High-latitude peatlands contain about one third of the world's soil organic carbon, most of which is derived from partly decomposed Sphagnum (peat moss) plants. We conducted a meta-analysis based on a global data set of Sphagnum growth measurements collected from published literature to investigate the effects of bioclimatic variables on Sphagnum growth. Analysis of variance and general linear mod

Poor nutritional status is widespread among the elderly and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to longitudinally describe the nutritional status in elderly people living in nursing homes. Nutritional status was recorded longitudinally in elderly people living in 11 different nursing homes in Sweden. Participants were examined at baseline by specially tr

Achieving efficient electrochemical communication between redox enzymes and various electrode materials is one of the main challenges in bioelectrochemistry and is of great importance for developing electronic applications. Cellobiose dehydrogenase (CDH) is an extracellular flavocytochrome composed of a catalytic FAD containing dehydrogenase domain (DH(CDH)), a heme b containing cytochrome domain

This paper investigates iconicity as a possible driving force behind the rebuilding of deictic systems and forms in individual languages. A comparison of a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European deictic system (based mainly on Beekes, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics: An Introduction, 1995) compared with the systems of attested Indo-European languages makes it clear that both systems and forms hav

This paper develops a welfare theoretic foundation for cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) when survival is not affected. With this foundation, all costs and their corresponding utility-terms should be included. A key question, though, is whether these utility-terms are consistent with quality-adjusted life year (QALY) (utility) theory or not. The results show that health care costs and changes in t

The fast development of new organic sensitizers leads to the need for a better understanding of the complexity and significance of their adsorption processes on TiO2 surfaces. We have investigated a prototype of the triphenylamine-cyanoacrylic acid (donor-acceptor) on rutile TiO2 (110) surface with special attention on the monolayer region. This molecule belongs to the type of dye, some of which s

A new global two-fluid electromagnetic turbulence code, CENTORI, has been developed for the purpose of studying magnetically-confined fusion plasmas on energy confinement timescales. This code is used to evolve the combined system of electron and ion fluid equations and Maxwell equations in toroidal configurations with axisymmetric equilibria. Uniquely, the equilibrium is co-evolved with the turbu

Anaemia is a chief determinant of global ill health, contributing to cognitive impairment, growth retardation and impaired physical capacity. To understand further the genetic factors influencing red blood cells, we carried out a genome-wide association study of haemoglobin concentration and related parameters in up to 135,367 individuals. Here we identify 75 independent genetic loci associated wi

Stars ascending the red giant branch develop an inversion in mean molecular weight (mu) owing to the burning of He-3 in the region immediately above their hydrogen-burning shells. This inversion may drive thermohaline mixing and thereby be responsible for the extra mixing which is observationally indicated on the red giant branch. In this paper, we investigate the physical influences that determin

We report a method using in situ etching to decouple the axial from the radial nanowire growth pathway, independent of other growth parameters. Thereby a wide range of growth parameters can be explored to improve the nanowire properties without concern of tapering or excess structural defects formed during radial growth. We demonstrate the method using etching by HCl during InP nanowire growth. Th

[K+(2,2,2-crypt)] Ge-2(9)2- containing the deltahedral Zintl anion Ge-9(2-) has been isolated from a solution of K4Ge9 in ethylenediamine in the presence of 2,2,2-crypt, intended as an intermediate in mixed-cluster synthesis. The subsequent crystallographic characterisation shows the closo-Ge-9(2-) cluster unit to be tricapped trigonal-prismatic with a symmetry very close to D-3h. Each Ge-9(2-) un

This study addressed the contribution of ADAMTS13 deficiency to complement activation in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Renal tissue and blood samples were available from 12 TTP patients. C3 and C5b-9 deposition were demonstrated in the renal cortex of two TTP patients, by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry, respectively. C3 was also demonstrated in the glomeruli of Shiga toxi

Given a pattern graph H with l edges, and a host graph G guaranteed to contain at most one occurrence of a subgraph isomorphic to H, we show that the time complexity of the problem of finding such an occurrence (if any) in G as well as that of the decision version of the problem are within a multiplicative factor O(l) of the time complexity for the corresponding problem in the general case, when G

BACKGROUND: Immigrant women in Sweden have lower levels of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) than Swedish-born women. The reasons are unclear, although acculturation has been suggested to play a role. METHODS: We used a cross-sectional study design to investigate the association between LTPA and two indicators of acculturation: (i) language proficiency (ability to understand news reports on th

AIM: To investigate if and how the proinflammatory cytokine interferon gamma (IFN gamma) affects ghrelin expression in mice. METHODS: The plasma concentration of ghrelin, and gastric ghrelin and somatostatin expression, were examined in wild-type mice and mice infected with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylon). Furthermore, ghrelin expression was examined in two achlorhydric mouse models with varying de

Treatment of acute lung injury (ALI) remains an unsolved problem in intensive care medicine. Activation and recruitment of neutrophils are regarded as key mechanisms in the progression of ALI. As pioglitazone holds potent pleiotropic anti-inflammatory effects, we explored its effects during ALI. C57Bl/6 mice were exposed to aerosolised lipopolysaccharides (LPSs) (500 mu g.mL(-1)) and their alveola

delta C-13 values of numerous limestone samples from Katian (Upper Ordovician) successions in Oklahoma and the Upper Mississippi Valley document the presence of at least three of the four positive excursions that have been recognized in the lower-middle Katian interval in the Cincinnati region in Ohio. Kentucky, and Indiana. A comparison with Estonia reveals that five out of the six positive excur