Background Human preimplantation embryonic cells share many similarities with cancer cells such as ability to self-renew, unlimited proliferation and maintenance of the undifferentiated state. Embryo-cancer sequence A (ECSA), also known as developmental pluripotency associated-2 (DPPA2), is a cancer testis antigen (CTA) with unclear biological function yet. Objective: CTAs are expressed normal...

A new mechanism is proposed that explains two key features of the observed El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon—its irregularity and decadal amplitude changes. Using a low-order ENSO model, the authors show that the nonlinearities in the tropical heat budget can lead to bursting behavior characterized by decadal occurrences of strong El Niño events. La Niña events are not affected, a ...

length and yet capable of producing 300 progeny in three days by self-fertilization. One of the most beautiful things about C. elegans, immediately apparent upon viewing it under the microscope, is its transparency. Sydney Brenner recognized the importance of this attribute when deciding what organism to work on. As animals go, C. elegans is relatively simple, having only about a thousand cells...

Articular cartilage is a soft tissue showing inelastic properties. Under cyclic loading, inelastic materials may dissipate mechanical energy into heat. In knee cartilage, due to an intrinsic reduced heat convection related to its avascularity, a local temperature increase could be observed. This phenomenon is referred to as self-heating. As cells are sensitive to temperature variation, the ener...

Tissue Antigens Are Not Sequestered but Are Expressed in Thymus. For many years, it has been hypothesized that a major factor in organ-specific autoimmunity is a lack of central tolerance to self-antigens that are sequestered behind anatomical barriers in organs such as the eye, testis, and brain. However, numerous studies published in the last few years argue strongly that this concept of sequ...

We survey scaling arguments, both asymptotic (involving regular variation) and exact (involving self-similarity), in various areas of mathematical analysis and mathematical physics. 1. Scaling and Fechner’s law There is a sizeable body of theory to the effect that, where two related physically meaningful functions f and g have no natural scale in which to measure their units, and are reasonably...

In this work we study the Boolean Networks of different geometric shape and lattice organization. It was revealed that no only a spatial shape but also type of lattice are very important for definition of the structure-dynamics relation. The regular structures do not give a critical regime in the investigated cases. Hierarchy together with the irregular structure reveals characteristic features...

This study proposes a strategy, based on self-regulation therapy, to change personality and its biological substrate, the DRD3 gene expression. It has been demonstrated that acute doses of stimulating drugs, like methylphenidate, are able to change personality and the expression of certain genes in the short term. On the other hand, self-regulation therapy has been proven to reproduce the effec...