Notch signalling is an important evolutionary conserved mechanism known to control cell fate choices through local interactions. Here, the patterns of expression of Notch-1 and -2 genes and their ligands Delta-1, Serrate-1 and -2, were established in the early blastodisc of the chicken embryo from the pre-streak to the first somite stages. Delta-1 was detected as early as the pre-streak stage i...

The definition of privacy, according to Merriam-Webster, is the quality or state of being apart from company or observation. Under the rapid development of internet technology, people’s right to maintain private lives have been challenged by the massive volume of information one can access and the fast speed at which information traverse spatially. The paper explains two typical reasons why cur...

Developments in electronic communications have created many new uses for the letter “e”—“e-commerce,” “e-learning,” “e-governance,” and so forth. These terms point to some of the ways in which modern information and communications technologies (ICTs) are changing how millions of people work and live. Against that background, it makes sense for the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (...

People are living to older age. Demographic pressures are driving change. Opiate analgesics are the most powerful known pain relievers. Persistent pain, both cancer and non-cancer types is frequent in older adults. The use of opioid analgesics is appropriate in the treatment of moderate to severe persistent pain. The challenge of prescribing opioids in older adults is to understand the factors ...

The "RNA World" hypothesis suggests that life developed from RNA enzymes termed ribozymes, which carry out reactions without assistance from proteins. Ribonuclease (RNase) P is one ribozyme that appears to have adapted these origins to modern cellular life by adding protein to the RNA core in order to broaden the potential functions. This RNA-protein complex plays diverse roles in processing RN...

It is shown that if a cellular automaton (CA) in two or more dimensions supports growing “ladders” which can turn or block each other, then it can express arbitrary boolean circuits. Thus the problem of predicting the CA for a finite amount of time becomes P-complete, the question of whether a finite configuration grows to infinity is P-hard, and the long-term behavior of initial conditions wit...

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An almost unbiased estimator using known value of some population parameter(s) is proposed. Under simple random sampling without replacement (SRSWOR) scheme the expressions for bias and mean square error (MSE) are derived. Numerical illustrations are given.

The adaptation of cardiovascular and thermoregulatory responses to ozone (O3) was examined by repeated exposure of electrocardiographic (ECG) electrode- and thermistor sensor-implanted rats to O3 for 4 consecutive days (8 hrs/day). Circadian rhythms of heart rate (HR) and abdominal core temperature (Tco) were disrupted on the first and second O3 exposure days in a concentration dependent manner...

To date, no consensus exists on the key factors for diagnosing advanced Parkinson disease (APD). To obtain consensus on the definition of APD, we performed a prospective, multicenter, Spanish nationwide, 3-round Delphi study (CEPA study). An ad hoc questionnaire was designed with 33 questions concerning the relevance of several clinical features for APD diagnosis. In the first-round, 240 neurol...