BACKGROUND In adults, erythema multiforme (EM) is thought to be mainly related to herpes infection and Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) to drug reactions. AIMS To investigate this hypothesis in children, and to review our experience in the management of these patients. METHODS A retrospective analysis of 77 paediatric cases of EM or SJS admitted to the Children's Hospital in Bordeaux between ...

Invertebrates rely on an innate immune system to combat invading pathogens. The system is initiated in the presence of cell wall components from microbes like lipopolysaccharide (LPS), β-1,3-glucan (βG) and peptidoglycan (PG), altogether known as pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), via a recognition of pattern recognition protein (PRP) or receptor (PRR) through complicated reactions...

The Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is a general technique for maximum likelihood estimation (MLE). In this paper we present several of the important theoretical and practical issues associated with Gaussian mixture mod-eling (GMM) within the EM framework. First, we propose an EM algorithm for estimating the parameters of a special GMM structure, named a probablistic mapping network (PM...

The EM algorithm is widely used to develop iterative parameter estimation procedures for statistical models. In cases where these procedures strictly follow the EM formulation, the convergence properties of the estimation procedures are well understood. In some instances there are practical reasons to develop procedures that do not strictly fall within the EM framework. We study EM variants in ...

Endomorphin-1 (EM-1) is a recently isolated endogenous peptide having potent analgesic activity and high affinity and selectivity for the mu-opioid receptor. The present study was designed to investigate the rewarding and psychomotor stimulant effects of EM-1 in specific brain regions. We found that rats would learn without priming or response shaping to lever-press for microinjections of EM-1 ...

Plants have often been moved across the globe with intact root systems. These roots are likely to have housed symbiotic ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi and the movement of plants may have facilitated the introduction of EM fungi.Here, we report data compiled from a newly created database of EM fungal introductions.We estimate the magnitude of EM fungal introductions around the world and examine patt...

As lipases CAL-B, LPS, LPS-C, LPS-D e a de A. níger, livres ou imobilizadas em filmes de amido de cará (Discorea alata L.), inhame (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) ou de gelatina, foram utilizadas na acilação da (RS)-sec-butilamina com diferentes doadores acila em vários solventes orgânicos sob aquecimento convencional (CH) ou irradiação por microondas (MW). Ao utilizar a lipase de A. niger li...

This chapter introduces an integrative knowledge management prototype named E+ for environmental-conscious construction based on a comprehensive integration of current environmental management (EM) techniques and tools in construction. The overall objective is to apply the theory of knowledge management (KM) in EM in construction, and the authors will achieve it though developing the E+ model a...

The EM algorithm and its extensions are popular tools for modal estimation but are often criticised for their slow convergence. We propose a new method that can often make EM much faster. The intuitive idea is to use a 'covariance adjustment' to correct the analysis of the M step, capitalising on extra information captured in the imputed complete data. The way we accomplish this is by parameter...

Computerized tomography (CT) plays a critical role in modern medicine. However, the radiation associated with CT is significant. Methods that can enable CT imaging with less radiation exposure but without sacrificing image quality are therefore extremely important. This paper introduces a novel method for enabling image reconstruction at lower radiation exposure levels with convergence analysis...