Immunomodulatory effects of various factor VIII and factor IX clotting factor concentrates (CFCs) and of albumin were evaluated by a sensitive assay measuring the incorporation of 3H-thymidine in phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes in the presence of monodansylthiacadaverine. In contrast to previous findings by others, we found lymphocyte transformation to be inhibited by all plasma-derived

We report on cross-sectional scanning tunnelling microscopy (XSTM) measurements on vertically stacked InAs quantum dots in InP barriers. We have investigated two-, five- and tenfold stacked quantum dot structures,grown by low-pressure metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy. The XSTM images reveal that the quantum dots are generally vertically well aligned, and have a truncated pyramidal shape in agree

Retirement from active life often leads to decreased finances and reduced social contact, which may increase ischaemic heart disease (IHD) risk in individuals. We examined whether income evolution during the decade before retirement has an impact on subsequent IHD, and explored the mediating effect of common risk factors and social support from different sources (marriage/cohabitation, support fro

One hundred sixty knees in 141 patients with the Primary Porous-Coated Anatomic prosthesis (Howmedica, Rutherford, NJ) were evaluated after a follow-up period of 5.6 years (range, 1–10 years). One hundred six knees were in the latest follow-up evaluation, including clinical examination and a defined standing radiograph with a follow-up period of 6.3 years (range, 3–10 years). Survivorship analysis

Using different sources of human embryonic stem cells for research raises different ethical problems. Experimenting on embryos created for in vitro fertilization but left unused, or embryos, created specially for research raise ethical questions. In the first case – whether using “spare” human embryos for research means a lack of respect for the beginning of human life, and in the second – whether

Solutions to non-linear least squares problems play an essential role in structure and motion problems in computer vision. The predominant approach for solving these problems is a Newton like scheme which uses the: hessian of the function to iteratively find a, local solution. Although fast, this strategy inevitably leeds to issues with poor local minima, and missed global minima. In this paper ra

A wide set of biochemical and spirometrical parameters was applied to a group of 41 welders. The obtained parameters were analyzed by the pattern recognition method: principal-components analysis (PCA) and mutual contribution analysis (MCA). The aim of the investigation was to find out which of 23 parameters had an influence on the pulmonological indices of COPD. It was found that PCA gave a subst

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life within a sample of cervical cancer survivors. STUDY DESIGN: In this study, 46 cervical cancer survivors at clinical stage I or II and one survivor at stage 0, were evaluated. Two control groups were selected from an ongoing cohort study, in which 527 women were postmenopausal and 344 women were postmenopausal with HRT. All contro

We examine pair correlation functions resulting from self-consistent and non self-consistent implementations of the GW approximation for the electron gas. Having obtained these, we can shed more light on the fact that the self-consistent scheme generates good ground state energies but unphysical spectral properties.

Orientational correlation functions have been obtained from Monte Carlo simulations of long, freely jointed chains (1000 monomers and more) with screened Coulomb interactions truncated after a certain number of bonds. This makes it possible to study chain-length dependence without "end effects" and to display excluded-volume effects. These correlation functions form the basis for a discussion of t

Antibody microarray is a rapidly emerging, powerful approach with great promise within high-throughput proteomics. However, before a truly proteome-wide analysis can be performed, the antibody array format needs to be miniaturized even further in order to enable ultradense arrays to be fabricated. To this end, we have designed and generated proof-of-concept for the first generation of an atto-vial

Knowledge of the three-dimensional orthogonal directions of wood material at any position within a tree is necessary for the understanding of strength reducing effects of knots and essential for the continuation of research in areas which relate small clear wood specimen behavior to the behavior of full size structural timber. A complete three-dimensional paradigm describing the geometry of knots

A complete study of the nuclear structure by means of gamma spectroscopy requires, in addition to the high resolution gamma measurement and accurate DCO's or angular distributions, the information concerning the Electric or Magnetic character of the transition. This information for transitions in nuclei far from stability valley is now reachable in the new generation of Ge-arrays based in composit

The purpose of our study was to develop specific, sensitive, objective assays for early detection of disseminated tumour cells in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cytokeratin 20 (CK20) were chosen as markers because they are selectively expressed in epithelial cells with maintained expression in CRC. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR assays with RNA copy standa

Chemokines are thought to control lymphocyte recruitment to the inflamed endothelium. To dissect chemokine-mediated adhesion, binding of ex vivo isolated splenocytes to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-activated endothelial cells was analyzed under shear stress. We observed specific adhesion of naive follicular B cells, which could be blocked by pertussis toxin. This indicated a G protein-mediated bind

The fluorescence spectrum measured from a fluorophore in tissue is affected by the absorption and scattering properties of the tissue, as well as by the measurement geometry. We analyze this effect with Monte Carlo simulations and by measurements on phantoms. The spectral changes can be used to estimate the depth of a fluorescent lesion embedded in the tissue by measurement of the fluorescence sig

Low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) studies of metal-free phthalocyanine (H2Pc) adsorbed on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) have shown ordered arrangement of molecules for low coverages up to 1 ML. Evaporation of H2Pc onto HOPG and annealing of the sample to 670 K result in a densely packed structure of the molecules. Arrangements of submonolayer, monolayer, and monolayer

A flat plate and a tubular packed-bed photobioreactor with an algal-bacterial biofilm attached onto Poraver((R)) beads carriers, a flat plate and a tubular photobioreactor with the biofilm attached onto the reactor walls, and an algal-turf reactor were compared in terms of BOD removal efficiencies, elimination capacities, and stability. A control column photobioreactor with suspended algal-bacteri

An algorithm for a loaded crack partly in frictionless contact is presented. The problem is nonlinear in the sense that the equations of linear elasticity are supplemented by certain contact inequalities. The location of a priori unknown contact zones and the solutions to the field equations must be determined simultaneously. The algorithm is based on a rapidly converging sequence of relaxed Fredh