The gathering pace of IT innovation has, or ought to have had notable methodological repercussions for the social-science community (and beyond). Where yesterday the researcher could unhurriedly unlock the social-scientific significance of a chosen medium, secure in the knowledge that his or her work would have bearing for many years, by now there is every reason to confront a fear that the prodde

Objective: Investigate effects of estrogen at gene expression and functional levels in vascular wall cells treated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Materials and methods: Aortic segments from ovariectomized mice were treated with LPS for 24 h in the absence or presence of 17 beta-estradiol (E-2). Gene activity was determined by Affymetrix microarray analysis and real-time RTPCR. Adhesion o

3-Hydroxy fatty acids (3-OH FAs) of 10-18-carbon chain lengths are constituents of the lipopolysaccharide of Gram-negative bacteria. These acids are used as chemical markers for determining endotoxin in environmental samples. The present communication addresses the question whether this type of analysis also would be applicable to mammalian samples. Low levels (6.1 +/- 1.6-94.0 +/- 23.2 pmol/ml) o

Hormonal therapy (HT) is one of the most frequently prescribed drug regimens for women after the age of 50 years. HT has been developed progressively since the 1960s to provide estrogen to those women (a) who require relief of symptoms which have resulted from reduced circulating estrogen or (b) to act as an anti-resorptive agent to counteract the effect of the increased bone turnover which occurs

We use the configuration interaction technique to study vortex formation in rotating systems of interacting spinless fermions and bosons trapped in a two-dimensional harmonic potential. In the fermionic case, the vortices appear as holes in the Fermi sea and localize in rings. The yrast spectrum is dominated by rigid rotation of the vortex ring, showing periodic oscillations. The Bose system shows

Objective. To delineate a perceived association of estradiol versus estradiol plus norethisterone hormone therapy on the prevalence of colorectal cancer in postmenopausal women. Methods. The Women's Health in the Lund Area (WHILA) project covers 10 766 women aged 50-60 years, living in the Lund area, Sweden. Out of this population, 6908 (64%) women completed questionnaires, underwent physical and

We model collisions between pre-main-sequence stars using a smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. Assuming that all collisions lead to simple mergers, we use derived merger cross-sections to calculate the time-scale to make a 50-M-circle dot star by collisions within the core of a stellar cluster as a function of stellar number density. We show that a 50-M-circle dot star may be produced in this

The combination of high strain modulus from conventional light weight deflectometer (LWD) analysis and low strain modulus front LWD-induced seismic analysis would move the pavement community towards field characterization of non-linear soil stiffness for use in mechanistic-empirical pavement design. This paper explores the experimental and numerical analysis of surface seismic waves during convent

Changes in agricultural land-use have been suggested to contribute to the decline of several bird species through negative effects on their food supply during breeding. One important change in land-Use has been loss of pastures, especially permanent pastures. In this study we investigated how different forms of agricultural land-use affected foraging success or a declining bird species, the Europe

The aim was to investigate healthcare consumption in men and women aged 65 and above in the two years preceding decision about long-term municipal care at home or in special accommodation and to investigate determinants for healthcare consumption. The study comprised 362 people (aged 65 or over), all subject to a decision about municipal care and/or services during 2002-2003, drawn from the Swedis

The effect of elevated UV-B radiation on CO2 exchange of a natural flark fen was studied in open-field conditions during 2003-2005. The experimental site was located in SodankylA in northern Finland (67 degrees 22'N, 26 degrees 38'E, 179 m a.s.l.). Altogether 30 study plots, each 120 cm x 120 cm in size, were randomly distributed between three treatments (n=10): ambient control, UV-A control and U

The application of the supported liquid membrane (SLM) technique for the extraction of biogenic amines is presented. For the extraction of these compounds, the SLM system has been applied, using di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid as an anionic carrier incorporated into the membrane phase. The optimization of the extraction process, involving the composition of membrane liquid, is discussed. The simul

BACKGROUND/AIMS: After acute self-limited hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, serological loss of viral antigens and appearance of anti-HBs is generally believed to signify viral clearance. Latent and occult HBV infection appearing decades after self-limited hepatitis B has not been reported, nor has the evolutionary rate of HBV DNA over the same observation period. METHODS: DNA from serum and leuk

Objective. Previous population studies have suggested that both rheumatoid factor (RF) production and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may be declining in occurrence, and. both secular and birth-cohort influences have been implicated. Since Pima Indians have a very high incidence of RA and also have shown recent evidence or a decline in RA, this study evaluated the relative contributions of age, secular,

We have studied GaP/GaAs/GaP and GaAsxP1-x/GaAs/GaAsxP1-x double-barrier resonant tunnelling diodes grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy. We find that GaP tensile strained barriers in GaP/GaAs/GaP diodes may be grown with a barrier thickness below the critical thickness of about 12 monolayers. However, a corrugation of the strained barrier is observed by transmission electron microscopy. This

Distributions of phylogenetically related protein domains (fold superfamilies), or FSFs, among the three Superkingdoms (trichotomy) are assessed. Very nearly 900 of the 1200 FSFs of the trichotomy are shared by two or three Superkingdoms. Parsimony analysis of FSF distributions suggests that the FSF complement of the last common ancestor to the trichotomy was more like that of modern eukaryotes th

Hydroxyl radicals formed from hydrogen peroxide during an inflammatory response are potent agents for cellular deterioration. The behaviour of implanted material in terms of its ability to sustain or stop free radical formation may be therefore very important. In vitro studies of titanium which is known to be biocompatible and osseointegrates into human bone were carried out. In our model studies,

Denitrification is a critical process that can alleviate the effects of excessive nitrogen availability in aquatic ecosystems subject to eutrophication. An important part of denitrification occurs in benthic systems where bioturbation by meiofauna (invertebrates