Stem cell therapies have had tremendous potential application for many diseases in recent years. However, the tumorigeneic properties of stem cells restrict their potential clinical application; therefore, strategies for reducing the tumorigenic potential of stem cells must be established prior to transplantation. We have demonstrated that syngeneic transplantation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) provokes an inflammatory response that involves the rapid recruitment of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs). ESCs are able to prevent mature macrophages from macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) withdrawal-induced apoptosis, and thus prolong macrophage lifespan significantly by blocking various apoptotic pathways in an M-CSF-independent manner. ESCs express and secrete IL-34 which may be responsible for ESC-promoted macrophage survival. This anti-apoptotic effect of ESCs involves activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and PI3K/Akt pathways and thus, inhibition of ERK1/2 and PI3K/AKT activation decreases ESC-induced macrophage survival. Functionally, ESC-treated macrophages also showed a higher level of phagocytic activity. ESCs further serve to polarize BMDMs into M2-like macrophages that exhibit most tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) phenotypic and functional features. ESC-educated macrophages produce high levels of arginase-1, Tie-2 and TNF-, which participate in angiogenesis and contribute to teratoma progression. Our study suggests that induction of M2-like macrophage activation is an important mechanism for teratoma development. Strategies targeting macrophages to

Three-dimensional data merging is vital for full-field three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement. All 3D range data patches, acquired from either different sensors or the same sensor in different viewing angles, have to be merged into a single piece to facilitate future data analysis. A novel method for 3D data merging using Holoimage is proposed. Similar to the 3D shape measurement system using a phase-shifting method, Holoimage is a phase-shiftingbased computer synthesized fringe image. The 3D information is retrieved from Holoimage using a phase-shifting method. If two patches of 3D data with overlapping areas are rendered by OpenGL, the overlapping areas are resolved by the graphics pipeline, that is, only the front geometry can be visualized. Therefore, the merging is performed if the front geometry information can be obtained. Holoimage is to obtain the front geometry by projecting the fringe

A nonlinear, nonlocal cochlear model of the transmission line type is studied in order to capture the multitone interactions and resulting tonal suppression effects. The model can serve as a module for voice signal processing, and is a one-dimensional (in space) damped dispersive nonlinear PDE based on the mechanics and phenomenology of hearing. It describes the motion of the basilar membrane (BM0 in the cochlea driven by input pressure waves. Both elastic dampling and selective longitudinal fluid damping are present. The forner is nonlinear and nonlocal in BM displacement, and plays a kep role in capturing tonal interactions. The latter is active only near the exit boundary (helicotrema), and is built in to damp out the remaining long waves. The initial boundary value problem is numerically solved with a semi-implicit second order finite difference method. Solutions reach a multi-frequency quai-steady state

We simulate blood flow in patient-specific cerebral arteries. The complicated geometry in the human brain makes the problem challenging. We use a fully unstructured three dimensional mesh to cover the artery, and Galerkin/least-squares finite element method to discretize the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, that are employed to model the blood flow, and the resulting large sparse nonlinear system of equations is solved by a Newton-Krylov-Schwarz algorithm. From the computed flow fields, we are able to understand certain behavior of the blood flow of this particular patient before and after a stenosis is surgically removed. We also report the robustness and parallel performance of the domain decomposition based algorithm.

This book presents an overview of recent developments in biostatistics and bioinformatics. Written by active researchers in these emerging areas, it is intended to give graduate students and new researchers an idea of where the frontiers of biostatistics and bioinformatics are as well as a forum to learn common techniques in use, so that they can advance the fields via developing new techniques and new results. Extensive references are provided so that researchers can follow the threads to learn more comprehensively what the literature is and to conduct their own research. In particulars, the book covers three important and rapidly advancing topics in biostatistics: analysis of survival and longitudinal data, statistical methods for epidemiology, and bioinformatics.