Objectives Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial disease. Environmental factors such as viral infection(s) have been proposed as pathaetiological factors. There are particular interests in studying ly...Objectives Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial disease. Environmental factors such as viral infection(s) have been proposed as pathaetiological factors. There are particular interests in studying lymphotropic viruses such as the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Although previous case reports and in vitro studies suggested that they may have a role, there is no direct evidence that onset of SLE or disease exacerbation is associated with active infection by these viruses. Using the very sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, we tried to find out evidence of active replication of these viruses in patients with SLE. Methods Thirty-four patients with SLE were compared with matched normal controls. Eleven patients were newly diagnosed to have SLE and 18 of the 34 patients had active disease as determined by a SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) score of ≥10 at the time of study. Results Our results showed no evidence of active replication or reactivation of EBV in the leucocytes amongst the newly diagnosed SLE patients, established SLE patients, patients with SLEDAI ≥10, patients with SLEDAI <10, and control subjects. There was no evidence of CMV infection in any of the subjects studied. The IgG and IgA responses against EBV early antigen (EA) and viral capsid antigen (VCA) were also studied. The IgG and IgA responses against VCA of EBV were increased in patients with SLE when compared with controls. However, there were no differences in these responses among different subgroups of patients. The mechanism of these responses was not apparent but may represent non-specific hyperimmune responses in these patients. There were no differences in the titre of IgG and IgA against EBV EA between the patient groups and controls.Conclusion There is no direct evidence that either EBV or CMV plays a direct role in the onset and/or exacerbation of SLE.展开更多
Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus(KSHV)is γ-2 herpesvirus with latency and lytic replication stages in its life-cycle.The viral replication and transcription activator(RTA)is the key protein for triggering KSH...Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus(KSHV)is γ-2 herpesvirus with latency and lytic replication stages in its life-cycle.The viral replication and transcription activator(RTA)is the key protein for triggering KSHV lytic gene expression and replication from latency.In this review,we will discuss the gene expression program in KSHV lytic replication and latency,the regulation of the RTA expression,the RTA protein and the mechanisms that RTA utilizes to transactivate its target genes.We will focus on the RTA-mediated transactivation mechanisms,including DNA-binding,interacting with cellular co-factors and promoting repressor degradation.展开更多
Message total ordering is a critical part in active replication in order to maintain consistency among members in a fault tolerant group. The paper proposes a non-blocking message total ordering protocol （NBTOP） for...Message total ordering is a critical part in active replication in order to maintain consistency among members in a fault tolerant group. The paper proposes a non-blocking message total ordering protocol （NBTOP） for distributed systems. Non-blocking property refers to that the members in a fault tolerant group keep on running independently without waiting for installing the same group view when a fault tolerant group evolves even when decision messages collide. NBTOP takes advantage of token ring as its logical control way. Members adopt re-requesting mechanism （RR） to obtain their lost decisions. Forward acknowledgement mechanism （FA） is put forth to solve decision collisions. The paper further proves that NBTOP satisfies the properties of total order, agreement, and termination. NBTOP is implemented, and its performance test is done. Comparing with the performance of Totem, the results show that NBTOP has a better total ordering delay. It manifests that non-blocking property helps to improve protocol efficiency.展开更多
文摘Objectives Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial disease. Environmental factors such as viral infection(s) have been proposed as pathaetiological factors. There are particular interests in studying lymphotropic viruses such as the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Although previous case reports and in vitro studies suggested that they may have a role, there is no direct evidence that onset of SLE or disease exacerbation is associated with active infection by these viruses. Using the very sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, we tried to find out evidence of active replication of these viruses in patients with SLE. Methods Thirty-four patients with SLE were compared with matched normal controls. Eleven patients were newly diagnosed to have SLE and 18 of the 34 patients had active disease as determined by a SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI) score of ≥10 at the time of study. Results Our results showed no evidence of active replication or reactivation of EBV in the leucocytes amongst the newly diagnosed SLE patients, established SLE patients, patients with SLEDAI ≥10, patients with SLEDAI <10, and control subjects. There was no evidence of CMV infection in any of the subjects studied. The IgG and IgA responses against EBV early antigen (EA) and viral capsid antigen (VCA) were also studied. The IgG and IgA responses against VCA of EBV were increased in patients with SLE when compared with controls. However, there were no differences in these responses among different subgroups of patients. The mechanism of these responses was not apparent but may represent non-specific hyperimmune responses in these patients. There were no differences in the titre of IgG and IgA against EBV EA between the patient groups and controls.Conclusion There is no direct evidence that either EBV or CMV plays a direct role in the onset and/or exacerbation of SLE.
文摘Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus(KSHV)is γ-2 herpesvirus with latency and lytic replication stages in its life-cycle.The viral replication and transcription activator(RTA)is the key protein for triggering KSHV lytic gene expression and replication from latency.In this review,we will discuss the gene expression program in KSHV lytic replication and latency,the regulation of the RTA expression,the RTA protein and the mechanisms that RTA utilizes to transactivate its target genes.We will focus on the RTA-mediated transactivation mechanisms,including DNA-binding,interacting with cellular co-factors and promoting repressor degradation.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60273038 and 90412014)the Program for New Centary Excellent Talents in University of MOE (Grant No. NCET-04-0478)Jiangsu "Six Top Talents" program
文摘Message total ordering is a critical part in active replication in order to maintain consistency among members in a fault tolerant group. The paper proposes a non-blocking message total ordering protocol （NBTOP） for distributed systems. Non-blocking property refers to that the members in a fault tolerant group keep on running independently without waiting for installing the same group view when a fault tolerant group evolves even when decision messages collide. NBTOP takes advantage of token ring as its logical control way. Members adopt re-requesting mechanism （RR） to obtain their lost decisions. Forward acknowledgement mechanism （FA） is put forth to solve decision collisions. The paper further proves that NBTOP satisfies the properties of total order, agreement, and termination. NBTOP is implemented, and its performance test is done. Comparing with the performance of Totem, the results show that NBTOP has a better total ordering delay. It manifests that non-blocking property helps to improve protocol efficiency.
