EC,ASMC and Macrophage Oxidize Human Low Density Lipoprotein

Ｉｔｉｓｋｎｏｗｎｔｈａｔｄｕｒｉｎｇａｔｈｅｒｏｓｃｌｅｒｏｓｉｓ (Ａｓ)ｏｘｉｄｉｚｅｄｌｏｗｄｅｎｓｉｔｙｌｉｐｏｐｒｏｔｅｉｎ (ｏｘ ＬＤＬ)ｐｌａｙｓａｎｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔｒｏｌｅｔｈａｔｉｓｔａｋｅｎｕｐｂｙａｒｔｅｒｉａｌｗａｌｌｍａｃｒｏｐｈａｇｅｓａｔａｎｅｎｈａｎｃｅｄｒａｔｅ ,ｌｅａｄｉｎｇｔｏｃｅｌｌｕｌａｒｃｈｏｌｅｓｔｅｒｏｌａｃｃｕｍｕｌａｔｉｏｎａｎｄｆｏａｍｃｅｌｌｆｏｒｍａｔｉｏｎ .ＴｈｅａｔｈｅｒｏｇｅｎｉｃｉｔｙｏｆｏｘｉｄｉｚｅｄＬＤＬａｌｓｏｉｎｖｏｌｖ…     

COMPARISON OF MAX—MIN APPROACH AND NN METHOD FOR RELIABILITY OPTIMIZATION OF SERIES—PARALLEL SYSTEM

Two heuristics, the max-min approach and the Nakagawa and Nakashima method, are consideredfor the redundancy allocation problem with series-parallel structure. The max-min approach canformulate the problem as an integer linear programming problem instead of an integer nonlinearproblem. This paper presents a comparison between those methods from the standpoint of solutionquality and computational complexity. The experimental results show that the max-min approach issuperior to the Nakagawa and Nakashima method in terms of solution quality in small-scale problems,but analysis of computational complexity shows that the max-min approach is inferior to other greedyheuristics.     

Biosynthesis of selenosubtilisin: A novel way to target selenium into the active site of subtilisin

Glutathione peroxidase （GPx, EC1.11.1.9）, an important anti-oxidative selenoenzyme, can catalyze the reduction of harmful hydroperoxides with concomitant glutathione, thereby protecting cells and other biological issues against oxidative damage. It captures considerable interest in redesign of its function for either the mechanism study or the pharmacological development as an antioxidant. In order to develop a general strategy for specifically targeting and operating selenium in active sites of enzymes, the catalytically essential residue selenocysteine （Sec） was first successfully bioincorporated into the catalytic center of subtilisin by using an auxotrophic expression system. The studies of the catalytic activity and the steady-state kinetics demonstrated that selenosubtilisin is an excellent GPx-like biocatalyst. In comparison with the chemically modified method, biosynthesis exhibits obvious advantages： Sec could be site-directly incorporated into active sites of enzymes to overcome the non-specificity generated by chemical modification. This study provides an important strategy for specifically targeting and operating selenium in the active site of an enzyme.     

STRATEGIC EXERCISE OF REAL OPTIONS：INVESTMENT DECISIONS IN TECHNOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Viewing investment projects in new technologies as real options, this paper studies the effects ofendogenous competition and asymmetric information on the strategic exercise of real options. We firstdevelop a multi-period, game-theoretic model and show how competition leads to early exercise andaggressive investment behaviors and how competition erodes option values. We then relax the typicalfull-information assumption found in the literature and allow information asymmetry to exist acrossfirms. Our model shows, in contrast to the literature that payoff is independent of the ordering ofexercise, that the sequential exercise of real options may generate both informational and payoffexternalities. We also find some surpising but interesting results such as having more information isnot necessarily better.     

DNA sequence and expression of the B95-8 Epstein-Barr virus genome

The complete (172,282 base pairs) nucleotide sequence of the B95-8 strain of Epstein-Barr virus has been established using the dideoxynucleotide/M13 sequencing procedure. Many RNA polymerase II promoters have been mapped and the mRNAs from these promoters have been assigned to the latent or early/late productive virus cycles. Likely protein-coding regions have been identified and three of these have been shown to encode a ribonucleotide reductase, a DNA polymerase and two surface glycoproteins.     

Endothelial defects and blood flow disturbance in atherogenesis

Résumé Les observations faites sur le porc de Yorkshire montrent que certaines perturbations du flot sanguin normal se manifestent dans une zone prédisposée au developpement de lésions athéromateuses et sont accompagnées de pertes de substances endothéliales. Cette destruction des cellules endothéliales permettrait au plasma riche en lipoprotéines de pénétrer librement dans la paroi artérielle, ce qui favorise l'athérogénese.

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Supported by NIH grant No. HE 11-11791.     

BOTTLENECKS IN PRODUCTION NETWORKS： AN OVERVIEW

1. Introduction Performances of a production system, such as the throughput, the circle time and the average delay, etc., are affected by the capacities of machines and resources available in the system. Some of them may affect the system performances more than others. Usually, the limitation of a system can be traced to the limitation of one or two machines or one or two kinds of resources, commonly called bottlenecks. From system point of view, bottlenecks are the congestion points of the sy…     

An Earth-like correspondence between Saturn's auroral features and radio emission

Saturn is a source of intense kilometre-wavelength radio emissions that are believed to be associated with its polar aurorae, and which provide an important remote diagnostic of its magnetospheric activity. Previous observations implied that the radio emission originated in the polar regions, and indicated a strong correlation with solar wind dynamic pressure. The radio source also appeared to be fixed near local noon and at the latitude of the ultraviolet aurora. There have, however, been no observations relating the radio emissions to detailed auroral structures. Here we report measurements of the radio emissions, which, along with high-resolution images of Saturn's ultraviolet auroral emissions, suggest that although there are differences in the global morphology of the aurorae, Saturn's radio emissions exhibit an Earth-like correspondence between bright auroral features and the radio emissions. This demonstrates the universality of the mechanism that results in emissions near the electron cyclotron frequency narrowly beamed at large angles to the magnetic field.     

Types and biotic successions of Ordovician reefs in China

Ordovician reefs are located in the South China,Tarim,and North China blocks,in low-latitude epicontinental marine regions and mostly consist of large-scale carbonate platforms.During the Paleozoic,faunal radiation reef biota diverged and thrived in diverse paleogeographic settings.Algal reefs of the Early Ordovician,Calathium-lithistid sponge-algal reefs of the late Early Ordovician to early Middle Ordovician,and coral-stromatoporoid-algal reefs of the early Late Ordovician,indicate change from Cambrian to Paleozoic biota.Coral-stromatoporoid-algal reefs were the basic communities after 100 Ma.The macroevolution of biotic struc-tures generally shows increased complexity;the evolution of China’s reef biota parallels that worldwide.Important aspects are:(1) The Calathium-algal reefs from the early Tremadocian Nantzinkuan Formation,Zhangjiajie,western Hunan are the pioneer reefs,and the Darriwillian Yijianfang Formation,Bachu are the relic reefs.(2) The bryozoan-dominated reefs of the late Tremadocian Fenhsiang Formation,Middle Yangtze Platform are unique.(3) The early coral-stromatoporoid-algal reefs are highly restricted in China.(4) The algal reefs from the latest Katian on the western margin of the Yangtze Platform,represent an abnormal reef-building environment during the initial stages of Gondwanan glaciations.