Ambivalent effect of protein binding on computed distributions of metal ions complexed by ligands in blood plasma

Summary Although the absolute concentrations of metal complexes in blood plasma are controlled by protein binding, the percentage distribution of transition metal ions amongst low molecular weight ligands is not. Thus, computer simulations which omit protein equilibria can nevertheless afford reliable information about such metals in the biofluid.Acknowledgments. One of us (P. M. M.) thanks the University of Cape Town and the C. S. I. R. for financial assistance. Computations were performed on both of the University of Cape Town's UNIVAC 1106 system and the St. Andrews University's IBM 360/44. Address ofP. W. Linder: University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape (South Africa).     

改善苎麻及其混纺纱弹性研究

本文主要为了改善苎麻纱和麻棉纱的弹性,对苎麻纱、麻棉纱和棉纱进行了碱处理。并根据前人所做的工作,即有张力状态下碱处理和松弛状态下碱处理,其纱线性能存在较大差异,因而本文着重考虑在不同张力状态下进行碱处理,研究结果表明,采用低张力进行碱处理。其苎麻纱和麻棉纱的最大变形能力即断裂伸长显著增加,初始弹性模量显著下降,纱线变形恢复能力显著提高。     

Host-parasitoid associations in patchy environments

Studies of insect host-parasitoid interactions have contributed much to the consensus that spatial patchiness is important in the regulation of natural populations. A variety of theoretical models predict that host and parasitoid populations, although unstable in the absence of environmental heterogeneity, may persist at roughly steady overall densities in a patchy environment owing to variation in levels of parasitism from patch to patch. Observed patterns of parasitism, however, have a variety of forms (with variation in attack rates among patches depending directly or indirectly on host density, or showing variation uncorrelated with host density). There is some confusion about the dynamical consequences of these different forms. Here we first show how the dynamical effects of all these forms of environmental heterogeneity can be assessed by a common criterion. This 'CV2 greater than 1 rule' states that the overall population densities will remain roughly steady from generation to generation if the coefficient of variation squared (CV2) of the density of searching parasitoids in the vicinity of each host exceeds approximately unity. By partitioning CV2 into components, we show that both direct and inverse patterns of dependence on host density, and density-independent patterns, all contribute to population regulation in the same way. Second, we show how a maximum-likelihood method can be applied to the kind of field data that are usually available (that is, percentage parasitism versus local host density) to estimate the components of CV2. This analysis indicates that heterogeneity is large enough to stabilize dynamics in 9 of 34 published studies, and that density-independent heterogeneity is the main factor in most cases.     

Two pathways converge at CED-10 to mediate actin rearrangement and corpse removal in C. elegans

The removal of apoptotic cells is essential for the physiological well being of the organism. In Caenorhabditis elegans, two conserved, partially redundant genetic pathways regulate this process. In the first pathway, the proteins CED-2, CED-5 and CED-12 (mammalian homologues CrkII, Dock180 and ELMO, respectively) function to activate CED-10 (Rac1). In the second group, the candidate receptor CED-1 (CD91/LRP/SREC) probably recognizes an unknown ligand on the apoptotic cell and signals via its cytoplasmic tail to the adaptor protein CED-6 (hCED-6/GULP), whereas CED-7 (ABCA1) is thought to play a role in membrane dynamics. Molecular understanding of how the second pathway promotes engulfment of the apoptotic cell is lacking. Here, we show that CED-1, CED-6 and CED-7 are required for actin reorganization around the apoptotic cell corpse, and that CED-1 and CED-6 colocalize with each other and with actin around the dead cell. Furthermore, we find that the CED-10(Rac) GTPase acts genetically downstream of these proteins to mediate corpse removal, functionally linking the two engulfment pathways and identifying the CED-1, -6 and -7 signalling module as upstream regulators of Rac activation.     

Evaluation of Woven Fabrics for Comfort Properties in Children’s Summer Wear

This paper evaluates the comfort properties of eightkinds of woven fabric commonly used for children'ssummer wear in Hong Kong,China.Due to the expan-sion of children's wear market and the quality require-ment for parents,objective and subjective measurementsare the main methods used to evaluate the chosen fabricsfor garment deslgners and consumers as reference. Objective measurement was carried out through ex-periments by means of the Kawabata Evaluation Systemfor Fabrics(KES-F).Experimental tests on fabrics in-clude compression,surface,bending,air permeability,thermal and tensile.Subjective measurement was con-ducted by a market research on consumers' opinions onfabrics for children's summer wear in the form of ques-tionnaire survey.These two ways of measurement onfabrics were analyzed and compared. It was found that Fabric Sample 6 which is com-posed of polyester and cotton fibre has the best perfor-mance in terms of its comfort properties.Besides,Sam-ple 4 composes of rayon and cotton fibre also ha     

侧下风机式82型木材干燥窑

<正>本设计为二窑一套的干燥工段定型设计。窑主体采用钢筋混疑土内壳,能有效地抗腐蚀、风化和开裂。采用双层单扇金属保温门,开关轻便可靠,并装有膨胀式气密垫圈,可确保门的上沿和两侧完全不漏气,还设有含水率测量装置和观察窗,可在操作间监测干燥过程中的试材含水率变化,并可随时看到材堆端头有、无开裂发生。 该窑可实施常规、高温或过热蒸汽干燥,干燥性能和节能效果较好。     

Tumour necrosis factors alpha and beta inhibit virus replication and synergize with interferons

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and lymphotoxin were initially described as tumoricidal proteins that are produced by activated macrophages and lymphocytes, respectively. Since TNF and lymphotoxin are structurally related, bind to the same cell surface receptor and have indistinguishable biological activities, they have been designated as TNF-alpha and TNF-beta, respectively. The multiple activities of these molecules indicate their importance in immunoregulative responses. Here we report that both TNF-alpha and TNF-beta have antiviral activity and synergize with interferons (IFNs) in the induction of resistance to both RNA and DNA virus infection in diverse cell types. These effects of TNFs are not due to the induction of IFN synthesis. Virus-infected cells are selectively killed by TNFs and this activity is accelerated by IFN-gamma. The production of TNFs is induced by viruses, further suggesting the importance of TNFs in the physiological antiviral response.