Many insects living in ancient trees are assumed to be threatened as a result of habitat loss and fragmentation. It is generally expected that species in habitats with low temporal variability in carrying capacity have lower degree of dispersal in comparison to those in more ephemeral habitats. As hollow trees are long-lived, species in that habitat are expected to be sensitive to habitat fragment

BACKGROUND: During the last decades, there has been concern that exposure to endocrine disruptors, such as persistent organochlorine pollutants (POPs), may contribute to sex ratio changes in offspring of exposed populations. METHODS: To investigate whether exposure to 2,2'4,4'5,5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (CB-153) and dichlorodiphenyl dichloroethene (p,p'-DDE) affect Y:X chromosome proportion, semen of

BACKGROUND: There is no accurate non-invasive method available for the diagnosis of acute thromboembolic occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA). The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic properties of the fibrinolytic marker D-dimer. METHODS: From September 2000 to April 2003 consecutive patients aged over 50 years admitted to hospital with acute abdominal pain were studied. Pa

Traffic patterns generated by multimedia services are different from traditional Poisson traffic. It has been shown in numerous studies that multimedia network traffic exhibits self-similarity and burstiness over a large range of time-scales. The area of wireless IP traffic modeling for the purpose of providing assured QoS to the end-user is still immature and the majority of existing work is base

Within the series of articles investigating the burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), this paper reviews the methods used for economic assessment of the RA treatments by HTA agencies and other bodies involved in cost-effectiveness analysis and the current status of the field. The overall methods, as well as the challenges, of cost-effectiveness analysis in RA are common to all chronic progressive d

A cyclohexyl based pincer phosphine ligand undergoes cyclometalation with an iridium cyclooctadiene precursor to give a highly thermally stable iridium(III) complex where a C(sp3)-H bond has been oxidatively added. This iridium(III) hydride complex is reduced with potassium to give a terminal iridium(I) dinitrogen complex with no tendency to dimerization. The corresponding cyclohexyl phosphinite l

Background & Aims: Iron overload may be carcinogenic. Patients with hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) are reportedly at a 20-200-fold risk of intrahepatic cancer, but the reported risks for nonhepatobiliary cancers are conflicting. The risk of cancer in heterozygous individuals (estimated allele frequency, 1/10 to 1/20) is unknown. This study aimed to better assess these risks. Methods: We perfo

The effect of water availability on stand-level productivity, transpiration, water use efficiency (WUE) and radiation use efficiency (RUE) is evaluated for different willow clones at stand level. The measurements were made during the growing season 2000 in a 3-year-old plantation in Scania, southernmost Sweden. Six willow clones were included in the study: L78183, SW Rapp, SW Jorunn, SW Jorr, SW T

Atomic (1 Å) resolution x-ray structures of horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase in complex with NADH revealed the formation of an adduct in the active site between a metal-bound water and NADH. Furthermore, a pronounced distortion of the pyridine ring of NADH was observed. A series of quantum chemical calculations on the water-nicotinamide adduct showed that the puckering of the pyridine ring in the

Haploid hybrid gametophytes are often present at low frequencies in sympatric populations of Sphagnum capillifolium and Sphagnum quinquefarium. We used intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers and polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism of the trnL(UAA) intron of the chloroplast genome to reveal the nuclear and chloroplast composition of mature hybrid gametophytes from

Fragmentary remains of albanerpetontid amphibians are described from microvertebrate horizons in the Lower Cretaceous Vitaback Clays of southern Sweden. These provide the first Scandinavian record for this enigmatic lissamphibian group. In its morphological characters, the Swedish material most closely resembles the Jurassic-Cretaceous European genus Celtedens.

Speciation and equilibria of 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylate (pyromellitate) at the water-boehmite (gamma-AlOOH) interface were studied in 0.1 M Na(Cl) at 298 K. Surface equilibrium analyses were based upon potentiometric and adsorption measurements in the range 4.5 < pH < 10.0. To characterize the surface complexes at the molecular level, attenuated total reflectance infrared spectra were recorde

Background: Autologous platelet rich plasma (PRP) harvest with autotransfusion devices has been used for 10 years in cardiac surgery and recently in orthopedics as a blood saving method. The quality of the harvested platelets has not been adequately examined, in part because of methodological difficulties in studying platelet function during surgery. Methods: Twenty patients undergoing primary to

Diseases of the cornea are extremely common and cause severe visual impairment worldwide. To explore the basic molecular mechanisms involved in corneal health and disease, the present study characterizes the proteome of the normal human cornea. All proteins were extracted from the central 7-mm region of 12 normal human donor corneas containing all layers: epithelium, Bowman's layer, stroma, Descem