Cyclic stretch is an artificial model of mechanical force loading, which induces the reorientation of vascular endothelial cells and their stress fibers in a direction perpendicular to the stretch axis. Rho family GTPases are crucial for cyclic-stretch-induced endothelial cell reorientation; however, the mechanism underlying stretch-induced activation of Rho family GTPases is unknown. A screen ...

We present a stochastic model for the kinetics of photoinduced anisotropy in a sample of molecular chromophores that may undergo photoisomerization. It is assumed that the chromophores do not interact among them, but are embedded in a medium that slows down the rotational diffusion. The model makes use of data about the photoinduced reorientation of the single chromophore, its photoisomerizatio...

A central question in movement research is how animals use information and movement to promote encounter success. Current random search theory identifies reorientation patterns as key to the compromise between optimizing encounters for both nearby and faraway targets, but how the balance between intrinsic motor programmes and previous environmental experience determines the occurrence of these ...

The short-time orientational relaxation of water is studied by ultrafast infrared pump-probe spectroscopy of the hydroxyl stretching mode (OD of dilute HOD in H(2)O). The anisotropy decay displays a sharp drop at very short times caused by inertial orientational motion, followed by a much slower decay that fully randomizes the orientation. Investigation of temperatures from 1 degrees C to 65 de...

The left ventricle (LV) of mammals with Situs Solitus (SS, normal organ arrangement) displays hardly any interindividual variation in myofiber pattern and experimentally determined torsion. SS LV myofiber pattern has been suggested to result from adaptive myofiber reorientation, in turn leading to efficient pump and myofiber function. Limited data from the Situs Inversus Totalis (SIT, a complet...

We propose a linear-elastic registration method to register diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) data sets by mapping their diffusion orientation distribution functions (ODFs). The ODFs were reconstructed using a q-ball imaging (QBI) technique to resolve intravoxel fiber crossing. The registration method is based on mapping the ODF maps represented by spherical harmonics which yield analytic solutio...

Orientation (or reorientation) is the first step in navigation, because establishing a spatial frame of reference is essential for a sense of location and heading direction. Recent research on nonhuman animals has revealed that the vertical component of an environment provides an important source of spatial information, in both terrestrial and aquatic settings. Nonetheless, humans show large in...

Immersive virtual environment (IVE) systems allow users to control their virtual viewpoint by moving their tracked head and by walking through the real world, but usually the virtual space which can be explored by walking is restricted to the size of the tracked space of the laboratory. However, as the user approaches an edge of the tracked walking area, reorientation techniques can be applied ...

The Family Health Program (PSF) constitutes a strategy for reformulating the health assistance model in Brazil. This study was carried out to ponder over the challenges of this strategy concerning to health practices in the primary care context. After existing for more than twelve years, there appear questionings related to the paper of PSF in the reformulation of the way to think and promote h...