The second messenger cAMP mediates potentiation of glucose-stimulated insulin release. Use of inhibitors of cAMP-hydrolyzing phosphodiesterase (PDE) 3 and overexpression of PDE3B in vitro have demonstrated a regulatory role for this enzyme in insulin secretion. In this work, the physiological significance of PDE3B-mediated degradation of cAMP for the regulation of insulin secretion in vivo and glu

Software process improvement often lacks strong links to project management and control activities, which are concerned with identifying the need of process change and triggering improvement initiatives. Project management, on the other hand, often fails at selecting appropriate software engineering methods and technology that help to ensure project success. This paper proposes a model that guides

Proton-detected NMR diffusion and P-31 NMR chemical shifts/bandwidths measurements were used to investigate a series of liposomal formulations where size and PEGylation extent need to be controlled for ultrasound mediated drug release. The width of the P-31 line is sensitive to aggregate size and shape and self-diffusion H-1 NMR conveys information about diffusional motion, size, and PEGylation ex

The breakup of 12Be into 6He+6He and 4He+8He has been studied using a 378 MeV 12Be beam inelastically excited by 12C and (CH2)n targets. The measurements indicate that breakup occurs from rotational states in the 10 to 25 MeV excitation energy interval, with spins in the range of 4ħ to 8ħ. The inferred moment of inertia is consistent with the cluster decay of an exotic molecular structure in 12Be,

The mechanical properties of polystyrene/polyamide-6 (50/50 wt/wt) blends were improved by additions of small amounts of poly(styrene-g-ethylene oxide) (SEO) during compounding by extrusion. Tensile testing of injection-molded samples revealed that the blends developed a yield point after addition of 1 wt % SEO. The elongation at break increased by almost a factor of 6, and the impact strength inc

We analysed five data sets of night directions of migrating arctic waders ill relation to,winds, recorded by tracking radar and optical range finder, in order to find out if these birds compensate for wind drift, or allow themselves to be drifted by winds. Our purpose was to investigate whether arctic waders use adaptive wind drift strategies or not. The data sets were collected in Siberia (two se

Objective: Evaluation of colposcopic and histopathological findings in women screened for cervical human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid persistence. Study design: A total of 12527 women, aged 32 to 38 years old, attending the population-based cervical cancer screening program in Sweden were randomized 1:1 to mock testing or human papillomavirus deoxyribonucleic acid testing by general primer

Objective. To investigate the prevalence of current and chronic pain and their relationship to pain intensity, sex, age, income, employment status, citizenship, marital status, urban residence, occupational activity, and healthcare-seeking based on a representative sample from a Swedish county. Methods. A cross-sectional survey using a postal questionnaire was sent to a representative sample (n =

Previous studies on patients with breast cancer, who received postsurgical irradiation, displayed a markedly suppressed inflammatory response in the lung of smoking patients compared to nonsmokers. The aim of the present study was to investigate further the effect of exposure to tobacco smoke on the development of irradiation-induced pneumonitis in the rat. Four groups of animals were used: contro

The hallmark of severe haemophilia, defined as a circulating level of factor (F) VIII (haemophilia A cases) or FIX (haemophilia B cases) of < 1%, is recurrent bleeding into muscles and joints (haemarthroses) from an early age of life. The inevitable result of such bleeding is progressive joint damage, leading to disabling arthritis that is typically evident within the first 2 decades of life in pe

Coexistence between genetically modified (GM) and non-GM plants is a field of rapid development and considerable controversy. In crops, it is increasingly important to understand and predict the GM volunteer emergence in subsequent non-GM crops. Theoretical models suggest recruitment from the seedbank over extended periods, but empirical evidence matching these predictions has been scarce. Here, w

The electronic structure of a vapor-sublimated thin film of metal-free phthalocyanine (H2Pc) is studied experimentally and theoretically. An atom-specific picture of the occupied and unoccupied electronic states is obtained using x-ray-absorption spectroscopy (XAS), core- and valence-level x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and density-functional theory (DFT) calculations. The DFT calculation

A pyridoxamine equivalent, 9-aminothioxanthene 10,10-dioxide, has been designed that is capable of affording transamination in good to excellent yields of natural as well as artificial amino acids. Amidines and guanidines in catalytic amounts were capable of performing [1,3]-proton transfer in the imines under mild conditions, whereas various simple amines failed. The use of chiral catalysts resul

The introduction of exchange-traded credit default swap (CDS) index futures is eminent and this development in the credit market is the subject of this article. A theoretically appealing and practically implementable approach to computing accurate futures margins based on extreme value theory is suggested. The approach is then exemplified with a study of the increasingly popular iTraxx Europe CDS

Many of the morphological features of animals are considered to be adaptations to the habitat that the animals utilize. The habitats utilized by birds vary, perhaps more than for any other group of vertebrates. Here, we study possible adaptations in the morphology of the skeletal elements of the hind limbs to the habitat of birds. Measurements of the lengths of the femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometa