The underwater secret to Mallorca's famous beaches, and how the OPERAs project is helping protect them.

This paper introduces an integrated approach for evacuation assessment of nuclear physics research facilities exposed to fire risk. The approach combines the use of a simplified egress modelling method and advanced agent-based simulations of evacuation. An integrated multi-model approach is proposed here given the varying level of complexity concerning evacuation safety in underground physics faci

Background: Coffee consumption has been shown to be associated with various health outcomes in observational studies. However, evidence for its association with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is inconsistent and it is unclear whether these associations are causal.Methods: We used single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with (i) coffee and (ii) caffeine consumption to perform Mendelian randomiz

Background and purpose. Sensorimotor stroke (SMS) is often included among the lacunar syndromes, although the underlying cause of this stroke-subtype is less well documented. To this end we analysed 32 patients presenting with a sensorimotor syndrome. Methods. The study protocol included vascular risk factors, echocardiography, Doppler sonography of carotid arteries, CT scan and MRI of the brain.

This paper introduces a special issue of The History of the Family on sanitation and urban mortality. The special issue contains papers which focus on the impact of sanitary reforms on mortality change in Australia, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden, and England and Wales. The current paper outlines the main features of the debate over the causes of mortality change and the role played by sanitary refo

Glucokinase plays an important role in the regulation of insulin secretion and is therefore an attractive candidate gene for both insulin dependent (IDDM) and non-insulin-dependent (NIDDM) diabetes mellitus. A single G-A nucleotide polymorphism at the -30 position of the beta-cell specific promoter region of the glucokinase gene was previously associated with reduced beta-cell function. In the pre

The association between HLA-DQ haplotypes and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) was studied in 48 children from 44 families ascertained from the high incidence area around Umea, Sweden. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed to explain associations between HLA and IDDM, but comparisons of statistical models based on these hypotheses have not been attempted. The aim of the present study wa

Glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) enzymes catalyse the formation of gamma-aminobuturic acid (GABA), which is a major transmittor in the central nervous system but also exerts functions in peripheral organs. Recent molecular analyses have revealed surprising new roles for the GAD isoforms in human diseases of autoimmune character including neurological disorders and insulin-dependent diabetes. In t

The Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) started operation in January 2016 in the context of severe criticism from the U.S. government and transnational civil society organizations, but with the support from major Asian and European states. The establishment of this new global governance institution (GGI) raises intriguing questions concerning legitimacy and (de)legitimation. Wh

Structure-borne vibration and low-frequency re-radiated noise from internal and external sources cause annoyance for inhabitants in dwellings. A key parameter in the prediction of vibration and noise levels is the modal parameters of the floors in a building, since vibration and sound levels increase when natural frequencies of the floor coincide with the excitation frequencies of a source, e.g. m

BACKGROUND: Up to a third of prostate cancer patients fail curative treatment strategies such as surgery and radiation therapy in the form of biochemical recurrence (BCR) which can be predictive of poor outcome. Recent clinical trials have shown that men experiencing BCR might benefit from earlier intervention post-radical prostatectomy (RP). Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify earlier

In this study, six approaches were used to characterize hydrological changes in the Čepkeliai wetland complex (southeast Lithuania), namely (i) local water-table measurements (WTM), (ii) testate amoebae analysis, (iii) tree-ring width (TRW) series, (iv) peat stratigraphic data, (v) (hydro-) meteorological data (precipitation and river runoff), and (vi) a diachronic analysis of aerial photographs a