In humans the superfamily of intermediate filament (IF) proteins is encoded by more than 70 different genes, which are expressed in a cell- and tissue-specific manner. IFs assemble into approximately 10 nm-wide filaments that account for the principal structural elements at the nuclear periphery, nucleoplasm, and cytoplasm. They are also required for organizing the microtubule and microfilament...

Boundary Controlled Iterated Function Systems is a new layer of control over traditional (linear) IFS, allowing creation of a wide variety of shapes. In this work, we demonstrate how subdivision schemes may be generated by means of Boundary Controlled Iterated Function Systems, as well as how we may go beyond the traditional subdivision schemes to create free-form fractal shapes. BC-IFS is a po...

An Intelligent Fixturing System (IFS) is currently being developed to hold a family of thin-walled workpieces for machining operations. This is a cost-effective system which uses off-line optimisation of the clamps location and on-line adjustment of clamping forces. As adaptive clamping forces appropriate to the dynamic machining environment are employed, the IFS offers higher quality of machin...

Phytoestrogens are natural compounds with anticancer, proliferation, differentiation, and chemopreventive effects, for which several mechanisms have been proposed. In the present study, modulation of Brca1 and Brca2 expression by different phytoestrogen-rich diets has been investigated in ovariectomized Wistar rats. Two hundred mammary glands were harvested in three independent experiments. Brc...

BACKGROUND The inappropriate use or interpretation of intrapartum fetal surveillance (IFS) continues to be a major contributor to adverse obstetric outcomes, suggesting that training in IFS is deficient. What professional education in intrapartum fetal surveillance currently exists in Victorian public hospitals is unknown. AIMS To map the current formal IFS education and competency assessment...

We develop a new approach to the computation of the Hausdorff dimension of the invariant set of an iterated function system or IFS. In the one dimensional case, our methods require only C3 regularity of the maps in the IFS. The key idea, which has been known in varying degrees of generality for many years, is to associate to the IFS a parametrized family of positive, linear, Perron-Frobenius op...

A combination of antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy exhibits more promising efficacy in treating fear disorders than either treatment alone, but underlying mechanisms of such treatments remain largely unknown. Here we investigated the role of DNA methylation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) gene in the therapeutic effects of ketamine in combination with extinction training in...

The properties of keratin intermediate filaments (IFs) have been studied after transfection with green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged K18 and/or K8 (type I/II IF proteins). GFP-K8 and -K18 become incorporated into tonofibrils, which are comprised of bundles of keratin IFs. These tonofibrils exhibit a remarkably wide range of motile and dynamic activities. Fluorescence recovery after photoblea...

Intermediate filament (IF) proteins comprise a large family with more than 70 members. Initially, IFs were assumed to provide only structural reinforcement for the cell. However, IFs are now known to be dynamic structures that are involved in a wide range of cellular processes during all stages of life, from development to ageing, and during homeostasis and stress. This Commentary discusses som...