Background Dietary fibre is thought to protect against colorectal cancer but this view has been challenged by recent prospective and intervention studies that showed no protective effect. Methods We prospectively examined the association between dietary fibre intake and incidence of colorectal cancer in 519 978 individuals aged 25-70 years taking part in the EPIC study, recruited from ten European

Introduction: Radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with energy delivery on the posterior left atrial (LA) wall with small but significant risk of life-threatening complications. Anatomy of LA walls has been described, but wall thickness in patients with AF has not been studied systematically. The aim of the present study was to describe LA posterior wall thickness in p

During puberty the mammary gland develops from a rudimentary tree to a branched epithelial network of ducts which can support alveolar development and subsequent milk production during pregnancy and lactation. This process involves growth, proliferation, migration, branching, invasion, apoptosis and above all, tight regulation which allows these processes to take place simultaneously during the co

A simple biosensor for the detection of hydrogen peroxide in organic solvents has been do,eloped and Coupled to a flow injection analysis (FIA) system. Catalase was entrapped in polyacrylamide gel anti placed oil the surface of platinum (working electrode) fixed in a Teflon holder with Ag-wire (auxiliary electrode), followed by addition of filter paper soaked in KCl. The entrapped catalase gel was

Ribonucleotide reduction is the only known biological means for de novo production of deoxyribonucleotides, the building blocks of DNA. These are produced from ribonucleotides, the building blocks of RNA, and the direction of this reaction has been taken to support the idea that, in evolution, RNA preceded DNA as genetic material. However, an understanding of the evolutionary relationships among t

The antral hormone gastrin is the key regulator of gastric acid secretion, mucosal growth and differentiation. Gastrin is synthesized in the endocrine G-cells in the antroduodenal mucosa. We have now examined the way in which the loss of gastrin alone or gastrin plus cholecystokinin (CCK) affects the antral G-cell. Immunohistochemistry, radioimmunoassay and quantitative real-time polymerase chain

The mechanism of action for the anti-arthritic effect of methotrexate (MTX) was investigated in rats with antigen-induced arthritis (AIA). Arthritis intensity was quantified as area under the curve (AUC) for the joint swelling. The response to MTX was in several respects similar to what is seen in the clinic. The drug reduced the AUC in a dose-dependent manner after oral weekly (2-4 mg/kg/week) or

We report the isolation and characterization of a cDNA encoding the mitochondrial short chain DELTA-3,DELTA-2-enoyl-CoA isomerase from rat liver. Tryptic fragments of the purified protein were generated, purified, and sequenced. A rat liver cDNA library, constructed in the plasmid vector pUEX1 was screened with oligonucleotides synthesized on the basis of peptide sequences. The obtained clone cont

Chicks of obligate brood parasites employ a variety of morphological and behavioral strategies to outcompete nest mates. Elevated competitiveness is favored by natural selection because parasitic chicks are not related to their host parents or nest mates. When chicks of conspecific brood parasites (CBPs) are unrelated to their hosts, they and their parents would also benefit from traits that enhan

A strategy is presented for evaluation of treatment procedures for landfill leachate with emphasis on organic pollutants. An analytical scheme, the LAQUA protocol, was developed as a guide for the analytical work. The protocol includes organic as well as metals,. inorganic ions, water-quality parameters, and toxicity. The proposed strategy considers the behaviour of both polar and non-polar organi

Mycolial uptake, translocation and assimilation of 15N-labelled ammonium was followed in Pinus sylvestris plants infected with the ectomycorrhizal fungus. Paxillus involutus. The distribution of labelled compounds within the systems was examined using gas chromatography / mass spectrometry. Labelled nitrogen was incorporated into a range of free amino acids in the fungal mycelium, the principal si

The dipteran Chironomus tentans has complex tandemly repeated 350-bp DNA sequences at or near the chromosome ends. As in Drosophila melanogaster, short simple repeats with cytosines and guanines in different strands have never been observed. We were therefore interested in learning whether the Chironomus repeats could have evolved from simple sequence telomeric DNA, which might suggest that they c

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the appearance of contractile endothelin (ET)-B receptors following organ culture in different vascular regions. METHOD: The contractile responses of vascular smooth muscle induced by ET-1 and the selective ETB receptor agonist sarafotoxin 6c (S6c) were investigated in circular segments representing eight vascular regions in the rat (aorta, femor

Different causes, such as maternal diabetes, cloning by nuclear transfer, interspecific hybridization, and deletion of some genes such as Esx1, Ipl, or Cdkn1c, may underlie placental overgrowth. In a previous study, we carried out comparative gene expression analysis in three models of placental hyperplasias, cloning, interspecies hybridization (IHPD), and Esx1 deletion. This study identified a la

Clonal sedges consist of integrated ramets at different development stages. Many of these sedges are important food for herbivores, yet differences in herbivore preferences and defence allocation between ramet development stages have not previously been evaluated. In this study we investigated intraclonal ramet variation in level of plant defence and nutrient compounds and intraclonal ramet prefer

The bonding configuration and electronic structure of ethylene oxide adsorbed on Si(100)-(2 x 1) is investigated with fully polarization resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy as well as with core level and valence band photoemission spectroscopy. Ethylene oxide is found to adsorb via a ring-opening reaction, where the molecule forms a five-membered ring together with the silicon surface dimer ato

A feature at a binding energy of similar to 2.5eV which has not previously been discussed in the literature is observed in the photoemission spectra of the valence band of La1-xSrxMnO3 single crystals. To reveal the origin of this feature measurements of resonant photoemission on La1-xSrxMnO3 were performed as well as absorption spectra at the La N and Mn L-2,L-3 edges at liquid nitrogen and room