In this paper, we present a new approach to conservative bounding of displaced Bézier patches. These surfaces are expected to be a common use case for tessellation in interactive and real-time rendering. Our algorithm combines efficient normal bounding techniques, min-max mipmap hierarchies and oriented bounding boxes. This results in substantially faster convergence for the bounding volumes of di

PURPOSE. The aims of this study were to use transscleral optical spectroscopy to analyze normal and tumor-infiltrated areas of enucleated human eyes, and to characterize the spectral properties of uveal melanomas in relation to various morphological features. METHODS. Nine consecutive eyes enucleated for uveal melanoma were examined by transscleral spectroscopy, using a fiber-optic probe that exer

Gestational enterovirus (EV) infections have been associated with an increased risk for type 1 diabetes in the offspring. We therefore analyzed non-diabetic mothers for EV exposure in early pregnancy in relation to type 1 diabetes HLA-DQ risk genotypes and seroconversion to islet autoantibodies during pregnancy. Non-diabetic mothers who had islet autoantibodies (n=365) against glutamic acid decarb

The goal of this study was to determine how occupational and physical therapists learn about vestibular rehabilitation therapy, their educational backgrounds, referral patterns, and their ideas about entry-level and advanced continuing education in vestibular rehabilitation therapy. The Barany Society Ad Hoc Committee for Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy invited therapists around the world to com

Context: Newly discovered biomarkers ideally should prove clinical usefulness, provide additional detection, staging, and prognosis information to improve individual risk assessment, and potentially permit targeted cancer therapy. Objective: To review, display, and evaluate the current evidence regarding the biologic and analytic approach of urinary prostate cancer gene 3 (PCA3) in prostate cancer

The androgen receptor is a key transcription factor contributing to the development of all stages of prostate cancer (PCa). In addition, other transcription factors have been associated with poor prognosis in PCa, amongst which c-Myc (MYC) is a well-established oncogene in many other cancers. We have previously reported that the AR promotes glycolysis and anabolic metabolism; many of these metabol

The first European record of Exechia inaperta Ostroverkhova, 1979 is presented and its morphological difference from the allied E. exigua Lundstrom, 1909 is discussed. Diagnostic characters and detailed figures of male terminalia are given for both species. The new finding of E. inaperta in Estonia indicates a possibly disjunct Euro-Siberian distribution pattern of the South-Taiga, also observed i

This paper is concerned with the changing role of regional innovation systems and regional policies in supporting the transition of indigenous firms in developing countries from competing on low costs towards becoming knowledge providers in global value chains. Special attention is paid to policies supporting the emergence and development of the regional innovation system in this transition proces

Background: A Western diet is associated with breast cancer risk. Objective: We investigated the relation of meat, egg, and dairy product consumption with breast cancer risk by using data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Design: Between 1992 and 2003, information on diet was collected from 319,826 women. Disease hazard ratios were estimated with multiva

Ribonucleotide reduction is the only pathway for de novo synthesis of deoxyribonucleotides in extant organisms. This chemically demanding reaction, which proceeds via a carbon-centered free radical, is catalyzed by ribonucleotide reductase (RNR). The mechanism has been deemed unlikely to be catalyzed by a ribozyme, creating an enigma regarding how the building blocks for DNA were synthesized at th

It has been postulated that six co-located orthogonally polarized electrical and magnetic dipoles can offer up to six degrees of freedom (DOFs) in a multipath scattering environment. In other words, a six-fold increase in channel capacity can be achieved in the context of MIMO systems. However, due to the complexity in designing and measuring such a six-port antenna, to our knowledge, no experimen

This work presents a comparison of the crystal packing of three eukaryotic membrane proteins: human aquaporin 1, human aquaporin 5 and a spinach plasma membrane aquaporin. All were purified from expression constructs both with and without affinity tags. With the exception of tagged aquaporin 1, all constructs yielded crystals. Two significant effects of the affinity tags were observed: crystals co

The importance of the ability to use bipedal stance and gait in everyday life cannot be underestimated. Bipedal stance is learned during childhood and constantly adapted to changing circumstances throughout life. Failure to attain and maintain the control of upright posture can have catastrophic consequences. Postural competence needs to be recovered in a multitude of illness, in developmental dis

In this paper we report that single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) can protect surface adsorbed Rhodamine B (RhB) molecules from permanent photo-oxidation via a reversible reaction. Upon strong light irradiation at 514 nm, the SWNT-adsorbed RhB molecules were switched to a non-fluorescent form, which looked like ordinary bleaching behavior. However, after staying without light for several hours t