The potential application of GPNMB/OA as a therapeutic target for lung cancer will require a greater understanding of the impact of GPNMB/OA ectodomain (ECD) protein shedding into tumor tissues. Thus, in this work we characterized GPNMB/OA expression and extent of shedding of its ECD protein while evaluating the impact on lung cancer progression using three non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) ce...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify the morphological and functional characteristics of quadricuspid aortic valves (QAV) on cardiac computed tomography (CCT). MATERIALS AND METHODS We retrospectively enrolled 11 patients with QAV. All patients underwent CCT and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), and 7 patients underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). The presence and ...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that pulmonary venous flow velocity ratios during systole and diastole in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) correctly predict the quantitative degree of MR. BACKGROUND Pulmonary venous flow velocity measurements have thus far been used only for the qualitative assessment of MR. Recent studies have evaluated this method usin...

The aim of this study was to estimate the heritability and describe the correlates of bone marrow lesions in knee subchondral bone. A sibpair design was used. T2- and T1-weighted MRI scans were performed on the right knee to assess bone marrow lesions at lateral tibia and femora and medial tibia and femora, as well as chondral defects. A radiograph was taken on the same knee and scored for indi...

Theoretical calculations and preliminary measurements of vibrational Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra of different species of amphetamine (amphetamine and amphetamine-H) are reported for the first time. The quantum chemical calculations were carried out as hybrid ab initio DFT-molecular orbital calculations by use of the Gaussian 03W program, based on complete geometry minimizations of the ...

Integrating different knowledge representation languages is one of the main topics in Qualitative Spatial Reasoning (QSR). Existing languages are generally incomparable in terms of expressive power; as such, their integration compensates each other’s representational deficiencies, and is seen by real applications, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), or robot navigation, as an answer t...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between function, pain and stiffness outcomes with individual and community socioeconomic status (SES) measures among individuals with radiographic knee osteoarthritis (rOA). METHODS Cross-sectional data from the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project were analyzed for adults age 45 and older with knee rOA (n = 782) and a sub...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the age-related NADPH oxidase (arNOX) activity in patients with age-related knee osteoarthritis (OA). Serum and cartilage arNOX activities were determined using an oxidized ferricytochrome C reduction assay. Full-thickness knee joint cartilages obtained through total knee replacement surgery were graded according to the Outerbridge (OB) classificatio...

One of the most significant features of plant development is the way in which it can be elaborated and modulated throughout the life of the plant, an ability that is conferred by meristems. The Arabidopsis thaliana WUSCHEL gene (WUS), which encodes a homeodomain transcription factor, is required to maintain the stem cells in the shoot apical meristem in an undifferentiated state. The mechanism ...

The tryptophan (Trp) aromatic residue in chiral matrices often exhibits a large optical activity and thus provides valuable structural information. However, it can also obscure spectral contributions from other peptide parts. To better understand the induced chirality, electronic circular dichroism (ECD), vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), and Raman optical activity (ROA) spectra of Trp-cont...