OBJECTIVES Adult-acquired flat foot secondary to a dysfunctional posterior tibialis tendon (PTT) is often treated by surgical transfer of the flexor digitorum longus tendon (FDLT). In this study, the authors compared normal PTT, stage II dysfunctional PTT and replacement FDLT, aiming to define changes in collagen modification, glycosaminoglycan (GAG) and the expression of matrix and metalloprot...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary transit time (PTT) is an indirect measure of preload and left ventricular function, which can be estimated using the indicator dilution theory by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). In this study, we first assessed the accuracy of PTT-CEUS by comparing it with dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI). Secondly, we tested the hypothesis that PTT-CEUS c...

Codon usage biases are found in all genomes and influence protein expression levels. The codon usage effect on protein expression was thought to be mainly due to its impact on translation. Here, we show that transcription termination is an important driving force for codon usage bias in eukaryotes. Using Neurospora crassa as a model organism, we demonstrated that introduction of rare codons res...

Pinnate compound leaves have laminae called leaflets distributed at intervals along an axis, the rachis, whereas simple leaves have a single lamina. In simple- and compound-leaved species, the PHANTASTICA (PHAN) gene is required for lamina formation. Antirrhinum majus mutants lacking a functional gene develop abaxialized, bladeless adult leaves. Transgenic downregulation of PHAN in the compound...

INTRODUCTION Current methods employed for scoring arousals in children may not be sensitive enough. Because arousals are associated with increases in sympathetic tone, measurement of sympathetic activity using noninvasive techniques could provide useful surrogate markers for arousals in children. METHODS Ten healthy children underwent overnight polysomnographic assessment with simultaneous pu...

The article describes a speaker recognition system based on continuous speech using GMM multivariate probability distributions. A theoretical model of the system including the extraction of distinctive features and statistical modeling is described. The efficiency of the system implemented in the Linux operating system was determined. The system is designed to support the functionality of the P...

Push-to-Talk (PTT) is a service that allows users using mobile phones in a way like walkie-talkie. All big telecommunication vendors and operators consider PTT an emerging application. 3GPP and OMA regulate the PTT specifications on the basis of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to assure interoperability. However, current PTT services are dedicated to cellular phones. We would like to realize ...