Most stars form in some sort of stellar cluster or association. In such environments the number density of stars is much higher than in the solar neighbourhood, which means that close encounters between stars may be relatively common. Using numerical simulations we quantify the fraction of single stars in the solar neighbourhood that have never suffered a close encounter or been part of a binary s

Deadwood is a key indicator for assessing policy and management impacts on forest biodiversity. We developed an approach to include deadwood in the large-scale European Forest Information Scenario (EFISCEN) model and analysed impacts of intensifying forest biomass removal on the amount and type of deadwood in forests of 24 European Union member states. In EFISCEN, deadwood consists of standing and

Abstract Introduction: The prehospital emergency care has had a rapid progress in Sweden in terms of technology, treatments and personnel education demands. In the County of Skane there is at least one specialized nurse in every ambulance. Possible misuses of the resources by the public have been acknowledged. Aim: To investigate the public’s use, knowledge and expectations of the prehospital emer

Well-defined, stable and highly structured I2 (Fd3[combining macron]m) liquid crystalline nanoparticles (LCNP) of 50/50 (wt/wt) soy phosphatidylcholine (SPC)/glycerol dioleate (GDO), can be formed by using a low fraction (5-10 wt%) of the dispersing polymeric surfactant polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monooleate (polysorbate 80 or P80). In the present study we used small angle neutron scattering (SA

The LACIS Experiment in November (LExNo) campaign was conducted in November 2005 at the Atmospheric Composition Change the European Network of Excellence (ACCENT) site Leipzig Aerosol Cloud Interaction Simulator (LACIS). The goal of LExNo was to provide deeper insight into the activation properties of coated soot particles imitating aged combustion aerosol particles. The aerosols were prepared by

5-fluorouracil (5FU) and mitomycin C (MMC)-based chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is standard treatment for anal squamous cell carcinoma. In this phase I study cetuximab was added and the primary aim was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of 5FU and MMC in this combination.

This article offers an empirical example of how power and rationality interact in coastal resource planning and management and reveals their implications for meaningful public participation in such processes. Participation has gained significant popularity over the last decades especially regarding the need to develop appropriate and democratic opportunities for meaningful public involvement in re

The 309T>G polymorphism in the promoter region of the MDM2 gene, known as SNP309, has recently been suggested as an unfavorable prognostic marker in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) although this has been questioned. To investigate this further, we analyzed the MDM2 SNP309 genotypes in 418 CLL patients and correlated the results with established CLL prognostic factors, time to treatment and over

Selected reaction monitoring (SRM) is a mass spectrometry method with documented ability to quantify proteins accurately and reproducibly using labeled reference peptides. However, the use of labeled reference peptides becomes impractical if large numbers of peptides are targeted and when high flexibility is desired when selecting peptides. We have developed a label-free quantitative SRM workflow

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) is an incretin hormone with extrapancreatic effects beyond glycemic control. Here we demonstrate unexpected effects of GIP signaling in the vasculature. GIP induces the expression of the pro-atherogenic cytokine osteopontin (OPN) in mouse arteries, via local release of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and activation of cAMP response element binding protein (CR

The article delves deeper into the theoretically perplexing practice of Slovenian music band Laibach, which draws links to Stalinism, fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism in general. The author presents a different reading than the more established Žižekian resolution of the issue via his introduction of the notion of ‘over-identification', meaning the critique of a regime by taking it more serious

Water calorimetric measurements have been performed in a 180 MeV scanned pulsed proton beam and the absorbed dose determined has been compared with the results obtained using two NE2571 Farmer chambers and the IAEA TRS-398 code of practice. The depth of measurement in water corresponded to a residual range of R-res = 16.5 cm, corresponding to a mean energy of about 150 MeV. Ionization chambers wer

Proximity of user has been established as a major cause of performance degradation in multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) terminals. Here, we investigate the potential of adaptive impedance matching (AIM) to improve the performance of two MIMO terminals in a free space (FS) and a two-hand (TH) user scenario, assuming uniform 3D angular power spectrum for the incoming signal. The results show tha

Cluster analysis of particle number size distributions from background sites across Europe is presented. This generated a total of nine clusters of particle size distributions which could be further combined into two main groups, namely: a south-to-north category (four clusters) and a west-to-east category (five clusters). The first group was identified as most frequently being detected inside and

To assess the reproducibility of 3D delayed gadolinium-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) at 3 T in early stage knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. In 20 patients, 3D dGEMRIC at 3 T was acquired twice within 7 days. To correct for patient motion during acquisition, all images were rigidly registered in 3D. Eight anatomical cartilage ROIs were analysed on both images of each patient. Capability of

Cyclin D1 and its binding partners CDK4/6 are essential regulators of cell cycle progression and are implicated in cancer progression. Our aim was to investigate a potential regulatory role of these proteins in other essential tumor biological characteristics. Using a panel of breast cancer cell lines and primary human breast cancer samples, we have demonstrated the importance of these cell cycle

This paper studies the L² (mean-square) optimal design of discrete-time FIR estimators. A solution procedure, which reduces the problem to a static matrix optimization problem admitting a closed-form solution, is proposed. In the latter solution, a special state-space structure of the associated matrices is exploited to obtain efficient formulae with the computational complexity proportional to th

Inflammatory responses play a vital role at different stages of colorectal carcinogenesis. C-type lectins mediate inflammatory/immune responses and participate in immune escape of pathogens and tumors. Our study aimed to evaluate the correlation between polymorphisms in three C-type lectin genes, CD209, MBL2 and REG4, and colorectal cancer (CRC) risk and clinical outcome. We genotyped 15 potential