A second human interleukin-2 binding protein that may be a component of high-affinity interleukin-2 receptors

Although activated human T and B lymphocytes express both high-affinity and low-affinity membrane receptors for interleukin-2 (IL-2), the structural features that distinguish these receptors have remained unresolved. The high-affinity receptors appear to mediate IL-2 induced T cell growth and internalization of IL-2, whereas no function has yet been ascribed to the low-affinity receptors. The Tac antigen is an IL-2 binding protein of relative molecular mass 55,000 (Mr 55K) that participates in the formation of both high- and low-affinity receptors. But Tac complementary DNA transfection and membrane fusion studies have suggested that additional T-cell components are required to produce high-affinity IL-2 receptors. In this study, we report the identification of a second human IL-2 binding protein that (1) has an Mr of approximately 70K, (2) lacks reactivity with the anti-Tac antibody, (3) binds IL-2 with intermediate affinity and (4) is present on the surface of resting T cells, large granular lymphocytes (natural killer cells), and certain T and B cell lines in the absence of the Tac antigen. Chemical crosslinking of 125I-labelled IL-2 bound to high-affinity IL-2 receptors produces labelling of both the p70 protein and the Tac antigen and the anti-Tac antibody blocks the crosslink detection of both of these proteins. Expression of Tac cDNA in a T cell line expressing the p70 protein, but lacking both Tac and high-affinity receptors, results in the reconstitution of high-affinity IL-2 receptors in these cells. Together, these findings suggest that the high-affinity human IL-2 receptor may be a membrane complex composed of at least the p70 protein and Tac antigen.     

磁性隧道结中自旋相关输运的势垒影响

为了研究势垒对铁磁/绝缘层/半导体/绝缘层/铁磁(FM/I/SM/I/FM)双隧道结中自旋相关电子输运特性的影响,提出了在半导体层厚度合适的情况下,非对称势垒对于提高平行结构磁性双隧道结的自旋注入效率SIE(spin injection efficiency)更具优势.数值计算结果表明,当两势垒强度的比率达到合适数值时双结的SIE和隧穿磁电阻TMR(tunneling magnetore resistance)都将达到最大,这给提高从铁磁到半导体的SIE带来新选择.研究还表明,非对称势垒结构磁性隧道结中增大铁磁交换能对提高SIE和TMR都是有益的,而且铁磁交换能的增加对SIE的提高要比对TMR的提高更显著.     

关于加强青年农民工的思想道德建设的思考

青年农民工是我国工业化、城市化进程中的一支重要力量,他们在为我国经济社会发展做出巨大贡献的同时,却遭受着不公正的待遇,不能取得与拥有城镇户口身份的劳动者平等的地位并享受相应权益等等,这些问题在一定程度上造成青年农民工在思想和道德素质上表现出种种不足,给社会和谐稳定带来了隐患。为此,加强青年农民工的思想道德建设,成为和谐社会发展中的一个重要课题。     

Single-molecule imaging reveals mechanisms of protein disruption by a DNA translocase

In physiological settings, nucleic-acid translocases must act on substrates occupied by other proteins, and an increasingly appreciated role of translocases is to catalyse protein displacement from RNA and DNA. However, little is known regarding the inevitable collisions that must occur, and the fate of protein obstacles and the mechanisms by which they are evicted from DNA remain unexplored. Here we sought to establish the mechanistic basis for protein displacement from DNA using RecBCD as a model system. Using nanofabricated curtains of DNA and multicolour single-molecule microscopy, we visualized collisions between a model translocase and different DNA-bound proteins in real time. We show that the DNA translocase RecBCD can disrupt core RNA polymerase, holoenzymes, stalled elongation complexes and transcribing RNA polymerases in either head-to-head or head-to-tail orientations, as well as EcoRI(E111Q), lac repressor and even nucleosomes. RecBCD did not pause during collisions and often pushed proteins thousands of base pairs before evicting them from DNA. We conclude that RecBCD overwhelms obstacles through direct transduction of chemomechanical force with no need for specific protein-protein interactions, and that proteins can be removed from DNA through active disruption mechanisms that act on a transition state intermediate as they are pushed from one nonspecific site to the next.     

Reducing uncertainty in short-term projections: Linkage of monthly and quarterly models

This paper shows how monthly data and forecasts can be used in a systematic way to improve the predictive accuracy of a quarterly macroeconometric model. The problem is formulated as a model pooling procedure (equivalent to non-recursive Kalman filtering) where a baseline quarterly model forecast is modified through ‘add-factors’ or ‘constant adjustments’. The procedure ‘automatically’ constructs these adjustments in a covariance-minimizing fashion to reflect the revised expectation of the quarterly model's forecast errors, conditional on the monthly information set. Results obtained using Federal Reserve Board models indicate the potential for significant reduction in forecast error variance through application of these procedures.