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Biomedical subjects

N Beaudry

Publications and source records attributed to N Beaudry.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

A novel peptide from the growth hormone releasing hormone gene stimulates Sertoli cell activity.

The growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) gene is believed to produce a single functional peptide, GHRH (1). Although GHRH mRNA and peptide have been identified in various tissues, the only accepted function of GHRH is the stimulation of pituitary growth hormone. We have discovered that the GHRH mRNA encodes a second peptide that is abundant in testicular germ cells and specifically activates Sertoli cell expression of stem cell factor (SCF), a factor crucial for the normal progression of spermatogenesis (2). These observations suggest that the GHRH gene produces two distinct peptides, each with tissue-specific activities.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Design methodology for a multifunctional hand prosthesis.

The first part of this paper reviews different approaches to define the motion of the fingers and the thumb in order to obtain prehension. The last part presents the design of a hand prosthesis based on a new plane of action for the thumb and on proposed design specifications and functional characteristics. The design methodology consists of two steps: the morphology design of the hand prosthesis and the 4-bar mechanism design for each finger. A 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) interactive program was used as a design tool to obtain the hand morphology. This CAD technique was also used to check the geometry, the relative motions of the fingers, and the possibility of interference for the proposed model with two prehension patterns (tridigital and lateral). It is noted that identical flexion angles of the finger joints were obtained for these two prehension patterns, the difference being in the inclination angle of the thumb's plane of flexion. This finding greatly simplified the design of the internal mechanisms of the fingers. CAD was a powerful tool in the design process of this hand prosthesis and will be more and more useful in the future.

Artificial Limbs↗