M. Kelemen, I. Virgala, E. Prada, T. Lipták Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Košice, Slovakia Th e paper deals with Shape memory alloy (SMA) spring analysis and its possibility for usage as actuator for in-pipe machine. In the paper the inner structure of SMA is introduced. Further, the experimental analysis of SMA contractor and expander was done. From the experiments...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the potential association of plastin 3 (PLS3) expression levels in the blood with disease severity in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). DESIGN Measurement of PLS3 messenger RNA levels in the blood of patients with types I, II, and III SMA. SETTING Pediatric Neuromuscular Clinical Research Network SMA Natural History study. PARTICIPANTS A cohort of 88 patients of both...

INTRODUCTION Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive neuromuscular disorder characterised by degeneration of spinal cord anterior horn cells, leading to muscular atrophy. It is the second most frequent autosomal recessive disease among Caucasian populations with a prevalence of between 1 in 6000 and 1 in 10,000 live births, and a carrier frequency of about 1 in 50. The Internati...

To evaluate the distribution of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) positive cells in various liver diseases, we undertook an immunohistochemical study of liver diseases including chronic persistent hepatitis, chronic active hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, intrahepatic cholelithiasis and hepatocellular carcinoma. As a control, fetal livers (gestational age: 22-26 weeks) showed alpha-SMA positive ...

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by mutation of the Survival Motor Neurons 1 (SMN1) gene and is characterized by degeneration of spinal motor neurons. The severity of SMA is primarily influenced by the copy number of the SMN2 gene. Additional modifier genes that lie outside the SMA locus exist and one gene that could modify SMA is the Zinc Finger Protein (ZPR1) gene. To test the signific...

Challenges in purification and subsequent functionalization of membrane proteins often complicate their biochemical and biophysical characterization. Purification of membrane proteins generally involves replacing the lipids surrounding the protein with detergent molecules, which can affect protein structure and function. Recently, it was shown that styrene-maleic acid copolymers (SMA) can disso...

PURPOSE Lens epithelial cells transdifferentiate to myofibroblasts during the formation of anterior subcapsular cataracts and secondary cataracts. One of the defining characteristics of myofibroblasts is the expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA). This study investigated some of the factors that influence alpha-SMA expression in lens epithelial cells. METHODS Bovine, rabbit, and ...