Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) give rise to an enormous number of blood cells throughout our life. In contrast their number of cell divisions preceding senescence is limited underin vitro culture conditions. Here we consider the question whether HSC can rejuvenate indefinitely or if the number of cell divisions is restricted. We have developed a multi-compartmental model for hematopoietic diffe...

BACKGROUND Ghana introduced a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2003 applying fee-for-service method for paying NHIS-credentialed health care providers. The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) later introduced diagnosis-related-grouping (DRG) payment to contain cost without much success. The NHIA then introduced capitation payment, a decision that attracted complaints of falling...

PURPOSE To compare the distribution and self-renewal capacity of rabbit corneal endothelial cell precursors in the central and peripheral regions of the cornea. METHODS The corneal endothelium (CE) and Descemet's membrane of New Zealand White rabbit corneas were divided into a peripheral region (6.0-10.0 mm in diameter) and a central region (6.0 mm in diameter). Then a sphere-forming assay wa...

Visual cell pathology and rod outer segment renewal were investigated in normal and PRCD-affected miniature poodles using 3H-fucose autoradiography. Twenty-four hours following the intravitreal injection of 3H-fucose, label accumulated diffusely over cone OS and in a banded pattern at the rod OS base. In normal rods, the band of 3H-label was displaced sclerad with time. PRCD-affected rods in th...

pim-1 and pim-3 encode serine/threonine kinases involved in the regulation of cell proliferation and apoptosis in response to cytokine stimulation. We analyzed the regulation of pim-1 and pim-3 by the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)/gp130/signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (STAT3) pathway and the role of Pim-1 and Pim-3 kinases in mouse embryonic stem (ES) cell self-renewal. Ma...