Although it is widely accepted that honeybees use the polarized-light pattern of the sky as a compass for navigation, there is little direct evidence that this information is actually sensed during flight. Here, we ask whether flying bees can obtain compass cues derived purely from polarized light, and communicate this information to their nest-mates through the 'waggle dance'. Bees, from an obser

Objectives. To study the correlation between Sunnybrook and House-Brackmann facial grading systems at different time points during the course of peripheral facial palsy. Study Design. Prospective multicenter trial. Setting. Seventeen otorhinolaryngological centers. Subjects and Methods. Data are part of the Scandinavian Bell's palsy study. The facial function of 1920 patients with peripheral facia

Tolerance is crucial for maintaining immunological balance and avoid autoimmune diseases like type 1 diabetes and the inflammatory bowel disease, ulcerative colitis (UC). In Study I, we have investigated the regulatory role of a class of noncoding RNAs, the miRNAs, during thymocyte development of the where central tolerance is established. We used the non-obese diabetic mouse (NOD) which is spon

In this paper, we introduce a non-parametric 2-D spectral estimator for smooth spectra, allowing for irregularly sampled measurements. The estimate is formed by assuming that the spectrum is smooth and will vary slowly over the frequency grids, such that the spectral density inside any given rectangle in the spectral grid may be approximated well as a plane. Using this framework, the 2-D spectrum

In a microvillar photoreceptor, absorption of an incident photon initiates a phototransduction reaction that generates a depolarizing light-induced current (LIC) in the microvillus. Although in-depth knowledge about these processes in photoreceptors of the fruitfly Drosophila is available, not much is known about their nature in other insect species. Here, we present description of some basic prop

Galectin-4 is a tandem-repeat galectin with two distinct carbohydrate recognition domains (CRD). Galectin-4 is expressed mainly in the alimentary tract and is proposed to function as a lipid raft and adherens junction stabilizer by its glycan cross-linking capacity. Galectin-4 plays divergent roles in cancer and inflammatory conditions, either promoting or inhibiting each disease progression, depe

Remission is a widely accepted goal for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but has to be sustained to arrest joint damage and disability. However, appropriate criteria for the assessment of sustained remission in long-term studies are not established. Therefore, we have compared the disease activity score calculated on 28 joints (DAS28) remission criterion, the Simplified Disease Activity Inde

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the associations between social capital (trust) and leisure-time physical activity. STUDY DESIGN: The 2004 Public Health Survey in Skåne is a cross-sectional study. METHODS: In total, 27,757 individuals aged 18-80 years answered a postal questionnaire (59% participation). Logistic regression models were used to investigate the associations between trust, desire to incr

Based on 43 interviews conducted with employees who spend around half of their working-hours on non-work related activities such as cyberloafing', a typology of empty labour is suggested according to sense of work obligation and potential output in order to set the phenomenon of workplace time-appropriation into a theoretical context in which wasteful aspects of organization and management are tak

This discussion paper, by a Working Group of INTIMATE (Integration of ice-core, marine and terrestrial records) and the Subcommision on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), considers the prospects for a formal subdivision of the Holocene Series/Epoch. Although previous attempts to subdivide the Holocene have proved inconclusive, recent developments i

Objectives To determine the frequency, accrual, attribution and outcome of neuropsychiatric (NP) events and impact on quality of life over 3 years in a large inception cohort of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods The study was conducted by the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics. Patients were enrolled within 15 months of SLE diagnosis. NP events were identifi

Type 2 diabetic patients usually exhibit an abnormal lipid profile. One such lipid that is constantly elevated in T2D is cholesterol. At the cellular level, cholesterol aids in tight packing of sphingolipids in certain regions of the plasma membrane and these specialized regions are termed ‘membrane rafts’, which act as signalling hubs. In pancreatic beta cells, these structures have been found to

In this study, we quantify the effect of uncertainties in climate projections on an impact model (IPS) that describes the temperature-dependent swarming and development of Ips typographus. Three forcing climate data sets (ensembles) were used: (1) E-Obs gridded observations, (2) ERA-40 reanalysis data downscaled by eight regional climate models (RCMs) and (3) regional scenarios from one RCM forced

Popular Abstract in Swedish Populärvetenskaplig sammanfattning: Det genomgående temat i avhandlingen är hur handeln mellan den Europeiska Unionen (EU) och utvecklingsländer kan öka. Två olika policyalternativ utvärderas: så kallade handelspreferenser samt förenklingar av handelsprocedurer. Handelspreferenser innebär i sin enklaste form att höginkomstländer kräver lägre tullar på importvaror somThe main theme of the thesis is how to increase trade between the European Union (EU) and developing countries. Two available policy options are assessed: trade preferences and trade facilitation. Chapter 1 offers a broad discussion of these policies, and concludes that while trade preferences, which once dominated North-South trade relations, are at a risk of becoming obsolete, trade facilitation

Objectives: The first consensus report that had been presented by the European Germ Cell Cancer Consensus Group (EGCCCG) in 2004 has found widespread approval by many colleagues throughout the world. In November 2006, the group met a second time under the auspices of the Department of Urology of the Amsterdam Medical Center, The Netherlands. Methods: Medical oncologists, urologic surgeons, radiati