Somatic stem cells mediate tissue maintenance for the lifetime of an organism. Despite the well-established longevity that is a prerequisite for such function, accumulating data argue for compromised stem cell function with age. Identifying the mechanisms underlying age-dependent stem cell dysfunction is therefore key to understanding the aging process. Here, using a model carrying a proofreading-

BACKGROUND: Guidelines recommend mild induced hypothermia (MIH) to reduce mortality and neurological impairment after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Our objective was to systematically evaluate the evidence for MIH taking into consideration the risks of systematic and random error and to GRADE the evidence. METHODS: Systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomised

A new isotope shift program, part of the multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock (MCHF) atomic structure package, has been written and tested. The program calculates the isotope shift of an atomic level from MCHF or configuration-interaction (CI) wave functions. The program is specially designed to be used with very large CI expansions, for which angular data cannot be stored on disk. To explore the capac

OBJECTIVES This study describes changes in high-frequency QRS components (HF-QRS) during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and compares the ability of these changes in HF-QRS and ST-segment deviation in the standard 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) to detect acute coronary artery occlusion. BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown decreased HF-QRS in the frequency range of 150–

The stem cell factor receptor/c-Kit plays an important physiological role in hematopoesis, melanogenesis and gametogenesis. It has also been implicated in numerous human malignancies. Signal transduction pathways shown to be of importance for c-Kit mediated transformation include the PI3-kinase/Akt pathway. We have previously shown that two alternative splice forms of c-Kit, denoted GNNK- and GNNK

The ns photodissociation of perfluoroethyliodide C2F5I at 266 nm has been studied by using the resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) technique. Recoil anisotropy parameters as well as average translational energy of the I atoms in the fine structure states P-2(1/2) and P-2(3/2) have been determined. The main contribution (99%) to the absorption at 266 nm was found to be caused by a parallel transi

Purpose: To evaluate patients with central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) and neovascular glaucoma (NVG) using electrophysiology in order to gain better understanding of visual outcome and risk factors, such as previously diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Methods: Eighty-three patients (83 eyes) initially presenting with CRVO and examined with full-field electroretinography (ERG) within

Purpose: To investigate initial learning curves on a virtual reality (VR) eye surgery simulator and whether achieved skills are transferable between tasks. Methods: Thirty-five medical students were randomized to complete ten iterations on either the VR Caspulorhexis module (group A) or the Cataract navigation training module (group B) and then two iterations on the other module. Learning curves w

Limitations in everyday movements, physical activities are/or pain are the main reasons for seeking help from a physiotherapist. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Body Awareness Scale Movement Quality (BAS MQ) focusing on factor structure, validity and reliability and to explore whether BAS MQ could discriminate between healthy individuals and patients

Exploring the semantic encoding of a group of crosslinguistically uncommon "spatial-coordinate demonstratives", this work establishes the existence of demonstratives whose function is to project angular search domains, thus invoking proper coordinate systems (or "frames of reference"). What is special about these distinctions is that they rely on a spatial asymmetry in relativizing a demonstrative

Platelet-derived growth factors (PDGF) constitute a family of four gene products (PDGF-A-D) acting by means of two receptor tyrosine kinases, PDGFR alpha and beta. Three of the ligands (PDGF-A, -B, and -C) bind to PDGFR alpha with high affinity. Knockout of pdgf-a in mice has demonstrated a role for PDGF-A in the recruitment of smooth muscle cells to the alveolar sacs and their further compartment

Background/Aims: Two differently charged polypeptides, poly-L-lysine (PL) and poly-L-glutamate (PG), have previously been shown to reduce postoperative intra-abdominal adhesions. This study aims to investigate the possible toxic effects and to establish a lowest effective antiadhesive dose. Methods: 152 mice were investigated with a well-known adhesion model and given different concentrations of t

Sclerosing injections under ultrasonographic guidance is a new method of treatment for persistent pain in Achilles tendinosis. Good results, even superior to those of surgery, have been described. We report the outcome of 25 patients with midportion tendinosis receiving sclerosing treatment. Twenty-eight consecutive patients (29 tendons) with ultrasonographical findings of midportion tendinosis ex

The c-kit-encoded tyrosine kinase receptor for stem cell factor (Kit/SCFR) is crucial for the development of hematopoietic cells, melanoblasts, and germ cells. Ligand stimulation of Kit/SCFR leads to receptor dimerization and autophosphorylation on tyrosine residues. We recently showed, that protein kinase C (PKC) acts in an SCF-stimulated negative feedback loop, which controls Kit/SCFR tyrosine k

The idea to use transplants of dopamine-producing cells to substitute for the lost midbrain dopamine neurons in Parkinson's disease (PD) goes back to the 1970s. In this review we give an overview of the history of cell transplantation in animal models of PD, and summarize the experience gained from the open-label and placebo-controlled clinical trials performed so far using intrastriatal transplan

The contribution of hereditary factors for development of childhood tumors is limited to some few known syndromes associated with predominance of tumors in childhood. Occurrence of childhood tumors in hereditary cancer syndromes such as BRCA1/2 associated breast and ovarian cancer, DNA-mismatch repair (MMR) genes associated hereditary non polyposis colorectal cancer and CDKN2A associated familial