OBJECTIVE KL-6 is a mucin-like high molecular weight glycoprotein, which is strongly expressed on type II alveolar pneumocytes and bronchiolar epithelial cells. It has been demonstrated that the KL-6 antigen is a useful marker for estimating the activity of interstitial pneumonia. In this study, it is hypothesised that serum KL-6 is a useful marker to evaluate the activity of interstitial pneum...

Interactions between mesenchymal-derived thecal cells and epithelial-derived granulosa cells are essential for follicular development in the ovary. These mesenchymal-epithelial cell interactions are in part mediated by keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), and Kit ligand (KL). This study investigates the hypothesis that thecal cell-derived growth factors (e.g. KGF an...

1. Generalized Sphere Theorem As a first application of the critical point theory of distance funciton, we shall prove Theorem 1.1 (Grove-Shiohama). Let (M, g) be a complete simply connected Riemann-ian manifold with K > 1 4 and diam(M, g) ≥ π, then M is homeomorphic to S m. So Grove-Shiohama's theorem implies the sphere theorem. Proof. Let p, q ∈ M so that dist(p, q) = diam(M, g). In what foll...

OBJECTIVE To determine the serum levels of KL-6, a mucin-like high-molecular-weight glycoprotein, in polymyositis/dermatomyositis (PM/DM) patients. METHODS Serum samples from 42 adult PM/DM patients and 38 healthy control subjects were examined using specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) systems. RESULTS The serum levels of KL-6 in the PM/DM patients were significantly higher t...

Background: KL-6 is a human glycoprotein secreted by type II alveolar cells in lung, and its serum levels increase in pneumonia of various causes. We previously reported that serum KL-6 levels in the uveitis patients with sarcoidosis were significantly higher than that of other uveitis and healthy controls. And combined measurement of serum KL-6 and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) was usefu...

Kraft lignin (KL) was thermally treated at 500 to 1000 °C in an inert atmosphere. Carbon nanostructure parameters of thermally treated KL in terms of amorphous carbon fraction, aromaticity, and carbon nanocrystallites lateral size (La), thickness (Lc), and interlayer space (d002) were analyzed quantitatively using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron ...

We investigate Gaussian Kullback-Leibler (G-KL) variational approximate inference techniques for Bayesian generalised linear models and various extensions. In particular we make the following novel contributions: sufficient conditions for which the G-KL objective is differentiable and convex are described; constrained parameterisations of Gaussian covariance that make G-KL methods fast and scal...