The main aim of this paper is to study land-atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide (CO2) for semi-arid savanna ecosystems of the Sahel region and its response to climatic and environmental change. A subsidiary aim is to study and quantify the seasonal dynamics in light use efficiency (epsilon) being a key variable in scaling carbon fluxes from ground observations using earth observation data. The n

Autoimmune diabetes is a consequence of immune-cell infiltration and destruction of pancreatic β-cells in the islets of Langerhans. We analyzed the cellular composition of the insulitic lesions in the autoimmune-prone non-obese diabetic (NOD) mouse and observed a peak in recruitment of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) to NOD islets around 8-9 weeks of age. This peak coincides with increased spo

Background: Poor mental health predicts sexual risk behaviours in high-income countries, but little is known about this association in low-income settings in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV is prevalent. This study investigated whether depression, psychological distress and alcohol use are associated with sexual risk behaviours in young Ugandan adults. Method: Household sampling was performed in two

This article presents a policy analysis of prostitution policies across Europe.

The transverse momentum (pT) distribution of primary charged particles is measured at midrapidity in minimum-bias p-Pb collisions at root S-NN = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC in the range 0.15 < pT < 50 GeV/c. The spectra are compared to the expectation based on binary collision scaling of particle production in pp collisions, leading to a nuclear modification factor consistent with

Streptococcus equi ssp. equi causes strangles, a highly contagious and serious disease in the upper respiratory tract of horses. Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus, another subspecies of this genus, is regarded as an opportunistic commensal in horses. The present study describes the characterization of two novel immunoglobulin G (IgG) endopeptidases of these subspecies, IdeE2 and IdeZ2. Both en

Aims Oral anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF) is effective but has significant limitations. AZD0837, a new oral anticoagulant, is a prodrug converted to a selective and reversible direct thrombin inhibitor (AR-H067637). We report from a Phase II randomized, dose-guiding study (NCT00684307) to assess safety, tolerability, pharmacokinet

New elasmosaurid plesiosaur specimens are described from the Early Maastrichtian of Angola. Phylogenetic analyses reconstruct the Angolan taxon as an aristonectine elasmosaurid and the sister taxon of an unnamed form of similar age from New Zealand. Comparisons also indicate a close relationship with an unnamed form previously described from Patagonia. All of these specimens exhibit an ostensibly

Patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases, particularly RA, SLE, SS and idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, are at increased risk of developing malignancies. Cancer occurrence adds to the disease burden in these patients, adversely affecting quality of life and life expectancy. This risk is related to the pathobiology of the underlying rheumatic disease including the inflammatory burden

To identify risk variants for multiple myeloma, we conducted a genome-wide association study of 1,675 individuals with multiple myeloma and 5,903 control subjects. We identified risk loci for multiple myeloma at 3p22.1 (rs1052501 in ULK4; odds ratio (OR) = 1.32; P = 7.47 x 10(-9)) and 7p15.3 (rs4487645, OR = 1.38; P = 3.33 x 10(-15)). In addition, we observed a promising association at 2p23.3 (rs6

In this letter, we present a 15-nm-diameter InAs nanowire MOSFET with excellent on and off characteristics. An n-i-n doping profile was used to reduce the source and drain resistances, and an Al2O3/HfO2 bilayer was introduced in the high-k process. The nanowires exhibit high drive currents, up to 1.25 A/mm, normalized to the nanowire circumference, and current densities up to 34 MA/cm2 (VD = 0.5 V

Although it is a central question in biology, how cell shape controls intracellular dynamics largely remains an open question. Here, we show that the shape of Arabidopsis pavement cells creates a stress pattern that controls microtubule orientation, which then guides cell wall reinforcement. Live- imaging, combined with modeling of cell mechanics, shows that microtubules align along the maximal te