HIV Protease: Historical Perspective and Current Research

The retroviral protease of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is an excellent target for antiviral inhibitors for treating HIV/AIDS. Despite the efficacy of therapy, current efforts to control the disease are undermined by the growing threat posed by drug resistance. This review covers the historical background of studies on the structure and function of HIV protease, the subsequent development of antiviral inhibitors, and recent studies on drug-resistant protease variants. We highlight the important contributions of Dr. Stephen Oroszlan to fundamental knowledge about the function of the HIV protease and other retroviral proteases. These studies, along with those of his colleagues, laid the foundations for the design of clinical inhibitors of HIV protease. The drug-resistant protease variants also provide an excellent model for investigating the molecular mechanisms and evolution of resistance.     

从文体学角度鉴赏《礼物》一文

大学英语第一册第三课《礼物》是一篇故事短文 ,文中语言简单 ,词汇量少。学生能够在没有教师的指导下掌握文章的主要内容 ,但这并不意味着读懂该篇文章。对文本作深层的理解 ,掌握作者的写作目的 ,是大学英语精读的学习目的和要求。如何帮助学生达到对文本的真正的理解 ,这是一个一直来值得我们研究的问题。针对该文的简洁语体 ,笔者试着从文体学角度进行分析 ,在实际教学过程中 ,取得了较好的效果。在一定程度上提高了学生语篇理解和鉴赏能力。笔者试从文体语言、文体结构和修辞手段三方面分析该文的文体结构。1　文体语言1 .1　故事叙述…     

Eigenstructure assignment with control gains optimization

Eigenstructure assignment using output feedback is reformulated using an auxiliary principle of minimization of control effort. In the general eigenstructure assignment procedure, the feedback gain matrix is uniquely determined for a set of explicitly specified desired eigenvalues and eigenvectors. However, for the controller design proposed in this paper, only the most necessary constraints are imposed on the desired eigenvalues and eigenvectors, and the unspecified model parameters of the closed-loop system are determined by minimizing the control effort. Numerical examples are presented for comparison of the proposed method with standard eigenstructure assignment methods, and an experimental example gives an insight into the feasibility of the proposed control algorithm with application to the vibration control of flexible structures undergoing forced vibration.     

刺络闪火法治疗腰棘间韧带损伤

作者自1986年5月以来应用刺络闪火法治疗腰棘间韧带损伤取得满意效果。该法融按摩、刺络、闪火及复位于一体。结果表明该法不仅能消除棘间韧带的水肿,而且较好地调整损伤节段腰椎珠应和结构,从根本上促进损伤韧带的修复。     

Guanidinium-carboxylate interactions

The crystal structures of the 1:1 complexes methylguanidinium benzylhydrogenmalonate, (C₂N₃H₈)⁺(C₁₀H₉O₄)^?, MGD.BMAL, and methylguanidinium ethylhydrogenmalonate, (C₂N₃H₈)⁺(C₅H₇O₄)^?, MGD.EMAL, and of the 2:1 complex methylguanidinium sulfate, (C₂N₃H₈)₂SO₄, have been determined from three-dimensional X-ray data. For MGD.BMAL, the complex crystallizes in the triclinic space group P with two formula units in a cell of dimensions a = 6.277(5), b = 8.470(3), c = 13.191(6)Å, α= 91.01(1), β= 99.64(9), γ= 90.83(5)°. The structure has been refined to a final value of R = 0.061 based on 1511 intensities. The MGD.EMAL complex is also triclinic, space group P with two molecules in a cell of dimensions a = 9.254(7), b = 9.625(6), c = 6.778(2) Å, α= 109.6(1), β= 100.8(1), γ= 62.7(1)Å. The crystals of this compound are of low quality, and the final value is R = 0.109 based on 706 intensities. (MGD)₂SO₄ is orthorhombic, space group P2₁2₁2₁, with four molecules in a cell of dimensions a = 7.100(4), b = 12.151(3), c = 13.108(2) Å. Refinement has converged to R = 0.054 based on 907 data. All three crystals exhibit extensive interionic hydrogen bonding. The hydrogen bonding in MGD.BMAL includes a Type B interaction and a Type 1 interaction, the latter being a pairwise interaction from both amino nitrogen atoms on the cation to two carboxylate oxygen atoms from the two different carboxylate groups in an anion. In MGD.EMAL, the anion participates in both a Type A and a Type B pairwise interaction with two neighboring cations. The possible implications of the hydrogen bonding patterns in these two compounds for the role of arginyl side chains in protection of γ-carboxyglutamate residues from decarboxylation are discussed.     

Relations between the effect of tetanus toxin on the neuromuscular transmission and histological functional properties of various muscles of the rat

Summary Various doses of tetanus toxin were injected into three hind leg and two fore leg muscles of the rat. The neuromuscular transmission was tested by recording the mass action potential of the muscles elicited by a single electrical stimulus to the motor nerve after strong symptoms of local tetanus had developed. The muscle responses were depressed and blocked at lower toxin doses in the fast tibialis anterior than in the mixed gastrocnemius latemlis, while blocking of the slow soleus required the highest dose. The extensor carpi radialis and the flexor carpi ulnaris muscles showed medium sensitivity. In all five muscles the contraction time was measured and correlated with its individual minimal blocking dose. The more phasic (i.e., the faster) the muscle, the more sensitive its neuromuscular transmission was to tetanus toxin. The proportional distribution of red, white, and intermediate fibres, which are associated with specific end-plate types, was evaluated for the five muscles. The percentage of white fibres in the muscles displayed a very good negative correlation with the blocking dose. The relation between structures of end-plates and effects of tetanus toxin were analysed and it is suggested that the differences in sensitivity to tetanus toxin in the neuromuscular transmission in the five muscles is determined by a differential distribution of endplates with varying sensitivities to this toxin due to structural properties.This study is a part of a doctoral dissertation submitted by one of the authors (H.K.) to the Faculty of Medicine, University of Göttingen. Some of the results were presented at the 48th and 49th Congr. of German Physiol. Soc. (Kretzschmar et al., 1977, 1978) and at the 5th Internat. Conf. on Tetanus (Kretzschmar et al., 1979)     

Restriction site polymorphism at the LPA (Lp(a) apoliprotein; apoliprotein(a)) locus

A restriction site polymorphism in the Lp(a) apolipoprotein gene (the LPA gene) is reported. The basis for the polymorphism is presence or absence of an MspI restriction site that appears to be 3' to the last kringle IV structure of the gene. The "1" gene (presence of the restriction site) has a frequency of 0.316 and the "2" gene (absence of the restriction site) has a frequency of 0.684. Both members of each of 67 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs had the same genotype and there was Mendelian segregation of the DNA variants in 40 families with a total of 75 children. There was a lower proportion of people with genotype 1-1 in the top quartile than in the 3 bottom quartiles of the population distribution of Lp(a) lipoprotein levels but the difference did not reach statistical significance.     

Interaction of sensory and cognitive processes during visual recognition: The role of the associative areas of the cerebral cortex

The first part of the present study used a model of Alzheimers disease in two groups of animals (three monkeys in each), given injections of neurotoxins (monkeys of group I) and physiological saline (monkeys of group II). Before injections, all monkeys were trained to discriminate stimuli containing different types of information (spatial frequency grids and geometrical figures of different colors and with different spatial relationships between objects) and to perform spatial selection. The dynamics of impairments in the characteristics of working memory were identified using delayed differentiation tasks in monkeys of both groups before injections and every two months after injections. Quantitative measures of impairments were made using the entropy of visual recognition, which characterizes uncertainty in decision-taking. The development of Alzheimers disease in rhesus macaques was characterized by a deficit of working memory, resulting from lesions to the two component processes of memory. Impairments of the first of these in monkeys of group I were manifest as a significant increase in entropy, which is associated with correct decision-taking. The magnitude of the increase depended on the type of visual information. Impairments of the second component were characterized by increases in entropy associated with refusals to take decisions and were independent of the delay duration and the type of visual information. Monkeys given injections of physiological saline showed no significant changes in these characteristics. The features of working memory were also studied in the second part of the investigation, using four groups of Rhesus macaques: intact, those with bilateral extirpation of the sulcus principalis or field 7 or both: degradation again identified two components. Entropy associated with this was increased significantly for most of the stimuli tested on monkeys of all extirpation groups as compared with intact animals. Significant differences were found in these characteristics for a number of stimuli, which depended on the location of the structures removed. The characteristics of impairments of the components of working memory resulting in the development of Alzheimers disease showed that the cholinergic mechanisms responsible for sensory processing differ from those involved in decision-taking. The structural-functional organization of the interaction of sensory and cognitive processes controlled by the motivation and attention systems is discussed, as is the role of the associative areas of the cortex.Translated from Rossiiskii Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal imeni I. M. Sechenova, Vol. 89, No. 10, pp. 1226–1239, October, 2003.