IgG antibodies are potent inducers of proinflammatory responses. During autoimmune diseases such as arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus, IgG autoantibodies are responsible for the chronic inflammation and destruction of healthy tissues by cross-linking Fc receptors on innate immune effector cells. The sugar moiety attached to the asparagine-297 residue in the constant domain of the antibody

An atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to directly examine the physical state of nanometer-sized particles. The critical diameter of indium particles, where evidence of melting at room temperature was observed, was 7.8 +/- 1.2 nm. This conclusion is based on a method relying on the manipulation of particles in ambient air and at constant temperature. This method involves a simple set-up that pe

The age-adjusted incidence of multiple myeloma (MM) is 2-fold higher in African Americans than in whites. A few small studies have reported a higher prevalence of monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) in African Americans versus whites. Etiologic factors for MGUS and determinants for transformation of MGUS to MM are unknown. We quantified the prevalence of MGUS and subsequent r

The NorduGrid project operates a production Grid infrastructure in Scandinavia and Finland using own innovative middleware solutions. The resources range from small test clusters at academic institutions to large farms at several supercomputer centers, and are used for various scientific applications. This talk reviews the architecture and describes the Grid services, implemented via the NorduGrid

BACKGROUND: Stroke after cardiac surgery is a clinical problem with often fatal or disabling outcome. To assess severity and probable outcome in affected patients only from clinical and radiological examinations is difficult. The glial-derived protein S100B has been suggested to be a marker of cerebral ischemia, and increased blood concentrations of S100B have been shown to correlate with size of

Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers were used to estimate the level of genetic variation in Swedish accessions of the allopolyploid Arabidopsis suecica and its parental species A. thaliana and A. arenosa. The results showed clear differences among the three species with respect to the level of variation. A. arenosa was highly variable, A. thaliana showed a moderate level of variation w

Background and objectives: A plasma-derived von Willebrand factor (VWF) concentrate with low factor VIII (FVIII) content was specifically developed to treat von Willebrand disease (VWD). Efficacy and safety were investigated by merging the results of two comparable protocols conducted prospectively in 5 European and 12 French centers. Methods and results: Fifty patients with clinically severe VWD

The structural and magnetic properties of MnSb layers grown on two differently oriented GaAs substrates are reported. The MnSb compounds grow nonhomogenously both on GaAs (111) B and on GaAs (100) substrates. In x-ray diffraction studies the formation of two epitaxial domains is observed depending on the crystallographic orientation of the substrate. The observed diffusion of Ga atoms from the sub

Small globular proteins, highly abundant in the antennal sensillar lymph and in the mammalian nasal mucus, and capable of binding odorant molecules have been discovered. They have led to the concept that odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) and chemosensory proteins (CSPs) may optimize the reception of hydrophobic stimuli molecules by enhancing their solubilization in the aqueous environment that bath

The isothermal pseudo-ternary-phase diagram was determined at 25 degreesC for systems composed of lecithin, water, and, as oil, either isooctane or decane. This was accomplished by a combination of polarizing microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering, and NMR techniques. The lecithin-rich region of the phase diagram is dominated by a lamellar liquid-crystalline phase (L-alpha). For lecithin content

Macroarray analysis was used to compare equal amounts of cDNA from wild-type and rd/rd (retinal degeneration) mice, collected at P90 when photoreceptor degeneration is virtually complete. A stronger signal for the glycolytic enzyme phosphoglucose isomerase (Gpi1) was observed in the rd/rd sample. Extracellularly, Gpi1 may act as a cytokine, independently described as neuroleukin and autocrine moti

Abstract is not available

The use of trimethylsilyl (TMS)-derivatisation for determining muramic acid in environmental and clinical samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry provides high detection sensitivity; however, questions have been raised as concerns the chemical structure of the entity giving the strong signal of m/z 185. In the present communication we present evidence that this entity results from the form

Purpose To collect data for the development of a more universally useful logistic regression model to distinguish between a malignant and benign adnexal tumor before surgery. Patients and Methods Patients had at least one persistent mass. More than 50 clinical and sonographic end points were defined and recorded for analysis. The outcome measure was the histologic classification of excised tissues

A 10-year multicentre analysis of the frequency of sensitivity to common preservatives collected in 16 centres in 11 countries has shown stable but persisting high levels of sensitivity to formaldehyde and 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one + 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (MCI/MI). It has also revealed a significant increase in the level of reactivity to methyldibromoglutaronitrile (MDBGN) fro

Expressions for first-order induced electronic transition matrix elements are derived within the coupled-cluster response theory framework. When combined with electric-dipole and spin-orbit operators, these matrix elements allow the calculation of radiative transition probabilities between singlet ground and triplet excited states. An implementation employing an atomic mean-field representation of