Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common chronic disease, causing joint pain and reduced physical function. OA progresses slowly over a period of several years; to avoid an exacerbation of symptoms, it is critical to able to diagnose the disease as early as possible. The identification of disease-specific biomarkers may enable such an early diagnosis. The aim of this study was to investigate potential biom

BackgroundLignin is a potential feedstock for microbial conversion into various chemicals. However, the microbial degradation rate of native or technical lignin is low, and chemical depolymerization is needed to obtain reasonable conversion rates. In the current study, nine bacterial strains belonging to the Pseudomonas and Rhodococcus genera were evaluated for their ability to grow on alkaline-tr

A hybrid catalyst consisting of Zr-doped mesoporous silica (Zr-SBA-15) supports with intergrown Cu nanoparticles was used to study the effects of a catalyst’s chemical states on CO2 hydrogenation. The chemical state of the catalyst was altered by using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) or sodium metasilicate (SMS) as the silica precursor in the synthesis of the Zr-SBA-15 framework, and infiltration A hybrid catalyst consisting of Zr-doped mesoporous silica (Zr-SBA-15) supports with intergrown Cu nanoparticles was used to study the effects of a catalyst’s chemical states on CO2 hydrogenation. The chemical state of the catalyst was altered by using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) or sodium metasilicate (SMS) as the silica precursor in the synthesis of the Zr-SBA-15 framework, and infiltration

Purpose: Functional outcomes vary between centers after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and are partially explained by pre-existing health status and arrest characteristics, while the effects of in-hospital treatments on functional outcome are less understood. We examined variation in functional outcomes by center after adjusting for patient- and arrest-specific characteristics and evaluated

Swedish dissertations are public, followed by closedassessment committee meetings that only report pass-failvotes. 166 external examiners from 72 doctoral dissertationswere therefore anonymously surveyed for their views on passfail norms, scientific standard of theses and candidates and theacademic independence of the assessed candidate. They werealso asked to relate their assessment to the nation

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Impaired neurocognitive function is common in cardiac arrest survivors and the use of specific neurocognitive assessments are recommended in both clinical trials and daily practice. This review examines the most recent evidence to guide in the selection of neurocognitive outcome assessment tools after cardiac arrest. RECENT FINDINGS: Neurocognitive impairment after cardiac arres

Bumblebees (Bombus spp.) rely on an abundant and diverse selection of floral resources to meet their nutritional requirements. In farmed landscapes, mass-flowering crops can provide an important forage resource for bumblebees, with increased visitation from bumblebees into mass-flowering crops having an additional benefit to growers who require pollination services. This study explores the mutuali

Social bees are central place foragers collecting floral resources from the surrounding landscape, but little is known about the probability of a scouting bee finding a particular flower patch. We therefore developed a software tool, BEESCOUT, to theoretically examine how bees might explore a landscape and distribute their scouting activities over time and space. An image file can be imported, whi

Mass production of nanocrystals with accurate size control is a central problem in nanotechnology. Aerosol technology offers the possibility to produce nanocrystals with well-controlled composition and size distribution.An aerosol is defined as solid or liquid particles suspended in a gas, and aerosol science and technology has been used since over 60 years, primarily to study the size, shape and

This paper investigated the role of local institutions in facilitating farm households’ response and adaptation to climate change impacts on their livelihood. A case study of adapting to drought events associated with crop failure in a Semi-Arid Ecosystems of northern Ghana was taken. A total of 49 semi-structured interviews with key representatives of various local institutions from different sec

Inherited genetic susceptibility to multiple myeloma has been investigated in a number of studies. Although 23 individual risk loci have been identified, much of the genetic heritability remains unknown. Here we carried out genome-wide interaction analyses on two European cohorts accounting for 3,999 cases and 7,266 controls and characterized genetic susceptibility to multiple myeloma with subsequ

In this paper, we consider a mobile platform with two cameras directed towards the floor. In earlier work, this specific problem geometry has been considered under the assumption that the cameras have been mounted at the same height. This paper extends the previous work by removing the height constraint, as it is hard to realize in real-life applications. We develop a method based on an equivalent

The "terminal investment" hypothesis proposes that individuals with low future survival prospects will gain from increasing investment in the current reproductive event even though it will reduce the chances of future reproduction even further. Such investments have previously been found to occur mainly during the late stages of the breeding event, that is, encompassing a short period of elevated

The efficiency of the photon identification criteria in the ATLAS detector is measured using 36.1fb1 to 36.7fb1 of pp collision data at s=13 TeV collected in 2015 and 2016. The efficiencies are measured separately for converted and unconverted isolated photons, in four different pseudorapidity regions, for transverse momenta between 10 GeV and 1.5 TeV. The results from the combination of three dat

Intergenerational mobility studies are now expanding in three directions – including different regions and time periods, using different outcomes to measure mobility, and investigating the mechanisms that affect mobility. We investigate, for the first time, wealth mobility in the Cape Colony. We compare a number of outcomes, and consider several mechanisms to explain our results. Our data allow us

There is a variety of different cosmogenicradionuclide-based reconstructions of solar activity varia-tions for the past. Especially the longer-term changes andthe absolute levels of past solar activity are uncertain as it isillustrated by the differences between these reconstructions.On the one hand there are differences between10Be and14Crecords that are commonly used as proxies for the varying s

Accurate detection and identification are essential components for epidemiological, ecological, and evolutionary surveys of avian haemosporidian parasites. Microscopy has been used for more than 100 years to detect and identify these parasites; however, this technique requires considerable training and high-level expertise. Several PCR methods with highly sensitive and specific detection capabilit