Context: Both leukocyte telomere length and IGF-I are associated with the aging process. A previous in vitro study suggested that IGF-I may modulate telomerase activity in white blood cells, but little is known whether these two systems interact in vivo. Patients and Methods: Leukocyte telomere length was determined using a quantitative PCR assay in 2744 elderly men (mean age 75.5 yr, range 69-81

The aim of the article is to analyse what function quotations have in narrative sequences, argumentative sequences and in conversation. Three aspects of quotations are considered: quotations as constructions, quotation as voices, and quotations as a means of positioning. Examples from Czech and Swedish data illustrate how conversationalists use quotations when they define their own identity and wh

Dialysis patients often suffer from cardiovascular dis- eases, motivating the use of continuous monitoring of car- diac activity in clinical routine. Cardiac pressure pulses propagate through the vascular system and enter the ex- tracorporeal blood circuit of a dialysis machine, where the pulses are captured by pressure sensors. The cardiac pulses are obscured by the much stronger pressure pulses

The F344 rat carries alleles contributing to bone fragility while the GK rat spontaneously develops type-2 diabetes. These characteristics make F344xGK crosses well suited for the identification of genes related to bone size and allow for future investigation on the association with type-2 diabetes. The aim of this study was to identify quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for bone size phenotypes measu

Stroke is the third most common cause of death in developed countries, exceeded only by coronary heart disease and cancer. There is substantial scientific literature on the association between occupational exposures and coronary heart disease, but much less is known about stroke. This systematic critical review was performed to assess the strength of evidence for causal associations between chemic

No study has investigated the predictive validity and cut-off scores in diagnostic tests for falls used in in-home assessment in frail older people. The objective was to investigate the predictive validity for falls in the Downton Fall Risk Index (DFRI), Timed Up and Go (TUG) and Romberg test (RT) used in in-home assessment of frail older people (65+ years). Data on the diagnostic tests were colle

Particle filter methods constitute a class of iterative genetic-type algorithms which provide powerful tools for obtaining approximate solutions to non-linear and/or non-Gaussian filtering problems. The aim of this paper is to, using standard tools from probability theory, study the bias of Monte Carlo integration estimates obtained by the bootstrap particle filter. A bound on this bias, which is

Androgen receptor (AR) is expressed in all stages of prostate cancer progression, including in castration-resistant tumors. Eliminating AR function continues to represent a focus of therapeutic investigation, but AR regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. To systematically characterize mechanisms involving microRNAs (miRNAs), we conducted a gain-of function screen of 1129 miRNA molecules i

Over the past few years, information technology has changed the way we live, work, and communicate with each other. The two outstanding trends of Internet and cellular telephony growth will now enter a new phase when the two technologies converge into 2.5 and 3G networks. The success of cellular telephony is due to the mobility factor, and the success of the Internet is due to its architecture, wh

Recurrent spontaneous abortion (RSA), three or more pregnancy losses prior to 20 weeks, occurs in about 1% of all pregnancies, 50% of RSA cases remain unexplained and unresolved. Recently, immune pathways have been implicated in the pathophysiology of RSA. Immune tolerance of the fetal-placental unit and placental angiogenesis are mandatory for a successful pregnancy outcome. Unscheduled dysregula

Mutations in the gene encoding Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) result in X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), an immunodeficiency of antibody defect. By using base excision sequence scanning method (BESS) followed by direct sequencing we found in seven unrelated families with a classical XLA phenotype various mutations including six novel mutations (g.64512_64513insC, c.108_109insG, c.1700_1701insACTAC

A diffusion model of noninvasive absorption spectroscopy was used to determine how the change in signal resulting from a point absorber depends on the position of that absorber relative to the source and detector. This is equivalent to calculating the relative probability that a photon will visit a certain location in tissue before its detection. Experimental mapping of the point-target response i