AimTo reconstruct spatial and temporal patterns of European fire activity during the Holocene and to explore their potential drivers, by relating biomass burning to simulated biotic and abiotic parameters. LocationEurope. MethodsHolocene fire activity was investigated based on 156 sedimentary charcoal records from lakes and peat bogs across Europe. Charcoal data covering the last 9000 years were s

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: : According to cognitive models, negatively biased processing of the publicly observable self is an important aspect of social phobia; if this is true, effective methods for producing corrective feedback concerning the public self should be strived for. Video feedback is proven effective, but since one's voice represents another aspect of the self, audio feedback should

Context: Regulation of fat mass appears to be associated with immune functions. Studies of knockout mice show that endogenous interleukin (IL)-6 can suppress mature-onset obesity. Objective: To systematically investigate associations of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) near the IL-6 (IL6) and IL-6 receptor (IL6R) genes with body fat mass, in support for our hypothesis that variants of these

Recent reports on adult fracture epidemiology have focused mainly on the hip in elderly where increasing rates lately have changed to a decline. New reports of the preponderance of non-hip fractures in expenditure call for a wider scope. We therefore examined current overall and site-specific fracture epidemiology in adults. We ascertained all fractures diagnosed in in- and out-patient care in all

We examined how radiation dose levels in digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) differ from those used in 2-view full-field digital mammography (FFDM). Acquisition parameter settings and information on the average absorbed dose to the glandular tissues within the breasts were reviewed based on clinical studies that evaluated DBT and FFDM. Dose ratios (DDBT/DFFDM) were derived from imaging protocols, w

Atrazine is one of the most used herbicides worldwide; however, consequences of its long-term agricultural use are still unknown. A laboratory study was performed to examine changes in microbial properties following ethylamino-N-15-atrazine addition, at recommended agronomic dose, to five acidic soils from Galicia (NW Spain) showing different physico-chemical characteristics, as well as atrazine a

Atomically precise graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) can be fabricated via thermally induced polymerization of halogen containing molecular precursors on metal surfaces. In this paper the effect of substrate reactivity on the growth and structure of armchair GNRs (AGNRs) grown on inert Au(111) and active Cu(111) surfaces has been systematically studied by a combination of core-level X-ray spectroscopies

This study investigated the human gastrointestinal uptake (f1) and subsequent whole-body retention of orally administered inorganic radioactive cobalt. Of eight adult volunteers aged between 24 and 68 years, seven were given solutions of (57)Co (T1/2 = 272 d) containing a stable cobalt carrier, and six were given carrier-free (58)Co (T1/2 = 71 d). The administered activities ranged between 25 and

Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a common pathogen associated with diseases such as acute otitis media or exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The biofilm-forming capability substantially contributes to the persistence of NTHi. However, the regulation of biofilm formation is not completely understood. Quorum sensing regulated by autoinducer-2 produced

The objective of this analysis was to compare three methods of handling HIV-RNA data below the limit of quantification (LOQ) when describing the time-course of antiretroviral drug response using a drug-disease model. Treatment naive Scandinavian HIV-positive patients (n = 242) were randomized to one of three study arms. Two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors were administrated in combinat

To explore the impact of the sociocultural care and service context on dependence in instrumental activities of daily living, data were collected with 1448 very old women in 5 European countries. In addition, the influence of socioeconomic indicators was explored, using descriptive statistics and regression analyses. Highly significant differences concerning formal/informal support and use of mobi

BACKGROUND: Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes involved in DNA repair are good candidates to be tested as phenotypic modifiers for carriers of mutations in the high-risk susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. The base excision repair (BER) pathway could be particularly interesting given the relation of synthetic lethality that exists between one of the components of the pathway, PARP1,

BACKGROUND: Established risk factors for pancreatic cancer include smoking, long-standing diabetes, high body fatness, and chronic pancreatitis, all of which can be characterised by aspects of inflammatory processes. However, prospective studies investigating the relation between inflammatory markers and pancreatic cancer risk are scarce. METHODS: We conducted a nested case-control study within th

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pathogen that frequently colonizes patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Several pathogens are known to bind vitronectin to increase their virulence. Vitronectin has been shown to enhance P. aeruginosa adhesion to host epithelial cells.

The common backswimmer, Notonecta glauca, uses vision by day and night for functions such as underwater prey animal capture and flight in search of new habitats. Although previous studies have identified some of the physiological mechanisms facilitating such flexibility in the animal's vision, neither the biophysics of Notonecta photoreceptors nor possible cellular adaptations are known. Here, we

Spinal muscle atrophy (SMA) is autosomal recessive and one of the most common inherited lethal diseases in childhood. The spectrum of symptoms of SMA is continuous and varies from neonatal death to progressive symmetrical muscle weakness first appearing in adulthood. The disease is produced by degeneration of spinal motor neurons and can be described in three or more categories: SMA I with onset o

The purpose of this study was to evaluate 10 process-based terrestrial biosphere models that were used for the IPCC fifth Assessment Report. The simulated gross primary productivity (GPP) is compared with flux-tower-based estimates by Jung etal. [Journal of Geophysical Research 116 (2011) G00J07] (JU11). The net primary productivity (NPP) apparent sensitivity to climate variability and atmospheric

OBJECTIVE: The increasing number of negative trials for ovarian cancer treatment has prompted an evaluation of new biologic agents, which in combination with chemotherapy may improve survival. The aim of this study was to investigate the response rate in platinum-resistant, KRAS wild-type ovarian cancer patients treated with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) supplemented with panitumumab. PATI

A heterogeneous distribution of radionuclides emitting low-energy electrons in the testicles may result in a significant difference between an absorbed dose to the radiosensitive spermatogonia and the mean absorbed dose to the whole testis. This study focused on absorbed dose distribution in patients at a finer scale than normally available in clinical dosimetry, which was accomplished by combinin

Recovering nutrients from urine as solid minerals such as struvite can eliminate many hurdles related to the use of liquid urine as fertilizer in the current urine separation systems. The focus of this study has been to increase nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies by developing a struvite formation and recycling process. Struvite crystallization was carried out in urine samples by additio