I review our current understanding of the structures and ages of the host galaxies of quasars, and the masses of their central black holes. At low redshift, due largely to the impact of the Hubble Space Telescope, there is now compelling evidence that the hosts of quasars with MV < −24 mag are virtually all massive ellipticals, with basic properties indistinguishable from those displayed by the...

BACKGROUND Immortalized human endothelial cells are widely used as in vitro models for debilitating conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular and ocular diseases. Human microvascular endothelial cell (HMEC-1) is immortalized via stable transfection with a gene encoding SV40 large antigen whilst telomerase-immortalized human microvascular endothelial (TIME) cells is immortalized by engineering t...

Previous reports suggested that culture as 3D aggregates or as spheroids can increase the therapeutic potential of the adult stem/progenitor cells referred to as mesenchymal stem cells or multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). Here we used a hanging drop protocol to prepare human MSCs (hMSCs) as spheroids that maximally expressed TNFalpha stimulated gene/protein 6 (TSG-6), the antiinflam...

Recent progress on the structure and dynamics of bulges is reviewed. Those aspects that link galaxy bulges either to oblate spheroids akin to elliptical galaxies or to rapidly-rotating, flattened systems more nearly resembling the products of disk internal transformations, are highlighted. The analysis of surface brightness profiles derived from HST data is reviewed to show that unresolved nucl...