Reconstruction of normal skulls from deformed skulls is a very important but difficult task in practice. Active shape model (ASM) is among the most popular methods for reconstructing skulls. To apply ASM to skull reconstruction, it is necessary to establish shape correspondence among the training and testing samples because wrong correspondence will introduce unwanted shape variations in ASM re...

BACKGROUND Airway smooth muscle (ASM) hyperplasia and mast cell localization within the ASM bundle are important features of asthma. The cause of this increased ASM mass is uncertain and whether it is a consequence of ASM-mast cell interactions is unknown. OBJECTIVE We sought to investigate ASM proliferation and survival in asthma and the effects of co-culture with mast cells. METHODS Prima...

Asthma is characterised by an increased airway smooth muscle (ASM) area (ASM(area)) within the airway wall. The present study examined the relationship of factors including severity and duration of asthma to ASM(area). The perimeter of the basement membrane (PBM) and ASM(area) were measured on transverse sections of large and small airways from post mortem cases of fatal (n = 107) and nonfatal ...

Spontaneous mutations from sterile to fertile were demonstrated in four different cytoplasmic male-sterile stocks of pearl millet. One stock, ASM-3, was of African origin, and the other three, LMS-1A, ASM-5, and ASM-7, all had the same cyptoplasm of Indian origin, but differed in nuclear make-up. These reversions were shown to be plasmon mutations, rather than genic in nature. ASM-3 mutated at ...

Airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), the exaggerated response to constrictor agonists in asthmatic subjects, is incompletely understood. Changes in either the quantity or properties of airway smooth muscle (ASM) are possible explanations for AHR. Morphometric analyses demonstrate structural changes in asthmatic airways, including subepithelial fibrosis, gland hyperplasia/hypertrophy, neovasculariz...

In C. elegans, the highly conserved DAF-2/insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor signaling (IIS) pathway regulates longevity, metabolism, reproduction and development. In mammals, acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) is an enzyme that hydrolyzes sphingomyelin to produce ceramide. ASM has been implicated in CD95 death receptor signaling under certain stress conditions. However, the involvement of ...

BACKGROUND Niemann Pick disease (NP) is a rare, lysosomal storage disorder due to deficiency of the intra-lysosomal enzyme acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) resulting in intracellular accumulation of sphingomyelin. We evaluated a tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) method to analyze ASM activity in dried blood spots (DBS) that may be suitable for laboratory diagnosis of NP including high throughput scre...

eosinophils when compared with medium alone. Interestingly, blocking the activity of cysteinyl Leukotries using antagonists inhibited eosinophil-derived ASM proliferation. Conclusions: Eosinophils enhances the proliferation of ASM cells. This role of eosinophil does not seem to depend on ASM derived ECM proteins nor on Eosinophil derived TGF-b or TNF-a. Eosinophil seems to induce ASM proliferat...