Online convex programming has recently emerged as a powerful primitive for designing machine learning algorithms. For example, OCP can be used for learning a linear classifier, dynamically rebalancing a binary search tree, finding the shortest path in a graph with unknown edge lengths, solving a structured classification problem, or finding a good strategy in an extensive-form game. Several res...

Statement of problem: It is not known whether endochondral and intramembranous bones have distinct biological characteristics. Octacalcium Phosphate (OCP), a hydroxyapatite precursor, has been reported to stimulate bone formation after being implanted in parietal bone defects of rats. Purpose: The present study was designed to investigate the response of endochondral and intramembranous bones t...

The results of an exploratory, multicenter clinical study confirmed the hypothesis that a novel, natural, and safe oral care product (OCP) reduced the rate of plaque formation on teeth of dogs consuming the OCP (antimicrobial plant-derived enzymes, organic matcha green tea, cultured dextrose, sodium bicarbonate, and ascorbic acid) compared to controls. Healthy dogs without periodontitis, of var...

The classic stable set problem asks to find a maximum cardinality set of pairwise non-adjacent vertices in an undirected graph G. This problem is NP-hard to approximate with factor n1−ε for any constant ε > 0 [10, 24], where n is the number of vertices, and therefore there is no hope for good approximations in the general case. We study the stable set problem when restricted to graphs with boun...

BACKGROUND Preconception care, including family planning, is a vital component of healthcare for women of reproductive age. An average female spends the majority of her reproductive life trying to prevent a pregnancy. In order to prevent unintended pregnancy, women often rely on the use of hormonal contraceptives. In the United States, the majority of hormonal contraceptive users are prescribed...

AIM To study the MUC5AC and the blood group related antigen expression in ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP) according to the distribution of Lewis and secretor phenotypes in OCP patients compared to normal subjects. METHODS Immunostaining was performed on conjunctival biopsy specimens from 22 consecutive patients suffering from OCP, using monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) directed against the pe...

Carotenoids are widely distributed natural pigments that are excellent antioxidants acting in photoprotection. They are typically solubilized in membranes or attached to proteins. In cyanobacteria, the photoactive soluble Orange Carotenoid Protein (OCP) is involved in photoprotective mechanisms as a highly active singlet oxygen and excitation energy quencher. Here we describe a method for produ...

High discontinuation rates for depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) in adolescents may contribute to the number of unintended pregnancies. Many cite vaginal bleeding as a reason for discontinuing DMPA use. In this study, we attempted to determine if treating DMPA-associated vaginal bleeding with monophasic oral contraceptive pills (OCP) raised continuation rates. A total of 131 patients who...

In vitro studies on interactions between amelogenins and calcium phosphate crystals are critical for elucidating biomineralization mechanisms of tooth enamel. This work was aimed at investigating the effects of native porcine amelogenins on octacalcium phosphate (OCP) crystal growth in a gelatin gel. We prepared OCP mineral discs by circulating calcium and phosphate solutions on the opposite en...

BACKGROUND Over 100 million women worldwide are using oral contraceptives pills (OCP) and mood changes were being as the primary reason for OCP discontinuation. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and predicting factors of mood changes in oral contraceptive pills users. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of 500 women aged 15-49 years old using low dose (LD) pills a...