The seven-pass transmembrane protein Smoothened (Smo) is an essential component of the Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway that is critically involved in normal animal development as well as pathological malignancies. In studying Hh-related biological processes, it would be highly desirable if Smo activity could be instantly switched between activation and inhibition. Using Gli1-dependent GFP trans...

The Hedgehog (HH) signaling pathway is crucial for the development of many organisms and its inappropriate activation is involved in numerous cancers. HH signal controls the traffic and activity of the seven-pass transmembrane protein Smoothened (SMO), leading to the transcriptional regulation of HH-responsive genes. In Drosophila, the intracellular transduction events following SMO activation ...

Recently, the sequential minimal optimization algorithm (SMO) was introduced [1, 2] as an effective method for training support vector machines (SVMs) on classification tasks defined on sparse data sets. SMO differs from most SVM algorithms in that it does not require a quadratic programming (QP) solver. One problem with SMO is that its rate of convergence slows down dramatically when data is n...

Evidence supporting the functionality of Smoothened (SMO), an essential transducer in most pathways engaged by Hedgehog (Hh), as a G(i)-coupled receptor contrasts with the lack of an apparently consistent requirement for G(i) in Hh signal transduction. In the present study, we sought to evaluate the role of SMO-G(i) coupling in fibroblast migration induced by Sonic Hedgehog (Shh). Our results d...

Cilia are key subcellular organelles for the coordination of signaling pathways. The importance of cilia is underscored by the number of diseases associated with cilia dysfunction. Here we highlight recent studies on the role of cilia in signaling and disease. Sonic hedgehog (Shh)—one of three vertebrate hedgehog (Hh) proteins—is an important morphogen during development that specifies ventral ...

Smoothened (Smo)-mediated Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway governs the patterning, morphogenesis and growth of many different regions within animal body plans. This study evaluated the effects of genetic variations of the bovine SMO gene on economically important body size traits in Chinese Qinchuan cattle. Altogether, eight single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs: 1-8) were identified and genotyp...

Hedgehog (Hh) pathway activation promotes tumors in several endodermally derived tissues, but its role in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown. Although normal hepatocytes lack Hh signaling, activation of the Hh pathway in endodermal progenitors is required for liver development. Thus, we hypothesized that hepatocarcinogenesis may involve regulation of Hh signaling. Thi...

Novel materials synthesis techniques were used to fabricate nanostructured and macroporous semiconducting metal oxide (SMO) films exhibiting exceptionally high sensitivity to reducing and oxidizing gases, as compared to conventionally prepared specimens. Increased sensitivity resulted from an elevated surface area and reduced specimen cross section. Several processing routes were pursued includ...

BACKGROUND Malalignment of the ankle joint has been found after trauma, by neurological disorders, genetic predisposition and other unidentified factors, and results in asymmetrical joint loading. For a medial open wedge supramalleolar osteotomy(SMO), there are some debates as to whether concurrent fibular osteotomy should be performed. We assessed the changes in motion of ankle joint and plant...