Soluble antigen-antibody complexes reactive in homologous rabbit skin

Résumé Des complexes solubles d'antigènes-anticorps préparés à partir de l'anticorps DNP non précipitable de lapin et obtenus à des stades «avancés» et «retardés» d'immunisation produisent une réaction immédiate d'hypersensibilité cutanée quand ils sont injectés dans une peau normale de lapin. La réduction, le chauffage à 56°C et la succinilation des anticorps suggèrent que les anticorps des stades «avancés» et «retardés» compris dans les complexes diffèrent dans leurs propriétés physicochimiques, bien qu'ils possèdent le même pouvoir de sensibilisation sur les peaux homologues.     

Long-term decline of global atmospheric ethane concentrations and implications for methane

After methane, ethane is the most abundant hydrocarbon in the remote atmosphere. It is a precursor to tropospheric ozone and it influences the atmosphere's oxidative capacity through its reaction with the hydroxyl radical, ethane's primary atmospheric sink. Here we present the longest continuous record of global atmospheric ethane levels. We show that global ethane emission rates decreased from 14.3 to 11.3 teragrams per year, or by 21 per cent, from 1984 to 2010. We attribute this to decreasing fugitive emissions from ethane's fossil fuel source--most probably decreased venting and flaring of natural gas in oil fields--rather than a decline in its other major sources, biofuel use and biomass burning. Ethane's major emission sources are shared with methane, and recent studies have disagreed on whether reduced fossil fuel or microbial emissions have caused methane's atmospheric growth rate to slow. Our findings suggest that reduced fugitive fossil fuel emissions account for at least 10-21 teragrams per year (30-70 per cent) of the decrease in methane's global emissions, significantly contributing to methane's slowing atmospheric growth rate since the mid-1980s.     

拓扑流体力学及其新近发展

拓扑流体力学是理性力学的一个重要研究方向,在理论上具有重要价值,在实践中日益显出独特的作用.本文试对该方向进行综述性介绍,目的是吸引更多的国内科研工作者进入这一重要领域.本文的重点放在流体螺度(Helicity)的拓扑内涵方面.除了列出螺度与数学纽结场论的关系(即与互缠绕、自缠绕数以及作者近年来发展出来的流体纽结多项式拓扑不变量之间的关系),还介绍了国际上在流体纽结复杂系综的能量-结构复杂性关系方面的研究.最后,通过超流涡旋纽结/链环重联的具体实例,展示了这一领域当中典型的数值计算方法.我们希望通过这种理论推导与数值计算同时呈现的方式,使读者对这一国际前沿交叉领域的核心问题、研究方法以及科研中可能面对的技术困难获得一个整体的了解和把握.     

A collision in 2009 as the origin of the debris trail of asteroid P/2010 A2

The peculiar object P/2010?A2 was discovered in January 2010 and given a cometary designation because of the presence of a trail of material, although there was no central condensation or coma. The appearance of this object, in an asteroidal orbit (small eccentricity and inclination) in the inner main asteroid belt attracted attention as a potential new member of the recently recognized class of main-belt comets. If confirmed, this new object would expand the range in heliocentric distance over which main-belt comets are found. Here we report observations of P/2010?A2 by the Rosetta spacecraft. We conclude that the trail arose from a single event, rather than a period of cometary activity, in agreement with independent results. The trail is made up of relatively large particles of millimetre to centimetre size that remain close to the parent asteroid. The shape of the trail can be explained by an initial impact ejecting large clumps of debris that disintegrated and dispersed almost immediately. We determine that this was an asteroid collision that occurred around 10 February 2009.     

Biochemical,biophysical and molecular dynamics studies on the proteoglycan-like domain of carbonic anhydrase IX

Human carbonic anhydrase IX (hCA IX) is a tumour-associated enzyme present in a limited number of normal tissues, but overexpressed in several malignant human tumours. It is a transmembrane protein, where the extracellular region consists of a greatly investigated catalytic CA domain and a much less investigated proteoglycan-like (PG) domain. Considering its important role in tumour biology, here, we report for the first time the full characterization of the PG domain, providing insights into its structural and functional features. In particular, this domain has been produced at high yields in bacterial cells and characterized by means of biochemical, biophysical and molecular dynamics studies. Results show that it belongs to the family of intrinsically disordered proteins, being globally unfolded with only some local residual polyproline II secondary structure. The observed conformational flexibility may have several important roles in tumour progression, facilitating interactions of hCA IX with partner proteins assisting tumour spreading and progression.     

Inhibition or augmentation of PHA-induced lymphocyte transformation by factors of calculated lymphoblastoid cell lines.

Stimulation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes by phytohemagglutinin (PHA) was found to be suppressed or augmented by the addition of supernatants or cell dialysates of cultured lymphoblastoid cell lines.     

Role of Chk1 in the differentiation program of hematopoietic stem cells

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) isolated from umbilical cord blood (UCB) were treated with ionizing radiation (IR) and sensitivity and IR induced checkpoints activation were investigated. No difference in the sensitivity and in the activation of DNA damage pathways was observed between CD133+ HSC and cells derived from them after ex vivo expansion. Chk1 protein was very low in freshly isolated CD133+ cells, and undetectable in ex vivo expanded UCB CD133+ cells. Chk1 was expressed only on day 3 of the ex vivo expansion. This pattern of Chk1 expression was corroborated in CD133+ cells isolated from peripheral blood apheresis collected from an healthy donor. Treatment with a specific Chk1 inhibitor resulted in a strong reduction in the percentage of myeloid precursors (CD33+) and an increase in the percentage of lymphoid precursors (CD38+) compared to untreated cells, suggesting a possible role for Chk1 in the differentiation program of UCB CD133+ HSC.     

Multiple catalytically active thioredoxin folds: a winning strategy for many functions

The Thioredoxin (Trx) fold is a versatile protein scaffold consisting of a four-stranded β-sheet surrounded by three α-helices. Various insertions are possible on this structural theme originating different proteins, which show a variety of functions and specificities. During evolution, the assembly of different Trx fold domains has been used many times to build new multi-domain proteins able to perform a large number of catalytic functions. To clarify the interaction mode of the different Trx domains within a multi-domain structure and how their combination can affect catalytic performances, in this review, we report on a structural and functional analysis of the most representative proteins containing more than one catalytically active Trx domain: the eukaryotic protein disulfide isomerases (PDIs), the thermophilic protein disulfide oxidoreductases (PDOs) and the hybrid peroxiredoxins (Prxs).