Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a multi-functional cytokine involved in inflammation, repair and angiogenesis in asthmatic airway. This study aimed to evaluate the role of VEGF in immediate bronchoconstriction induced by TDI inhalation, and in chronic TDI-asthma patients. 11 newly diagnosed TDI-asthma patients (group I), 12 chronic TDI-asthma patients with persistent asthma symptom...

To investigate the pathogenic mechanism of late asthmatic response in comparison to early asthmatic response, changes of serum neutrophil chemotactic activity (NCA) using the Boyden chamber method and histamine level using the automated fluorometric analyzer were observed in 13 aspirin (ASA)-sensitive asthma subjects (group I: 7 early responders and group II: 6 dual responders) during lysine as...

The aim of this study was to investigate the neuromuscular performance responses following successive Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) fights. Twenty-three BJJ athletes (age: 26.3 ± 6.3 years; body mass: 79.4 ± 9.7 kg; body height: 1.80 ± 0.1 m) undertook 3 simulated BJJ fights (10 min duration each separated by 15 min of rest). Neuromuscular performance was measured by the bench press throw (BPT) and...

A candidate structure for the minimal prion infectious unit is a recently discovered protein oligomer modeled as a beta-helical prion trimer (BPT); BPTs can stack to form cross-beta fibrils and may provide insight into protein aggregates of other amyloid diseases. However, the BPT lacks a clear intermonomer binding mechanism. Here we propose an alternative domain-swapped trimeric prion (DSTP) m...

Exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 65 employees (40 sampled both in summer and winter, 15 sampled in summer only, and 10 sampled in winter only) with no occupational exposure to PAHs was assessed by measuring: personal exposure to pyrene, urinary excretion of 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP), and benzo(a)pyrene diol epoxide adducts to hemoglobin (BPDE-Hb). Overall, office em...

This paper describes the design and fabrication of fiber-optic nanoprobes developed for optical detection in single living cells. It is critical to fabricate probes with well-controlled nanoapertures for optimized spatial resolution and optical transmission. The detection sensitivity of fiber-optic nanoprobe depends mainly on the extremely small excitation volume that is determined by the apert...

This paper proposes a system to depth order regions of a frame belonging to a monocular image sequence. For a given frame, regions are ordered according to their relative depth using the previous and following frames. The algorithm estimates occluded and disoccluded pixels belonging to the central frame. Afterwards, a Binary Partition Tree (BPT) is constructed to obtain a hierarchical, region b...

Pelham, Wheeler, and Chronis (1998) reviewed the treatment literature on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and concluded behavioral parent training (BPT) and behavioral classroom management (BCM) were well-established treatments for children with ADHD. This review updates and extends the finding of the prior review. Studies conducted since the 1998 review were identified and coded...

Integrated data analysis of fusion diagnostics is the combination of different, heterogeneous diagnostics in order to improve physics knowledge and reduce the uncertainties of results. One example is the validation of profiles of plasma quantities. Integration of different diagnostics requires systematic and formalized error analysis for all uncertainties involved. The Bayesian probability theo...

In this article we explain two different operational interpretations of functional programs by two different logics. The programs are simply typed λ-terms with pairs, projections, if-then-else, and least fixed point recursion. A logic for call-by-value evaluation and a logic for call-byname evaluation are obtained as as extensions of a system which we call the basic logic of partial terms (BPT)...