Vitamin K is known for supporting the carboxylation of hepatic coagulation proteins. Levels of proteins induced by vitamin K absence for factor II (PIVKA-II) reflect hypocarboxylated prothrombin and can be used to detect subclinical vitamin K deficiency. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of perioperative subclinical vitamin K deficiency among neurosurgical patients using PIVKA-

During the last two centuries, taxation has not only increased dramatically in level and volume; its structure has also changed: from a heavy reliance on customs revenue in the early nineteenth century to a stronger emphasis on income taxation in the twentieth. A common explanation for this development is the spread of democracy, which supposedly increases redistribution and the size of government

Gene therapy is a promising future tool for treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and several different strategies are currently being evaluated. Although many of these strategies have shown promising results in animal models of PD and parkinsonian patients, some have been less effective and caused adverse side effects. A vector system with high specificity and appropriate expression level of the

The important role of fire in regulating vegetation community composition and contributions to emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols make it a critical component of dynamic global vegetation models and Earth system models. Over 2 decades of development, a wide variety of model structures and mechanisms have been designed and incorporated into global fire models, which have been linked to diff

Nanowires with a GaSb core and an InAs shell (and the inverted structure) are interesting for studies of electron-hole hybridization and interaction effects due to the bulk broken band-gap alignment at the material interface. We have used eight-band k·p theory together with the envelope function approximation to calculate the band structure of such nanowires. For a fixed core radius, as a function

Delayed emission of protons following β decay of neutron deficient nuclei P26 and S27 was investigated at the ACCULINNA separator in the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions at Dubna. Ions of interest, identified in flight, were implanted into the active volume of the gaseous optical time projection chamber, which allowed us to record tracks of charged particles emitted in the decay. Total branc

The entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) literature has attracted much attention, especially in policy circles. However, the concept suffers from a number of shortcomings: (1) it lacks a clear analytical framework that makes explicit what is cause and what is effect in an EE; (2) while being a systemic concept, the EE has not yet fully exploited insights from network theory, and it is not always clear i

Activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in endothelial cells regulates energy homeostasis, stress protection and angiogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. Using a label-free phosphoproteomic analysis, we identified glutamine:fructose-6-phosphate amidotransferase 1 (GFAT1) as an AMPK substrate. GFAT1 is the rate-limiting enzyme in the hexosamine biosynthesis

One of the key elements in a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) is the gas diffusion layer (GDL). The GDL offers mechanical support to the cell and provides the medium for diffusing the reactant gases from the flow plates to the electrolyte enabling the electrochemical reactions, and therefore the energy conversion. At the same time, it has the task of transporting the electrons from the active

In a world where technical knowledge gets outdated in an ever increasing speed, it is important that engineering education provides students not only with broad technical competences but also with so-called soft skills such as communications skills, leadership skills and team-working skills. When it comes to team-working skills, group projects have become an inevitable part of most LTH programs. L

AIM: To investigate the antitumour effect of radiation in combination with electropermeabilization on subcutaneous rat glioma tumours.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sub-optimal radiation treatment was administered separately or in combination with electric pulses of high voltage to subcutaneous rat brain tumours. The treatment was repeated on four consecutive days and evaluated by TGD and microscopical ex

A protocol was developed to study the drug uptake from in vivo electropermeabilization at different settings of parameters influencing the uptake efficiency. Radiolabelled diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) was used to trace the distribution and internalization of a hydrophilic drug after in vivo electropermeabilization. Skeletal muscle tissue in rat was treated with permeabilizing electric

This article provides an overview of the literature on demonstration projects and trials, and accounts for how insights drawn from this literature can contribute to the development of a sustainable bioeconomy. The article reviews the literature on demonstration projects and trials, covering both more broad-based studies on demonstration projects mainly carried out in the US and more specific studi

High-resolution γ-ray spectroscopy has been established at ISOLDE for nuclear-structure and nuclear-reaction studies with reaccelerated radioactive ion beams provided by the REX-ISOLDE facility. The MINIBALL spectrometer comprises 24 six-fold segmented, encapsulated high-purity germanium crystals. It was specially designed for highest γ-ray detection efficiency which is advantageous for low-intens

This paper presents a study of the physical limitations for radio frequency absorption in gold nanoparticle (GNP) suspensions. A spherical geometry is considered consisting of a spherical suspension of colloidal GNPs characterized as an arbitrary passive dielectric material which is immersed in an arbitrary lossy medium. A relative heating coefficient and a corresponding optimal near field excitat

Ions differ in their ability to salt out proteins from solution as expressed in the lyotropic or Hofmeister series of cations and anions. Since its first formulation in 1888, this series has been invoked in a plethora of effects, going beyond the original salting out/salting in idea to include enzyme activities and the crystallization of proteins, as well as to processes not involving proteins lik