Although the toxic effect of heavy metals on soil microorganism activity is well known, little is known about the effects on different organism groups. The influence of heavy metal addition on total, bacterial, and fungal activities was therefore studied for up to 60 days in a laboratory experiment using forest soil contaminated with different concentrations of Zn or Cu. The effects of the metals

Familial clustering of the precursor condition, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) has been observed in case reports and in smaller studies. Using population-based data from Sweden, we identified 4458 MGUS patients, 17 505 population-based controls, and first-degree relatives of patients (n = 14 621) and controls (n = 58 387) with the aim to assess risk of MGUS and lymphopro

Experimental information has been derived from the neutron-proton correlation function in order to deduce the time sequence of neutrons and protons emitted at 45° in the E/A=45 MeV 58Ni+27Al reaction

The evolution of somatic genetic aberrations in breast cancer has remained poorly understood. The most common chromosomal abnormality is hyperdiploidy, which is thought to arise via a transient hypodiploid state. However, hypodiploidy persists in 1 to 2% of breast tumors, which are characterized by a poor prognosis. We studied the genetic aberrations in 15 flow cytometrically hypodiploid breast ca

A new type of two-color four-wave mixing spectroscopy is theoretically and experimentally demonstrated. By employing a non-resonant pumping and resonant probing scheme, OH radicals are detected in a laminar, atmospheric pressure methane/air flame as a proof-of-principle experiment. Two 532 nm laser beams from a multi-mode Nd:YAG laser are utilized to create an electrostrictive grating in the flame

In this paper. we construct a homogeneous spatio-temporal model to describe the variability of significant wave height over small regions of the sea and over short periods of time. Then. the model is extended to a non-homogeneous one that is valid over larger areas of the sea and for time periods of up to 10 h. To validate the proposed model. we reconstruct the significant wave height surface unde

A method for the observation of the three-dimensional structure of intact ectomycorrhizal rhizomorphs is described. The method is based on a combination of clearing the material with KOH followed by staining with congo red and subsequent imaging under a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM). The images obtained are of a much higher three-dimensional resolution than those obtained previously by

Background: This study examines Swedish young adults (age 21) with a history of conduct disorder (CD) in adolescence. Research has established CD as a condition for a range of adverse outcomes. Intelligence, aggression, parent-child conflict, parent-child relation and peer-rejection are known factors influencing the outcome. Aim: The aim of this longitudinal study is to find how self-confidence an

S-100beta promotes neurite extension in vitro and motoneuron survival in the chicken embryo. We demonstrate here that local administration of S-100beta stimulates the sciatic nerve regeneration into acellular muscle grafts. Normally there is a 8-10 day delay in the regeneration of axons into such grafts. Local administration of S-100beta (0.5-1.0 microg/h) significantly stimulated regeneration int

Effective treatment of bleeding episodes in hemophilia with high titer inhibitors (HTI) remains a challenge, despite the fact that the therapeutic armamentarium has expanded considerably over the past few years. Treatment safety has improved with the availability of porcine factor VIII (FVIII) and bypassing products such as recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa), and plasma-derived activated Prothrombin

gamma-Carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) is an unusual amino acid that is synthesized post-translationally from glutamate in a vitamin K-dependent reaction. The dicarboxylic side chain of Gla chelates Ca(2+), a property important for the biological activity of vitamin K-dependent proteins. To date, Gla-containing polypeptides have been identified in venom from two groups of organisms: elapid snakes, and s

Several models have been proposed in the literature for numerical simulations of pulverised wood drying, pyrolysis, gasification and combustion processes. These models are based on different assumptions and they yield fairly different results. In the present study a pulverised wood flame in a laboratory vertical furnace is chosen as the test case to evaluate the different sub-models including, dry

Introduction: The role of the exocrine pancreas in regulating gut microflora colonization is unclear. The main objective in the current study was to assess the effect of pancreatic fluid on the growth of pathogenic bacteria and fungi. Methods: The antibacterial activity of pure pig pancreatic juice collected from catheterized, healthy, conscious, and anesthetized pigs was investigated with multir

Jaws of fossil marine polychaete annelids, scolecodonts, from Sweden have chiefly been reported from Silurian strata. The specimens described in this paper come from Upper Danian (Paleocene) strata of the Limhamn quarry in Skane (Scania), the southernmost province of Sweden. The jaws are assigned to the Recent genera Glycera and Drilonereis, but their state of preservation did not allow species id

Considering an effectively attractive quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms confined in a toroidal trap, we find that the system undergoes a phase transition from a uniform to a localized state, as the magnitude of the coupling constant increases. Both the mean-field approximation, as well as a diagonalization scheme, are used to attack the problem.

A reaction system consisting of terephthalic acid, NaOH, inorganic Mn(II) or Mn(III) salt, and salicylidene alkylimine resulted in dinuclear manganese complexes (salpn)(2)Mn-2(mu-phth)(CH3OH)(2) (1, salpn = N,N'-1,3-propylene-bis(salicylideneiminato); phth = terephthalate dianion), (salen)(2)Mn-2(mu-phth)(CH3OH)(2) (2, salen = N,N'-ethylene-bis(salicylideneiminato)), (salen)(2)Mn-2(mu-phth)(CH3OH)