Chronic diseases (CD) represent the main cause of mortality in developed countries. The increase in the prevalence of of CD is associated with changes in lifestyle habits, including those related to the consumption of processed foodstuffs. In these foods advanced glycation end products (AGE) and advanced lipoperoxydation products (ALE) are formed as a consequence of the reactivity of proteins, car

Population fluctuations may occur in synchrony among several rodent species at a given site, and they may occur in synchrony over large geographical areas. We summarize information on synchrony in lemmings and voles from the Canadian Arctic for the past 20 years. The most detailed available information is from the central Canadian Arctic, where snap-trap samples have been taken annually at several

Background and aims After resection and repair of the intestines, tissue degradation leads to weakening of the repair site and risk of postoperative leakage. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are thought to be responsible for collagenolysis in the direct vicinity of surgical sutures in many tissues. Several experimental studies show that MMP inhibitors administered systemically alleviate postoperat

The accumulation of inositol monophosphate (IP1) was measured after stimulation of 5-hydroxytryptamine2 (5-HT2) receptors on platelets from alcoholics and healthy controls. In controls, 5-HT induced a dose-dependent response with an EC50 = 2 x 10(-6) M and a maximal response at 10(-5) M. Ritanserin, a selective 5-HT2 antagonist, markedly reduced the accumulation. The IP1 formation after stimulatio

Introduction: Activation recovery time (ART), defined as the time from the earliest ventricular activation time to the end of T wave on unipolar electrograms, has been used as an index of myocardial repolarization time. However, it is unknown whether the ART can be used to estimate the global sequence and dispersion of ventricular repolarization as determined by the monophasic action potential (MA

Control systems are often built using visual dataflow-based languages, and supporting different variants may be challenging. We introduce the concept of connection interception based on inheritance. This mechanism allows a diagram to extend another diagram and intercept connections defined in the supertype, that is, to replace it by two other connections, in order to specialize the behavior. This

Two macrocyclic peptides 3 and 4 were formed during lactamization of 1,1'-ferrocenylbis(alanine) 1. Isolation, structure determination, and conformational analysis of 3 and 4 are reported as well as a controlled stepwise synthesis of 4 also including an improved route to 1. On the basis of their H-1 NMR spectra recorded at 300 K in DMSO-d(6), the dimer 3 and trimer 4 were found to be C-2 and C-3 s

We hereby report on a three year project initiative undertaken by our research team encompassing large-scale protein expression profiling and annotations of human primary lung fibroblast cells. An overview is given of proteomic studies of the fibroblast target cell involved in several diseases such as asthma, idiopatic pulmonary disease, and COPD. It has been the objective within our research team

BACKGROUND: Genuine Euro-Collins solution is calcium free. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the addition of calcium would improve its capacity to preserve the vasculature. METHODS: The infrarenal aorta of Sprague-Dawley rats was investigated in organ baths: as fresh controls, after 24 hours of cold (4 degrees C) storage in Euro-Collins solution, or in Euro-Collins solution with the

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the lived experience of fall risk from a lifeworld perspective in elderly women with previous fragility fractures. Thirteen elderly women with a high risk of fall and fracture, aged 76-86, living in their own homes in rural areas, were recruited from a voluntary fracture prevention programme. All women had a history of fragility fractures and we

The extant mammalian groups Monotremata, Marsupialia and Placentalia are, according to the ‘Theria’ hypothesis, traditionally classified into two subclasses. The subclass Prototheria includes the monotremes and subclass Theria marsupials and placental mammals. Based on some morphological and molecular data, an alternative proposition, the Marsupionta hypothesis, favours a sister group relationship

Unlike most ordered molecular systems, globular proteins exhibit a temperature of maximum stability, implying that the structure can be disrupted by cooling. This cold denaturation phenomenon is usually linked to the temperature-dependent hydrophobic driving force for protein folding. Yet, despite the key role played by protein−water interactions, hydration changes during cold denaturation have no

The thermal insulation properties of clothing systems can be defined through physical measurements using thermal manikins or through wear trials using human test subjects. One objective of the European Subzero project was to define the relationship between physically measured thermal insulation values of cold-protective clothing and the corresponding physiological reactions on human test subjects.

The migratory orientation of juvenile white-crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli, was investigated by orientation cage experiments in manipulated magnetic fields performed during the evening twilight period in northwestern Canada in autumn. We did the experiments under natural clear skies in three magnetic treatments: (1) in the local geomagnetic field; (2) in a deflected magnetic fie