To conduct a survey across European cardiac centres to evaluate the methods used for cerebral protection during aortic surgery involving the aortic arch.

Spleen T-lymphocytes, especially CD4(+) T-cells, have been demonstrated to be involved in broad immunomodulation and host-defense activity in vivo. Apolipoprotein M gene (apoM) may have an important role in the regulation of immunoprocess and inflammation, which could be hypothesized to the apoM containing sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). In the present study we demonstrate that the splenic CD4(+) T

Oropharyngeal functional impairment increases with age so that radiologists frequently are asked to determine the cause of aspiration in elderly patients. Neuromuscular and cognitive impairment often make it difficult to perform and interpret videofluoroscopic deglutition examinations in these patients. We retrospectively reviewed the barium swallow examinations in 50 elderly patients (mean age, 8

The paper presents results on the use of NOAA AVHRR data for desertification monitoring on a regional-global level. It is based on processing of the GIMMS 8 km global NDVI data set. Time series of annually integrated and standardized annual NDVI anomalies were generated and compared with a corresponding rainfall data set (1981-2003). The regions studied include the Mediterranean basin, the Sahel f

Behaviours, viewed by nurses as demanding, performed by patients with severe dementia were investigated during one year of intervention. Supervised implementation of individually planned care and systematic clinical supervision were implemented on one experimental ward (EW) while another ward (CW) served as control. Each ward had 11 patients. At baseline and after 6 and 12 months of intervention s

Abstract Aim: Compared to neutral globular proteins, neutral polysaccharides, such as dextran, pullulan and Ficoll, appear hyperpermeable across the glomerular filtration barrier. This has been attributed to an increased flexibility and/or asymmetry of polysaccharides. The present study investigates whether polysaccharides are hyperpermeable also across the continuous capillaries in the rat perito

Purpose: To describe, by use of a phenomenological approach, how relatively young trans-femoral amputees experienced their amputation and their coping strategies in the acute phase and over time. Method: Eleven trans-femoral amputees, median age 33.5 years, were interviewed. The amputation was caused by tumour, motorcycle accidents or work-related traumas. Amputation was made in median 7.5 years

Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine if a dose-response relationship exists between obstetric adversity and age at first presentation with schizophrenia. Method: The Dublin Psychiatric Case Register was used to identify subjects with schizophrenia. Data on obstetric complications, social class of origin, and family history of psychiatric illness were obtained for those subjects. Re

This study examines the consequences of variation in the laying and hatching date for the time of metamorphosis in the common frog Rana temporaria. Field data are presented showing that eggs laid early tend to take longer to develop. Thus, the time advantage for early eggs is reduced at the time of hatching. There was an among-year variation in this phenomenon; it was not manifest in a phenologica

In dipteran insects the most distal telomere-associated DNA known to exist consists of long, complex tandem repeats. We have classified the 340-bp tandemly arranged repeats in Chironomus pallidivittatus. The repeats are distributed in a small number of subfamilies. One type of the repeat has the character of a master unit from which other main units can be derived usually by simple changes. The de

The purpose of safety systems is to reduce dangers to human life or environment to acceptable levels. In order to aid companies in this when developing safety systems for functional safety of machinery, the standard IEC 62061 has recently been released. The standard proposes an outlined design method to follow requirements specification. However, companies that use the standard have to implement a

Drinking water disinfection byproducts have been associated with an increased risk for congenital defects including cardiac defects. Using Swedish health registers linked to information on municipal drinking water composition, individual data on drinking water characteristics were obtained for 58,669 women. Among the infants born, 753 had a cardiac defect. The risk for a cardiac defect was determi

he evolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been astounding since the early 1980s, and a broad range of applications has emerged. To date, clinical imaging of nuclei other than protons has been precluded for reasons of sensitivity. However, with the recent development of hyperpolarization techniques, the signal from a given number of nuclei can be increased as much as 100,000 times, suffi

A natural anticoagulant pathway denoted the protein C system provides specific and efficient control of blood coagulation. Protein C is the key component of the system and circulates in the blood as a zymogen to an anticoagulant serine protease.Activation of protein C is achieved on the surface of endothelial cells by thrombin bound to the membrane protein thrombomodulin. The endothelial protein C

The ultimate goal in the treatment of haemophilia patients with inhibitors is to eradicate permanently the inhibitor and induce tolerance. Here we summarize our experience at the Malmo centre regarding tolerance induction according to the Malmo Treatment Model. The protocol includes immunoadsorption if needed, neutralization of inhibitor and replacement with factor concentrates, cyclophosphamide i