The TSK mouse, a model of fibrosis, displays exaggerated connective tissue accumulation in skin and visceral organs including the heart. To study the mechanisms of myocardial fibrosis in TSK mice, we established several strains of TSK mice myocardial fibroblasts in culture and examined the regulation of collagen gene expression in these cells. These strains displayed increased collagen gene exp...

Subjective thermal comfort plays a critical role in body temperature regulation since this represents the primary stimulus for behavioral thermoregulation. Although both core (Tc) and skin-surface (Tsk) temperatures are known afferent inputs to the thermoregulatory system, the relative contributions of Tc and Tsk to thermal comfort are unknown. We independently altered Tc and Tsk in human subje...

Despite the popularity and practical importance of fuzzy inference system (FIS), use an FIS model as n -ary aggregation function, which is characterized by both monotonicity boundary properties, yet to be established. This because research on ensuring that models satisfy property, i.e., monoton...

Mice carrying the Tight skin (Tsk) mutation harbor a genomic duplication within the fibrillin-1 (Fbn 1) gene that results in a larger than normal in-frame Fbn 1 transcript. In this study, the consequences of the Tsk mutation for fibrillin-containing microfibrils have been examined. Dermal fibroblasts from Tsk/+ mice synthesized and secreted both normal fibrillin (approximately 330 kD) and the m...

BACKGROUND The Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) that was developed in 1990 is a 17 item scale originally developed to measure the fear of movement related to chronic lower back pain. OBJECTIVE To review the literature regarding TSK and neck pain, perceived disability and range of motion of the cervical spine. METHODS Medline, MANTIS, Index to Chiropractic Literature and CINAHL were search...

Systemic sclerosis (scleroderma, SSc) is an autoimmune, connective tissue disorder that is characterized by impaired vascular function, increased oxidative stress, inflammation of internal organs, and impaired angiogenesis. Tight skin mice (Tsk(-/+)) have a defect in fibrillin-1, resulting in replication of many of the myocardial and vascular features seen in humans with SSc. D-4F is an apolipo...

This article discusses a rule-based fuzzy model for the identi cation of nonlinear MISO (multiple input, single output) systems. The dis cussed method of fuzzy modeling consists of two parts: structure modeling, i.e. determing the num ber of rules and input variables involved respec tively, and parameter optimization, i.e. optimizing the location and form of the curves which describe the fuz...

The tight-skin (TSK/+) mouse, a genetic model for human systemic sclerosis (SSc), develops cutaneous fibrosis and autoantibodies against SSc-specific target autoantigens. Although molecular mechanisms explaining the development of fibrosis and autoimmunity in SSc patients or TSK/+ mice remain unknown, we recently demonstrated that SSc patients overexpress CD19, an important regulatory molecule ...

QUESTION In people with sciatica in primary care, can a single question be used to predict outcome at 1 year followup as accurately as validated questionnaires on kinesiophobia, disability, and health-related quality of life? DESIGN Observational study within a randomised cohort. PARTICIPANTS 135 people with sciatica in primary care. OUTCOME MEASURES Kinesiophobia was measured with the Ta...

This article discusses a rule-based fuzzy model for the identiication of nonlinear MISO (multiple input, single output) systems. The diss cussed method of fuzzy modeling consists of two parts: structure modeling, i.e. determing the numm ber of rules and input variables involved respecc tively, and parameter optimization, i.e. optimizing the location and form of the curves which describe the fuz...