1. Recently, there has been much interest in physiological trade-offs between parasite resistance and fitness-related traits such as secondary sexual characters or reproductive effort. More specifically it has been suggested that (i) energetically costly activities may suppress the immune system and (ii) that this immunosuppression is caused by costly immune defences competing with other bodily de

A new family of polymer conjugates is proposed to overcome constraints in the applicability of aqueous two-phase systems for the recovery of lactic acid. Polyethylene glycol-polyethylenimine (PEI) conjugates and ethylene oxide propylene oxide-PEI (EOPO-PEI) conjugates were synthesized. Aqueous two-phase systems were generated when the conjugates were mixed with fractionated dextran or crude hydrol

Stellar clusters are highly useful as tools for determination of distances, ages and abundances of heavy elements of galaxies, also at larger distances. Their utility for these purposes has, so far, been severely limited, mainly due to image crowding. The introduction of Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs) with full adaptive optics (AO) and near diffraction limited performance should imply a drastic

No rock at the Earth's surface escapes weathering. This process is the primary source of all the essential elements for organisms, except nitrogen and carbon. Since the onset of terrestrial life, weathering has been accelerated under the influence of biota. The study of biological weathering started at the end of the 19th century. Although the role of bacteria (Eubacteria, Archaea) has attracted a

Particle emissions from residential wood combustion in small communities in Northern Sweden can sometimes increase the ambient particle concentrations to levels comparable to densely trafficked streets in the center of large cities. The reason for this is the combination of increased need for domestic heating during periods of low temperatures, leading to higher emission rates, and stable meteorol

Abstract in UndeterminedThe effect of experimental acidification on the soil microfungalcommunity was studied in the humus layer of a coniferous forest in northern Sweden. The study was made 4 years after the last application of sulfuric acid. Fungal species composition was altered by treatments of 100 and 150 kg sulfuric acid ha-1 each year for 6 years, yet no differences were found between the c

Abstract is not available

High-frequency components in ECG during global ischaemia were studied in isolated guinea-pig hearts perfused ad modum Langendorf. Electrocardiograph recordings were carried out from the epicardial surface both in normo- and low-flow perfusion. After bandpass filtering (5-500 Hz), signal-averaging, was undertaken. The high-frequency components either increased or decreased after low-flow perfusion

Objective To review publications regarding possible donation of surplus embryos for medical research. Design Review of 67 scientific publications in this field up through January 2007. Originality Summary of factors influencing prospective donors' motivation to donate or not donate their surplus embryos for medical research. Result(s) Presentation of the findings of studies regarding the need

A good design of a Boolean function used in a stream cipher requires that the function satisfies certain criteria in order to resist different attacks. In this paper we study the tradeoff between two such criteria, the nonlinearity and the resiliency. The results are twofold. Firstly, we establish the maximum nonlinearity for a fixed resiliency in certain cases. Secondly, we present a simple searc

In this work we discuss a theory for entanglement generation, characterization and detection in fermionic two-particle interferometers (2PIs) at finite temperature. The motivation for our work is provided by the recent experiment by the Heiblum group (Neder et al 2007 Nature 448 333) realizing the two particle interferometer proposed by Samuelsson et al (2004 Phys. Rev. Lett. 92 026805). The exper

OBJECTIVE: Socioeconomic status (SES) in adulthood is known to be related to carotid atherosclerosis. However, few studies have tried to assess its association with SES from a life-course perspective. METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined the relationship between SES in childhood and in adulthood and carotid atherosclerosis in a general population of Swedish men and women. Carotid stenosis was determin

The polyamines putrescine, spermidine and spermine, are ubiquitous intracellular metabolites associated with growth and protein synthesis. In this study effects of polyamine synthesis inhibition on bladder growth, polyamine levels and mechanical properties were investigated in rat urinary bladder subjected to partial outflow obstruction that causes bladder hypertrophy. The S-adenosyl methionine de

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of contextual (social capital and neo-materialist) and individual factors on sense of insecurity in the neighbourhood. Methods: The 2000 public health survey in Scania is a cross-sectional study. A total of 13,715 persons answered a postal questionnaire, which is 59% of the random sample. A multilevel logistic regression model, wit

Capsazepine as well as its derivatives and analogues are general inhibitors of constriction of human small airways. From a systematic variation of the capsazepine structure, divided into four regions, SARs were established. This part concerns the catechol moiety of the A-ring as well as the 2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-2-azepine moiety (the B-ring) of capsazepine. It is revealed that a conformational con

BACKGROUND: Total heart volume variation (THVV) and center of volume variation (COVV) likely affects the efficiency of cardiac pumping, but no study has determined COVV of the heart throughout the cardiac cycle or the effect of surgery on THVV in adults. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to determine COVV in healthy adults and patients with cardiac failure due to ischemic heart disease (I