Group A streptococci, a common human pathogen, secrete streptokinase, which activates the host's blood clot-dissolving protein, plasminogen. Streptokinase is highly specific for human plasminogen, exhibiting little or no activity against other mammalian species, including mouse. Here, a transgene expressing human plasminogen markedly increased mortality in mice infected with streptococci, and this

Flikstånds (Senecio erucifolius) är mycket sällsynt och rödlistad som Akut hotad i Sverige (Gärdenfors 2005). Den förekommer i gräsbevuxna fältkantzoner, vägkanter och sluttningar på jordbruksmark i Skåne. Även om många lokaler rapporterats i Skåne så är endast två lokala populationer kända idag, varav en minskar i storlek. De största hoten utgörs av habitatförstörelse (genom intensifierat jordbru

In a phantom study using a 0.3 tesla MR system the signal alterations, artifacts and image distortion induced by a bowel contrast medium containing superparamagnetic magnetite particles were evaluated. A concentration of 20 mg iron/l was most useful because it caused a significant signal reduction without disturbing artifacts and image distortion. The signal reduction was most pronounced on long T

OBJECTIVE: To investigate changes in atrial conduction induced by MgSO4 and glucose, insulin and potassium (GIK) during the first 12-h period of sinus rhythm after successful DC-conversion of chronic atrial fibrillation (CAF). METHODS: Signal-averaged P-wave duration, QRS-duration and PQ-time were recorded in 20 patients who were randomly assigned to control or intervention. Ten patients received

No abstract available.

Slepian model is derived for the shape of dicks in modulated FM transmission. The modulated signal may be a deterministic periodic function or a stationary stochastic process, not necessarily Gaussian. To describe the clicks one first derives the stochastic properties of noise and signal at the clicks. (For a periodic signal this amounts to giving the relative number of clicks in any given part of

A new algorithm, based on embedding phase space, to detect the P-wave characteristic points of an ECG signal is reported in this paper. The multi-lead ECG is transformed into points of an embedding phase space where similar ECG morphologies are converted into phase space points that are close using some distance measure. The algorithm is robust with respect to the type of selected characteristic p

Annual cycles of the atmospheric concentrations of PCBs were determined at 16 (mostly rural) stations around the Baltic Sea between 1990 and 1993. The concentration levels of individual congeners were found to be influenced by their physical-chemical properties, ambient temperature, and geographical location. Median levels of PCBs were similar at all stations except at one urban site near Riga. A

The treatment of prostatic carcinoma with estrogens is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular as well as thromboembolic complications. In the present study, patients harboring highly or moderately differentiated prostatic carcinoma without signs of metastases were treated with either polyestradiolphosphate + etinylestradiol, estramustine phosphate or given no treatment. Subsequently,

The synthesis and application of chiral carbocyclic cleft molecules derived from 2,3:6,7-dibenzobicyclo[3.3.1]nona-2,6-diene-4,8-diene in the hetero-Diels-Alder reaction of benzaldehydes and aminodiene 14 is presented. Catalysis by single hydrogen-bond activation gave up to 52% ee.

Many philosophers have claimed that extensive or additive measurement is incompatible with the existence of "higher values", any amount of which is better than any amount of some other value. In this paper, it is shown that higher values can be incorporated in a non-standard model of extensive measurement, with values represented by sets of ordered pairs of real numbers, rather than by single real

The control of synthetic genetic regulatory networks is an emerging engineering challenge. In this study, we propose a new synthetic genetic network that behaves as a digital clock, producing square waveform oscillations. We analyze two models of the network: a deterministic model based on Michaelis-Menten kinetics, as well as a stochastic model based on the Gillespie algorithm. Both models predic