Rigorous and widely applicable indicators of biodiversity are needed to monitor the responses of ecosystems to global change and design effective conservation schemes. Among the potential indicators of biodiversity, those based on the functional traits of species and communities are interesting because they can be generalized to similar habitats and can be assessed by relatively rapid field assess

Neuroinflammation may be involved in the pathophysiology of Parkinson's disease (PD) and specifically in non-motor symptoms such as depression, fatigue and cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to measure inflammatory markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from PD patients and a reference group, and to investigate correlations between non-motor symptoms and inflammation. We quantif

The Montreal Protocol is working, but it will take several decades for ozone to return to 1980 levels. The atmospheric concentrations of ozone depleting substances are decreasing, and ozone column amounts are no longer decreasing. Mid-latitude ozone is expected to return to 1980 levels before mid-century, slightly earlier than predicted previously. However, the recovery rate will be slower at high

In targeted radionuclide radiotherapy, the relationship between bone marrow (BM) toxicity and absorbed dose seems to be elusive. A compartmental model of mouse thrombopoiesis and erythropoiesis was set up to predict the depletion of hematopoietic cells as a function of the irradiation dose delivered to BM by injected radiopharmaceuticals. All simulated kinetics were compared with experimental toxi

Range shifts can rapidly create new areas of geographic overlap between formerly allopatric taxa and evidence is accumulating that this can affect species persistence. We review the emerging literature on the short- and long-term consequences of these geographic range shifts. Specifically, we focus on the evolutionary consequences of novel species interactions in newly created sympatric areas by d

Recently, a so-called 'crown-jewel' concept of preparation of Au/Pd-based colloidal nanoclusters has been reported [Zhang, Watanabe, Okumura, Haruta & Toshima (2011). Nat. Mater. 11, 49-52]. Here, a different way of preparing highly active Au/Pd-based nanoclusters is presented. The origin of the increased activity of Au/Pd-based colloidal bimetallic nanoclusters was unclear up to now. However,

Aim: Assess association between UGT2B7 polymorphism -900G>A (rs7438135, also known as -842G>A) with morphine kinetics in preterm newborns undergoing mechanical ventilation. Materials & methods: Thirty-four infants were enrolled in a randomized clinical trial and allocated to rapid sequence intubation with remifentanil (1 mu g/kg) or morphine (0.3 mg/kg). The latter group was included in our st

The first reported twisted bis-lactam, a racemic Tröger's base (TB) analogue (2), was resolved into its enantiomers on a chiral stationary phase HPLC column. The absolute configuration of (+)-2 was determined to be (R,R)-2 by comparing experimental and calculated vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra. The absolute configuration of (-)-2 was determined

Entrained flow gasification is a promising technique where biomass is converted to a synthesis gas (syngas) under fuel-rich conditions. In contrast to combustion, where the fuel is converted to heat, CO2, and H2O, the syngas from gasification is rich in energetic gases such as CO and H-2. These compounds (CO and H-2) represent the building blocks for further catalytic synthesis to chemicals or bio

Abstract in Undetermined We consider limit sets of conformal iterated function systems, and introduce classes of subsets of these limit sets, with the property that the classes are closed under countable intersections and that all sets in the classes have a large Hausdorff dimension. Using these classes we determine the Hausdorff dimension and large intersection properties of some sets occurring i

After apartheid, South Africa has stepped up to the challenge of reforming an inequitable water service delivery system to meet the needs of all citizens. We frame this systematic societal change as a transition in water governance. We argue that when evaluating this pathway of transition, we should not only look at the changes in water legislation and number with improved access, but also analyze

The efficacy of bendamustine versus chlorambucil in a phase III trial of previously untreated patients with Binet stage B/C chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) was re-evaluated after a median observation time of 54months in May 2010. Overall survival (OS) was analysed for the first time. At follow-up, investigator-assessed complete response (CR) rate (21.0% vs 10.8%), median progression-free survi

This longitudinal ERP study investigated changes in children’s ability to map novel words to novel objects during the dynamic period of vocabulary growth between 20 and 24 months. During this four-month period the children on average tripled their productive vocabulary, an increase which was coupled with changes in the N400 effect to pseudoword-referent associations. Moreover, productive vocabular

The prevalence of cardiometabolic multimorbidity is increasing.

Solutions of the amines N-methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) and piperazine (PZ) are commonly used for CO2 removal in industrial applications. This is mainly due to the low heat of reaction of MDEA, reducing the heat required for regeneration, and the high reaction rate of PZ, which reduces the size of the absorption tower. However, the effect of PZ on the heat of absorption in a mixture of these two sol

OBJECTIVE: To establish the diagnostic sensitivity of and the relationships between autoantibodies to all three Zinc transporter 8 (Zinc transporter 8 autoantibody to either one, two, or all three amino acid variants at position 325, ZnT8A) variants to human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DQ and to autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (GADA), insulinoma-associated protein 2 (IA-2A), and insulin

Modulation photoreflectance spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy have been applied to study the electronic- and band-structure evolution in (Ga,Mn)As epitaxial layers with increasing Mn doping in the range of low Mn content, up to 1.2%. Structural and magnetic properties of the layers were characterized with high-resolution X-ray diffractometry and SQUID magnetometery,respectively. The revealed res

Little is known about the association between the metabolic syndrome (MetS) and the risk of gastric adenocarcinoma. The aim of this study was to investigate whether metabolic risk factors, together or combined, were associated with the risk of gastric adenocarcinoma. The Metabolic Syndrome and Cancer Project (Me-Can) is a pooling of prospective cohorts in Austria, Norway, and Sweden with informati

Food high in energy but low in nutritional value is an important contributor to several serious illnesses, and one type of food that is particularly high in energy but low in nutrition is food consumed away from home. In this paper, we examine the demand and willingness to pay for healthy, Keyhole-labelled meals. A Keyhole-labelled meal is particularly low in energy, fat, sugar and salt, but parti