Chondromodulin I (chm-I), a type II transmembrane protein, is highly expressed in the avascular zones of cartilage but is downregulated in the hypertrophic region, which is invaded by blood vessels during enchondral ossification. In vitro and in vivo assays with the purified protein have shown chondrocyte-modulating and angiogenesis-inhibiting functions. To investigate chm-I function in vivo, we g

Among the approximately 7,000 cytogenetically abnormal childhood and adult B- and T-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL) published to date, numerous recurring chromosomal aberrations and abnormality patterns have been identified, and it has been clearly shown that the cytogenetic features often correlate closely with specific morphologic, immunophenotypic, and clinical parameters. Thus, kar

Background and purpose The introduction of Monte Carlo (MC) techniques for treatment planning and also for verification purposes will have considerable impact on the radiation therapy planning process. The aim of this work was to use a virtual accelerator to study the performance of a MC-based electron dose calculation algorithm, implemented in a commercial treatment planning system. Methods The

Signal transduction in hematopoietic cells is a highly specific process. The stimulation of B cell receptor following antigen binding triggers, as a first step, phosphorylation of the cytoplasmic immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs (ITAMs). Src family tyrosine kinases Blk, Fyn, Lck, and Lyn as well as spleen kinase, Syk, are activated to transmit the signal further. In this review the

Most human adults carry the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and develop immunological memory against the structural and the virus-encoded cellular proteins. The EBV nuclear antigen 6 (EBNA6) elicits cytotoxic T cell responses and it also maintains a persistent antibody response. The majority of sera from EBV-seropositive individuals reacts with a synthetic peptide, p63, comprising 21 amino acids of a rep

We study networks representing the dynamics of elementary 1D cellular automata (CA) on finite lattices. We analyze scaling behaviors of both local and global network properties as a function of system size. The scaling of the largest node in-degree is obtained analytically for a variety of CA including rules 22, 54, and 110. We further define the path diversity as a global network measure. The coa

In this paper, we propose a new statistical model for noise periodogram modeling and estimation. The proposed model is a hidden Markov model (HMM) with a Rayleigh mixture model (RMM) in each state. For this new model, we derive an expectation-maxinuzation (EM) training algorithm and a minimum meansquare error (NIMSE) noise periodogram estimator. It is shown that when compared to the Gaussian mixtu

BACKGROUND: The American Diabetes Association (ADA)/European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD)/International Diabetes Federation GDFAFCC Consensus Statement on the worldwide standardization of HbA(1c) states that"...[HbA(1c)] results are to be reported world-wide in IFCC units...and derived NGSP units...,using the IFCC-NGSP master equation." METHODS: We describe statistical methods to e

The use of celestial or geomagnetic orientation cues can lead migratory birds along different migration routes during the migratory journeys, e.g. great circle routes (approximate), geographic or magnetic loxodromes. Orientation cage experiments have indicated that migrating birds are capable of detecting magnetic compass information at high northern latitudes even at very steep angles of inclinat

Tadpole growth and development are easily affected by intraspecific competition in tank experiments, provided treatment density is sufficiently high. Is this a phenomenon also observed in nature? A pond was divided into four tadpole-proof sections. Each year for 8 years, all spawn laid by moorfrogs (Rana arvalis) in this pond was relocated to create relative spawn and tadpole densities of 1:4:1:4.

The objective of this study was to design and experimentally examine a sampling method for high-temperature aerosols from biomass combustion, in which nucleation and condensation from fly ash forming vapors is controlled. The sampling method includes a high-temperature probe in which the hot gas is diluted and then cooled. Laboratory results from sampling a model aerosol with known concentrations

Fluorescence diffuse optical tomography (FDOT) can provide important information in biomedical studies. In this ill-posed problem, suppression of background tissue autofluorescence is of utmost importance. We report a method for autofluorescence-insensitive FDOT using nonlinear upconverting nanoparticles (NaYF4:Yb3+/Tm3+) in a tissue phantom under excitation intensities well below tissue-damage th

Objectives: Nutrients passing the ileum induce mechanisms regulating pancreatic secretion, but the effect of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) present in the ileum because of either intestinal fermentation or due to the cecoileal reflux is still unclear. This study investigated the effect of ileal SCFAs on pancreatic secretion and plasma levels of peptide YY, cholecystokinin, motilin, and neurotensi

Ferrochelatase catalyzes the terminal step in the heme biosynthetic pathway, i.e., the incorporation of Fe(II) into protoporphyrin IX. Various biochemical and biophysical methods have been used to probe the enzyme for metal binding residues and the location of the active site. However, the location of the metal binding site and the path of the metal into the porphyrin are still disputed. Using sit

This paper presents a new design method for PID controllersbased on optimization of load disturbance rejection with constraintson robustness to model uncertainties. The design also deliversparameters to deal with measurement noise and set point response. Thus, theformulation of the design problem captures four essential aspects ofindustrial control problems, leading to a constrained optimizationpr