“Half a loaf is better than none”

Ablation of Ganglionated Plexi in the Long Term: Is Half a Loaf as Good as None?

Transcription factor haploinsufficiency: when half a loaf is not enough.

Two articles in this issue of the JCI (1, 2) describe haploinsufficiency of the transcription factor Nkx2-1 (also known as TTF1) as the cause of a heretofore unrecognized human syndrome characterized by neurological, thyroid, and pulmonary dysfunction. Definition of the disorder and elucidation of its cause is a real tribute to the astute clinicians who looked beyond unusual laboratory values a...

A critique of the critical cochlea: Hopf--a bifurcation--is better than none.

The sense of hearing achieves its striking sensitivity, frequency selectivity, and dynamic range through an active process mediated by the inner ear's mechanoreceptive hair cells. Although the active process renders hearing highly nonlinear and produces a wealth of complex behaviors, these various characteristics may be understood as consequences of a simple phenomenon: the Hopf bifurcation. An...

Total Knee Replacement Sizing: Shoe Size Is a Better Predictor for Implant Size than Body Height

Background: Various sizes of implants need to be available during surgery. The purpose of this paper is to comparebody height and shoe size with implant sizes in patients who underwent total knee replacement surgery to see whichbiomarker is a better predictor for preoperative planning to determine implant size.Methods: A total of 100 knees, belonging to 50 females and 50 males, were observed. P...

Is half of a lens gap junction channel better than none? Focus on "properties of two cataract-associated mutations located in the NH2 terminus of connexin 46".

GAP JUNCTIONS ARE CLUSTERS of intercellular channels that allow the exchange of ions and small metabolites between adjacent cells (1). Intercellular channels form when two hemichannels, one contributed by each of the opposed cells, align in the extracellular space. Hemichannels are oligomers of six connexin proteins, and some of these also have the ability to form functioning channels in nonjun...