Human autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) produces kidneys which are massively enlarged due to multiple cysts, hypertension, and congenital hepatic fibrosis characterized by dilated bile ducts and portal hypertension. The PCK rat is an orthologous model of human ARPKD with numerous fluid-filled cysts caused by stimulated cellular proliferation in the renal tubules and hepatic ...

The influence of the inflammatory mediators interleukin 1 beta (IL1 beta) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) on the glucagon-induced expression of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PCK) and on glucose formation via gluconeogenesis was investigated in cultured rat hepatocytes. Gene expression was monitored by determination of mRNA levels and of enzyme activity. Glucose formation was e...

This paper challenges the assumptions that have informed the design of teacher education programs which have focused on the development of content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. It remains elusive to convince some teacher educators and teacher education authorities that teacher education programs designed using pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is no longer adequate in the 21st Century....

Effective technology integration for teaching subject matter requires knowledge not just of content, technology and pedagogy, but also of their relationship to each other. Building on Schulman s [Schulman, L. S. (1987). Knowledge and teaching: foundations for a new reform. Harvard Educational Review, 57(1), 1–22] concept of pedagogical content knowledge, we introduce a framework for conceptuali...

The Case method is a powerful student-centered teaching tool that brings real-life situations into the classroom. This paper describes variations and insights that emerge from the experiences in teaching cases using diverse online and in-class available technologies. Cases can impart pedagogic outcomes such as critical thinking, communication, and interpersonal skills in addition to depth and m...

C(4) photosynthesis is an adaptation over the classical C(3) pathway that has evolved multiple times independently. These convergences are accompanied by strong variations among the independent C(4) lineages. The decarboxylating enzyme used to release CO(2) around Rubisco particularly differs between C(4) species, a criterion used to distinguish three distinct biochemical C(4) subtypes. The pho...

BACKGROUND/AIMS The PCK rat model of polycystic kidney disease is characterized by the progressive development of renal medullary cysts. Here, we evaluated the suitability of high resolution ultrasonography (HRU) to assess the kidney and cyst volume in PCK rats, testing three different ultrasound image analysis methods, and correlating them with kidneys weights and histological examinations. ...

Hyperproliferation of bile duct epithelial cells due to cell-cycle dysregulation is a key feature of cystogenesis in polycystic liver diseases (PCLDs). Recent evidence suggests a regulatory role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in a variety of biological processes, including cell proliferation. We therefore hypothesized that miRNAs may be involved in the regulation of selected components of the cell cycl...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb), the causative agent of tuberculosis, can persist in macrophages for decades, maintaining its basic metabolic activities. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (Pck; EC 4.1.1.32) is a key player in central carbon metabolism regulation. In replicating MTb, Pck is associated with gluconeogenesis, but in non-replicating MTb, it also catalyzes the reverse anaplerotic re...

Localized multiple kernel learning (LMKL) is an attractive strategy for combining multiple heterogeneous features in terms of their discriminative power for each individual sample. However, models excessively fitting to a specific sample would obstacle the extension to unseen data, while a more general form is often insufficient for diverse locality characterization. Hence, both learning sample...