The aim of this study was to evaluate the importance of different endogenous and exogenous factors associated with cirrhosis development among hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive individuals from an area of low prevalence. We studied 106 consecutive HCV RNA positive patients who had undergone liver biopsy. Each patient was assessed with special attention to risk factors for hepatitis C infection, ave

Box jellyfish have the most elaborate sensory system and behavioural repertoire of all cnidarians. Sensory input largely comes from 24 eyes situated on four club-shaped sensory structures, the rhopalia, and behaviour includes obstacle avoidance, light shaft attractance and mating. To process the sensory input and convert it into the appropriate behaviour, the box jellyfish have a central nervous s

By sending a questionnaire (response rate 93%) to 321 women with a history of venous thromboembolism and previous coagulation tests, 72 patients were identified who had a total of 87 pregnancies after the thromboembolic episode. The main aim of the study was to analyze the influence of prophylaxis during pregnancy and delivery on the development of further thromboembolic complications. During preg

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate the value of percutaneous fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in the diagnosis and management of liver tumours. METHODS: FNAC followed by histopathological examination was carried out in 216 patients with suspected liver tumours. The final diagnosis was primary liver cancer in 106, colorectal metastases in 51, non-colorectal metastases in 46,

We investigated how the degree of autotrophy/heterotrophy and organism trophic position influenced the bioaccumulation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in 10 benthic river food webs consisting of terrestrial detritus, periphyton, invertebrates, and age-0 brown trout (Salmo trutta) in southern Sweden. Concentrations of PCBs increased with trophic position, estimated from delta(15)N and delta(13)

We report on room-temperature electrical measurements of multibranch junction (MBJ) devices made from a semiconductor heterostructure. We show that the MBJ devices exhibit an interesting electrical property. If the voltage output at one branch is measured as a function of the voltages inputs to all the other branches, the output voltage is determined predominately by the most negative, or the lowe

Possible measures for prevention of neonatal group B streptococcal (GBS) septicemia include active or passiv immunoprophylaxis and administration of penicillin to mothers and infants. In a previous study we have found GBS to be extremely sensitive to chlorhexidine. Furthermore vaginal washing with chlorhexidine diminished the recovery of GBS from parturients. In order to study the effect of chlorh

To study mechanical control of tissue differentiation, we designed a new version of the previously described bone conduction chamber. The bone conduction chamber consists of a cylindrical titanium chamber for implantation in the rat tibia. It has tissue ingrowth openings at one end, located subcortically, and the other end protrudes into the subcutis. The newly developed load chamber has a mobile

Few studies regarding the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations on plant lipid metabolism have been carried out. Here, the effects of elevated CO2 concentration on lipid composition in mature seeds and in leaves during the diurnal cycle of Arabidopsis thaliana were investigated. Plants were grown in controlled climate chambers at elevated (800 ppm) and ambient CO2 concentrations. Lipi

Deubiquitination of NF-kappa B members by CYLD is crucial in controlling the magnitude and nature of cell activation. The role of the naturally occurring CYLD splice variant in dendritic cell (DC) function was analyzed using CYLDex7/8 mice, which lack the full-length CYLD (flCYLD) transcript and overexpress the short splice variant (sCYLD). Bone marrow-derived DCs from CYLDex7/8 mice display a hyp

Phases observed in the BaO-Fe2O3-TiO2 system are classified and described in terms of the framework of close-packed {O,Ba/O} layers, with the transition metal atoms either in octahedral (titanium and iron) or in tetrahedral (iron only) sites. The resulting crystal chemistry features new combinations of structural features intermediate between the magnetic barium hexaferrites and the dielectric bar

The new prominence given to science for economic growth and industry comes with an increased policy focus on the promotion of commodification and commercialization of academic science. This paper posits that this increased interest in commodification is a new steering mechanism for governing science. This is achieved by first outlining what is meant by the commodification of scientific knowledge t