Objective: Vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) is a recently introduced method for the treatment of poststernotomy mediastinitis. The aim was to examine the effects of VAC negative pressure on peristernal soft tissue, blood flow after internal mammary artery harvesting. Methods: Microvascular blood flow was measured using laser Doppler velocimetry in a porcine sternotomy wound model. The effect of VAC n

In an attempt to enhance the quality of internal medicine practice and to reform the education of internists across Europe, the European Board of Internal Medicine (formed by the European Federation of Internal Medicine and the European Union of Medical Specialists Section of Internal Medicine) has launched a project aimed at defining core competencies that are common to all internists. The compil

Objective To describe the outcome, assessed as the level of prostate specific antigen (PSA), of a mature (more than half the events recorded) prospective randomized study with a median follow-up of 82 months of neoadjuvant hormonal therapy before radical prostatectomy, as this has been suggested to decrease the rate of positive surgical margins (i.e. provide greater potential to completely excise

The production cost of cellulolytic enzymes is a major contributor to the high cost of ethanol production from lignocellulosics using enzymatic hydrolysis. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cellulolytic enzyme production of Trichoderma reesei Rut C 30, which is known as a good cellulase secreting micro-organism, using willow as the carbon source. The willow, which is a fast-growi

Continuous spray deposition (CSD) of aqueous solutions of partially depolymerised methyl cellulose was found to improve matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionisation (MALDI) sample preparation. One feature was that the sensitivity in MALDI time-of-flight mass spectrometry increased up to an order of magnitude compared with the standard sample preparation method. Another feature was that CSD provided

Although predation is thought to affect species divergence, the effects of predator-mediated natural selection on species divergence and in nonadaptive radiations have seldom been studied. Wing melanization in Calopteryx damselflies has important functions in sexual selection and interspecific interactions and in species recognition. The genus Calopteryx and other damselfly genera have also been p

In population-based studies, a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors comprising the metabolic syndrome (MetS) has been documented as predictive of cardiovascular disease events and type 2 diabetes. Currently, there are several proposed definitions of the MetS, although data support some advantages of using the 2005 National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III definition, which

Hartwig, Larsson and Silvestrov in [J.T. Hartwig, D. Larsson, S.D. Silvestrov, Deformations of Lie algebras using σ-derivations, J. Algebra 295 (2) (2006) 314–361] defined a bracket on σ-derivations of a commutative algebra. We show that this bracket preserves inner derivations, and based on this obtain structural results providing new insights into σ-derivations on Laurent polynomials in one vari

Objectives: To compare in an in vitro kinetic model the pharmacodynamics of moxifloxacin and levofloxacin with a concentration-time profile simulating the human free non-protein bound concentrations of 400 mg moxifloxacin intravenous (iv) once daily, 500 mg levofloxacin iv once daily and 750 mg levofloxacin iv once daily against strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiell

Gab1 is a scaffolding/docking protein that has been suggested to play a role in signal transduction downstream of certain plasma membrane receptors, including platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptors. We found that PDGF induced a rapid Gab1 phosphorylation, which depended on the recruitment of Grb2, indicating that Grb2 acts as a bridge between Gab1 and the PDGF -receptor. PDGF also enhance

The effects of sustained (up to 9 months) striatal overexpression of glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) on lesioned nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons was studied using a recombinant lentiviral (rLV) vector to deliver GDNF into the striatum 4 weeks prior to the creation of an intrastriatal 6-hydroxydopamine lesion. The results of the amphetamine-induced rotation suggested an initi

Several N-N-and N-O-containing compounds were analysed for their ability to act as substrates for horseradish peroxidase and peroxidases in Mycobacterium tuberculosis extracts. Aminoguanidine, diaminoguanidine, isoniazid, hydroxylamine and hydrazine were found to be weak substrates for horseradish peroxidase in reaction I and to inhibit the reaction of horseradish peroxidase with hydrogen peroxide

Yeasts belonging to the lineage that underwent whole-genome duplication (WGD) possess a good fermentative potential and can proliferate in the absence of oxygen. In this study, we analyzed the pre-WGD yeast Kluyveromyces lactis and its ability to grow under oxygen-limited conditions. Under these conditions, K. lactis starts to increase the glucose metabolism and accumulates ethanol and glycerol. H

Recent research has shown the potential for nonallopatric speciation, but we lack an adequate understanding of the mechanisms of prezygotic barriers and how these evolve in the presence of gene flow. The marine snail Littorina saxatilis has distinct ecotypes in different shore microhabitats. Ecotypes hybridize in contact zones, but gene flow is impeded by assortative mating. Earlier studies have s

Trophic factors secreted both from the endocardium and epicardium regulate appropriate growth of the myocardium during cardiac development. Epicardially-derived cells play also a key role in development of the coronary vasculature. This process involves transformation of epithelia] (epicardial) cells to mesenchymal cells (EMT). Similarly, a subset of endocardial cells undergoes EMT to form the mes

Fifty years after its prediction, the highest-lying [ 2 0 2] 3) 2 orbit among the six Nilsson single-particle orbits originating from the sd shell in prolately deformed nuclei and the rotational band on this orbit were identified. The band members were observed in Al-25 at excitation energies of 6-7.5MeV in a high-resolution Mg-25(He-3,t) charge-exchange reaction at 0 degrees having a strong selec