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Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-e) is one of the important cell factors which cause the fibrous function, and connective tissue growth factor(CTGF) is considered to be the downstream factor of TGF-e, mediates fibrosis of TGF-e. TGF-e induces the expression of CTGF through multiple signal transduction pathways in promoting fibrosis. This article provides a brief summary of the research progress in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigate a ring of N FitzHugh-Nagumo elements coupled in phase-repulsive fashion and submitted to a (subthreshold) common oscillatory signal and independent Gaussian white noises. This system can be regarded as a reduced version of the one studied in [Phys. Rev. E 64, 041912 (2001)], although externally forced and submitted to noise. The noise-sustained synchronization of the system with the external signal is characterized. © 2007 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In phototransduction, there is experimental evidence of considerable fluctuations in the current as a response of the rod to single photon events. We propose that the location of the activation site is one of the components responsible for such a fluctuation. We have created a mathematical model of this system which is capable of detecting activation sites and tracing the dependence of the current profiles on such locations. Using such a mathematical and computational model, we have analyzed the variation in the global current drop, and then compared it to the variation of the existing experimental data. The overall conclusions are that the location of the activation site is, at least partially, responsible for the fluctuations of the current response. © 2005 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]