Calling MATLAB functions from python

Is it possible to run MATLAB functions from within Python?
I search the internet, I could only find PyMat. The bad thing is the compiled version only supports Python2.2 and I am using 2.6. So I tried to download the source code, so I can compile it for myself. But I cannot compile it, VC++ express seems not to have the necessary functionalities to compile it. Does anyone have the compile version for PC?
or any substitutes for PyMat?
Thanks

How can I efficiently process a numpy array in blocks similar to Matlab’s blkproc (blockproc) function

I’m looking for a good approach for efficiently dividing an image into small regions, processing each region separately, and then re-assembling the results from each process into a single processed image. Matlab had a tool for this called blkproc (replaced by blockproc in newer versions of Matlab).