Enhancement of cell interactions with collagen/glycosaminoglycan matrices by RGD derivatization

The interaction of three cell types important to the wound repair process with collagen/glycosaminoglycan (GAG) dermal regeneration matrices covalently modified with an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-containing peptide was characterized. Function-blocking monoclonal antibodies directed against various integrin subunits were used to demonstrate that human fibroblasts attached to the unmodified matrix through the integrin, alpha2beta1. Human endothelial cells and human keratinocytes, however, attached minimally to the unmodified matrix. After modification of the collagen/GAG matrix with RGD-containing peptide, endothelial cells and keratinocytes attached and spread well on the matrix. This attachment was RGD dependent as evidenced by essentially complete inhibition with competing soluble peptide. In terms of overall cell number, fibroblast cell attachment remained unchanged on the RGD peptide-modified matrix compared to the unmodified material. Antibody and peptide inhibition studies demonstrate, however, that attachment to the modified matrix was mediated by both alpha2beta1 and RGD-binding integrins. We have successfully introduced a specific RGD receptor-mediated attachment site on collagen/GAG dermal regeneration matrices, resulting in enhanced cell interaction of important wound healing cell types. This modification could have important implications for the performance of these matrices in promoting dermal regeneration.     

Location Verification Systems in Emerging Wireless Networks

As location-based techniques and applications have become ubiquitous in emerging wireless networks, the verification of location information has become more important. In recent years, there has been an explosion of activity related to lo- cation-verification techniques in wireless networks. In particular, there has been a specific focus on intelligent transport systems because of the mission-critical nature of vehicle location verification. In this paper, we review recent research on wireless location verification related to vehicular networks. We focus on location verification systems that rely on for- mal mathematical classification frameworks and show how many systems are either partially or fully encompassed by such frameworks.     

Nuisance Parameters and Location Accuracy in Log-Normal Fading Models

The ability to accurately locate devices in wireless communication networks is of growing interest. Many of the position algorithms deployed in such networks are completely, or partially, based on received signal strength (RSS) measurements. However, the role played by nuisance parameters in RSS-based positioning algorithms has been largely overlooked. In this work we focus on a key nuisance parameter of such algorithms, the propagation path loss exponent of the log-normal fading model. We show how this nuisance parameter can have a significant impact on the location accuracy of RSS-based algorithms which assume log-normal fading, and how geometrical distributions of the reference nodes can be found where the error in the location estimate becomes unbounded. The analysis and results reported here help identify algorithms and geometric configurations of the reference nodes where an a priori measurement campaign related to the propagation model would be important