Filetype
The acute phase reactant and protease inhibitor alpha1-antichymotrypsin is considered to play a protective role in the airways, but it is not known. Objectives: We analyzed whether the common respiratory pathogens Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis interact with antichymotrypsin. Methods: We compared a series of clinical isolates in addition to wild type and
Angle-resolved resonant Auger-electron spectroscopy has been carried out on the nitrogen molecule at selected photon energies around 419 eV, where a 1s core electron and two valence electrons are promoted into the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital 1pi(g). Significant enhancement of a specific band, which cannot be disentangled in direct photoionization, is observed at a binding energy of 37.6 eV
C4b-binding protein (C4BP), an important inhibitor of complement activation, has a unique spider-like shape. It is composed of six to seven identical alpha-chains with or without a single beta-chain, the chains being linked by disulfide bridges in their C-terminal parts. To elucidate the structural requirements for the assembly of the alpha-chains, recombinant C4BP was expressed in HEK 293 cells.
A Holocene sediment sequence from Lake Igelsjon, south central Sweden, was studied by stable oxygen- and carbon-isotope analyses of different carbonate components. The deposit, which covers the time-span from ca 11,500 cal BP to the present, was laid down in a small, kettle-hole lake, the hydrological balance of which is presently dominated by groundwater flow. Isotopic records obtained on bulk ca
The routine recommendation to women to count fetal movements daily during late pregnancy for the prevention of antepartum late fetal death in normally formed singletons has been evaluated. 68,000 women were randomly allocated within thirty-three pairs of clusters either to a policy of routine counting or to standard care, which might involve selective use of formal counting or informal noting of m
The accuracy of q-space measurements was evaluated at a 3.0-T clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, as compared with a 4.7-T nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. Measurements were performed using a stimulated-echo pulse-sequence on n-decane as well as on polyethylene glycol (PEG) mixed with different concentrations of water, in order to obtain bi-exponential signal decay cur
The meanings given to menopause by women themselves are often left aside. In this grounded theory study, based on interviews and on open-ended questions in questionnaires answered by middle-aged women, the authors found that not being able to know what would happen and what influence menopause would have on them as individuals were sources of uncertainty. A theory of a general pattern of behaviour
Objective No depression rating scale has yet been designed to identify all clinically important depressive states in elderly. Therefore, this study investigated the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25), a self-rating scale for depression, to see if it was a sensitive indicator of major, minor and subsyndromal depression. Methods Structured interviews of 37 people with a high depressive score and
BACKGROUND. Today, intensive therapy that includes high-close melphalan with autologous stein cell transplantation (ASCT) is considered standard therapy in younger patients with newly diagnosed myeloma. When the current trial was initiated, combined vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone (VAD) was the most commonly used induction therapy before ASCT and yielded rapid major responses without i
As part of a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) psychosocial programme during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, data were collected from a community sample of 2,976 children aged between 9 and 14 years. Children completed standardized self-report measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, and grief, as well as a report of the amount of their own exposure to war-related viol
In pancreatic B- and A-cells, metabolic stimuli regulate biochemical and electrical processes that culminate in Ca2+-influx and release of insulin or glucagon, respectively. Like in other (neuro)endocrine cells, Ca2+-influx triggers the rapid exocytosis of hormone-containing secretory granules. Only a small fraction of granules (<1% in insulin-secreting B-cells) can be released immediately, while
Recent work has shown that pressures inside dsDNA phage capsids can be as high as many tens of atmospheres; it is this pressure that is responsible for initiation of the delivery of phage genomes to host cells. The forces driving ejection of the genome have been shown to decrease monotonically as ejection proceeds, and hence to be strongly dependent on the genome length. Here we investigate the
In order to create a heme environment that permits biomimicry of heme-containing peroxidases, a number of new hemin–peptide complexes—hemin-2(18)-glycyl-l-histidine methyl ester (HGH), hemin-2(18)-glycyl-glycyl-l-histidine methyl ester (HGGH), and hemin-2,18-bis(glycyl-glycyl-l-histidine methyl ester) (H2GGH)—have been prepared by condensation of glycyl-l-histidine methyl ester or glycyl-glycyl-l-
Many common neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, stroke and multiple sclerosis, are caused by a loss of neurons and glial cells. In recent years, neurons and glia have been generated successfully from stem cells in culture, fuelling efforts to develop stem-cell-based transplantation therapies for human patients. More recently, efforts have been extended to stimulating the formation
C4b-binding protein (C4BP) is a regulator of the classical complement pathway C3 convertase (C4bC2a complex). It is a disulfide-linked polymer of seven alpha-chains and a unique beta-chain; the alpha- and beta-chains are composed of eight and three complement control protein (CCP) domains, respectively. To elucidate the importance of the polymeric nature of C4BP and the structural requirements for
The solid-state phase behaviour of lyophilised n-dodecyl-beta-D-glucoside (beta-C(12)G(1)), n-dodecyl-beta-D-maltoside (beta-C(12)G(2)) and n-dodecyl-beta-D-maltotrioside (beta-C(12)G(3)) has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray techniques. For beta-C(12)G(1), lyophilisation results in a formation of a crystalline anhydrate. The lamellar spacing (37 angstrom) is c
