Recent studies from our group differentiated adult human and rat bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSCs) into neurons (Black and Woodbury, 2001; Woodbury et aI2002). Our ultimate goal was to use these cells in the therapeutic treatment of spinal cord injury. BMSCs normally differentiate only into mesenchymal cells, including bone, cartilage, muscle, tendon and fat. The differentiation of BMSCs i...

John H. Woodbury was an incredibly entrepreneurial, self-trained dermatologist who, between 1870 and 1909, built an empire of cosmetic surgery institutes in 6 states, with 25 physician/surgeon employees and an advertising budget of $150,000/year (1892 data). Under his management, his surgeons, and perhaps Woodbury himself, performed multiple facial cosmetic surgeries, including early versions o...

This paper presents a needle-tissue interaction model that is a 3D extension of a prior work based on the finite element method. The model is also adapted to accommodate arbitrary meshes so that the anatomy can effectively be meshed using third-party algorithms. Using this model a prostate brachytherapy simulator is designed to help medical residents acquire needle steering skills. This simulat...

In this paper, we study optimal experimental design problems with a broad class of smooth convex optimality criteria, including the classical A-, Dand pth mean criterion. In particular, we propose an interior point (IP) method for them and establish its global convergence. Further, by exploiting the structure of the Hessian matrix of the optimality criteria, we derive an explicit formula for co...

We propose a strategy for updating the learning rate parameter of online linear classifiers for streaming data with concept drift. The change in the learning rate is guided by the change in a running estimate of the classification error. In addition, we propose an online version of the standard linear discriminant classifier (O-LDC) in which the inverse of the common covariance matrix is update...

This paper examines the need for explicit representations of the design space, in response to Woodbury and Burrow. Specifically, their proposal for a particular search strategy, by means of which one can reuse past experiences explicitly represented by previously traversed paths, is examined. This is done by exploring issues with respect to design search and representation in general, while rel...

A case of thoracic discitis secondary to a pyodermal skin condition known as 'Woodbury' rash is described.