Colonizing the heart from the epicardial side.

The clinical use of stem cells, such as bone marrow-derived and, more recently, resident cardiac stem cells, offers great promise for treatment of myocardial infarction and heart failure. The epicardium-derived cells have also attracted attention for their angiogenic paracrine actions and ability to differentiate into cardiomyocytes and vascular cells when activated during cardiac injury. In a recent study, Chong and colleagues have described a distinct population of epicardium-derived mesenchymal stem cells that reside in a perivascular niche of the heart and have a broad multilineage potential. Exploring the therapeutic capacity of these cells will be an exciting future endeavor

A Longitudinal Study of High School Success, College Readiness, and College Success Among High School Students

The purpose of this dissertation was to use the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 data set, a nationally representative and longitudinal study of high school students, to determine if the combination of Goals and Expectations, Outcomes and Measures, Pathways and Supports, and Resources and Structures strands of the Organizer Model significantly predict high school success, college readiness, and college success among high school students in the United States. Second, this study was to determine if high school success and college readiness significantly mediate the effects of mentioned strands on college success while controlling for demographic, socioeconomic, and geo regional characteristics. The main analytical method for testing the hypotheses was multivariable logistic regression. Components of the theoretical model consistently revealed associations across all hypotheses, and statistical models are variables of Goals and Expectations and Outcomes and Measure strands. The Resources and Structures strand measures seem more relevant for college outcomes. The Pathways and Supports strand was not significant in the fully adjusted models. College readiness was a significant mediator between the model strands and college success, while high school success did not show the same effect. Practitioners should continue to use proven methods to support and sustain student success while transitioning from high school to college

Model Based Systems Engineering in Modular Design-A Potential Analysis using Portal Type Scraper Reclaimers as an Example

Many industries have to react progressively to the increasing customer requirements regarding the individualization of products. As a consequence, companies are using more and more standardization methods, such as modular, platform or type series design. This leads to an increased complexity of product development processes and thus to the necessity of concepts which allow a consistent representation of constructions kits. Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) can support the development of such systems. A case study carried out in cooperation with thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions shows the potential of the approach using the industrial sector, the machinery and plant engineering industry as an example

Model Based Requirements Engineering for the Development of Modular Kits

The introduction of modular design increases complexity within product development and especially within Requirements Engineering. To handle this complexity, the approach of Model Based Systems Engineering is applied in this contribution. First, the origins of complexity in modular product development are introduced. Key challenges within Requirements Engineering are drawn up and then verified. A modeling method for requirements of modular kits is introduced and validated in the series development of hybrid drivetrain systems at a German automotive manufacturer. Increases in quality and a requirements reusability of over 80% were achieved. Thus, the capability of the modeling method is verified

Hyperbolastic growth models: theory and application

BACKGROUND: Mathematical models describing growth kinetics are very important for predicting many biological phenomena such as tumor volume, speed of disease progression, and determination of an optimal radiation and/or chemotherapy schedule. Growth models such as logistic, Gompertz, Richards, and Weibull have been extensively studied and applied to a wide range of medical and biological studies. We introduce a class of three and four parameter models called "hyperbolastic models" for accurately predicting and analyzing self-limited growth behavior that occurs e.g. in tumors. To illustrate the application and utility of these models and to gain a more complete understanding of them, we apply them to two sets of data considered in previously published literature. RESULTS: The results indicate that volumetric tumor growth follows the principle of hyperbolastic growth model type III, and in both applications at least one of the newly proposed models provides a better fit to the data than the classical models used for comparison. CONCLUSION: We have developed a new family of growth models that predict the volumetric growth behavior of multicellular tumor spheroids with a high degree of accuracy. We strongly believe that the family of hyperbolastic models can be a valuable predictive tool in many areas of biomedical and epidemiological research such as cancer or stem cell growth and infectious disease outbreaks

WNT3 Is a Biomarker Capable of Predicting the Definitive Endoderm Differentiation Potential of hESCs

Generation of functional cells from human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) through in vitro differentiation is a promising approach for drug screening and cell therapy. However, the observed large and unavoidable variation in the differentiation potential of different human embryonic stem cell (hESC)/induced PSC (iPSC) lines makes the selection of an appropriate cell line for the differentiation of a particular cell lineage difficult. Here, we report identification of WNT3 as a biomarker capable of predicting definitive endoderm (DE) differentiation potential of hESCs. We show that the mRNA level of WNT3 in hESCs correlates with their DE differentiation efficiency. In addition, manipulations of hESCs through WNT3 knockdown or overexpression can respectively inhibit or promote DE differentiation in a WNT3 level-dependent manner. Finally, analysis of several hESC lines based on their WNT3 expression levels allowed accurate prediction of their DE differentiation potential. Collectively, our study supports the notion that WNT3 can serve as a biomarker for predicting DE differentiation potential of hESCs

Hyperbolastic modeling of tumor growth with a combined treatment of iodoacetate and dimethylsulphoxide

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>An understanding of growth dynamics of tumors is important in understanding progression of cancer and designing appropriate treatment strategies. We perform a comparative study of the hyperbolastic growth models with the Weibull and Gompertz models, which are prevalently used in the field of tumor growth.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The hyperbolastic growth models H1, H2, and H3 are applied to growth of solid Ehrlich carcinoma under several different treatments. These are compared with results from Gompertz and Weibull models for the combined treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The growth dynamics of the solid Ehrlich carcinoma with the combined treatment are studied using models H1, H2, and H3, and the models are highly accurate in representing the growth. The growth dynamics are also compared with the untreated tumor, the tumor treated with only iodoacetate, and the tumor treated with only dimethylsulfoxide, and the combined treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The hyperbolastic models prove to be effective in representing and analyzing the growth dynamics of the solid Ehrlich carcinoma. These models are more precise than Gompertz and Weibull and show less error for this data set. The precision of H3 allows for its use in a comparative analysis of tumor growth rates between the various treatments.</p

Model Based Systems Engineering zur Unterstützung der Baukastenentwicklung im Kontext der Frühen Phase der Produktgenerationsentwicklung

In Rahmen der vorliegenden Forschungsarbeit wird ein Framework zur Produktmodellierung vorgestellt, das Entwickler bei der Synthese und Analyse von Baukästen und den dazugehörigen Produkten unterstützt. Es wird aufgezeigt, wie Informationen aus vorherigen Produktgenerationen genutzt werden können, um Produktmodelle mithilfe des Model Based Systems Engineering Ansatzes, im Kontext der Frühen Phase der Produktgenerationsentwicklung, effizient zu erstellen