Studies on the Dd antigen-antibody system. I. The nature of antigen Dd and its antibodies

Summary The nature of antigen Dd, an antigen present in the extracts of human dandruff which precipitates human sera selectively, and antibodies reacting with it are reported.This work was supported through U.G.C. Grant No. F.23-230/75/SR II. H.K. participated in this study, first as J.R.F. of U.G.C. and then as S.R.F. of I.C.M.R. We are grateful to Dr Baruch S. Blumberg for his invaluable suggestions and to Professor H. Walter for the gift of IgG, IgM and IgA immune sera.     

Chromosomal effects of adeno-associated virus vector integration.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors are currently being used in several clinical gene-therapy trials (see the NIH OBA Human Gene Transfer Clinical Trials Database); however, little is known about the chromosomal effects of vector integration. Here we report that integrated vector proviruses are associated with chromosomal deletions and other rearrangements and are frequently located on chromosome 19 (although not at the wildtype AAV integration site).     

Energetic landscape of alpha-lytic protease optimizes longevity through kinetic stability.

During the evolution of proteins the pressure to optimize biological activity is moderated by a need for efficient folding. For most proteins, this is accomplished through spontaneous folding to a thermodynamically stable and active native state. However, in the extracellular bacterial alpha-lytic protease (alphaLP) these two processes have become decoupled. The native state of alphaLP is thermodynamically unstable, and when denatured, requires millennia (t1/2 approximately 1,800 years) to refold. Folding is made possible by an attached folding catalyst, the pro-region, which is degraded on completion of folding, leaving alphaLP trapped in its native state by a large kinetic unfolding barrier (t1/2 approximately 1.2 years). alphaLP faces two very different folding landscapes: one in the presence of the pro-region controlling folding, and one in its absence restricting unfolding. Here we demonstrate that this separation of folding and unfolding pathways has removed constraints placed on the folding of thermodynamically stable proteins, and allowed the evolution of a native state having markedly reduced dynamic fluctuations. This, in turn, has led to a significant extension of the functional lifetime of alphaLP by the optimal suppression of proteolytic sensitivity.     

Comparative study of the karyotypes of two Egyptian species of bats,Taphozous perforatus andTaphozous nudiventris (Chiroptera: Mammalia)

A detailed karyotypic analysis of two Egyptian species of bats,Taphozous perforatus andTaphozous nudiventris, was made on the basis of conventional data and G-band patterns. No detectable karyotypic difference was found between the two species (2n=42, F.N. 64). By comparison of G-band patterns, some differences between the two species were seen in the corresponding autosomal pairs. These results are reported for the first time in Egypt.     

Indoxyl derivatives of drug metabolites

Summary Indoxyl derivatives were detected as minor products among the urinary metabolites of two trial drugs, a benzodiazepine (GP 55 129) and a benzophenone (CGP 11 952). Their structures were elucidated by NMR and mass spectroscopy. Presumably, metabolites containing potential aldehyde functions react spontaneously with endogenous indoxyl. Such derivatives have not hitherto been encountered in drug metabolism.     

Ruin Probability with Variable Premium Rate and Disturbed by Diffusion in a Markovian Environment

We consider a risk model with a premium rate which varies with the level of free reserves. In this model, the occurrence of claims is described by a Cox process with Markov intensity process, and the influence of stochastic factors is considered by adding a diffusion process. The integro-differential equation for the ruin probability is derived by a infinitesimal method.     

新世纪图书馆员社会角色转换研究综述

就近几年图书馆界关于新世纪馆员意识转换及社会角色转换等方面的研究进行了综述，指出新时期的馆员要实现自我社会角色的转换，首先是要明确转换的必要性，然后采取有效的策略逐步地、系统地推进转换，才能取得较好的效果。     

Newton's Easy Quadratures ``Omitted for the Sake of Brevity'

In the 1687 Principia, Newton gave a solution to the direct problem (given the orbit and center of force, find the central force) for a conic-section with a focal center of force (answer: a reciprocal square force) and for a spiral orbit with a polar center of force (answer: a reciprocal cube force). He did not, however, give solutions for the two corresponding inverse problems (given the force and center of force, find the orbit). He gave a cryptic solution to the inverse problem of a reciprocal cube force, but offered no solution for the reciprocal square force. Some take this omission as an indication that Newton could not solve the reciprocal square, for, they ask, why else would he not select this important problem? Others claim that ``it is child's play' for him, as evidenced by his 1671 catalogue of quadratures (tables of integrals). The answer to that question is obscured for all who attempt to work through Newton's published solution of the reciprocal cube force because it is done in the synthetic geometric style of the 1687 Principia rather than in the analytic algebraic style that Newton employed until 1671. In response to a request from David Gregory in 1694, however, Newton produced an analytic version of the body of the proof, but one which still had a geometric conclusion. Newton's charge is to find both ``the orbit' and ``the time in orbit.' In the determination of the dependence of the time on orbital position, t(r), Newton evaluated an integral of the form ∫dx/x <sup>n</sup> to calculate a finite algebraic equation for the area swept out as a function of the radius, but he did not write out the analytic expression for time t = t(r), even though he knew that the time t is proportional to that area. In the determination of the orbit, θ (r), Newton obtained an integral of the form ∫dx/√(1−x<sup>2</sup>) for the area that is proportional to the angle θ, an integral he had shown in his 1669 On Analysis by Infinite Equations to be equal to the arcsin(x). Since the solution must therefore contain a transcendental function, he knew that a finite algebraic solution for θ=θ(r) did not exist for ``the orbit' as it had for ``the time in orbit.' In contrast to these two solutions for the inverse cube force, however, it is not possible in the inverse square solution to generate a finite algebraic expression for either ``the orbit' or ``the time in orbit.' In fact, in Lemma 28, Newton offers a demonstration that the area of an ellipse cannot be given by a finite equation. I claim that the limitation of Lemma 28 forces Newton to reject the inverse square force as an example and to choose instead the reciprocal cube force as his example in Proposition 41. (Received August 14, 2002) Published online March 26, 2003 Communicated by G. Smith     

Sound communication inNezara viridula (L.) (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae): Further evidence that signal transmission is substrate-borne

We investigated the sound communication associated with mating inNezara viridula (L.) to clarify conflicting reports on the medium through which acoustic signals are borne. Recordings made from virgin pairs ofN. viridula during precopulatory and compulatory behaviour have revealed that signals transmitted as vibrations through the substrate are a more likely means of communication than signals transmitted by a radiation of sound pressure waves through the air (at least in Australian populations). We present evidence (additional to that already in the literature) that air-borne acoustics are an unlikely mechanism of sexual communication in this species. Specifically, the recorded pulse train patterns showed no consistency or repeatability in relation to different stages of mating behaviour. In contrast, frequency spectrograms of substrate-borne signals reveal repeatable patterns that do correspond with the stage of mating behaviour.     

氧化物半导瓷中晶界势垒的起源

提出了一个关于氧化物半导瓷晶界势垒起源的新观点，认为晶界势垒起源于烧结过程中外界氧在晶界中的扩散，与材料的结构、化学缺陷、掺杂、外界气氛、烧结工艺、组成状态等有密切关系，并用此理论解释了许多实验现象。