Adipogenesis, in which mesenchymal precursor cells differentiate into mature adipocytes, is a well orchestrated process. In the present study we identified Tudor-SN as a novel co-activator of the transcription factor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ). We provide the first evidence that Tudor-SN and PPARγ exist in the same complex. Both are up-regulated by the early factor C/E...

This study describes a new simulator that provides haptic biofeedback to help manual wheelchair users gain a more effective propulsion pattern. Propulsion effectiveness is measured using the mechanical effective force (MEF). The simulator implements a dynamic model that replicates overground propulsion conditions. Haptic biofeedback increases the feeling of rolling resistance if the user’s MEF ...

A population often contains distinct sub-populations, thereby increasing the complexity of the overall heterogeneity. However, the cellular origin and biological relevance of sub-populations in cell population have not been clearly identified. Here we demonstrated the novel roles of ISGylation, which is an IFN-induced post-translational modification, controlling heterogeneity at the population ...

Cytotoxicity of methylating agents is caused mostly by methylation of the O6 position of guanine in DNA to form O6-methylguanine (O6-meG). O6-meG can direct misincorporation of thymine during replication, generating O6-meG:T mismatches. Recognition of these mispairs by the mismatch repair (MMR) system leads to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. MMR also modulates sensitivity to other antitumor dr...

The activity of a new ketolide, ABT-773, was compared to the activity of the ketolide telithromycin (HMR-3647) against over 600 gram-positive clinical isolates, including 356 Streptococcus pneumoniae, 167 Staphylococcus aureus, and 136 Streptococcus pyogenes isolates. Macrolide-susceptible isolates as well as macrolide-resistant isolates with ribosomal methylase (Erm), macrolide efflux (Mef), a...

To date, hematopoietic development of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) has been limited to cell lines cultured in the presence of either mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) or MEF-conditioned media (MEF-CM). Anonymous xenogenic factors from MEFs or MEF-CM complicate studies of hESC self-renewal and also raise concerns for the potential clinical applications of generating primitive hematopoieti...

Microscopic emission and fuel consumption models have been widely recognized as an effective method to quantify real traffic emission and energy consumption when they are applied with microscopic traffic simulation models. This paper presents a framework for developing the Microscopic Emission (HC, CO, NOx, and CO2) and Fuel consumption (MEF) models for light-duty vehicles. The variable of comp...

objective: piwil2, a member of ago/piwi gene family containing piwi and paz domains, has been shown to be ectopically expressed in different cancer cells, especially its remarkable expression in cancer stem cells (cscs), and is also known to be essential for germ line stem cell self-renewal in various organisms. the hypothesis that csc may hold the key to the central problem of clinical oncolog...

A novel 66-kDa protein, named p66mot-1, is identified to be associated with cellular mortality by virtue of its presence in cytosolic fractions of serially passaged mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) and the mortal hybrids obtained by the fusion of mortal (MEF) and immortal (MN48-1, derivative of NIH 3T3) cells. Immortal cells lack this protein in their cytosolic fractions. cDNA cloning and homo...