Cell death of gastrointestinal epithelial cells occurs by a process referred to as apoptosis. In this review, we succinctly define apoptosis and summarize the role of apoptosis in the physiology and pathophysiology of epithelial cells in the liver, pancreas, and small and large intestine. The physiological mediators regulating apoptosis in gastrointestinal epithelial cells, when known, are disc...

Recent study on nonketotic hyperglycinemia, an inborn error of glycine metabolism, is reviewed from clinical, metabolic, molecular, and neuropathological points of view. This disorder is caused by an inherited deficiency of the mitochondrial glycine cleavage system (GCS), which causes accumulation of glycine in such body fluids as plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, and urine. There are four disease t...

In this paper, we describe an implementation of qualitative physiology in the field of cardiac emergencies, which is integrated to a 3D virtual patient. . The system integrates qualitative simulation techniques with a realistic visual simulation of the patient in a 3D environment representing an ER room. We have adapted Qualitative Process Theory (QPT) to the representation of physiological pro...

Proteinase inhibitors are important negative regulators of proteinase action in vivo and are thus involved in several pathophysiological processes. Starting with the isolation of two new peptides from human blood filtrate, we succeeded in cloning a cDNA encoding the precursor protein for a novel 15-domain Kazal-type-related serine proteinase inhibitor. Two of the 15 domains almost exactly match...

The acute onset of a neurological deficit is the key clinical feature of stroke. In most cases, however, pathophysiological changes in the cerebral vasculature precede the event, often by many years. Persisting neurological deficits may also require long-term rehabilitation. Hence, stroke may be considered a chronic disease, and diagnostic and therapeutic efforts must include identification of ...

New insights into biological factors that underlie autism may be gained by comparing autism to other neurodevelopmental disorders that have autistic features and relatively well-delineated genetic etiologies or neurobiological findings. This review moves beyond global diagnoses of autism and instead uses an endophenotypic approach to compare specific clusters of autistic symptomatology to featu...

In this paper, we describe the use of qualitative simulation to simulate shock states in a virtual patient. The system integrates AI techniques with a realistic visual simulation of the patient in a 3D environment representing an ER room. We have adapted qualitative process theory to the representation of physiological processes in order to be able to generate appropriate pathophysiological mod...