Amidase and peptidase activities of polyclonal immunoglobulin G present in the sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Polyclonal Immunoglobulin (Ig) G from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy subjects hydrolyzed carbobenzoxy−Val−Gly−Arg p-nitroanilide and D−Pro−Phe−Arg p-nitroanilide. RA IgG exhibited higher activity against the former substrate, but not the latter. On the other hand, RA IgG showed reduced activity against D−Pro−Phe−Arg methylcoumarinamide, when compared with those of the healthy controls. These results suggest that RA IgGs differ from normal IgGs in the substrate specificity of amidase activity. Preliminary studies have shown that two out of three RA IgG samples cleaved a pentapeptide—Gln−Arg−Arg−Arg−Ala−Ala— which is assumed to be associated with the risk of developing RA (Gregersen, P. K. et al. (1987), Arthritis Rheum. 30, 1205–1213). By contrast, virtually no cleavage of the same peptide was observed with IgG from healthy controls. A peptide analog, Gln−Arg−Arg−Trp−Ala, was not cleaved at all by any IgGs examined either from RA patients or healthy controls.     

Catalytic DNA-and RNA-hydrolyzing antibodies from milk of healthy human mothers

Various catalytically active antibodies (Abs), or abzymes, have been detected recently in the sera of patients with autoimmune pathologies, in whom their presence is probably associated with autoimmunization. Normal humans are generally not considered to have abzymes, since no obvious immunizing factors are present. Here is shown by different methods that IgG from the milk of normal females possesses both DNase and RNase activities. The activities were also present in the IgG F(ab′)₂ and Fab fragments. Affinity modification of IgG by the chemically reactive derivative of an oligonucleotide led to preferential modification of the L chain of IgG. After separation of the subunits by sodium dodecyl sulfate electrophoresis in a gel containing DNA, an in-gel assay showed DNase activity in the L chain. The L chain separated by affinity chromatography on DNA-cellulose was catalytically active. These findings speak in favor of the generation of cat alytic Abs by the immune system of healthy mothers. It is known that the treatment of adults with DNases and RNases offers protection from viral and bacterial diseases. Since breast milk protects the infants from infec tions until the immune system is developed, this raises the possibility that catalytic Abs like nucleases, may possess a protective role.     

Fluorescence immunological determination of immunoglobulin G in human serum by high-performance liquid gel-permeation chromatography

Summary A high-performance liquid gel-permeation chromatographic method is described for the determination of human serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) by separating the fluorescent immuno complex from the free fluorescence-labeled antibody. Fluorescence-labeled antibody used in this study was fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled Fab fragment goat anti-human IgG (anti-IgG Fab). Immuno complexes and antibody of different molecular sizes can be separated. FITC-labeled anti-IgG Fab was added to the serum and the mixture is passed through the column. An immuno complex separates as well-delineated peak in the column void volume, and was measured by the fluorescence of the column eluate (Ex=490nm, Em=520nm). The total analysis time for a serum sample was approximately 15min. The minimum detection limit was 25 mg/dl. The relative standard deviation was below 2% (peak area). The results of the HPL-GPC analysis correlate well with those obtained by laser nephelometric assay (r=0.992).     

表面增强拉曼光谱研究以4,4''''-联吡啶为标记分子的免疫检测

通过表面增强拉曼光谱(SERS)研究了标记分子4,4'-联吡啶在金溶胶上的吸附行为,并将其与山羊抗小鼠IgG结合,获得SERS标记免疫金溶胶.在固相基底上组装抗体,两者组装得到固相抗体-抗原-标记抗体“三明治”结构.在单组分和双组分体系中借助抗体上标记金纳米粒子所带的SERS信号达到免疫检测的目的.     

低血铅水平与免疫球蛋白和淋巴细胞相关性

目的：探讨低铅水平对IgA、 IgG 、 IgM、 C3、 C4、 B淋巴细胞的影响。方法用石墨炉原子吸收光谱法对39名印刷印染工龄5年以上工人进行血铅测定,另选择距污染源较远且无水系联系的,不受工业污染的,从未接触过重金属的为对照组,分别对两组用免疫比浊法进行（ IgA、IgG、 IgM、 C3和C4）5项测定,流式细胞仪检测血B淋巴细胞水平,全自动生化仪检测白细胞数、总淋巴细胞绝对数和百分比。结果高低铅两组IgA、 IgG 、 IgM、 C3水平比较差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）,白细胞总数、淋巴细胞百分比均低于低铅组（P＜0.05）,总淋巴细胞百分比和NK淋巴细胞亚群的绝对数和百分比却低于低铅组（ P＜0.05）。结论高血铅对体液免疫功能有一定的影响。     

Integral representation of a solution to the Stokes–Darcy problem

With methods of potential theory, we develop a representation of a solution of the coupled Stokes–Darcy model in a Lipschitz domain for boundary data in H^?1/2. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On global stability of an HIV pathogenesis model with cure rate

In this paper, applying both Lyapunov function techniques and monotone iterative techniques, we establish new sufficient conditions under which the infected equilibrium of an HIV pathogenesis model with cure rate is globally asymptotically stable. By giving an explicit expression for eventual lower bound of the concentration of susceptible CD4⁺ T cells, we establish an affirmative partial answer to the numerical simulations investigated in the recent paper [Liu, Wang, Hu and Ma, Global stability of an HIV pathogenesis model with cure rate, Nonlinear Analysis RWA (2011) 12 : 2947–2961]. Our monotone iterative techniques are applicable for the small and large growth rate in logistic functions for the proliferation rate of healthy and infected CD4⁺ T cells. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Convergence of FFT‐based homogenization for strongly heterogeneous media

The FFT‐based homogenization method of Moulinec–Suquet has recently attracted attention because of its wide range of applicability and short computational time. In this article, we deduce an optimal a priori error estimate for the homogenization method of Moulinec–Suquet, which can be interpreted as a spectral collocation method. Such methods are well‐known to converge for sufficiently smooth coefficients. We extend this result to rough coefficients. More precisely, we prove convergence of the fields involved for Riemann‐integrable coercive coefficients without the need for an a priori regularization. We show that our L² estimates are optimal and extend to mildly nonlinear situations and L^p estimates for p in the vicinity of 2. The results carry over to the case of scalar elliptic and curl ? curl‐type equations, encountered, for instance, in stationary electromagnetism. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Infinitely many homoclinic orbits for a class of second‐order damped differential equations

We investigate the existence and multiplicity of homoclinic orbits for the second‐order damped differential equations For Equation 1 where L(t) and W(t,u) are neither autonomous nor periodic in t. Under certain assumptions on g, L, and W, we get infinitely many homoclinic orbits for superquadratic, subquadratic and concave–convex nonlinearities cases by using fountain theorem and dual fountain theorem in critical point theory. These results generalize and improve some existing results in the literature. Copyright © 2015 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Q‐symmetry and conditional Q‐symmetries for Drinfel'd–Sokolov–Wilson system

We study in this paper the Q‐symmetry and conditional Q‐symmetries of Drinfel'd–Sokolov–Wilson equations. The solutions which we obtain in this paper take the form of convergent power series with easily computable components. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.