An Automated Clinical Laboratory Decision Support System for Test Utilization, Medical Necessity Verification and Payment Processing.

Physicians could improve the efficiency of the healthcare system if a reliable resource were available to aid them in better understanding, selecting, and interpreting the diagnostic laboratory tests. It has been well established and widely recognized that (a) laboratory testing provides 70-85% of the objective data that physicians use in diagnosis and treatment of their patients, (b) orders for laboratory tests in the U.S.

Inhibiting triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 1 signaling to ameliorate skin fibrosis.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is characterized by immune system failure, vascular insult, autoimmunity, and tissue fibrosis. TGF-β is a crucial mediator of persistent myofibroblast activation and aberrant extracellular matrix production in SSc. The factors responsible for this are unknown.

Systems Engineering Approach to Modeling and Analysis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a progressive lung disease characterized by airflow limitation. This study develops a systems engineering framework for representing important mechanistic details of COPD in a model of the cardiorespiratory system. In this model, we present the cardiorespiratory system as an integrated biological control system responsible for regulating breathing.

Preclinical evaluation of [ C]L-235 as a radioligand for Positron Emission Tomography cathepsin K imaging in bone.

The cathepsin K (CatK) enzyme is abundantly expressed in osteoclasts, and CatK inhibitors have been developed for the treatment of osteoporosis. In our effort to support discovery and clinical evaluations of a CatK inhibitor, we sought to discover a radioligand to determine target engagement of the enzyme by therapeutic candidates using positron emission tomography (PET). L-235, a potent and selective CatK inhibitor, was labeled with carbon-11.