Lumbar arteries are important because they are the main source of blood supply to the lumbar spine structures. However, these vessels and their flow characteristics have received little attention and their role in conditions such as low back pain remains unclear. The present study 1. describes the application of duplex ultrasonography in the assessment of lumbar artery blood flow and 2. evaluates

Ag/alumina catalysts with different silver contents for octane-SCR were prepared by impregnation and incipient wetness methods. Activity tests revealed that the decisive factor for high activity is not only a high dispersion of silver, but also the ability of the system to redisperse clustered silver. Determination of dispersion by TEM/HAADF and O-2-chemisorption experiments resulted in values clo

Purpose: Promoter hypermethylation of, for example, tumor-sup pressor genes, is considered to be an important step in cancerogenesis and a negative risk factor for survival in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); however, its role for response to therapy has not been determined. This study was designed to assess the effect of methylation status on the outcome of conventional induction ch

Poly(styrene-b-vinylphosphonic acid) diblock copolymers have been prepared via sequential anionic polymerization and evaluated as nanostructured polymer electrolytes. The ionic block copolymers were synthesized by first initiating the polymerization of styrene using n-butyllithium in tetrahydrofuran at −78 °C. 1,1-Diphenylethylene was then added to the living polystyryl anions before charging diet

PURPOSE: To assess the visual results, retinal detachment (RD) rate, incidence of glaucoma, and intraocular lens (IOL) placement after vitrectomy for removal of retained lens fragments in the vitreous after phacoemulsification. SETTING: Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital of Lund, Lund, Sweden. METHODS: This retrospective noncomparative interventional case series included all cases of

We find effective, or homogenized, material parameters for Maxwell's equations when the microscopic scale becomes small compared to the scale induced by the frequencies of the imposed currents. After defining a singular value decomposition of the non-self-adjoint partial differential operator, we expand the electromagnetic field in the modes corresponding to the singular values and show that only

Different simple methods for evaluating the diffusivity from a sorption measurement are presented and tested when there is a surface resistance (a limited mass transfer coefficient), a non-perfect step in relative humidity or non-Fickian effects. It is concluded that the different methods have different qualities and it is impossible to give a general recommendation on which method to use. The bes

Transmembrane receptors with intrinsic serine/threonine or tyrosine kinase domains regulate vital functions of cells in multicellular eukaryotes, e.g., differentiation, apoptosis, and proliferation. Here, we show that bone rnorphogenetic protein type II receptor (BMPR-II)which has a serine/threonine kinase domain, and stem cell factor receptor (c-kit) which contains a tyrosine kinase domain form a

The moisture-induced warping of three-layered cross-laminated solid wood panels made of Norway spruce was studied. The panels were exposed to different climate conditions at 65% and 100% relative humidity at the two panel faces. The results showed increasing cup deformation with an increasing relative thickness of the outer layers. The annual growth ring orientation was found to have a significant

BACKGROUND: Endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) up-regulates inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in blood vessels during septic shock. This promotes the production of nitric oxide (NO), leading to dilation of the vessels. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of the LPS-binding endogenous antibiotic bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) on the action of LPS on the blo

The laterally and mutually constrained inversion (LCI and MCI) techniques allow for the combined inversion of multiple geophysical datasets and provide a sensitivity analysis of all model parameters. The LCI and MCI work with few-layered models, and are restricted to quasi-layered geological environments. LCI is used successfully for inversion of surface wave (SW) seismic data and MCI for combined

This study presents an analysis of how the media reported the 2007 elections in Turkey. Past research on election campaign media coverage, particularly newspapers, suggests that the media can play an important role in informing voters. However, much of the research on campaign media coverage has focused on Western democracies with little attention paid to how features of the media system such as p

We have evaluated if any differences in tumor radiosensitization exist between the two adenosine diphosphate ribosyl transferase (ADPRT) inhibitors nicotinamide and benzamide at fractionated low doses. A significant radiosensitizing effect with nicotinamide at a 10 mg/kg per day dose was found in the tumor model used. We found, however, no radiosensitizing effect with benzamide given according to

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of oral desmopressin in the treatment of nocturia in men. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Men aged >/=18 years with verified nocturia (>or=two voids/night) and nocturnal urine production greater than their maximum functional bladder capacity were recruited. A 3-week dose-titration phase established the optimum desmopressin dose (0.1, 0.2 or 0.4 mg). After a

We show that collisions with stellar-mass black holes can partially explain the absence of bright giant stars in the Galactic Centre, first noted by Genzel et al. We show that the missing objects are low-mass giants and asymptotic giant branch stars in the range 1-3 M-circle dot. Using detailed stellar evolution calculations, we find that to prevent these objects from evolving to become visible in

We present a new density functional theory of ideal polymer fluids, assuming nearest-neighbor bonding constraints. The free energy functional is expressed in terms of end site densities of chain segments and thus has a simpler mathematical structure than previously used expressions using multipoint distributions. This work is based on a formalism proposed by Tripathi and Chapman [Phys. Rev. Lett.

A dominant notion that homosexuality and heterosexuality give meaning to bisexuality already exists. But no one has explored the meaning that bisexuality might accrue with regard to monosexuality. Because bisexuals were never fully recognized within queer theory, the homosexual-heterosexual binary opposition continues to be the primary understanding of difference. Further, within queer theory, the