Macrophages and dendritic cells (DC) are distributed throughout the body and play important roles in pathogen detection and tissue homeostasis. In tissues, resident macrophages exhibit distinct phenotypes and activities, yet the transcriptional pathways that specify tissue-specific macrophages are largely unknown. We investigated the functions and origins of two peritoneal macrophage population...

We analyze the use of kinematic constraints for articulated object tracking. Conditions for the occurrence of singularities in 3-D models are presented and their effects on tracking are characterized. We describe a novel 2-D Scaled Prismatic Model (SPM) for figure registration. In contrast to 3-D kinematic models, the SPM has fewer singularity problems and does not require detailed knowledge of...

R. Mutihac Electricity and Biophysics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania Objective Analysis of an fMRI block-based visual stimulation paradigm was comparatively performed by wavelet analysis and statistical parametric mapping (SPM) [1] based on Gaussian Random Field Theory (RFT). The voxels were isotropic and the same general linear model (GLM) was employed in both SPM and the discret...

The suspension-feeding Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum is a native species of the western Pacific that is now widely distributed around the globe because of its commercial importance. To determine the adaptive physiological responses to changing thermal and nutritional conditions, clearance, filtration, feces production, ammonium excretion, respiration rates, and scope for growth (SFG) were...

Diagnostic accuracy in FDG-PET imaging highly depends on the operating procedures. In this clinical study on dementia, we compared the diagnostic accuracy at a single-subject level of a) Clinical Scenarios, b) Standard FDG Images and c) Statistical Parametrical (SPM) Maps generated via a new optimized SPM procedure. We evaluated the added value of FDG-PET, either Standard FDG Images or SPM Maps...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Spontaneous swallowing frequency has been described as an index of dysphagia in various health conditions. This study evaluated the potential of spontaneous swallow frequency analysis as a screening protocol for dysphagia in acute stroke. METHODS In a cohort of 63 acute stroke cases, swallow frequency rates (swallows per minute [SPM]) were compared with stroke and swall...

Scintillators have been widely used in radiation detection for almost one century. It has traditionally been used together with a photomultiplier tube (PMT) but in recent years silicon photomultipliers (SPM) has begun to compete with the PMT. This opens opportunities for new applications like pocket size dosimeters. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the use of different scintillator ...

Suspended particulate matter (SPM) strongly alters the trophic environment of photosymbiotic aquatic organisms. At high particles loads, phototrophic energy gains can be diminished due to light absorption by suspended particles, and stress from particle abrasion or deposition on tissues. However, energy gains are enhanced if organisms are able to use SPM as a food source. For photosymbiotic ben...

Because of their important roles in mediating the stabilization and expression of p53, we hypothesized that high-risk genotypes of polymorphisms in p53-related genes, including p53, p73, p14(ARF), MDM2 and MDM4, may be associated with an increased risk of second primary malignancy (SPM) after index squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). We analyzed data from a cohort of 1283 pati...

To evaluate the risk of secondary primary malignancy (SPM) in patients with cervical cancer using a nationwide population-based dataset.Patients newly diagnosed with cervical cancer between 1997 and 2011 were identified using Taiwan's National Health Insurance database. Patients with antecedent malignancies were excluded. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) for SPM were calculated by comparing...