Systemic amyloid light chain (AL) amyloidosis is a life-threatening protein deposition disorder; however, effective therapy can dramatically improve the prognosis of AL patients. Therefore, accurate diagnosis of the underlying hematologic disease is important. Multi-parameter flow cytometry (MFC) is a reliable method to analyze lymphatic neoplasias and to detect even a small lymphatic clone. We...

This study aimed to investigate the performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC) for simultaneous bioremediation of slaughterhouse wastewater and sustainable power generation. For the first time, an integrated system of tubular type microbial fuel cell (MFC) was used in this study. The MFC consisted of three concentric Plexiglas tubes; the inner tube was the anaerobic anodic compartment, the mid tu...

Access to limited-capacity neural systems of cognitive control must be restricted to the most relevant information. How the brain identifies and selects items for preferential processing is not fully understood. Anatomical models often place the selection mechanism in the medial frontal cortex (MFC), and one computational model proposes that the mesotelencephalic dopamine (DA) system, via its r...

We present an energetically autonomous robotic tadpole that uses a single membrane component for both electrical energy generation and propulsive actuation. The coupling of this small bio-inspired power source to a bio-inspired actuator demonstrates the first generation design for an energetically autonomous swimming robot comprised of a single membrane. An ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) ...

Clonal plasma cell disorders (PCD) including mostly monoclonal gammopathy of undeter‐ mined significance (MGUS) and multiple myeloma (MM) are characterised by expansion of abnormal (clonal) plasma cells (PCs) producing monoclonal protein (M-protein, MIG). Although multiparametric flow cytometry (MFC) allows identification and characterisation of these neoplastic PCs, this approach is used in ro...

Pulp concentration was increased, during preparation of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), in an effort to improve the efficiency of cellulase pretreatment. It was hypothesized that increased pulp concentration could possibly increase the interactions between cellulase and cellulose, therefore improving the cellulase pretreatment efficiency and benefiting MFC and its film properties. Results sho...

Developing co de for the execution of a distributed, dynamic workflow requires significant effort and hence it becomes necessary to build tools that enable the creation and execution of such workflows. Compelling arguments have been made for the implementation of workfl ow management systems using mobile agents [CGN96, MLL97]. Mobile agents are autonomous pieces of code that can migrate under t...

BACKGROUND Akt is a critical mediator of developmental skeletal muscle growth. Treatment with a soluble ActRIIB fusion protein (ActRIIB-mFc) increases skeletal muscle mass and strength by inhibiting myostatin and related peptides. Recent in vitro studies have suggested that Akt signaling is necessary for the ability of ActRIIB inhibition to induce muscle hypertrophy. Thus, we hypothesized that ...

BACKGROUND Following extensive research activity to develop an effective agent to control male fertility, such a product may be available for use within approximately 5 years. However, little is known concerning contraceptive knowledge, desires and attitudes of men in different countries, and their acceptance of male fertility control (MFC). METHODS A survey of >9000 males aged 18-50 years wa...

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to study the behavior of a microbial fuel cell (MFC) during initial biofilm growth in an acetate-fed, two-chamber MFC system with ferricyanide in the cathode. EIS experiments were performed both on the full cell (between cathode and anode) as well as on individual electrodes. The Nyquist plots of the EIS data were fitted with an equivalent e...