Binding of the molecular chaperone αB-crystallin to Aβ amyloid fibrils inhibits fibril elongation.

The molecular chaperone αB-crystallin is a small heat-shock protein that is upregulated in response to a multitude of stress stimuli, and is found colocalized with Aβ amyloid fibrils in the extracellular plaques that are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease. We investigated whether this archetypical small heat-shock protein has the ability to interact with Aβ fibrils in vitro. We find that αB-crystallin binds to wild-type Aβ(42) fibrils with micromolar affinity, and also binds to fibrils formed from the E22G Arctic mutation of Aβ(42). Immunoelectron microscopy confirms that binding occurs along the entire length and ends of the fibrils. Investigations into the effect of αB-crystallin on the seeded growth of Aβ fibrils, both in solution and on the surface of a quartz crystal microbalance biosensor, reveal that the binding of αB-crystallin to seed fibrils strongly inhibits their elongation. Because the lag phase in sigmoidal fibril assembly kinetics is dominated by elongation and fragmentation rates, the chaperone mechanism identified here represents a highly effective means to inhibit fibril proliferation. Together with previous observations of αB-crystallin interaction with α-synuclein and insulin fibrils, the results suggest that this mechanism is a generic means of providing molecular chaperone protection against amyloid fibril formation.

Some new bounds on eigenvalues of the Hadamard product and the Fan product of matrices

Let A and B be nonsingular M-matrices. A lower bound on the minimum eigenvalue q(B circle A(-1)) for the Hadamard product of A(-1) and B, and a lower bound on the minimum eigenvalue q(A star B) for the Fan product of A and B are given. In addition, an upper bound on the spectral radius rho(A circle B) of nonnegative matrices A and B is also obtained. These bounds improve several existing results in some cases and the estimating formulas are easier to calculate for they are only depending on the entries of matrices A and B. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Studies on long wing trawl for shrimps off Kakinada (A.P.) coast - (i) Results of comparative fishing experiments with the conventional two seam trawl

Comparative fishing operations with the conventional two seams net and a 29.26 m. long wing shrimp trawl of four seam type were undertaken. The result showed that the four seams net gave nearly twice prawn catch than that of the conventional type. It was also found that the four seams net can be developed into a combination trawl for the effective exploitation of both prawns and fish along the coasts off Kakinada.

Anti-HIV-1 Activities of Hemslecins A and B

目的:研究从药用植物金佛山雪胆分离的雪胆素A和雪胆素B两个三萜类化合物的体外抗HIV活性.方法:应用合胞体抑制实验、p24抗原产生的抑制实验、慢性感染细胞和正常细胞间的细胞融合抑制实验等技术检测化合物的体外抗HIV-l活性;利用HIV-l逆转录酶、蛋白酶抑制实验,NCp7锌离子逐出实验探讨化合物的作用机制.结果:雪胆素A和雪胆素B在体外有较好的抑制HIV-l活性,其活性主要表现为:(1)抑制HIV-l诱导合胞体形成,EC50值分别为3.09 μg·mL-1和2.53μg·mL-1;(2)抑制HIV- 急性感染的C8106细胞p24抗原产生,EC50值分别为3.97μg·mL-1和18.90μg·mL-1;(3)抑制HIV-1 慢性感染H9与正常C8166细胞间融合,EC50分别为1.76μg·mL-1和11.95μg·mL-1.雪胆素A和雪胆素B对HIV-l逆转录酶、蛋白酶、NCp7锌离子逐出均没有抑制作用.雪胆素A对HIV-1整合酶有微弱的结合活性,而雪胆素B对HIV-1整合酶没有结合活性.在共培养实验中,雪胆素A和雪胆素B预处理C8166细胞组比未经预处理细胞组能够更有效的抑制HIV-l活性.结论:化合物雪胆素A和雪胆素B体外有较好的抗HIV-1活性,可能主要作用于HIV-1病毒进入细胞阶段.

Model based control for closed loop testing of 1-D engine simulation models

1-D engine simulation models are widely used for the analysis and verification of air-path design concepts and prediction of the resulting engine transient response. The latter often requires closed loop control over the model to ensure operation within physical limits and tracking of reference signals. For this purpose, a particular implementation of Model Predictive Control (MPC) based on a corresponding Mean Value Engine Model (MVEM) is reported here. The MVEM is linearised on-line at each operating point to allow for the formulation of quadratic programming (QP) problems, which are solved as the part of the proposed MPC algorithm. The MPC output is used to control a 1-D engine model. The closed loop performance of such a system is benchmarked against the solution of a related optimal control problem (OCP). As an example this study is focused on the transient response of a light-duty car Diesel engine. For the cases examined the proposed controller implementation gives a more systematic procedure than other ad-hoc approaches that require considerable tuning effort. © 2012 IFAC.