We examined the effect of 17alpha-ethinylestradiol on immunity of the Western fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis. Injection of 17alpha-ethinylestradiol resulted in dose-dependent suppression of peripheral blood leukocyte levels as determined by cell counts, whereas total spleen cell levels were decreased only at higher doses of 17alpha-ethinylestradiol. In contrast, spleen cell proliferation wa

There is a need for a deeper understanding of and discussion about different cultures' influences on life-views and ethical reasoning among professionals within healthcare. A culture can be seen as a set of guidelines, both explicit and implicit, which individuals inherit as members of a particular society, and which tells them how to view the world and how to behave in it in relation to other peo

OBJECTIVE-Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) is often considered a slowly progressing subtype of type 1 diabetes, although the clinical picture more resembles type 2 diabetes. One way to improve classification is to study whether LADA shares genetic features with type 1 and/or type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS-To accomplish this we studied whether LADA shares variation in the H

This paper describes tuning procedures for dead-time compensating controllers (DTC). Both stable and integrating processes are considered. Simple experiments are performed to obtain process models as well as bounds on the allowable bandwidth for stability. The DTC's used have few parameters with clear physical interpretation so that manual tuning is possible. Furthermore, it is shown how the DTC's

Influence of gamma irradiation (Co-60-rays) with doses in the range up to 30 kGy was studied on gelatinisation of wheat starch, wheat flour and potato starch. Differential scanning calorimetry was then applied at several heating and cooling cycles for studies of the effect of irradiation with a 30 kGy dose on interaction of wheat starch with their native lipids and potato starch with admixed 1-mon

OBJECTIVE: Preoperative radiotherapy of patients with rectal carcinoma is frequently used to reduce the incidence of local recurrence. However, the radiation therapy is associated with several complications, including diarrhea, retarded anastomotic healing and mucosal atrophy. Exogenous administration of lactobacilli has been demonstrated to be effective in stimulating intestinal mucosal growth an

This paper presents theoretical and experimentalresults on observer-based impedance control for forcecontrol without velocity feedback. As the velocity may notavailable to measurement, which is often the case for industrialrobots, an observer was designed to reconstruct velocityin such a way that it be useful for stabilizing feedbackcontrol and to modification of the damping in the impedancerelati

Retinal progenitor cells (RPCs) are self-renewing cells capable of differentiating into the different retinal cell types including photoreceptors, and they have shown promise as a source of replacement cells in experimental models of retinal degeneration. We hypothesized that a biodegradable polymer scaffold could deliver these cells to the subretinal space in a more organized manner than bolus in

The lignocellulosic materials spruce (softwood), Salix (hardwood) and corn stover (agricultural residue) are all potential feedstock for ethanol production. In this study the utilization of these materials for bioethanol production was compared in terms of production cost and energy demand using a process concept based on SO2-catalysed steam pretreatment followed by simultaneous saccharification a

This study deals with the interplay between the interfacial structure of lipid liquid crystalline (1c) substrates and the lipolysis rate. Thermomyces (formerly Humicola) lanuginosa lipase (TLL) was added to lamellar (L-alpha), reversed bicontinuous cubic (C), and reversed hexagonal (H-II)1c phases, based on monoolein (MO), MO-sodium oleate (NaO), MO-oleic acid (OA), and MO-diolein (DO) with water.

The relationship between the Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fishes), the Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) and the piscine Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fishes), and how the Tetrapoda (four-limbed terrestrial vertebrates) are related to these has been a contentious issue for more than a century. A general consensus about the relationship of these vertebrate clades has gradually emerged among morpholo

We investigate a class of random graph ensembles based on the Feynman graphs of multidimensional integrals, representing statistical-mechanical partition functions. We show that the resulting ensembles of random graphs strongly resemble those defined in random graphs with hidden color, generalizing the known relation of the Feynman graphs of simple one-dimensional integrals to random graphs with a

PURPOSE: To compare perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy (V-P scan) in the study of perfusion abnormalities in pulmonary embolism (PE) and to compare the PE results to the findings previously reported for pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in terms of perfusion abnormalities. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR i

An analytic solution of the Brinkman and Stokes equations for a rigid sphere surrounded by a porous shell in pure straining flow is presented. The solution permits for an analytic determination of the intrinsic viscosity in the dilutelimiting expansion for the steady shear viscosity. The porous layer, characterized by a thickness and a constant permeability, alters the intrinsic viscosity from the

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of primary hip osteoarthritis (OA) in Iceland. To compare the prevalence of primary hip OA in Iceland with published rates of primary hip OA for related Scandinavian populations.METHODS: Roentgenographs were examined of 1530 Icelandic people 35 years or older (653 males, 877 females) subjected to colon radiography during the years 1990-1996. The radiographs exam

A study has been made of the mechanism of action of intradiscal injections of preparations of chymopapain in the treatment of sciatica. Such preparations were found to contain at least four distinct proteins, but enzymatically active chymopapain was the component mainly responsible for releasing glycosaminoglycan from cartilaginous tissue. Previous suggestions that an electrostatic interaction bet