We are developing an instrument, the Geometry Measuring Machine (GEMM), to measure the profile errors of aspheric and free form optical surfaces, with measurement uncertainties near 1 nm. Using GEMM, an optical profile is reconstructed from local curvatures of a surface, which are measured at points on the optic's surface. We will describe a prototype version of GEMM, its repeatability with tim...

BACKGROUND Two genes have been implicated in the development of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM). CDK4 (the gene encoding cyclin-dependent kinase 4, an oncogene) has exhibited germline mutations found in only three melanoma-prone families to date. CDKN2A is a tumor suppressor gene that encodes p16 (which inhibits activity of the cyclin D1-CDK4 complex) with germline mutations detected in 10%-...

Congenital malignant melanoma (CMM) is a rare condition that is defined as malignant melanoma recognized at birth. CMM may develop in utero in one of three ways: (1) transmission by metastasis through the placenta from a mother with melanoma; (2) primary melanoma arising within a giant congenital melanocytic naevus (GCMN); (3) primary de novo cutaneous CMM arising in utero. CMM can be confused ...

Salicylic acid (SA) is known to be involved in the immunity against Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. (Cmm) that causes bacterial canker tomato. To identify candidate genes associated with SA-inducible Cmm resistance, transcriptome analysis was conducted via RNA sequencing tomato plants treated SA. SA treatment upregulated various defense-associated genes, such as PR and GST cotyledons. A comparis...

The main objective of this study was to assess whether cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) shows a stronger relation with the melanocytic nevi count at the site where CMM was diagnosed than with the melanocytic nevi count at other sites, stratifying by histologic CMM type, in a southern Mediterranean population. Cases and controls were selected from a population in southern Spain in 1988-1993. T...

The homeobox family and its subset of HOX gene products represent a family of transcription factors directing DNA-protein and protein-protein interactions. In the embryo, they are central regulators in cell differentiation during morphogenesis. A series of genes of the four HOX gene clusters A, B, C, and D were reported to show aberrant expressions in oncogenesis, particularly in cutaneous mali...

To evaluate whether previously observed associations between parity and cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) risk in women reflected a biologic mechanism or resulted from uncontrolled confounding by lifestyle factors associated with parity (e.g., patterns of sun exposure), the authors investigated the effect of reproductive history (parenthood) on CMM risk in both women and men. Using information...

DOI: This paper reviews the progress of systems biology applied to research on sustainable utilization of Chinese materia medica (CMM) resources in the following aspects: identification and evaluation of CMM resources, analysis of biosynthesis and their regulation of active ingredients in medicinal plants, metabolic engineering and synthetic biology research of medicinal plants, and molecular b...

Pancytopenia is a common haematological condition often encountered in day to day clinical practice. It is defined as a decrease in all the three cell lines of blood viz., red blood cells, leucocytes, and platelets. Many diseases affect production of these cells by bone marrow resulting into pancytopenia i.e., simultaneous presence of anaemia, leucopenia, and thrombocytopenia. Pancytopenia is d...

This paper describes an assessment of the Rational Unified Process (RUP) based on the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). For each key practice (KP) identified in each key process area (KPA) of CMM levels 2 and 3, the Rational Unified Process was assessed to determine whether it satisfied the KP or not. For each KPA, the percentage of the key practices supported was calculated, and the results wer...