Stroke is the third most common cause of death in developed countries, exceeded only by coronary heart disease and cancer. There is substantial scientific literature on the association between occupational exposures and coronary heart disease, but much less is known about stroke. This systematic critical review was performed to assess the strength of evidence for causal associations between chemic

No study has investigated the predictive validity and cut-off scores in diagnostic tests for falls used in in-home assessment in frail older people. The objective was to investigate the predictive validity for falls in the Downton Fall Risk Index (DFRI), Timed Up and Go (TUG) and Romberg test (RT) used in in-home assessment of frail older people (65+ years). Data on the diagnostic tests were colle

Particle filter methods constitute a class of iterative genetic-type algorithms which provide powerful tools for obtaining approximate solutions to non-linear and/or non-Gaussian filtering problems. The aim of this paper is to, using standard tools from probability theory, study the bias of Monte Carlo integration estimates obtained by the bootstrap particle filter. A bound on this bias, which is

Androgen receptor (AR) is expressed in all stages of prostate cancer progression, including in castration-resistant tumors. Eliminating AR function continues to represent a focus of therapeutic investigation, but AR regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. To systematically characterize mechanisms involving microRNAs (miRNAs), we conducted a gain-of function screen of 1129 miRNA molecules i

Over the past few years, information technology has changed the way we live, work, and communicate with each other. The two outstanding trends of Internet and cellular telephony growth will now enter a new phase when the two technologies converge into 2.5 and 3G networks. The success of cellular telephony is due to the mobility factor, and the success of the Internet is due to its architecture, wh

Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA), three or more pregnancy losses prior to 20 weeks, occurs in about 1% of all pregnancies, 50% of RSA cases remain unexplained and unresolved. Recently, immune pathways have been implicated in the pathophysiology of RSA. Immune tolerance of the fetal-placental unit and placental angiogenesis are mandatory for a successful pregnancy outcome. Unscheduled dysregula

Mutations in the gene encoding Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) result in X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), an immunodeficiency of antibody defect. By using base excision sequence scanning method (BESS) followed by direct sequencing we found in seven unrelated families with a classical XLA phenotype various mutations including six novel mutations (g.64512_64513insC, c.108_109insG, c.1700_1701insACTAC

A diffusion model of noninvasive absorption spectroscopy was used to determine how the change in signal resulting from a point absorber depends on the position of that absorber relative to the source and detector. This is equivalent to calculating the relative probability that a photon will visit a certain location in tissue before its detection. Experimental mapping of the point-target response i

We report a case of a newborn girl with inspissated bile syndrome (IBS) that did not respond to treatment with oral ursodeoxycholic acid (Ursofalk). A solution was found using laparoscopic aided cholecystostomy with an indwelling catheter for local Ursofalk flushing in the gallbladder and the choledochus. This is the first report of a laparoscopic aided management of IBS without cholecystectomy or

The degree of general applicability across Europe currently achieved with several forest succession models is assessed, data needs and steps for further model development are identified and the role physiology based models can play in this process is evaluated. To this end, six forest succession models (DISCFORM, ForClim, FORSKA-M, GUESS, PICUS v1.2, SIERRA) are applied to simulate stand structure

Abstract. Purpose: Ophthalmoscopy is an important skill in undergraduate medical education. The use and outcome of a novel Internet-based method for assessing motor skills-related aspects of ophthalmoscopy skills in medical students are described. Methods: A total of 139 students in Malmö and 255 students in Umeå were assessed during four consecutive semesters. An optic disc photograph was obtaine

Background: A family history of melanoma is associated with an increased risk of melanoma and probably of other, discordant cancers. Limited data are available on familial mortality in melanoma. If fatal forms of melanoma were associated with fatal forms of melanoma or of some other cancers, only studies on familial mortality rather than on familial incidence might be able to detect them. Furtherm

Summary The haematopoietic growth factor receptor Flt3 has been implicated as major cause of transformation in acute myeloid leukaemia. Intracellular signals mediated by wild-type Flt3 are involved in cell differentiation and survival whereas signalling via the mutant Flt3 ITD (internal tandem duplication) promotes enhanced cell growth. In this study, we identified tyrosines 768, 955 and 969 of Fl

Habeb AM, Al-Magamsi MSF, Halabi S, Eid IM, Shalaby S, Bakoush O. High incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes in Al-Madinah, North West Saudi Arabia (2004-2009). Background: There is a geographical variation in the incidence of childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) with a steady increase reported from some countries. However, data on the incidence of childhood T1DM in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a

Several global measures to assess at-work productivity loss or presenteeism in patients with rheumatic diseases have been proposed, but the comparative validity is hampered by the lack of data on test-retest reliability and comparative concurrent and construct validity. Our objective was to test-retest 5 global measures of presenteeism and to compare the association between these scales and health