Exploiting the analogy between exemplar models and population coding schemes, we characterize, by means of information theoretic tools, the efficiency of a large but finite population of cells coding for a discrete set of categories (e.g. vowels). The optimal code is shown to typically allocate more cells to class boundaries than to regions further apart. We then discuss the predicted perceptua...

We consider the problem of designing reliable and confidential lattice codes, known as wiretap lattice codes, for fast fading channels. We identify as code design criterion for finite lattice constellations a finite sum of inverse of algebraic norms, in fact the analogous for finite sums of the known criterion for infinite constellations, which motivates us to study totally real number fields w...

Pregnancy and delivery is one of the main causes in the female body weight alteration, especially with obesity. This alteration in body weight has a significant effect not only for a femine beauty standpoint, but also for more important reproductive functions in postpartum. For the actual condition of the maternal body weight alteration and its clinical significance, we made the various analysi...

Leishmanolysin is a worldwide disease that is caused by different species of the genus Leishmania. Leishmanolysin, One of the genes expressed by Leishmania, appears to be an ideal candidate for genetic vaccination. In this study, a full length sequence, which encodes Leishmanolysin functionally critical regions (amino acids 100-579), was cloned from a Leishmania strain endemic to Iran. Analysis...

BACKGROUND Gene therapy is a potentially effective therapeutic modality for treating sensorineural hearing loss. Nonviral gene delivery vectors are expected to become extremely safe and convenient, and nanoparticles are the most promising types of vectors. However, infrequent nuclear localization in the cochlear cells limits their application for gene therapy. This study aimed to investigate th...

Long-term health behavior maintenance remains a challenge for patients and health behavior interventionists. Resource-intensive systems of external reinforcement and behavioral cues can support behavior maintenance; an alternative approach is to promote patient internalization and self-regulation of health behaviors. Based in part on organismic internalization theory, self-determination theory,...

The protective antigen (PA) of the anthrax toxin binds to a cell surface receptor and thereby allows lethal factor (LF) to be taken up and exert its toxic effect in the cytoplasm. Here, we report that clustering of the anthrax toxin receptor (ATR) with heptameric PA or with an antibody sandwich causes its association to specialized cholesterol and glycosphingolipid-rich microdomains of the plas...

Cellular internalization and trans-barrier transport of nanoparticles can be manipulated on the basis of the physicochemical and mechanical characteristics of nanoparticles. Research has shown that these factors significantly influence the uptake of nanoparticles. Dictating these characteristics allows for the control of the rate and extent of cellular uptake, as well as delivering the drug-loa...