Mounting evidence suggests that catechol metabolites of estradiol may contribute to the development of estrogen-induced cancers. O-Methylation, catalyzed by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), inactivates catechol estrogens. COMT is polymorphic in the human population, with 25% of Caucasians being homozygous for a low activity allele of the enzyme (COMT(LL)). We hypothesized that low activity ...

satellite thermal control ensures safe operating temperature ranges for satellite components throughout the mission life. effects of altitude, spin, and position of satellite radiator(s) on the thermal control of a small low earth orbit (leo) satellite have been studied. results show that change in satellite altitude, in the range considered here, does not produce critical thermal conditions. h...

A retrospective study aims to explore differences in spinopelvic sagittal alignment between thoracolumbar disc herniation (TLD) and lower lumbar disc herniation (LLD).A total of 185 patients included 26 with TLD and 129 with LLD and 30 asymptomatic volunteers in normal group (NG). Each individual took full spine X-ray to evaluate pelvic incidence (PI), pelvic tilt (PT), sacral slope (SS), lumba...

BACKGROUND Cathelicidin (LL-37) is an antimicrobial peptide known to be associated with various autoimmune diseases. We attempt to determine if cathelicidin can accurately reflect IBD disease activity. We hypothesize that serum cathelicidin correlates with mucosal disease activity, stricture, and clinical prognosis of IBD patients. METHODS Serum samples were collected from two separate cohort...

We study the frequency and space dependence of the local tunneling density of states of a Luttinger liquid (LL) which is connected to a superconductor. This coupling strongly modifies the single-particle properties of the LL. It significantly enhances the density of states near the Fermi level, whereas this quantity vanishes as a power law for an isolated LL. The enhancement is due to the inter...

Digital image have been expanding in usage. The importance of image compression algorithms have been increased, to produce smaller file size with a lower computational requirement. The wavelet transform offers a natural decomposition of images at multiple resolutions, since the wavelet transform can decompose images into various multiresolution subbands, where the correlation exists. A novel te...

Low levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol hormones produced by the suprarenal cortex have been associated with diseases involving chronic inflammation, low interferon (IFN)-gamma, and high interleukin (IL)-6. Diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DL), a long-lasting intracellular parasitic infectious disease, can spread unknown levels of DHEA and cortisol. Serum concentrations of both...

METHODS Effective refractory periods (ERPs) of test pulmonary veins (PVs) were measured at baseline and during highlevel (HL-ES) and low-level (LL-ES) electrical stimulation of the aortic root GP. The arrhythmogenic threshold of acetylcholine and isoproterenol was determined at baseline and during HL-ES and LL-ES. Moreover, AF was induced at PVs by programmed electrical stimulation after HL-ES ...

PURPOSE The goals of this study were to examine the expression of the antimicrobial peptide LL-37 in the corneal epithelium during wound healing and to investigate whether LL-37 stimulates human corneal epithelial cell (HCEC) migration, proliferation, and cytokine production. METHODS Expression of LL-37 was determined by RT-PCR and immunostaining in tissue sections and HCECs scraped from corn...