The nature of the development of emphysema in the tight skin (Tsk) and the pallid (Pa) mice are not well understood. We assessed the mechanical and nonlinear properties of the respiratory system, the alveolar structure, and the levels of microfibril-associated glycoproteins (MAGP) 1 and 2 in Tsk mice with developmental emphysema; in Pa mice, which are thought to develop adult onset emphysema; a...

The aim of this study was to establish the skin temperature (Tsk) thermal profile for the Brazilian population and to compare the differences between female and male Brazilian adults. A total of 117 female and 103 male were examined with a thermographic camera. The Tsk of 24 body regions of interest (ROI) were recorded and analyzed. Male Tsk results were compared to female and 10 ROI were evalu...

OBJECTIVE The tight skin (Tsk-1) mouse has been proposed as a model for systemic sclerosis on the basis of increased accumulation of collagen and glycosaminoglycans in the skin, and by the presence of serum autoantibodies. The genetic basis of the mutation has been identified as a genomic duplication within the fibrillin-1 (Fbn-1) gene that results in a larger than normal Fbn-1 transcript, but ...

This paper proposes an enhanced ant colony optimization with dynamic mutation and ad hoc initialization, ACODM-I, for improving the accuracy of Takagi-Sugeno-Kang- (TSK-) type fuzzy systems design. Instead of the generic initialization usually used in most population-based algorithms, ACODM-I proposes an ad hoc application-specific initialization for generating the initial ant solutions to impr...

Seven male students were exposed to four varied air temperature environments: hot (37 degrees C) to neutral (27 degrees C) (HN), neutral to hot (NH), cool (17 degrees C) to neutral (CN), and neutral to cool (NC). The air temperature was maintained at the first condition for 20 min, then was changed to the second condition after 15 min and was held there for 20 min. Each subject wore a T-shirt, ...

The primitive Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) [1, 2, 3] with additive neurons and RBF kernels was implemented in batch mode. In this paper, its sequential modification based on recursive least-squares (RLS) algorithm, which referred as Online Sequential Extreme Learning Machine (OS-ELM), is introduced. Based on OS-ELM, Online Sequential Fuzzy Extreme Learning Machine (Fuzzy-ELM) is also introduc...

BACKGROUND Cell-cell communication is essential in tissue patterning. In early amphibian development, mesoderm is formed in the blastula-stage embryo through inductive interactions in which vegetal cells act on overlying equatorial cells. Members of the TGF-beta family such as activin B, Vg1, derrière and Xenopus nodal-related proteins (Xnrs) are candidate mesoderm inducing factors, with furthe...

To test the Turkish version of The Self-Efficacy for Home Exercise Programs Scale (SEHEPS-T) in patients with musculoskeletal diseases validity and reliability. performance scale was evaluated 122 varying diseases, repeated to assess its test-retest questionnaire applied included a Demographic Socioeconomic Characteristics Form, SEHEPS-T, (EXSE), Tampa Kinesiophobia (TSK). Exploratory Factor An...

BACKGROUND Complaints of arm, neck and shoulder are common in Western societies. Of those consulting a general practitioner (GP) with non-traumatic arm, neck or shoulder complaints, about 50% do not recover within 6 months. Kinesiophobia (also known as fear of movement/(re)injury) may also play a role in these complaints, as it may lead to avoidance behaviour resulting in hypervigilance to bodi...