Because of the association of the group A streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins (SPEs) with erythrogenic toxin used in the classical Dick test, the involvement of the SPEs in production of erythematous skin reactions was assessed. Unless they had been presensitized, young adult rabbits failed to show skin reactions after intracutaneous challenged with SPEs. Rabbits presensitized to purified protein...

The cocrystal structure of streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin C (SPE C) with HLA-DR2a (DRA*0101,DRB5*0101) revealed a zinc-dependent interaction site through residues 167, 201, and 203 on SPE C and residue 81 on the beta-chain of HLA-DR2a (DRA*0101,DRB5*0101). Mutation of these SPE C residues resulted in dramatically reduced biological activities. Thus, the zinc-dependent major histocompatibility...

This paper summarizes the development of a methodology for the restimulation candidate selection in tight gas sands. The methodology incorporates virtual intelligence techniques (artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms and fuzzy logic) to achieve this objective. Artificial neural networks are used to develop a representative model of the completion and hydraulic fracturing process in a s...

Representations of space in the social sciences are remarkably dependent on images of break, rupture and disjunction. The distinctiveness of societies, nations, and cultures is predicated on a seemingly unproblematic division of space, on the fact that they occupy “naturally” discontinuous spaces. The premise of discontinuity forms the starting point from which to theorize contact, conflict and...

I ntroduction The degree to which the ongoing transformation of the world into a single global market has been represented as a natural and inevitable process indicates how successful that project has been so far. As a result, opposition to this process is often seen as a quixotic crusade, quaint and poignant but ultimately irrelevant and dismissible in mainstream debates. But the origins of th...

Streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin A (SPE-A) and SPE-B have been implicated in the pathogenesis of severe group A streptococcal (GAS) disease. We studied 31 invasive GAS strains including 18 isolates from patients with toxic shock syndrome and 22 noninvasive strains isolated in The Netherlands between 1994 and 1998. These strains were associated with the different allelic variants of the gene enc...

Recombinant streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin C (SPE-C) is a potent superantigen that stimulates VJ32-bearing human T cells, but is inactive in mice. SPE-C binds with high affinity to both human H L A D R and murine I-E molecules, but not to routine I-A molecules in a zincdependent fashion. Competition binding studies with other recombinant toxins revealed that SPE-C lacks the generic low affini...

The paper presents the re e tion fa ilities of the spe i ation language Slam-sl. Slam-sl is an obje t oriented spei ation language where lass methods are spe i ed by pre and post onditions. The re e tion apabilities permit managing these pre and post onditions in spe i ations what means that semanti re e tion is possible. The range of interesting appli ations is very wide: formal spe i ation of...

Pneumothorax secondary to septic pulmonary embolism (SPE) is rare but life-threatening. We herein report a long-term hemodialysis patient with psoas abscess caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, associated with other muscle and splenic abscesses and SPE. Intravenous vancomycin treatment and percutaneous drainage of the psoas abscess rapidly improved her condition. However, the ...

Given limited resources for motility, sperm cell activation must be precisely timed to ensure the greatest likelihood of fertilization. Like those of most species, the sperm of C. elegans become active only after encountering an external signaling molecule. Activation coincides with spermiogenesis, the final step in spermatogenesis, when the spherical spermatid undergoes wholesale reorganizatio...