Background. Independent risk factors for death in patients waiting for elective coronary artery bypass surgery have previously been identified. A prioritization where these factors are considered may potentially reduce waiting list mortality. A simple score based on the risk factors was constructed and validated. Methods. A scoring system based on risk factors in 5,864 consecutive patients operate

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

Infertility is an increasing problem all over the world, and it has been estimated that 10 - 15% of couples in fertile age have fertility problems. Likewise induced unsafe abortion is a serious threat to women's health. Despite advances made in assisted reproduction techniques, little progress has been made in increasing the success rate during fertility treatment. This document describes a wide r

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is an autoimmune disorder in which genetics and environmental factors play a role. Among the environmental factors, viruses (especially Coxsackie virus B [CBV]), and among genetic markers, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DRB1*04-DQA1*0301-DQB1*0302 (DR4-DQ8) and DRB1*03-DQA1*0501-DQB1*0201 (DR3-DQ2), and major histocompatibility complex class I chain-related gene-A (M

The recent development of rapid single sand-sized grain analyses in luminescence dating has necessitated the accurate interpretation of D-e distributions to recover a representative D-e acquired since the last bleaching event. Beta heterogeneity may adversely affect the variance and symmetry of D-e distributions and it is important to characterise this effect, both to ensure that dose distribution

A total of 123 balanced rearrangements, including 26 occurring as a sole anomaly, not known to be recurrent in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or acute myelold leukemia (AML) prior to the Workshop, were ascertained retrospectively from 104 patients with treatment-related MDS/AML (t-MDS/t-AML). Thirteen of the aberrations were reported previously in single cases and hence may be classified as recur

The influence of the solvent on the morphology and performance of polymer solar cells is investigated ill devices based on blends of the polyfluorene copolymer, poly(2,7-(9,9-dioctyl-fluorene)-alt-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3'-ben zothiadiazole)), and [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester. The blends are spin-coated from chloroform or from chloroform mixed with small amounts of xylene, to

Previous research has been inconclusive as regards the effect of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic investments. In this article, we show that this inconclusiveness can be explained at a disaggregated level as a function of the way industries are organized. Based on a simple theoretical framework including monitoring and trade costs, we argue that a complementary relationship can

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.

Triacylglycerol (TAG) is known to be synthesized in a reaction that uses acyl-CoA as acyl donor and diacylglycerol (DAG) as acceptor, and which is catalyzed by the enzyme acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase. We have found that some plants and yeast also have an acyl-CoA-independent mechanism for TAG synthesis, which uses phospholipids as acyl donors and DAG as acceptor. This reaction is cataly

The interaction between the nonionic polymer poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) of molecular weight 20 000 and surfactants of various types [sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide, octyl beta-D-glucoside, and potassium laurate] has been investigated in an aqueous solution at 25 degreesC by H-1 NMR pulsed-gradient spin-echo self-diffusion techniques. The SDS/PEO study was further c

The protein C system provides important control of blood coagulation by regulating the activities of factor VIIIa (FVIIIa) and factor Va(FVa), cofactors in the activation of factor X and prothrombin, respectively. The system comprises membrane-bound and circulating proteins that assemble into multi-molecular complexes on cell surfaces. Vitamin K-dependent protein C, the key component of the system

Objective. To evaluate if magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is superior to conventional radiography for detection of erosions in the fifth metatarsophalangeal (MTP5) joint. Methods. Within one year from the onset of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (baseline), one and three years thereafter MRI and conventional radiographs of the MTP5 joint were performed in 23 patients. Results. MRI revealed erosions in

We use a linear autoregressive model to describe the movement of a soil-living insect, Protaphorura armata (Collembola). Models of this kind can be viewed as extensions of a random walk, but unlike a correlated random walk, in which the speed and turning angles are independent, our model identifies and expresses the correlations between the turning angles and a variable speed. Our model uses data

To examine a putative role for neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in early vertebrate development we investigated nNOS mRNA expression and cGMP production during development of the zebrafish Danio rerio. The nNOS mRNA expression in the central nervous system (CNS) and periphery showed a distinct spatio-temporal pattern in developing zebrafish embryo and young larvae. nNOS mRNA expression was fi

The maximum concentration of water-insoluble solids (WIS) in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) is restricted due to inhibition of the enzymes and the yeast, as well as mass transport problems caused by the viscosity of the pretreated material. However, the higher the concentration of WIS during SSF the less energy is needed in the subsequent distillation and evaporation steps. I