Root and hypocotyl elongation, water status and solute accumulation were studied in osmotically stressed seedlings of the tropical tree, Colophospermum mopane (Kirk ex Benth.) Kirk ex J. Léonard, which grows in hot arid areas of southern and central Africa. Seeds were imbibed for 24 h and then subjected to a polyethylene-glycol-generated osmotic stress of -0.03 (control), -0.2, -0.8, -1.6 or -2...

Process algebras constitute one of the main tools for modeling and analyzing concurrent systems. Unfortunately, with classical process algebras only the functional aspect of the behavior of concurrent systems can be modeled and analyzed. Since the relevance of integrating the performance modeling and evaluation into the process of specification, design and implementation of concurrent systems h...

The Multiagent Planning Architecture (MPA) is a framework for integrating diverse technologies into a system capable of solving complex planning problems. Agents within MPA share well-defined, uniform interface specifications that facilitate integration of new technologies and experimentation with different problem-solving strategies. MPA provides a central repository for storing plan-related i...

Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is an immunosuppressive agent, more and more extensively used in transplantation, rheumatology and nephrology. In this review, we will analyze the molecular mechanisms of its action, including the newest insights, in particular the inhibition of lymphocytes and the induction of tolerogenic dendritic cells (DCs) and its direct effects on non-immune cells (fibroblasts and ...

New methods are needed that can predict the clinical failure of dental restorations that primarily rely on dentin bonding. Existing methods have shortcomings, e.g. severe deviation in the actual stress distribution from theory and a large standard deviation in the measured bond strength. We introduce here a novel test specimen by examining an endodontic model for dentin bonding. Specifically, w...

OBJECTIVE Combined hormone therapy (HT) containing estrogen and progestin (medroxyprogesterone acetate [MPA]) leads to increased risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women, compared with HT regimens containing estrogen alone or placebo. We previously reported that in animal models, progestins can accelerate the development of mammary tumors by increasing vascular endothelial growth factor (V...

Mycophenolic acid (MPA)-induced beta-cell toxicity is an important factor for islet graft function. The signal transduction mechanisms underlying this process have not been fully explored. Using a proteomics approach, we examined protein expression patterns in MPA-treated RIN-5 cells and found that RhoGDI-alpha expression is altered by MPA-treatment. We examined the relationship between RhoGDI-...