Very Heart (very + heart)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Extracellular ATP, P2 receptors, and inflammation

DRUG DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH, Issue 1 2003
Francesco Di Virgilio
Abstract Over the past few years, P2 receptors have emerged as new potential players in the early phases of inflammation in their function of chemotactic receptors, triggers of proinflammatory cytokine release, and cytotoxic molecules. However, more recent data suggest that the role of P2 receptors in immunity is much more widespread and touches the very heart of the initiation of the immune response, i.e., antigen presentation by dendritic cells. Drug Dev. Res. 59:171,174, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Genotypic and phenotypic classification of cancer: How should the impact of the two diagnostic approaches best be balanced?

GENES, CHROMOSOMES AND CANCER, Issue 9 2010
Petter Brandal
Neoplastic tumors are traditionally named based on their differentiation (i.e., which normal cells and tissues they resemble) and bodily site. In recent years, knowledge about the genetic basis of tumorigenesis has grown rapidly, and the new information has in several instances been incorporated into the very definition of cancerous entities. The proper contribution of the diseases' phenotype and genotype to what they are called and how they are delineated from one another has rarely been subjected to explicit reasoning, however, nor is it often made clear whether existing naming practices are founded on ontological or utilitarian grounds. We look at several examples of how the new cytogenetic and molecular genetic understanding of tumorigenesis has impacted oncological nomenclature in a significant manner, but also at counterexamples where no similar change has taken place. In all likelihood, more and more neoplastic diseases will in the future be defined and named based on their pathogenesis rather than their phenotype, not least because effective and specific drug therapies directed against the molecular change at the very heart of oncogenesis will increasingly become available. The fact that this shift in emphasis is primarily guided by utilitarian considerations rather than any perception of acquired genetic changes as somehow being more ontologically "profound" or "important" in tumorigenesis, is as it should be; both the phenotype and the genotype of tumors are key parameters across most of oncology and are likely to be retained as the basis of coexisting disease classifications for as long as we can foresee. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


UniFAFF: a unified framework for implementing autonomic fault management and failure detection for self-managing networks

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF NETWORK MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2009
Ranganai Chaparadza
Today's network management, as known within the Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security (FCAPS) management framework, is moving towards the definition and implementation of ,self-managing' network functions, with the aim of eliminating or drastically reducing human intervention in some of the complex aspects or daunting tasks of network management. The fault management plane of the FCAPS framework deals with the following functions: fault detection, fault diagnosis, localization or isolation, and fault removal. Task automation is at the very heart of self-managing (autonomic) nodes and networks, meaning that all functions and processes related to fault management must be automated as much as possible within the functionalities of self-managing (autonomic) nodes and networks, in order for us to talk about autonomic fault management. At this point in time there are projects calling for implementing new network architectures that are flexible to support on-demand functional composition for context- or situation-aware networking. A number of such projects have started, under the umbrella of the so-called clean-slate network designs. Therefore, this calls for open frameworks for implementing self-managing (autonomic) functions across each of the traditional FCAPS management planes. This paper presents a unified framework for implementing autonomic fault management and failure detection for self-managing networks, a framework we are calling UniFAFF. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The Emerging Federal Quasi Government: Issues of Management and Accountability

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 3 2001
Ronald C. Moe
There has been a growing trend in the federal government toward reliance on organizations that commingle legal attributes of the government and private sectors. These hybrid organizations now constitute a quasi government that occasions both interest and concern by political leaders, practitioners, and scholars alike because these organizations touch the very heart of democratic governance: To whom are these hybrids accountable? How well is the public interest being protected against the interests of private parties? In this article, the author seeks to define the quasi government and place these hybrid entities into manageable categories from which legal and behavioral generalizations may be drawn. Are hybrid organizations a problem or a solution? Looking critically at this question, the author suggests the answer may depend in large measure on which of two management paradigms the reader accepts: the constitutionalist management paradigm or the entrepreneurial management paradigm, both of which are defined and discussed. The author concludes that the increasin reliance on hybrid organizations constitutes a threat not only to accountable management within the government, but to the fundamental values of democratic governance as well. [source]