C-reactive protein (CRP) from the American horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, exhibits complex membrane activities. Here, we describe the behavior of protein and lipid as CRP interacts with model liposomes and bacterial membranes. Limulus C-reactive protein (L-CRP) forms extended fibrilar structures that encapsulate liposomes in the presence of Ca(2+). We have observed structures consistent in...

QH1, a monoclonal antibody that recognizes quail endothelial and haemopoietic cells, was applied to quail blastodiscs in toto, in order to analyse by immunofluorescence the emergence of the vascular tree. The first endothelial cells were detected in the area opaca at the headfold stage and in the area pellucida at the 1-somite stage. Single cells then interconnected progressively, especially in...

The placenta provides all the nutrients required for the fetus through pregnancy. It develops dynamically, and, to avoid rejection of the fetus, there is no mixing of fetal and maternal blood; rather, the branched placental villi 'bathe' in blood supplied from the uterine arteries. Within the villi, the feto-placental vasculature also develops a complex branching structure in order to maximize ...

Laser-induced space-selective crystallization of glass enabling the growth continuous crystal-in-glass architectures consisting non-centrosymmetric phases with functional properties is promising, including single-crystal waveguides for development integrated optical circuits. In this study, femtosecond laser direct writing crystalline lines inside lead germanate composition close to Pb5Ge3O11 h...

The quantum Jensen-Shannon divergence kernel [1] was recently introduced in the context of unattributed graphs where it was shown to outperform several commonly used alternatives. In this paper, we study the separability properties of this kernel and we propose a way to compute a low-dimensional kernel embedding where the separation of the different classes is enhanced. The idea stems from the ...

The renormalization theory of critical circle maps was developed in the late 1970’s–early 1980’s to explain the occurence of certain universality phenomena. These phenomena can be observed empirically in smooth families of circle homeomorphisms with one critical point, the so-called critical circle maps, and are analogous to Feigenbaum universality in the dynamics of unimodal maps. In the works...

We introduce a new class of 2-D mass models, whose potentials are of Stäckel form in elliptic coordinates. Our model galaxies have two separate strong cusps that form double nuclei. The potential and surface density distributions are locally axisymmetric near the nuclei and become highly non-axisymmetric outside the nucleus. The surface density diverges toward the cuspy nuclei with the law Σ ∝ ...

the placental adhesive disorders such as placenta accreta and placenta percreta are the rare causes of serious obstetric hemorrhages. they are associated with high maternal morbidity and mortality. placenta percreta is usually diagnosed in the third trimester of pregnancy as a massive postpartum hemorrhage when an attempt to remove the placenta reveals lack of a cleavage plane. here we report a...

Developmental programming of the fetus is a phenomenon that has profound implications for the health of individuals and societies. The term describes the process by which gene expression in the fetus is influenced by the intrauterine environment, such that the structure of major organs and the homoeostatic points of metabolic and endocrine systems are set for life. Through this mechanism, pertu...