BACKGROUND: The contact system triggers the kallikrein-kinin cascade, liberating bradykinin from high-molecular-weight kininogen. Effectors of the contact system have proinflammatory and vasoactive properties. Vasculitis is a condition characterised by inflammation around vessel walls, leading to secondary tissue damage for which the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. Our aim w

OBJECTIVE: Early enteral nutrition with fiber-containing solutions plus Lactobacillus may reduce bacterial translocation and minimize the incidence of infections after surgery. METHODS: In a prospective, randomized trial in three groups (n = 30/group) of patients after major abdominal surgery, we compared our previous regimen with parenteral nutrition or fiber-free enteral nutrition (group A) with

Background. Autonomic nerves and humoral factors regulate pancreatic secretion. Nerves containing nitric oxide (NO) synthase (NOS) are in close proximity and located within cholinergic, adrenergic and sensory nerve bundles. Yet, the interactive mechanisms between various nerve populations remain elusive. Aims: To evaluate the role of endogenous NO in basal exocrine pancreatic secretion in the extr

BACKGROUND: Earlier studies have shown that physical exercise and a higher workload increase muscle strength and improve gait and balance at all ages for both sexes. Published studies have, so far, failed to investigate the functional performance of elderly individuals concerning their long-term physical activity and variables of daily living. OBJECTIVE: To compare elderly women who participate in

Early discharge and home rehabilitation (EDHR) for stroke patients seems logical as an alternative to rehabilitation in stroke units, as these patients often show impaired ability to perform activities of daily living. The objective of this review is to present the effects of EDHR for stroke patients on health, quality of life and costs, and to describe the physiotherapy provided. Seventeen random

Some groups have to face threats and dangers professionally with maintained cognitive functioning, which implies a need to know both the extent to which maladaptive reactions occur and the factors that may affect it. This study examines self-reported reactions and performance when facing risks and dangers on peacekeeping observer missions. The sample consisted of 154 military observers.,A self-mad

Objective: The aim was to evaluate the outcome of fertility-sparing treatment in ovarian borderline tumors and early invasive ovarian cancer. Materials and methods: All women diagnosed with an ovarian borderline tumor or early invasive ovarian cancer who were treated with fertility-sparing surgery at the University Hospital in Lund between 1988 and 2002 were identified and included in the study (n

Obyective. Members of the box family of homeodomain-containing transcription factors, including hoxa9, hoxb3, and hoxb4 play an important role in the regulation of differentiation, proliferation and self-renewal of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Lack-of-function studies using hoxa9, hoxb4, or hoxb3/hoxb4 null mice demonstrate that all these mutations compromise the repopulating ability o

A low-diversity halysitid-heliolitid autobiostrome from the Late Wenlock Halla Formation at Blåhäll 1, Gotland, indicates a brief period of particular environmental conditions. The reef is 0.3–0.5 m thick, internally without bedding structures, and had a sheet-like distribution on a low-relief soft-bottom, in marginal platform, graptolitiferous strata (height-width ratio is 1:900 in outcrop). The

Objective - To evaluate antihypertensive treatment and other cardiovascular risk factors in primary health care. Design - Cross-sectional survey of consecutive patients with treated hypertension in 1999. Setting - 17 primary care centres in Sweden. Subjects - 512 patients (mean age 67; SD 11 years). Main outcome measures - Antihypertensive treatment, cardiovascular risk factors. Results - Patients

A human papillomavirus (HPV) was cloned from a patient with multiple squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) and identified as HPV88, recently categorized into a new species within the genus Gamma. The HPV88 viral load in an SCC of the index patient exceeded 1 million copies/cell. By contrast, a survey of 447 skin lesions (79 actinic keratoses, 73 seborrhoeic keratoses, 169 basal cell carcinomas and 126 S

n order to make attribute grammars useful for complicated analysis tasks, a number of extensions to the original Knuth formalism have been suggested. One such extension is the collection attribute mechanism, which allows the value of an attribute to be defined as a combination of contributions from distant nodes in the abstract syntax tree. Another extension that has proven useful is circular attr

The traditional design method for plate heat exchangers(PHEs), either epsilon-number of transfer units (epsilon-NTU) or logarithmic mean temperature difference method, involves many trials in order to meet the pressure drop constraints. This can be avoided through the developed design method, which takes the full utilization of the allowable pressure drops as a design objective. The proposed metho

A positive relationship between daily physical activity and aerobic fitness exists in adults. Studies in children have given conflicting results, possibly because of differences in methods used to assess daily physical activity and fitness. No study regarding daily physical activity and fitness in children has been published, where fitness has been assessed by direct measurement of maximum oxygen

During the Quaternary period, ice sheets centred over the Barents and Kara seas expanded several times onto mainland Russia and blocked northflowing rivers, such as the Yenissei, Ob, Pechora and Mezen. Large ice-dammed lakes with reversed outlets, e.g. toward the Caspian Sea, formed south of these ice sheets. Some lakes are reconstructed from shorelines and lacustrine sediments, others mainly from

Vegetation both physically and biochemically influences denitrification in wetlands. Litter from various plant species supplies various amounts and qualities of organic carbon to denitrifying bacteria, and may thus affect denitrification capacity. We explore whether there is seasonal variation in the denitrification potential in stands of Glyceria maxima, Phragmites australis, Typha latifolia, and

Selective etching of heterostructure III-V nanowires can be used to form tips and narrow gaps simultaneously on multiple nanowires on a single wafer. In this study we tested bromine based etching of gallium arsenide segments in gallium phosphide nanowires. Depending on the etchant and etching conditions, a variety of gap topologies and tip-like structures were observed. The method is compatible wi