抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1（PfPMP1）与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用，在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员，通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Cause, conseguenze e strategie di mitigazione Proponiamo il primo di una serie di articoli in cui affronteremo l’attuale problema dei mutamenti climatici. Presentiamo il documento redatto, votato e pubblicato dall’Ipcc - Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - che illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.

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Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.

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Mechanisms of Nucleation and Growth of Nanoparticles in Solution

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Forests emit large quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere. Their condensable oxidation products can form secondary organic aerosol, a significant and ubiquitous component of atmospheric aerosol, which is known to affect the Earth's radiation balance by scattering solar radiation and by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. The quantitative assessment of such climate effects remains hampered by a number of factors, including an incomplete understanding of how biogenic VOCs contribute to the formation of atmospheric secondary organic aerosol. The growth of newly formed particles from sizes of less than three nanometres up to the sizes of cloud condensation nuclei (about one hundred nanometres) in many continental ecosystems requires abundant, essentially non-volatile organic vapours, but the sources and compositions of such vapours remain unknown. Here we investigate the oxidation of VOCs, in particular the terpene α-pinene, under atmospherically relevant conditions in chamber experiments. We find that a direct pathway leads from several biogenic VOCs, such as monoterpenes, to the formation of large amounts of extremely low-volatility vapours. These vapours form at significant mass yield in the gas phase and condense irreversibly onto aerosol surfaces to produce secondary organic aerosol, helping to explain the discrepancy between the observed atmospheric burden of secondary organic aerosol and that reported by many model studies. We further demonstrate how these low-volatility vapours can enhance, or even dominate, the formation and growth of aerosol particles over forested regions, providing a missing link between biogenic VOCs and their conversion to aerosol particles. Our findings could help to improve assessments of biosphere-aerosol-climate feedback mechanisms, and the air quality and climate effects of biogenic emissions generally.

A large source of low-volatility secondary organic aerosol

Nucleation and Growth of Nanoparticles in the Atmosphere Renyi Zhang,* Alexei Khalizov, Lin Wang, Min Hu, and Wen Xu Department of Atmospheric Sciences andDepartment of Chemistry, Center for Atmospheric Chemistry and Environment, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, United States Department of Environmental Science & Engineering and Institute of Global Environment Change Research, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China State Key Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

Nucleation and Growth of Nanoparticles in the Atmosphere

Nanoparticles are a key component of atmospheric aerosols, growing rapidly under ambient conditions. Exposure of nanoparticles to organic vapours shows that various organic species can enhance the growth of nanoparticles.

Atmospheric nanoparticles formed from heterogeneous reactions of organics

Dicarboxylic acids are important products from photooxidation of volatile organic compounds and are believed to play an important role in the formation and growth of atmospheric secondary organic a...

Theoretical Investigation of Interaction of Dicarboxylic Acids with Common Aerosol Nucleation Precursors

The Aerodyne Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) is well suited for measuring non-refractory particulate matter up to approximately 1.0 µm in aerodynamic diameter (NR-sub-PM1). However, for larger particles the detection efficiency is limited by losses in the sampling inlet system and through the standard aerodynamic focusing lens. In addition, larger particles have reduced collection efficiency due to particle bounce at the vaporizer. These factors have limited the NR-sub-PM1 ACSM from meeting PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter smaller than 2.5 µm) monitoring standards. To overcome these limitations, we have redesigned the sampling inlet, the aerodynamic lens, and particle vaporizer. Both the new lens and vaporizer are tested in the lab using a quadruple aerosol mass spectrometer (QAMS) system equipped with light scattering module. Our results show that the capture vaporizer introduces additional thermal decomposition of both inorganic and organic compounds, requiring modi...

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02786826.2016.1241859

Laboratory characterization of an aerosol chemical speciation monitor with PM2.5 measurement capability

Amines and carboxylic acids have been recognized as important precursor species in atmospheric new particle formation. In this study, the interaction between dimethylamine and succinic acid is investigated using Basin Paving Monte Carlo (BPMC) sampling with the classical force field to obtain low energy conformers of dimethylamine and succinic acid hydrated molecular clusters. Geometry optimization and frequency calculations are further performed on the basis of the BPMC results using density functional theory. At standard temperature and pressure, dimethylamine binds to succinic acid with a bonding energy of 14.2 kcal mol−1, smaller than that of dimethylamine with sulfuric acid (21.1 kcal mol−1). Hydration promotes proton transfer from succinic acid to dimethylamine and consequently increases the interaction strength, while proton transfer from sulfuric acid to dimethylamine occurs without hydration. On the other hand, the reactivity of sulfuric acid with dimethylamine decreases with the degree of hydration of sulfuric acid. The free energies of formation for hydrated clusters consisting of dimethylamine and succinic acid reveal that the interaction between amines and dicarboxylic acids likely exerts a synergetic effect on atmospheric aerosol nucleation by formation of aminium carboxylate ion pairs.

Wen Xu

Papers

Nucleation and Growth of Nanoparticles in the Atmosphere

Atmospheric nanoparticles formed from heterogeneous reactions of organics

Theoretical Investigation of Interaction of Dicarboxylic Acids with Common Aerosol Nucleation Precursors

Laboratory characterization of an aerosol chemical speciation monitor with PM2.5 measurement capability

A theoretical study of hydrated molecular clusters of amines and dicarboxylic acids.