A statistical mechanical theory is presented to predict the effects of macromolecular crowding on protein association equilibria, accounting for both excluded volume and attractive interactions between proteins and crowding molecules. Predicted binding free energies are in excellent agreement with simulation data over a wide range of crowder sizes and packing fractions. It is shown that attract...

The internal dynamics of proteins inside of cells may be affected by the crowded intracellular environments. Here, we test a novel approach to simulations of crowding, in which simulations in the absence of crowders are postprocessed to predict crowding effects, against the direct approach of simulations in the presence of crowders. The effects of crowding on the flap dynamics of HIV-1 protease...

Binding of the Ca2+/calmodulin(CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) to the NMDA-type glutamate receptor (NMDAR) subunit GluN2B controls long-term potentiation (LTP), a form of synaptic plasticity thought to underlie learning and memory. Regulation of this interaction is well-studied biochemically, but not under conditions that mimic the macromolecular crowding found within cells. Notably, ...

The negative effects of a high level of government debt are now generally acknowledged. The extensive borrowing of past years has enlarged the share of interest payments in government spending, thus restricting the scope for future fiscal policy action. There is very little prospect of being able to initiate economic recovery by way of expansive fiscal policy. High deficits and rising debt rati...

Environmental enrichment and crowding: behavioral and hormonal effects. PHYSIOL. BEHAV. 17(5) 735-741, 1976.-Male and female gerbils lived from weaning to adulthood in Enriched Crowded, Plain Crowded, Dense Crowded, or Paired conditions. Daily observations, social interaction tests with one animal from each of the 4 groups, and anatomical measures were made, and levels of cortisol and testoster...

Views of natural scenes unfold over time, and objects of interest that were present a moment ago tend to remain present. While visual crowding places a fundamental limit on object recognition in cluttered scenes, most studies of crowding have suffered from the limitation that they typically involved static scenes. The role of temporal continuity in crowding has therefore been unaddressed. We in...

We examine Medicaid enrollment and private coverage loss following expansions of Medicaid eligibility. We attempt to replicate Cutler and Gruber’s [Q. J. Econ. 111 (1996) 391.] results using the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), and find smaller rates of take-up and little evidence of crowding out. We find that some of the difference in results can be attributed to different sa...