The patella is an ossification in the tendon of insertion of the quadriceps femoris muscle. It works along with the femoral trochlea as a pulley, redirecting the line of action of the quadriceps tendon. For the patella to be stable and to move in the most efficient direction, axial alignment of the extensor apparatus with the underlying skeletal elements is necessary. The extensor apparatus is ...

BACKGROUND Thrombocytopenia is a common problem in the management of patients with cancer and other conditions that affect hematopoietic cells. In previous clinical trials, the polyethylene-glycol-conjugated recombinant human megakaryocyte growth and development factor increased platelet counts in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and solid tumors undergoing chemotherapy. Howeve...

Thrombopoietin (Tpo), the ligand for the c-Mpl receptor, is a major regulator of megakaryopoiesis. Treatment of mice with Tpo raises the platelet count fourfold within a few days. Conversely, c-mpl knock-out mice have platelet counts that are 15% that of normal. The subunit structure of the c-Mpl receptor is not fully understood. Some cytokines that stimulate megakaryopoiesis (IL-6, IL-11, leuk...

Max-plus-linear (MPL) systems are a class of discrete event systems that can be described by models that are “linear” in the max-plus algebra. In this paper we focus on MPL systems such as they arise in the context of e.g. manufacturing systems, telecommunication networks, railway networks, and parallel computing. We derive a receding horizon control scheme for MPL systems that guarantees a pri...

Porphyromonas gingivalis, a gram-negative, black-pigmented anaerobe, is among the microorganisms implicated in the etiology of adult periodontal disease. This bacterium possesses a number of factors, including hemagglutinins, of potential importance in virulence. Our laboratory has shown the induction of protection to P. gingivalis infection after subcutaneous immunization with recombinant hema...

Discrete-event systems with synchronization but no concurrency can be described by models that are “linear” in the max-plus algebra, and they are called max-plus-linear (MPL) systems. Examples of MPL systems often arise in the context of manufacturing systems, telecommunication networks, railway networks, parallel computing, etc. In this paper we provide a solution to a finite-horizon model pre...

Our previous study showed the efficacy of lactoferrin-monophosphoryl lipid A isolated from Hafnia alvei LPS complex (LF-MPL(H.a.)) as an adjuvant in stimulation of humoral and cellular immune response in mice to conventional antigens and a lower pyrogenicity of the complex as compared with MPL(H.a.) alone. In the present investigation we demonstrated that LF-MPL(H.a.) complex enhanced the immun...

We present here the identification and characterization of Leishmania sterol 24-c-methyltransferase (SMT), as well as data on protection of mice immunized with this Ag formulated in MPL-SE. Serological evaluation revealed that SMT is recognized by VL patients. C57BL/6 mice immunized with this vaccine candidate plus MPL-SE showed Ag-specific Th1 immune responses characterized by robust productio...

Experimental results in research on time preference are often controversial. We propose a systematic investigation of choice task in multiple price list format (MPL) that is frequently implemented in experiments on time preference, through a computer simulation analysis. We conduct experiments with artificial subjects to demonstrate that elicited discount rates are highly dependent on the struc...

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and dendritic cells (DCs) are important in the immune response. In vitro, DCs are derived from myeloid precursors by stimulation with granulocyte macrophage colony‑stimulating factor and interleukin‑4. Previous studies demonstrated that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in combination with interferon‑γ inhibited DC development but enhanced MDSC functions. Monopho...