(Myo)fibroblasts are key players for maintaining skin homeostasis and for orchestrating physiological tissue repair. (Myo)fibroblasts are embedded in a sophisticated extracellular matrix (ECM) that they secrete, and a complex and interactive dialogue exists between (myo)fibroblasts and their microenvironment. In addition to the secretion of the ECM, (myo)fibroblasts, by secreting matrix metallo...

The demonstration that fibrillin-1 mutations perturb transforming growth factor (TGF)-β bioavailability/signaling in Marfan syndrome (MFS) changed the view of the extracellular matrix as a passive structural support to a dynamic modulator of cell behavior. In this issue, Nistala et al. (2010. J. Cell Biol. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201003089) advance this concept by demonstrating how fibrillin-1 and -2 ...

We recently described the synthesis and characterization of a novel difluorinatedbenzylidene analog of curcumin, commonly referred as CDF, which demonstrated significantly enhanced bioavailability and in vivo anticancer activity. CDF targets many factors similar to curcumin, albeit with more potency, as reported previously. To further highlight this differential behavior of CDF, we chose matrix...

this paper analyzes a linear system of equations when the righthandside is a fuzzy vector and the coefficient matrix is a crisp m-matrix. thefuzzy linear system (fls) is converted to the equivalent crisp system withcoefficient matrix of dimension 2n × 2n. however, solving this crisp system isdifficult for large n because of dimensionality problems . it is shown that thisdifficulty may be avoide...

The application of multiscale and stochastic techniques to the solution of linear inverse problems is presented. This approach allows for the explicit and easy handling of a variety of diiculties commonly associated with problems of this type. Regularization is accomplished via the incorporation of prior information in the form of a multiscale stochastic model. We introduce the relative error c...

Extracellular matrix (ECM) within the vascular network provides both a structural and regulatory role. The ECM is a dynamic composite of multiple proteins that form structures connecting cells within the network. Blood vessels are distended by blood pressure and, therefore, require ECM components with elasticity yet with enough tensile strength to resist rupture. The ECM is involved in conducti...

Maintenance helps to extend equipment life by improving its condition and avoiding catastrophic failures. Appropriate model or mechanism is, thus, needed to quantify system availability vis-a-vis a given maintenance strategy, which will assist in decision-making for optimal utilization of maintenance resources. This paper deals with semi-Markov process (SMP) modeling for steady state availabili...

Background: With all the recent advances in cancer treatments, many young cancer patients find themselves facing the prospect of losing their fertility after aggressive chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Cryopreservation of ovarian cortical tissue has emerged as a potential option to restore fertility in these young women. Materials and Methods: Because autotransplantation of cryopreserved ovarian c...

Most high-availability (HA) solutions currently used are based on the pre-configuration done by human administrators. If the configuration between machines participating in the HA cluster can be automated, services clustered can be provided more efficiently. For realizing this concept, the server agent and service description server (SDS) are designed and implemented in this paper. The server a...