Background: Modern medicine provides unprecedented opportunities in diagnostics and treatment. However, in some situations at the end of a patient's life, many physicians refrain from using all possible measures to prolong life. We studied the incidence of different types of treatment withheld or withdrawn in 6 European countries and analyzed the main background characteristics. Methods: Between J

This paper includes a discussion and classification of what is generally referred to as '"Forbidden lines"' in atomic physics. Historical and important examples are reviewed, in light of their challenge to computations and remaining disagreements between experiment and theory. We also review some recent results on what could be labeled the third generation of unexpected transitions, induced by hyp

Objective: In order to correct the primary von Willebrand factor (VWF) defect and avoid supra-physiologic plasma levels of factor VIII, a pure VWF concentrate almost devoid of FVIII was developed and used in France since 1989. Methods: The pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of the most recent version of this concentrate (Wilfactin (R); LFB, Les Ulis, France), treated with three virus-inactivation/remova

Are places with a successful tourist industry also successful when it comes to attracting migrants? In the present paper this hypothesis is empirically tested on interregional migration in Sweden. The paper draws on recent interest in, and research on, the relationship between tourism and migration. This line of research could be seen as an extension of traditional quality of life studies on migra

Palynological samples from Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic exposures and borehole sections of the Hoganas and Rya formations (Fm), NW Skane (Sweden), exhibit diverse and generally well-preserved palynomorph assemblages that can be divided into four miospore zones (from bottom to top): (1) the informal "Topmost upper Rhaetian" zone of Lund; (2) the TSI assemblage zone which spans the Triassic-Jur

AIMS: Prolongation of interatrial conduction time has been reported in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). The study objective was to localize the region of the conduction delay in patients with lone PAF. METHODS AND RESULTS: Twenty-one patients with lone PAF and 23 patients with AV nodal re-entrant tachycardia ablation without history of PAF (control group) were recruited. Endocar

Measurements of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were performed in 16 women suffering from spider phobia. The non-invasive 133Xe inhalation method, giving information about the blood flow of superficial areas, was used. The subjects were studied under three conditions: during resting, when exposed to a videotape showing nature scenery, and finally when watching a video with living spiders. Duri

This article addresses the predominant degradation modes and life prediction of a plasma-sprayed thermal barrier coating (TBC). The studied TBC system consists of an air-plasm a-sprayed bond coat and an air-plasma-sprayed, yttria partially stabilized zirconia top layer on a conventional Hastelloy X substrate. Thermal shock tests of air-sprayed TBC and pre-oxidized TBC specimens were conducted unde

The conversion of sodium lactate to lactic acid with water-splitting electrodialysis was investigated. One way of reducing the power consumption is to add a conductive layer to the acid compartment. Doing this reduced the power consumption by almost 50% in a two-compartment cell, whereas the electric current efficiency was not affected at all. Three different solutions were treated in the electrod

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are characterized by deregulated proliferation. Ki-67 is a cell cycle antigen which may be elevated in proliferative states. We analysed Ki-67 expression in fixed and embedded tissues from STS in order to examine associations between proliferation, primary tumour characteristics, and metastasis. One hundred and eighty-two adult patients with trunk wall or extremity STS w

The glucose/xylose facilitator Gxf1 from Candida intermedia was expressed in the recombinant xylose-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain TMB 3057. The new strain, TMB 3411, displayed approximately two times lower K (m) for xylose transport compared to a control strain not expressing Gxf1. In aerobic batch cultivation, the specific growth rate was significantly higher at low xylose concentrat

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether baseline quality of life (QoL) and changes in QoL scores from baseline are prognostic for time to progression (TTP) and/or overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced breast cancer receiving docetaxel (T) or sequential methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (MF). QoL was assessed at baseline and before each treatment using the European Organization

IEEE802.11 WLANs show increasing growth in popularity. Since these networks operate in the unlicensed ISM bands where the number of non-overlapping channels is limited, the growing number of wireless nodes leads to interference. It is well known that the interference leads to degraded performance of WLANs, especially in densely populated areas where the number of overlapping nodes is very large. C

Replacing fossil fuels by bio-fuels has many advantages, such as the reduction of CO2-emission to the atmosphere, the possibility for non-oil-producing countries to be self-sufficient in fuel, and increased local job opportunities. Bio-ethanol is such a promising renewable fuel. However, today it is produced from sugar or starch-raw materials that are relatively expensive. To lower the production