This review essay draws on a recently edited handbook by Esin Orucu and David Nelken to reflect on the methodological concerns and challenges of comparative law and socio-legal research. It argues that the contextualisation of laws should be regarded as the indispensable methodological characteristic of all comparative studies of law that aspire to transcend the understanding of law as a body of r

Background: An audit of all patients with rectal cancer in Sweden was launched in 1995. This is the first report from the Swedish Rectal Cancer Registry (SRCR). Methods: Between 1995 and 2003, 13 434 patients treated for adenocarcinoma of the rectum were registered with the SRCR; there were approximately 1500 new patients annually. Results: Approximately half had an anterior resection, a quarter a

Hip fracture is associated with high early mortality. Little is known about long-term survival and subsequent fracture risk. The aim of this study was to evaluate survival and fracture risk after hip fracture in women at different ages. All women suffering a hip fracture during 1984-1985 in Malmo, Sweden, were identified (n = 766) and followd up to 22 yr or death. All new radiographic examinations

Several brain-imaging studies have found associations between aberrant functioning in the frontal and temporal lobes and violent offending. We have previously reported decreased frontotemporal perfusion unrelated to psychosis, substance abuse, or current medication in 21 violent offenders. In the present study, we compared the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in a new group of 32 violent offend

Social workers in child welfare often feel that they have to take unfair criticism from the mass media. This article analyses their views of media coverage, the effect on the general public, the local politicians and their own self-image. The method used is focus group interviews.

Northern forests are exposed to relatively high ammonia inputs due to high atmospheric deposition and the common practise of forest fertilization. It is not known how increased soil NH4 +concentrations affect acquisition of symbiosis-mediated N from organic sources. We examined the effect of inorganic N and P availability on N acquisition from alanine by 43 weeks old birch (Betula pendula) seedlin

The article presents an analytical model for evaluation of ion angular distribution functions (IADFs) at a radio frequency (rf)-biased surface in a high-density plasma reactor. The model couples a unified rf sheath model to an assumed ion velocity distribution function-based formulation for determining the IADF under any general rf-bias condition. Under direct-current (dc) bias conditions the IADF

When testing for unit roots using the Dickey-Fuller test, the presence of structural breaks can cause serious size distortions to the test. Previous research has suggested two modified tests, the weighted symmetric and the recursively mean-adjusted test, that has robust size properties even in the presence of a structural break. However, recent findings have shown that the power of the two modifie

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim was to explore patients' knowledge of heart failure and their attitudes toward medical information (prognostic information in particular) and to assess different patient-related factors that might hamper the improvement of patients' knowledge. Moreover, taking the data obtained into account, we analyzed ethical aspects of information disclosure to patients with heart fai

Male moths rely on female sex pheromones to find their mating partner and on plant volatiles for the detection of food sources. In the noctuid moth, Agrotis ipsilon, plasticity of central sex pheromone processing has been shown previously in the antennal lobe. The sensitivity of antennal lobe interneurons increases with age and juvenile hormone level. Here we investigated whether age affects not o

Resonant soft x-ray emission (SXE) spectroscopy was used to study the electronic structure of LixV6O13 battery cathodes. We observe that the V 3d-bands Of V6O13 exhibit a rather rigid behavior. Upon lithiation, electrons enter the top of the valence band and add intensity to the corresponding part of the V L-emission spectrum without significantly distorting the lower lying bands. We perform ab in

Modern treatment planning systems (TPSs) usually separate the dose modelling into a beam modelling phase, describing the beam exiting the accelerator, followed by a subsequent dose calculation in the patient. The aim of this work is to use the Monte Carlo code system EGSnrc to study the modelling of head scatter as well as the transmission through multi-leaf collimator (MLC) and diaphragms in the

Aims/hypothesis Long-term exposure to NEFAs leads to inhibition of glucose-induced insulin secretion. We tested whether the release of somatostatin and glucagon, the two other major islet hormones, is also affected. Methods Mouse pancreatic islets were cultured for 72 h at 4.5 or 15 mmol/l glucose with or without 0.5 mmol/l oleate or palmitate. The release of glucagon and somatostatin during subse

An estimation model which uses the net heat release profile for estimating the cylinder air/fuel ratio of a spark ignition engine is developed. The net heat release profile is computed from the cylinder pressure trace and quantifies the conversion of chemical energy of the reactants in the charge into thermal energy. The net heat release profile does not take heat- or mass transfer into account. C

Abstract in Undetermined A step towards a successful implementation of time-resolved digital in-line holography with extreme ultraviolet (XUV) radiation is presented. Ultra-short XUV pulses are produced as high-order harmonics of a femtosecond laser and a Schwarzschild objective is used to focus harmonic radiation at 38 nm and to produce a strongly divergent reference beam for holographic recordin

An extensive set of proxy-data was acquired from eastern and central Denmark in order to study the dynamic behaviour of the southwestern margin of the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet. We examine the last three glacier advances of the Late Weichselian: the Main advance from central Sweden, representing the maximum ice extent at this time (c. 21-20 ka BP), and the two succeeding Baltic advances (c. 18-1

Laminins are widely distributed extracellular matrix proteins. Certain laminin isoforms are predominant in vascular basement membranes and may be critical in maintaining the stability of the mature vessel. On the other hand, formation of new vessels during angiogenesis requires degradation of the basement membrane, exposing the endothelial cells to other laminin isoforms in the surrounding extrace

CD40 is a member of the tumor necrosis factor receptor super-family and has been suggested to play a role in the metabolism of beta-amyloid (Abeta) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the role of CD40-signalling in incipient AD has not yet been studied. We investigated the plasma levels of soluble CD40 (sCD40) and the soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) at baseline in 136 subjects with mild cognitive i