This paper assesses energy security in three long-term energy scenarios (a business as usual development, a projection of Copenhagen commitments, and a 450 scenario) as modeled in six integrated assessment models: GCAM, IMAGE, MESSAGE, ReMIND, TIAM-ECN and WITCH. We systematically evaluate potential long-term vulnerabilities of vital energy systems of four major economies: China, the European Unio

Cell-surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans facilitate uptake of growth-promoting polyamines [ [Belting, M., Borsig, L., Fuster, M.M., Brown, J.R., Persson, L., Fransson,L.-. and Esko, J.D. (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 99, 371-376] ]. Increased polyamine uptake correlates with an increased number of positively charged N-unsubstituted glucosamine units in the otherwise polyanionic heparan s

Large-scale studies are essential to assess the emission patterns and spatial distribution of organohalogenated pollutants (OHPs) in the environment. Bird eggs have several advantages compared to other environmental media which have previously been used to map the distribution of OHPs. In this study, large-scale geographical variation in the occurrence of OHPs, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (P

Aim: Maternal stress during pregnancy is a possible risk factor for schizophrenia in the offspring. Using data from the Israel Psychiatric Registry we examined the impact of wars in Israel. Method: Retrospective birth cohort study. Results: Relative risks for cohorts exposed to Six-Day War and Yom Kippur War were 0.98 (95% CI: 0.85-1.13) and 1.00 (0.86-1.16). Conclusion: The evidence for maternal

Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) mainly affects renal arteries. Percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) and surgery are effective treatments, but longtime follow-up is lacking. Retrospective follow-up for 7.0 +/- 4.7 years of 69 consecutive patients ( age 44 +/- 13 years) treated for hypertension due to FMD, 59 patients underwent PTRA and eight patients surgery. In two patients no PTRA was

To search for occupational risk factors, we conducted a case-control study in nine European countries of cancers of the small intestine, male gall bladder, thymus, bone, male breast, melanoma of the eye, and mycosis fungoides. Recruitment was population based in Denmark, Latvia, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden, from hospital areas in Spain and Portugal, and from one United Kingdom (UK) hospital

This paper studies the L² (mean-square) optimal design of discrete-time FIR estimators. A solution procedure, which reduces the problem to a static matrix optimization problem admitting a closed-form solution, is proposed. In the latter solution, a special state-space structure of the associated matrices is exploited to obtain efficient formulae with the computational complexity proportional to th

Emergency operations performed on an obstructed colon are accompanied by an increased risk of anastomotic insufficiency. Tissue-destructive matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity is elevated in the obstructed colon and contributes to a loss of suture-holding submucosal collagen, which may be mediated by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Our aim was to study the effect of the non-selective MMP and TN

The receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib (XL184, BMS-907351 Cometriq) has displayed impressive clinical activity against several indications, culminating in its recent approval for medullary thyroid cancer. Among malignancies with tropism for the bone (prostate, breast), one striking feature of early clinical reports about this drug has been the rapid and complete resolution of bone sca

Recognition of asthma as a heterogeneous disease revealed different potential molecular targets and urged the development of targeted, customized treatment modalities. Evidence was provided for different inflammatory subsets of asthma and more recently, further refined to T helper (Th)2-high and Th2-low subphenotypes with different responsiveness to standard and targeted pharmacotherapy. Given the

The locus encompassing the corticosteroidogenic genes CYP11B2 and CYP11B1 is of potential importance in essential hypertension. We analyzed the association of polymorphisms at this locus with risk of essential hypertension, using 2 white case-control collections for discovery (n = 3340) and confirmation (n = 2929). Single-marker and haplotype analyses were performed, with the CYP11B2 Intron 2 Conv

Plant phenological development is orchestrated through subtle changes in photoperiod, temperature, soil moisture and nutrient availability. Presently, the exact timing of plant development stages and their response to climate and management practices are crudely represented in land surface models. As visual observations of phenology are laborious, there is a need to supplement long-term observatio

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are widely used in a variety of industrial processes and products, and have been detected globally in humans and wildlife. PFASs are suspected to interfere with endocrine signaling and to adversely affect human reproductive health. The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between exposure to PFASs and sperm global methylation levels in a po

We describe a modular optimization framework for GTO-to-moon mission design using the planar circular restricted three-body problem (PCR3BP) model. The three-body resonant gravity assists and invariant manifolds in the planar restricted three-body problem are used as basic building blocks of this mission design. The mission is optimized by appropriately timed delta-Vs, which are obtained by a shoo

Simulations have been carried out by means of computational fluid dynamics for turbulent convective heat transfer in a cross-corrugated plate pattern heat exchanger unitary cell at a Reynolds number of 4930. Chen's high-Reynolds-number k-E model, the Reynolds stress model (RSM), Suga's low-Reynolds-number k-E model, and the V2F model were used. The predicted hydraulic and thermal behaviors using t

Inland waters were recently recognized to be important sources of methane (CH4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO2 ) to the atmosphere, and including inland water emissions in large scale greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets may potentially offset the estimated carbon sink in many areas. However, the lack of GHG flux measurements and well-defined inland water areas for extrapolation, make the magnitude of the poten

To examine whether there is an association between neighborhood deprivation and childhood autism, after accounting for family- and individual-level sociodemographic characteristics.

Transaction costs (TCs) must be taken into account when assessing the performance of policy instruments that create markets for the diffusion and commercialization of low-carbon technologies (LCTs). However, there are no comprehensive studies on the development and application of transaction cost analysis to LCTs. In this meta-analysis, a wide-ranging evaluation of TCs associated with energy effic

Every year about 2500 patients in Sweden undergo surgery due to heart valve disease. A mechanical heart valve prosthesis causes risk of thromboembolic stroke or thrombus formation in the valve while anticoagulant treatment increases the risk of bleeding. Treatment quality with warfarin is crucial for patients with mechanical valve prostheses. It has previously been shown that poorly controlled war