Ex-vivo generation of human insulin-producing cells is considered a promising approach to providing an abundant source of cells for beta-cell replacement therapy in diabetes. Expansion of adult beta-cells from the limited number of islet donors is an attractive prospect. However, while evidence supports the replicative capacity of both rodent and human beta-cells in vivo, attempts at expanding ...

T cell apoptosis is a process necessary for central and peripheral tolerance. It ensures the proper removal of autoreactive T cells during thymic development as well as T cell homeostasis and the downregulation of immune responses against antigens in the periphery. Thus it is essential for the prevention of autoimmunity. Apoptotic pathways can be triggered by intrinsic (mitochondria-based) and ...

Recent research has greatly expanded our knowledge about the early development of children with autism and related disorders. Familiarity with this literature will improve the ability of professionals to appropriately diagnose and intervene with young children with autism. This article reviews the literature pertaining to the development of children with autism under the age of 3 years. We exam...

In this article we argue that a structured use of perspective descriptions can support a design process. A design perspective is a coherent set of values and aspects emphasized by the designer in a given design situation. We present a generic framework for describing 7 dimensions of perspectives concerning user, artifact, context, activities, communication, central relations, and use qualities ...

Mathematics and physics are different enterprises: physics is looking for laws of nature, mathematics is trying to invent the structures and prove the theorems of mathematics. Of course these structures are not invented out of thin air but are linked, among other things, to physics. In this lecture I shall discuss a number of instances where mathematicians have come to the aid of physics and st...

Throughout the patient safety movement, health care leaders have consistendyreferred to the potential value of human factors research on human performance and system failure (Leape, 2004; Leape, Woods, Hatlie, Kizer, Schroeder, & Lundberg 1998). The patient safety movement has been based on three ideas derived from results of research on human expertise (Feltovich, Ford, & Hoffman, 1997), colla...

Islet antigens are presented by human leukocyte antigen (HLA) class I and II molecules and are recognized by CD8+ and CD4+ autoreactive T cells in type 1 diabetic individuals. Early identification of individuals at risk for the disease by detection of these antigens and the autoreactive cells themselves is essential for understanding pathogenesis and for intervention at an early stage to preven...

The fusion of humans and technology takes us into an unknown world, described by some authors as populated by quasi-living species that would relegate us—ordinary humans—to the rank of alienated agents, emptied of our identity and consciousness. I argue instead that our world is woven of simple, though invisible, perspectives, which—if we become aware of them—may renew our ability for making ju...