Tie-strength has been in the focus of social science research for decades, yet the use of measurement tools or scales has been relatively scarce. The aim of this study was to fill the gap and provide a tool that is able to provide a quantitative and continuous measure of tie strength in social networks. The focus was on virtual communities because the fast expansion of Internet use and the cons...

PURPOSE The angiopoietin (Ang) system plays an important role in vascular stabilization and pathologic neovascularization. The hypothesis for the study was that, in addition to modulating endothelial cell behavior, the angiopoietin/Tie-2 system also regulates the pericyte apoptosis and/or the vessel maturation associated with diabetic retinopathy. METHODS Tie-2 expression in cultured retinal ...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a lethal disease that is associated with characteristic histological abnormalities of the lung vasculature and defects of angiopoetin-1 (ANG-1), TIE-2 and bone morphogenetic protein receptor (BMPR)-related signalling. We hypothesized that if these signalling defects cause PH generically, they will be readily identifiable perinatally in congenital diaphr...

After skin grafting, to prevent hematoma or seroma collection at the graft site, a tie-over dressing has been commonly used. However, although the conventional tie-over dressing by suture is a useful method for securing a graft site, refixation is difficult when repeated tie-over dressing is needed. Therefore, we recommend a redoable tie-over dressing technique with multiple loops threads and c...

Arguably, release of tongue tie is the oldest surgical procedure and it is perhaps older than circumcision. According to the Old Testament, the Lord released the tied tongue of Moses and made him speak well [1]. Tongue-tie is pedantically known as ankyloglossia inferior minor. Simplicity of its treatment has earned this malady several etiological attributions such as difficulty of speech and br...

Due to the scarcity of rational models for predicting the strength of RC beam-column sandwich joints, a modified simplified softened strut-and-tie model suggests a more rational calculation method for the effective compressive strength and the height of the joint concrete based on the simplified softened strut-and-tie. The shear strength of existing tested 15 sandwich interior joints is calcula...

The aetiology of recurrent miscarriage (at least three consecutive miscarriages) usually remains unsolved. The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family of proteins, together with their receptors and the Tie (tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin and epidermal growth factor homology domains) receptors, are crucial for embryonic development. Therefore, we used immunohistochemistry to analys...

BACKGROUND Tongue-tie (more formally known as ankyloglossia) is a congenital anomaly characterized by an abnormally short lingual frenulum, which may restrict the mobility of the tongue tip impairing its ability to fulfil its functions. Ankyloglossia is uncommon, but not rare. Incidence figures reported in the literature vary widely, ranging from 0.02% to 4.8%. Incidences of upto 10.7% have bee...