We explore in this paper the role of genetic variants that affect cell size and proliferation in the determination of organ size. We use genetic mosaics of loss or gain of function in six different loci, which promotes smaller or larger than normal cells, associated to either smaller or larger than normal territories. These variants have autonomous effects on patterning and growth in mutant ter...

BACKGROUND To evaluate the accuracy of an open-field autorefractor compared with subjective refraction in pseudophakes and hence its ability to assess objective eye focus with intraocular lenses (IOLs). METHODS Objective refraction was measured at 6 m using the Shin-Nippon NVision-K 5001/Grand Seiko WR-5100K open-field autorefractor (five repeats) and by subjective refraction on 141 eyes impl...

The author shows that Arrhenius's theory of partial electrolytic dissociation was immaturely displaced about eight decades ago by the empirical concept of ionic activities and the assumption of complete dissociation of electrolytes at all concentrations. The latter brought the theory of electrolytes over the next decades into a complicated state without any physical significance. Therefore, the...

Patients suffering from Systemic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) have elevated type I interferon (IFN) levels which correlate with disease activity and severity. TRIM21, an autoantigen associated with SLE, has been identified as an ubiquitin E3 ligase that targets the transcription factor IRF3 in order to turn off and limit type I IFN production following detection of viral and bacterial infection by ...

Contemporary systems of production, distribution, and retail provide many end-consumers, although certainly not all, with an unprecedentedly wide choice of cheap, high quality goods and services. Yet this bounty comes at ever higher, ultimately unsustainable environmental and social cost. Something must change but what and how? Simply how production, distribution and retail are organized? Simpl...

The function and normal regulation of calpain-3, a muscle-specific Ca(2+)-dependent protease, is uncertain, although its absence leads to limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2A. This study examined the effect of eccentric exercise on calpain-3 autolytic activation, because such exercise is known to damage sarcomeric structures and to trigger adaptive changes that help prevent such damage on sub...

A case is presented for the durability of anatomy including dissection of the cadaver and of morbid anatomy as elements in medical education and practice. It is these subjects, as consistently relevant over the centuries for medical practice as are communication skills, that are our hallmark as doctors. It is submitted that we should take stock very carefully of their relevance to us before it ...