产生快中子的长寿命氚化钛靶

中子束诊断技术在先进制造业、炸药、走私吕检查、医疗和其它工业中都得到了广泛的应用。在轰击能量低的情况下，产生高通量快中子的最佳核反应是＾３Ｈ（ｄ，ｎ）＾４Ｈｅ，即ｄ－Ｔ反应。现在运用ｄ－Ｔ反应的中子发生器的寿命受轰击是氚气从靶上逐渐释出的限制。本文是一篇研究限制氚束粒子取代氚束粒子取代氚，从而防止氚气释放造成中子产额减少的工作进展报告。可以预计，利用固定在高氢热扩散率基片上，如铌基础上的薄氚钛靶，     

固氮细菌找到新寄主

研究人员促成了固氮根瘤菌到包括稻子在内的非豆科植物的根际安家结瘤.固氮根瘤菌是一种极其特别的细菌.除个别例外,它们只能在豆科植物例如大豆,苜蓿和刺槐的根部结瘤固氮.这种细菌,摄取在空气中无用的氮气,并将其转化成氨和植物的其他营养成份.实际上,细菌是为     

揭开免疫的秘密：MHC如何和抗原相遇

一个受到病毒感染的细胞,是如何通过免疫系统的杀伤者T细胞,在其自身表面触发起一种攻击活动的呢?简短答案,就是T细胞通过一种型-I主要组织相容性复合(MHC)蛋白质,识别出现在受感染细胞表面上的病毒蛋白质片段,这种现象,称作"抗原表述".但是,隐匿在这种答案中的秘密,多年来一直令免疫学家     

关于转基因食品的争论

植物的遗传操作目前在英国产生了极大的轰动效应,可谓是议论纷纷,褒贬不一。超级市场上的新型食品丰富多彩,满足了消费者的需求,感谢现代集约型农业所提供的这一切。但富余也同时带有自身的问题,这不仅是技术变化的加速。物质的丰富,寿命的延长,都对无风险环境提出了要求。和世纪初相比,当今的西方人更讲究健康食品;所以对用新法生产的同种食品,态度冷淡;尤其是对那些被怀疑有风险的食品,即使对健康稍有涉嫌,公众也不愿轻易接受。关于超级杂草fo］题英国医学会和环境保护人员,否定了对草甘脚含有抗性的GM油菜;认为一种特异…     

HIV preferentially infects HIV-specific CD4+ T cells

HIV infection is associated with the progressive loss of CD4(+) T cells through their destruction or decreased production. A central, yet unresolved issue of HIV disease is the mechanism for this loss, and in particular whether HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially affected. Here we show that HIV-specific memory CD4(+) T cells in infected individuals contain more HIV viral DNA than other memory CD4(+) T cells, at all stages of HIV disease. Additionally, following viral rebound during interruption of antiretroviral therapy, the frequency of HIV viral DNA in the HIV-specific pool of memory CD4(+) T cells increases to a greater extent than in memory CD4(+) T cells of other specificities. These findings show that HIV-specific CD4(+) T cells are preferentially infected by HIV in vivo. This provides a potential mechanism to explain the loss of HIV-specific CD4(+) T-cell responses, and consequently the loss of immunological control of HIV replication. Furthermore, the phenomenon of HIV specifically infecting the very cells that respond to it adds a cautionary note to the practice of structured therapy interruption.     

新发现的微生物多种功能

２０００年５月２１～２５日,１２０００名科学家聚集洛杉矶,举行了美国微生物学会（ＡＳＭ）的第１００届年会。会上讨论了微生物,即从人体对微生物致病菌的防御,到涉及地质学过程的细菌。促使朊病毒形式 腐败的牛肉,能诱发疯牛病;遗传突变,可导致类似疯牛病的人脑变质。被称作传染性海绵状脑（ＴＳＥｓ）的大多数病例的诱因,既非污染的牛肉,也不是基因的突变,显然是可传染阮病毒（ｐｒｉｏｎ－朊病毒,也叫蛋白感染素）的异常沉积。通常认为,朊病毒会在未接触腐败牛肉和不被怀疑有突变基因的人中自发出现。那么,促进这些异常…     

Aggregation and vesiculation of membrane proteins by curvature-mediated interactions

Membrane remodelling plays an important role in cellular tasks such as endocytosis, vesiculation and protein sorting, and in the biogenesis of organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum or the Golgi apparatus. It is well established that the remodelling process is aided by specialized proteins that can sense as well as create membrane curvature, and trigger tubulation when added to synthetic liposomes. Because the energy needed for such large-scale changes in membrane geometry significantly exceeds the binding energy between individual proteins and between protein and membrane, cooperative action is essential. It has recently been suggested that curvature-mediated attractive interactions could aid cooperation and complement the effects of specific binding events on membrane remodelling. But it is difficult to experimentally isolate curvature-mediated interactions from direct attractions between proteins. Moreover, approximate theories predict repulsion between isotropically curving proteins. Here we use coarse-grained membrane simulations to show that curvature-inducing model proteins adsorbed on lipid bilayer membranes can experience attractive interactions that arise purely as a result of membrane curvature. We find that once a minimal local bending is realized, the effect robustly drives protein cluster formation and subsequent transformation into vesicles with radii that correlate with the local curvature imprint. Owing to its universal nature, curvature-mediated attraction can operate even between proteins lacking any specific interactions, such as newly synthesized and still immature membrane proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum.