Background: Data regarding the association between lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA(2)) level and incidence of cardiovascular (CV) events are conflicting. This prospective urban population-based study explored the relationship between baseline Lp-PLA(2) activity and mass, respectively, levels and incidence of first coronary heart disease (CHD) and ischemic stroke, respectively. Meth

The F-FCSR stream cipher family has been presented a few years ago. Apart from some flaws in the initial propositions, corrected in a later stage, there are no known weaknesses of the core of these algorithms. The hardware oriented version, called FCSR-H, is one of the ciphers selected for the eSTREAM portfolio. In this paper we present a new and severe cryptanalytic attack on the F-FCSR stream

Four collections of Gal1-4Gal derivatives were synthesised and evaluated as inhibitors of the PapG class II adhesin of uropathogenic Escherichia coli and of the PN and PO adhesins of Streptococcus suis strains. Galabiosides carrying aromatic structures at C1, methoxyphenyl O-galabiosides in particular, were identified as potent inhibitors of the PapG adhesin. Phenylurea derivatisation at C3 and me

Coastal groundwater aquifers are often exposed to heavy pumping and consequently to risks of saltwater intrusion. In many cases, however, the observed increase in groundwater salinity can only be partly explained by actual saltwater intrusion from the sea. Other salinity-increasing processes may also significantly contribute to the total salt content of the groundwater. This paper describes a geoc

Digital feedback suppression (DFS) enables users of hearing instruments (HI) to benefit from amplification levels that normally would provoke whistling or poor sound quality. A standardized test for the measurement of DFS benefit is not available. This paper proposes and evaluates an objective method for assessment of extra feedback-free amplification (headroom) provided by a given DFS. It is show

OBJECTIVE To investigate the mechanisms involved in the phasic contractile activity after muscarinic receptor activation of newborn urinary bladders and to compare neonatal and adult bladders. MATERIALS AND METHODS Detrusor muscle strips were isolated from newborn mice (aged 0-2 days) and compared with preparations from adult mice (aged 10-12 weeks). The effects of an activator (phorbol 12,13-dibu

The effects of thalidomide on in vitro interleukin 2 (IL-2) production and thymidine uptake by human peripheral blood lymphocytes or rat splenocytes were investigated. Phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated human lymphocytes were incubated in the presence of thalidomide added at culture initiation. No immunosuppressive effect of thalidomide was observed in these experiments. Primary human mixed lymphocyte

The purpose of this paper is to explore and describe the costs and process of implementing RFID technology to manage and control the rotation of returnable transport items. Due to the novelty of using RFID in logistics and supply chain management, in-depth case studies were conducted at two global firms in the retail industry to investigate how and why organisations implement and assess RFID techn

Metabolic flux analysis indicated that the heterofermentative Lactobacillus reuteri strain ATCC 55730 uses both the Embden-Meyerhof pathway (EMP) and phosphoketolase pathway (PKP) when glucose or sucrose is converted into the three-carbon intermediate stage of glycolysis. In all cases studied, the main flux is through the PKP, while the EMP is used as a shunt. In the exponential growth phase, 70%,

Prevention of obesity should have the highest priority and be started as early in life as possible in high-risk families. This article covers the most promising areas of today's research aimed at finding better ways of treating obesity in the future and an overview of the treatment choices available today. The cause of obesity is genetic in approximately 40-50 percent of adults and probably to a h

We demonstrate that the a. chain of human C4b binding protein (C4BP) binds directly to CD40 on human B cells at a site that differs from that used by CD40 ligand. C4BP induces proliferation, upregulation of CD54 and CD86 expression, and IL4-dependent IgE isotype switching in normal B cells but not in B cells from patients with CD40 or IKKgamma/NEMO deficiencies. Furthermore, C4BP colocalized with

Some insulin-dependent diabetic (IDDM) patients develop severe forms of retinopathy. Putative risk factors such as hypertension, poor metabolic control, nephropathy and growth hormone levels do not fully explain the progress of retinopathy in these patients. It has been discussed whether there is a genetic marker, since some diabetic patients without any known predisposing risk factors develop sev

More aggressive therapy including cytotoxic drugs is increasingly used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and may confer increased susceptibility to infections. Septic arthritis is one infectious complication known to be overrepresented in RA. We studied the impact of disease severity and medication in a group of nine RA patients with proven septic arthritis, excluding those occurring

Two ways of mounting distinguishing attacks on two similar stream ciphers, SOBER-t16 and SOBER-t32, are proposed.. It results in distinguishing attacks faster than exhaustive key search on full SOBER-t16 and on SOBER-t32 without stuttering.