AIMS Alternative transcription and splicing of the allograft inflammatory factor-1 (AIF-1) gene results in the expression of two different proteins: AIF-1 and interferon responsive transcript-1 (IRT-1).  Here, we explore the impact of AIF-1 and IRT-1 on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) activation and neointima formation, the mechanisms underlying their alternative splicing, and associations o...

The popularity of intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) is increasing rapidly. In order to make learning environments more efficient, researchers have been exploring the possibility of an automatic adaptation of the learning environment to the learner or the context. One of the possible adaptation techniques is adaptive item sequencing by matching the difficulty of the items to the learner’s know...

Intensive endurance exercise is known to induce lymphocyte apoptosis, which might affect immune function. Less is known about the effects of resistance exercise on apoptosis and its underlying mechanisms. In this study, subjects performed an intensive resistance test (IRT) and a moderate resistance test, and lymphocyte apoptosis, apoptosis-related parameters, and underlying mechanisms were inve...

High blood trypsin levels during early days of life are found in newborns subsequently diagnosed to be affected by cystic fibrosis. The authors compared the validity of the traditional meconium test with the blood immunoreactive trypsin (IRT) assay, carried out in parallel on 113,302 neonates from three regions of North-eastern Italy. The meconium test showed a sensitivity of 57.7%. The sensiti...

Item Response Theory (IRT) evaluates, on the same scale, examinees who take different tests. It requires linkage of examinees’ ability scores as estimated from However, IRT techniques assume independently random sampling abilities a standard normal distribution. Because this assumption, not only much labor to design, but it also has no guarantee optimality. To resolve that shortcoming, study pr...

Assessment of socially unacceptable behaviors and attitudes via self-report is likely to yield skewed data that may be vulnerable to measurement non-invariance. Item response theory (IRT) can help address these measurement challenges. This paper illustrates application of IRT to data from a teen dating violence intervention study. Three factors reflecting teens’ attitudes about dating violence ...

Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) has recently become the method of choice for targeted quantitative measurement of proteins using mass spectrometry. The method, however, is limited in the number of peptides that can be measured in one run. This number can be markedly increased by scheduling the acquisition if the accurate retention time (RT) of each peptide is known. Here we present iRT, an e...

1 Abstract Item response theory (IRT) has arguably been one of the most successful and widely used statistical modeling techniques in psychometrics, with applications in developmental, social, educational and cognitive psychology for example, as well as in medical research, demography and other social science settings. In this paper I will try to briefly summarize some of the important research...

Interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) inhibits proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in culture and reduces arterial restenosis post-balloon angioplasty. The identification and characterization of IFN-gamma-specific transcripts in VSMCs are an important approach to discern the molecular mechanisms underlying vascular proliferative disease. In this report, we describe IRT-1, a novel mRNA ...