Protein C inhibitor (PCI) is a serine protease inhibitor, displaying broad protease specificity, found in blood and other tissues. In blood, it is capable of inhibiting both procoagulant and anticoagulant proteases. Mechanisms that provide specificity to PCI remain largely unrevealed. In this study we have for the first time provided a full explanation for the marked size heterogeneity of blood-de

To define fibre type grouping in terms of random and non-random arrangements of the two fibre types, type 1 (ST) and type 2 (FT), we adopted the measure of counting the number of "enclosed fibres". The statistical properties of the number of enclosed fibres, and the number and size of groups of enclosed fibres were studied in computer-simulated muscle cross-sections, using a model based upon hexag

Development of kindling and mossy fiber sprouting, and changes of gene expression were studied after 40 seizures produced during about 3 h by electrical stimulation every 5 min in the ventral hippocampus. As assessed by 5 test stimulations, enhanced responsiveness was present already after 6-24 h but from 1 week post-seizure increased gradually up to 4 weeks without additional stimuli. Sprouting o

OBJECTIVE: An increased mortality due to cardiovascular disease has been reported in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT). An association between urate and cardiovascular disease has been suggested. Metabolic abnormalities in pHPT may include urate. We therefore evaluated the metabolic arteriosclerotic risk profile in pHPT with special focus on the role of urate. DESIGN: Retrospective

Time-resolved and spatially resolved measurements of the diffuse reflectance from biological tissue are two well-established techniques for extracting the reduced scattering and absorption coefficients. We have performed a comparison study of the performance of a spatially resolved and a time-resolved instrument at wavelengths 660 and 785 nm and also of an integrating-sphere setup at 550-800 nm. T

We present faster overlap tests between spheres and either axis-aligned or oriented boxes. By utilizing quick rejection tests, faster execution times are observed compared to previous techniques. In addition, we present alternative vectorized overlap tests, which are compared to the sequential algorithms. Source code is available online.

The kinetics and mechanism of the aromatic nucleophilic substitution reaction of 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) with OH- in nonionic sugar-derived micelles were investigated and compared with those for reaction in polyoxyethylene glycol surfactants. Hydroxyl groups on the sugar headgroups of micellized n-nonyl beta-D-glucopyranoside (C(9)G(1)), n-dodecyl beta-D-maltoside (C(12)G(2)), and n-dodecy

The aim of the present study was to examine autonomic function in response to negatively and positively valenced pictures under different levels of conscious recognition. Heart period variability (HPV) and heart rate (HR) reactivity were studied in 53 males and females who were being shown pictures of angry and happy faces. The pictures, which were backwardly masked, were presented once every 30 s

Stem cells are unspecialized cells able to divide and produce copies of themselves and having the potential to differentiate, i.e. to produce other cell types in the body. Because of the latter ability, the scientists investigate their possible use in regenerative medicine. Especially embryonic stem cells have huge therapeutic potential because they can give rise to every cell type in the body as

An idea for how to reconstruct the quantum state of a nonstationary single-photon wave packet absorbed in a macroscopic medium with inhomogeneously broadened lines is presented. An analytical treatment of the problem is performed and the requirements on the proposed scheme for complete recovery of the recorded nonstationary quantum state with a probability close to unity is described. The physical

Objectives: To describe subjective quality of life and health, self-perceived instrumental activities of daily living (I-ADL) ability and adaptation strategies, and to explore possible relationships between these variables in fibromyalgia patients. Design: Two instruments were used with fibromyalgia patients: the Fibrositis Impact Questionnaire and 'Living with fibromyalgia - adaptation to chronic

The main gap in our knowledge about what determines the rate of CH(4) oxidation in forest soils is the biology of the microorganisms involved, the identity of which remains unclear. In this study, we used stable-isotope probing (SIP) following (13)CH(4) incorporation into phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and DNA/RNA, and sequencing of methane mono-oxygenase (pmoA) genes, to identify the influence

The Dactylorhiza incarnata/maculata complex (Orchidaceae) was used as a model system to understand genetic differentiation processes in a naturally occurring polyploid complex with much of ongoing diversification and wide distribution in recently glaciated areas in northern Europe. Data were obtained for 12 hypervariable regions in the plastid DNA genome. A total of 166 haplotypes were found in a

A new construction combining LDPC convolutional codes and multilevel coding/modulation is suggested and analyzed. In the case of QPSK, we demonstrate that it has a better performance than an LDPC convolutional code combined with conventional Gray mapping.

A dislocation running through the trunk of a nanowire offers a new twist to the growth of chiral branched nanostructures, producing beautiful tree-like structures in the process.

The electron transfer process in the interaction of a slow highlycharged ion with a metal surface has been studied employing amicrocapillary foil as a target. The combination of the target and avisible light spectroscopy allows us to directly evaluate the initial(n,ℓ) distributions of the first transferred electrons. It wasfound that observed lines were primarily attributed to Δn=1transitions with