Objective— Stretch-induced growth of the vascular wall plays a role in hypertension and neointima formation. Its signal pathways involve integrins, cytoskeleton, membrane receptors, and ion channels, some of which are organized in cholesterol-rich, membrane domains such as lipid rafts or caveolae. This study tested the role of rafts/caveolae in stretch-induced vascular growth by manipulation of me

The root/organic soil concentration ratio; R/S) of 50 cationic mineral elements was related to their ionic properties, including ionic radius (r), ionic charge (z), and ionic potential (z/r or z(2)/r). The materials studied were ectomycorrhizal beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) roots and their almost purely organic soil substrate, the O-horizon (mor; raw humus) of a Podzol in South Sweden, developed in a

Streptococcus pyogenes secretes a specific immunoglobulin G (IgG)-protease, SpeB, as well as the IgG glycan-hydrolyzing enzyme EndoS. Here we show that SpeB also degrades IgA, IgM, IgD, and IgE. We also show that EndoS only hydrolyzes the glycan moiety on native but not denatured IgG. Thus, SpeB has a broad immunoglobulin-degrading activity, while EndoS is highly specific for IgG.

This study investigates the importance of dimensionality for the characteristics of simulations performed with cloud-system resolving models (CSRMs). In addition to intrinsic questions related to dimensionality in CSRMs, the issue has gained added interest since CSRMs can be utilized instead of conventional cloud parametrizations to represent deep convection within global climate models. Such CSRM

Dynamic electric (DEA) and mechanical (DMA) analyses were combined to explore the relaxational processes in amorphous and semicrystalline poly(ethylene naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate) (PEN) samples. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements were carried out to investigate the crystallinity of the samples following isothermal annealing treatment at 443 K. The two secondary relaxations beta and

The use of folic acid prior to conception is generally recommended for the prevention of birth defects, notably neural tube defects. In a previous study from Sweden, based on interviews of women in early pregnancy, no such effect was found on the general malformation rate, but data for neural tube defects were scarce. Using data from the Swedish Medical Birth Register for the years 1995-2004, 20 8

Biological processes exhibit different behavior depending on the influent loads, temperature, microorganism activity, and soon. It has been shown that a combination of several models can provide a suitable approach to model such processes. In the present study, we developed a multiple statistical model approach for the monitoring of biological batch processes. The proposed method consists of four

An analytical quantitative high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for simultaneous determination of all mercaptobenzothiazole derivatives in the mercapto mix patch testing standard. The stability of the mercaptobenzothiazoles constituting the mercapto mix was studied both in petrolatum and in buffer solution at pH 6.5, with and without glutathione. In petrolatum vehicle, d

The purpose of the present study was threefold: (a) to replicate the finding by MacLeod and Rutherford (1992) that low trait-anxious individuals, in contrast to high trait-anxious individuals, show a selective attention away from subliminally presented threat words at elevated levels of stress; (b) to test the hypothesis that this effect is due to individuals with repressive coping-style rather th

This study was aimed at increasing our understanding of environmental and parental factors influencing mode choice for children's journeys to organized leisure activities. Three hundred and fifty-seven Swedish parents of 8-11-year-old children completed a questionnaire and kept a travel diary. The design of urban environment, in which the families lived, was assessed by a group of five experts. By

Periodic signals can be decomposed into sets of sinusoids having frequencies that are integer multiples of a fundamental frequency. The problem of finding such fundamental frequencies from noisy observations is important in many speech and audio applications, where it is commonly referred to as pitch estimation. These applications include analysis, compression, separation, enhancement, automatic t

To study the role of selenium compounds for the quality and nutritional value of meat, speciation of selenium compounds was performed in two muscles from each of seven animal species (chicken, turkey, duck, ostrich, lamb, cattle and pig). Soluble selenium compounds were separated by size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and detected by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Four sele

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