Autoantibodies to complement factor H (FH) are associated with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome, but can also be detected in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and in patients positive for lupus anticoagulants and thus potentially antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). To our knowledge, no data are available on the association between the presence of FH autoantibodies in APS and clinical manifestation

Calmodulin is a two-domain signaling protein that becomes activated upon binding cooperatively two pairs of calcium ions, leading to large-scale conformational changes that expose its binding site. Despite significant advances in understanding the structural biology of calmodulin functions, the mechanistic details of the conformational transition between closed and open states have remained unclea

Just as the wireless communication technology develops further to achieve higher performance, new application areas emerge to challenge its limits. Vehicular ad hoc networks are one of these areas; and emergency situation warning is one of their most popular potential applications since traffic safety is a real concern for everyone. Due to the life-critical nature of emergency applications, howeve

The paper develops an analytical framework for understanding the role of social media in the 2011 North African uprisings. It argues that analysis of the role of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media tools should be broken down into two distinct phases: a pre-mobilisation phase and a collective action phase. Using frame analysis and the notion of connective action, the paper demonstrates that

Gasoline vehicles have elevated emissions of volatile organic compounds during coldstarts and idling and have recently been pointed out as potentially the main sourceof anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA) in megacities. However, there is5 a lack of laboratory studies to systematically investigate SOA formation in real-worldexhaust. In this study, SOA formation from pure aromatic precurso

Controlling the interfacial behavior and properties of lipid liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LCNPs) at surfaces is essential for their application for preparing functional surface coatings as well as understanding some aspects of their properties as drug delivery vehicles. Here we have studied a LCNP system formed by mixing soy phosphatidylcholine (SPC), forming liquid crystalline lamellar Struc

Small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) is extremely aggressive and frequently metastasizes widely in its early stage. Because tumor hypoxia is related to aggressive tumor behavior and the hypoxic adaptation of SCLC is poorly documented, we stained SCLC tumors arranged in a tissue microarray for hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and HIF-2α proteins. We found an overall lack of HIF-2α protein expression,

Abstract in UndeterminedDuring the last 20 years Lao People's Democratic Republic has successfully developed and adopted some 30 health policies, strategies, decrees and laws in the field of health. Still, the implementation process remains arduous. This article aims at discussing challenges of health policy development and effective implementation by contextualizing the policy evolution over time

Fuel cells are hopeful for future energy systems, because they are energy efficient and able to use renewable fuels. A coupled computational fluid dynamics approach based on the finite element method, in three-dimensions, is used to illustrate a planar intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell. Governing equations for momentum, gas-phase species, heat, electron and ion transport are implement

There is an ongoing debate about the value of virtual friendship. In contrast to previous authorships, this paper argues that virtual friendship can have independent value. It is argued that within an Aristotelian framework, some friendships that are prehaps impossible offline can exist online, i.e. some offline unequals can be online equals and thus form friendships of independent value.

Three series of fully aromatic ionomers with naphthalene moieties and pendant sulfobenzoyl side chains were prepared via K2CO3 mediated nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions. The first series consisted of poly(arylene ether)s prepared by polycondensations of 2,6-difluoro-2'-sulfobenzophenone (DFSBP) and 2,6-dihydroxynaphthalene or 2,7-dihydroxynaphthalene (2,7-DHN). In the second series, co

Dissociative double-photoionization of butadiene in the 25-45 eV energy range has been studied with tunable synchrotron radiation using full three-dimensional ion momentum imaging. Using ab initio calculations, the electronic states of the molecular dication below 33 eV are identified. The results of the measurement and calculation show that double ionization from π orbitals selectively triggers t

PPARGC1A and PPARGCB encode transcriptional coactivators that regulate numerous metabolic processes. We tested associations and treatment (i.e. metformin or lifestyle modification) interactions with metabolic traits in the Diabetes Prevention Program, a randomised controlled trial in persons at high risk of type 2 diabetes.

The aims of this study were to investigate the association between smoking and incident type 2 diabetes, accounting for a large number of potential confounding factors, and to explore potential effect modifiers and intermediate factors.

Mimetic schemas, unlike the popular cognitive linguistic notion of image schemas, have been characterized in earlier work as explicitly representational, bodily sturctures arising from imitation of culture-specific practical actions (Zlatev 2005, 2007a, 2007b). We performed an analysis of the gestures of three Swedish and three Thai children at the age of 18, 22 and 26 months, in episodes of natur

Objectives: To assess the effects of smoking on disease outcome in a large cohort of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: Between 1996 and 2004, 1787 adult patients (disease duration 5.1, p = 0.005). Significantly fewer current smokers were in remission at 12 months (33%) compared to never smokers (36%) and previous smokers (42%) (p = 0.013). Current smoking at inclusion indepe

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can be divided into prognostic subgroups based on the IGHV gene mutational status, and is further characterized by multiple subsets of cases with quasi-identical or stereotyped B cell receptors that also share clinical and biological features. We recently reported differential DNA methylation profiles in IGHV-mutated and IGHV-unmutated CLL subgroups. For the firs