple patterns can exist over a range of length scales including macroscopic linear ripples on sea and desert sands

created by wind [7], microsized ripples on surfaces of metal substrates produced by ion sputtering [8], and nanoscale ripples on the surfaces of thermoplastic polymers obtained by an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip’s reciprocal scanning [9]. In particular, it ZD1839 clinical trial has been found that ripples can be formed on polymer surfaces by single scanning with an AFM tip. Acunto et al. [10, 11] reported that ripple patterns could be formed with a small applied load and single scanning on the surfaces of solvent-containing

polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films. Gnecco et al. [12] reported that linear ripples with the period of 100 to several hundreds of nanometers can be produced by a heated AFM tip on the surfaces of polycarbonate (PC), poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and PSul films, and the ripples could also be obtained with circular scanning. The main mechanisms for the tip-induced ripple formation including Schallamach waves, stick-slip, and fracture-based deformation [9, 13, 14] have been proposed. The Schallamach waves are reviewed as the inability of the rubber surface Cell press under high shear forces [9]. The stick-slip JNK inhibitor solubility dmso mechanism is the competition between the tangential force and the critical tangential force [13]. And, the fracture-based deformation is perceived as the existence of the cracks in the deformed materials [14]. All of the mechanisms are just the proposed model. They cannot be clearly conformed and came to an agreement

for explaining the ripples’ formation. So, the mechanism for the process of such ripple formation is still controversial. As mentioned above, just simple ripple-based structures had been formed by AFM tip’s scanning. And, for the novel friction-induced mechanical nanofabrication method, only the protrusive nanostructures including nanodots, nanolines, surface mesas, and nanowards have been produced by the mechanical interaction on the material surface. Until now, complex, ordered nanostructures on polymer surfaces using the friction-induced direct nanofabrication method are not reported [5, 6]. In previous work, we produced nanoscale ripples by scratching a PC surface with an AFM tip with a hard cantilever once [15].

However, conditional TM can also be affected by systematic biases, see more deriving, for example, from transposon tools endowed with outward-facing promoters that are not strictly regulated in non-inducing conditions, resulting in a basal level of promoter expression. In fact, promoter leakage under non-inducing conditions would not completely switch off the gene downstream of the insertion site, significantly increasing the false-negative identification rate. The TM tools applicable for use with P. aeruginosa[12] are based on elements used for tightly regulated gene expression in E. coli, and are expected to not be completely PX-478 purchase switched off in non-inducing

conditions when used “out-of-context”. For these reasons, we set out to screen novel essential genes of P. aeruginosa using a method other than TM. To this end, we selected shotgun antisense RNA identification of essential genes, a technique that was developed a decade ago in Staphylococcus aureus[13, 14]. This technique originally only showed limited success in Gram-negative bacteria [15, 16], but

has recently been used effectively in E. coli[17]. In this approach, essential genes are identified after shotgun-cloned genomic fragments are conditionally expressed. The fragments are screened to identify those whose expression impairs growth [18]. The genes targeted by antisense RNA are identified by DNA sequencing of the growth-impairing fragments. This study shows for the first time the until feasibility of the antisense technology VX-809 order in P. aeruginosa for identifying novel essential genes. Moreover, we included some modifications to the original strategy that could have broadened the functional class variety of the identified essential genes in respect to a recent report in E. coli[17]. Results Ad hoc procedure to screen for essential P. aeruginosa genes by antisense RNA effects According to the scheme for antisense-mediated identification of essential genes established in S. aureus[13, 14], the shotgun genomic libraries generated in vitro are directly introduced into the original host

by transformation, and selected in permissive conditions, i.e., with the promoter vector in an off state, to allow the clones carrying inserts targeting essential genes to survive. However, basal vector promoter activity could be sufficient to elicit silencing effects against genes transcribed at low levels. This effect may introduce a bias in the subsequent conditional screening, favoring the identification of highly transcribed essential genes (e.g., tRNAs, tRNA synthetases, ribosomal proteins, translation factors, components of the transcription machinery). Cells transformed using constructs targeting essential genes expressed at low levels will fail to form a colony in the permissive conditions.

Eur J Oral Sci 2002,110(2):157–162.PubMedCrossRef 35. Ohara N, Kikuchi Y, Shoji M, Naito M, Nakayama K: Superoxide click here dismutase-encoding gene of the obligate anaerobe Porphyromonas gingivalis is regulated by the redox-sensing transcription activator OxyR. Microbiology 2006,152(Pt 4):955–966.PubMedCrossRef 36. Shi Y, Ratnayake DB, Okamoto K, Abe N, Yamamoto K, Nakayama K: Genetic analyses of proteolysis, hemoglobin binding, and hemagglutination of Porphyromonas gingivalis . Construction

of mutants with a combination of rgpA , rgpB , kgp , and hagA . J Biol Chem 1999,274(25):17955–17960.PubMedCrossRef 37. Ueshima J, Shoji M, Ratnayake DB, Abe K, Yoshida S, Yamamoto K, Nakayama K: Purification, gene cloning, gene expression, and mutants of Dps from the obligate anaerobe Porphyromonas gingivalis . Infect Immun 2003,71(3):1170–1178.PubMedCrossRef https://www.selleckchem.com/products/mk-4827-niraparib-tosylate.html Authors’ contributions MS, YA, ECR and KN designed the study. MS wrote the manuscript with BP, ECR and KN. MS, YS, TS, HY, BP, YYC, KS and MN performed the experiments in this study. Especially, MS participated in almost all of the study, HY measured gingipain activity, YYC performed MALDI-TOF mass spectrometric analysis, and MN performed hemagglutinating assay. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
“Background

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the main infectious causes of death worldwide, with more than 9 million new cases of active disease every year and nearly 2 million deaths [1]. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is the causative agent of most TB cases, and its ability to spread and the outcome of infection depend on epidemiological, host, and bacterial factors [2]. The MTB genome is highly conserved, but several ever large sequence polymorphisms defining different genetically related lineages have been identified. Among them, the Beijing family can be identified rapidly and reliably

by several genetic features. These include a characteristic spoligotype with selleck chemicals llc exclusive deletion of spacers 1-34 (the so-called RD207 deletion) [3], an intact open reading frame in the pks15/1 gene [4], and deletion of the genomic region RD105, which define the Beijing family as a separate lineage within MTB [5]. The Beijing lineage is causing major concern worldwide [6, 7] because its worldwide spread and involvement in several TB outbreaks, some of them involving drug-resistant strains [8]. The Beijing lineage is generally considered to be associated with drug-resistance, although this association has not been found in all geographic settings [7, 8]. The proportion of Beijing strains differs, being low in Western Europe, although a slight increase in the number of Beijing strains has been detected over time [6].

Meanwhile, giant buckyballs, such as C720,

have smaller system rigidity as well as non-recoverable morphology upon impact, and thus they are expected to have higher capabilities for energy dissipation [28]. However, to the best knowledge of the authors, currently, only few studies about the mechanical behavior of giant selleck screening library buckyball are available [29–31]. To understand the mechanical behavior of C720 and investigate MK-1775 purchase its energy absorption potential in this paper, the dynamic response of C720 is studied at various impact speeds below 100 m/s by employing molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Firstly, the buckling behaviors under both low-speed crushing and impact

are discussed and described using classical thin shell models. Next, 1-D alignment of C720 system is investigated to identify the influence of packing of the buckyball on unit energy absorption. Finally, 3-D stacking of C720 system is considered, where four types of packing forms are introduced and the relationship between unit energy absorption and stacking density are elucidated by an empirical model. Methods Computational model and method The C720 is a spherical selleck kinase inhibitor buckyball with diameter of 2.708 nm (where the van der Waals equilibrium distance is considered), volume of 7.35 nm3, and mass of 1.45 × 10−20 g. C720 with varying numbers and packing directions (both vertical and horizontal) are selected in this study. Computational cells from single buckyball to 3-D buckyball stacking system are illustrated in selected examples in Figure  1. In the scenario of the

impact, the Lonafarnib nmr buckyball system subjects to the impact of a top rigid plate with incident energy E impactor, and the initial impact speed is below 100 m/s; in the scenario of crushing, the top rigid plate compresses the buckyball system at a constant speed below 100 m/s. The bottom plate, which is rigid and fixed, serves as a receiver, and the force history it experiences could indicate the energy mitigation capability of the protective buckyball system. The buckyball is not allowed to slip with respect to the impactor and receiver plates. Both the impactor and receiver plates are composed of carbon atoms. The masses of the atoms are varied in the following simulation to set various loading conditions (varying impactor mass), while the interactions between the plates and buckyballs remain as carbon-carbon interaction. Figure 1 Various alignments of buckyball system as a protector. MD simulation is performed based on large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator platform with the micro-canonical ensembles (NVE) [32] after equilibration.