We performed a prospective, double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter study on the efficacy and safety of rituximab as induction therapy, together with tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil, and steroids. The primary endpoint was defined as acute rejection, graft loss, or death during the first 6 months. Secondary endpoints were creatinine clearance, incidence of infections, and inciden

Abstract—Service Level Agreements (SLA) are considered a good practice not only for IT outsourcing but also for IT management within an organisation. In this paper we study the usage of SLAs in municipal IT management. Municipal IT management traditionally involves a large organisation, often with a low IT maturity, but with high requirements on software quality and information security. In this s

The fungal symbionts forming ectomycorrhizas, as well as their associated bacteria, benefit forest trees in a number of ways although the most important is enhancing soil nutrient mobilization and uptake. This is reciprocated by the allocation of carbohydrates by the tree to the fungus through the root interface, making the relationship a mutualistic association. Many field observations suggest th

The general population is exposed to cadmium from food and smoking. Cadmium is a widely spread toxic pollutant that seems to be associated with cardiovascular diseases, although little is known if it contributes to the occurrence of atherosclerotic plaques and the process whereby plaques become vulnerable and are prone to rupture. We tested the hypotheses that cadmium exposure is associated not on

PURPOSE. To describe and classify the morphologic changes in a naturally occurring dog model of early-onset cone-rod dystrophy (CRD) and to correlate these with earlier described clinical characteristics of the disease in dogs. METHODS. Purpose-bred Standard Wire-Haired Dachshunds (SWHDs) derived from a large pedigree of dogs with earlyonset CRD were euthanatized at defined ages to characterize mo

Obesity is a complex disease with multiple well-defined risk factors. Nevertheless, susceptibility to obesity and its sequelae within obesogenic environments varies greatly from one person to the next, suggesting a role for gene x environment interactions in the etiology of the disorder. Epigenetic regulation of the human genome provides a putative mechanism by which specific environmental exposur

Infrared polarization spectroscopy (IRPS) was used to detect HCl in an 800 mm long tube furnace. Pieces of a polyvinyl chloride-carpet were continuously fed into the furnace producing a heavy smoke, which is exemplified by the fact that the smoke completely obscured a red laser beam from a He-Ne laser. This constitutes a very harsh environment from a diagnostic point of view due to the high smoke

Background: To examine the association of education with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). Method: This study included 141,230 male and 336,637 female EPIC-participants, who were recruited between 1992 and 2000. Education, which was assessed by questionnaire, was classified into four categories; BMI and WC

Weight loss is an important complication of Huntington's disease (HD), however the mechanism for weight loss in HD is not entirely understood. Mutant huntingtin is expressed in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and, in HD mice, mutant huntingtin inclusions are found within the enteric nervous system along the GI tract. A reduction of neuropeptides, decreased mucosal thickness and villus length, as w

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the level of agreement between stroke subtype classifications made using the Trial of Org 10172 Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) and Causative Classification of Stroke (CCS) systems. Methods: Study subjects included 13,596 adult men and women accrued from 20 US and European genetic research centers participating in the National Institute of Neurol

BACKGROUND: Sexual conflict theory predicts sexually antagonistic coevolution of reproductive traits driven by conflicting evolutionary interests of two reproducing individuals. Most studies of the evolutionary consequences of sexual conflicts have, however, to date collectively investigated only a few species. In this study we used the annual herb Collinsia heterophylla to experimentally test the

Several studies have indicated that mating disruption (MD) successfully reduces population densities of stored product moths, for example, the Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella (Zeller) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae). However, practical issues, such as finding control plots, replication, and lack of similarity between replicates, often incur problems in full-scale investigations and often dr

Combining attribute grammars with object-oriented programming supports a new kind of declarative programming, allowing compilers to be built in a highly extensible manner. By leveraging a base compiler, extended languages can be supported at a relatively low cost. Recent work shows the applicability of the technique to general-purpose programming languages like Java. In this article, we illustrate