We present a novel parametric 3D shape representation, Generalized sum of Gaussians (G-SoG), which is particularly suitable for pose estimation of articulated objects. Compared with the original sum-of-Gaussians (SoG), G-SoG can handle both isotropic and anisotropic Gaussians, leading to a more flexible and adaptable shape representation yet with much fewer anisotropic Gaussians involved. An ar...

The Drosophila short gastrulation gene (sog) encodes a large extracellular protein (Sog) that inhibits signaling by BMP-related ligands. Sog and its vertebrate counterpart Chordin contain four copies of a cysteine repeat (CR) motif defined by 10 cysteine residues spaced in a fixed pattern and a tryptophan residue situated between the first two cysteines. Here we present a structure-function ana...

BACKGROUND The root of Peucedanum japonicum Thunb., a perennial herb found in Japan, the Philippines, China, and Korea, is used as an analgesic. In a previous study, sec-O-glucosylhamaudol (SOG) showed an analgesic effect. This study was performed to examine the antinociceptive effect of intrathecal SOG in the formalin test. METHODS Male Sprague-Dawley rats were implanted with an intrathecal ...

background and aims. clinical studies on dimensional changes of supraosseous gingiva (sog) following crown lengthening surgery have yielded different results. the aim of the present study was to evaluate the alterations in sog dimension following crown lengthening surgery. materials and methods. this clinical study included 20 patients with 20 teeth needing surgical exposure for proper restorat...

Structurally unrelated neural inducers in vertebrate and invertebrate embryos have been proposed to function by binding to BMP4 or Dpp, respectively, and preventing these homologous signals from activating their receptor(s). In this study, we investigate the functions of various forms of the Drosophila Sog protein using the discriminating assay of Drosophila wing development. We find that misex...

The Drosophila tolloid (tld) and tolloid related (tlr) gene products belong to a family of developmentally important proteases that includes Bone Morphogenetic Protein 1 (Bmp1). Tld is required early in Drosophila development for proper patterning of dorsal embryonic structures, whereas Tlr is required later during larval and pupal stages of development. The major function of Tld is to augment ...

TGF-beta-related signaling pathways play diverse roles during vertebrate and invertebrate development. A common mechanism for regulating the activity of TGF-beta family members is inhibition by extracellular antagonists. Recently, the Drosophila short gastrulation (sog) gene was shown to encode a predicted diffusible factor which antagonizes signaling mediated by the TGF-beta-like Decapentapleg...

Pattern formation in the dorsal region of the Drosophila embryo depends on the activity of a small group of zygotically acting genes. dpp, a key gene in this group, encodes a TGF-beta-like product (Dpp) that has been proposed to function as a morphogen with peak levels of Dpp-specifying amnioserosa, the dorsal-most cell type, and lower Dpp levels specifying dorsal ectoderm. The short gastrulati...

During early Drosophila embryogenesis, several zygotic gene products act to establish a posttranscriptional activity gradient of the morphogen DPP. Among these molecules, Tolloid, a putative metalloprotease related to BMP-1, enhances DPP function, while SOG, an ortholog of the Xenopus organizer Chordin, inhibits DPP function. Using epistasis tests and a Xenopus secondary axis induction assay, w...

The Spemann organizer has long been recognized as a major source of patterning signals during the gastrula stage of amphibian embryogenesis. More recent evidence has suggested that the ventral side of the embryo also plays an important role in dorsal-ventral patterning during gastrulation through the action of signaling factors such as BMP-4. Bmp-4 is closely related to the Drosophila decapenta...