Antigen-specific T cells in autoimmune diseases with a focus on multiple sclerosis and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis

Although the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases remains poorly understood, the current view is that autoaggresive antigen-specific T cells play a central role in the cascade of events leading to most autoimmune diseases. A major event in the development of autoimmune diseases is the activation of antigen-specific T cells-how, when and where does this activation take place? This review addresses questions concerning the occurrence of unique autoantigens triggering autoimmune diseases, the factors influencing the balance between self-tolerance and autoaggresive immunity, and the mechanisms by which dendritic cells mediate immunity and tolerance to antigen-specific T cells. Knowledge of how antigen-specific T cells are activated is now being used to develop therapeutic approaches to control autoimmune diseases. We discuss tolerance to antigen-specific T cells and tolerance induction as treatment of T-cell-mediated autoimmune diseases. Therapeutic modalities have been established which selectively target the pathogenic T cells. leaving the remainder of the immune system intact.     

粒子天体物理

学科的协同性正在发展。天体物理的观测结果正用于解释基本粒子的属性,而同时粒子物理和实验技术既把宇宙的耀眼部分也把其不可视部分展示给我们,这一切是怎样开始的呢?     

SO(10)大统一模型的有效势

本文讨论了一般有效势的计算方法和 SO(10)群的破缺机制,并计算了 SO(10)大统一模型单圈近似下的有效势。这一有效势的得出不但对讨论 SO(10)大统一模型理论的整体对称性是有益的,而且可用来讨论极早期宇宙的剧烈膨胀过程。     

现代物理学时空观提出的几个哲学问题

近几年物理学为解决宇宙起源而创立了量子宇宙学,虽然这一学说还是处于创立初期,但由这一理论而提出的时空观的问题却引起了人们的思考。通过讨论我们得出:在普朗克期,时间、空间具有新的结构、新的特征,应该用新的量去描述它们;时空的量子起伏使我们确信在普朗克期因果联系的形式和特征变得丰富多样了;统一理论只有在多维时空中建立,似乎表明四维时空只是多维时空的一种表现形式。     

Eruptions arising from tidally controlled periodic openings of rifts on Enceladus

In 2005, plumes were detected near the south polar region of Enceladus, a small icy satellite of Saturn. Observations of the south pole revealed large rifts in the crust, informally called 'tiger stripes', which exhibit higher temperatures than the surrounding terrain and are probably sources of the observed eruptions. Models of the ultimate interior source for the eruptions are under consideration. Other models of an expanding plume require eruptions from discrete sources, as well as less voluminous eruptions from a more extended source, to match the observations. No physical mechanism that matches the observations has been identified to control these eruptions. Here we report a mechanism in which temporal variations in tidal stress open and close the tiger-stripe rifts, governing the timing of eruptions. During each orbit, every portion of each tiger stripe rift spends about half the time in tension, which allows the rift to open, exposing volatiles, and allowing eruptions. In a complementary process, periodic shear stress along the rifts also generates heat along their lengths, which has the capacity to enhance eruptions. Plume activity is expected to vary periodically, affecting the injection of material into Saturn's E ring and its formation, evolution and structure. Moreover, the stresses controlling eruptions imply that Enceladus' icy shell behaves as a thin elastic layer, perhaps only a few tens of kilometres thick.     

Evidence that humans evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor

Bipedalism has traditionally been regarded as the fundamental adaptation that sets hominids apart from other primates. Fossil evidence demonstrates that by 4.1 million years ago, and perhaps earlier, hominids exhibited adaptations to bipedal walking. At present, however, the fossil record offers little information about the origin of bipedalism, and despite nearly a century of research on existing fossils and comparative anatomy, there is still no consensus concerning the mode of locomotion that preceded bipedalism. Here we present evidence that fossils attributed to Australopithecus anamensis (KNM-ER 20419) and A. afarensis (AL 288-1) retain specialized wrist morphology associated with knuckle-walking. This distal radial morphology differs from that of later hominids and non-knuckle-walking anthropoid primates, suggesting that knuckle-walking is a derived feature of the African ape and human clade. This removes key morphological evidence for a Pan-Gorilla clade, and suggests that bipedal hominids evolved from a knuckle-walking ancestor that was already partly terrestrial.