Trophoblast invasion is regulated by proteinases and their inhibitors. Cystatin C inhibits cysteine proteinases. The serum concentration of cystatin C is increased in late pregnancy and pre-eclampsia. We aimed to investigate whether the expression of cystatin C is increased in the pre-eclamptic placenta and to investigate the expression pattern of cystatin C mRNA and protein in placental tissue. T

Aims: Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART)-peptide is found in the brain and participates in the control of feeding behavior. It is also expressed in the peripheral nervous system and is suggested to have neuromodulatory and/or neurotrophic effects in rat intestine. The aims of this study were to investigate the presence of CART-peptide in the normal ganglionic as well as aganglion

We use extended Mie theory to investigate optical forces induced by and acting on small silver nanoparticle aggregates excited at surface plasmon resonance. It is shown that single molecules can be trapped at junctions between closely spaced nanoparticles, which are simultaneously pulled together by optical forces. These effects could significantly influence surface-enhanced Raman scattering and r

In animal eyes of the camera type longitudinal chromatic aberration causes defocus that is particularly severe in species with short depth of focus. In a variety of vertebrates, multifocal optical systems compensate for longitudinal chromatic aberration by concentric zones of different refractive powers. Since a constricting circular pupil blocks peripheral zones, eyes with multifocal optical syst

Motility of the pharyngoesophageal segment (PES) was monitored by cineradiography (50 frames a second) during barium swallow and analyzed by a computerized topographic mapping of sagittal wall motion. Through measurement of wall displacement on 20 consecutive levels of the PES, distention, contraction, and peristalsis were studied. Topographic mapping of three patients with normal PES motility, de

objective Leptin and growth hormone-binding protein (GHBP) both show gender differences that might be explained by sex hormones. To study the potential relevance of oestradiol and testosterone, we have examined 80-year-old subjects in whom oestradiol is higher in men than in women. The interrelationships between leptin, insulin, GHBP and fat mass in this age group were also investigated. design a

Little information is available on associations between rhinitis and chronic bronchitis/emphysema (CBE). Self-reported upper airway symptoms, asthma, and CBE were examined in 12,079 adults living in southern Sweden. The response rate was 70% (n=8,469), of whom 33% reported significant nasal symptoms: a blocked nose was reported by 21%; sneezing by 18%; nasal discharge by 17%; and thick yellow nasa

Background/Objective The Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS) Scale was developed to determine elderly patients' disturbances of awareness and orientation as to time, place and own identity, and assessment of various emotional and behavioural symptoms appearing in delirium, dementia and other organic mental diseases. The aim of the study was to examine the OBS Scale, using the eight criteria and guideline

Signaling factors involved in CNS development have been used to control the differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) into mesencephalic dopamine (mesDA) neurons, but tend to generate a limited yield of desired cell type. Here we show that forced expression of Lmx1a, a transcription factor functioning as a determinant of mesDA neurons during embryogenesis, effectively can promote the generati

The aim is to highlight the influence of patients' gender on Lyme borreliosis and especially erythema migrans (EM), focusing on exposure to tick bites, epidemiology, and the clinical picture. All studies were conducted in the county of Blekinge, located in southeastern Sweden. A prospective study was conducted in 235 individuals (women, n = 110; men, n = 125) engaged in recreational or occupationa

Hypoglycaemia is presumed to be the cause of death in about 3% of insulin-treated diabetic patients. Some of these patients suffer from hypoglycaemic brain damage, but the majority have no evident brain damage and are supposed to have died from other causes such as a cardiac arrhythmia. The putative mechanism is a hypoglycaemia-induced prolongation of the QT interval which increases the risk of ma

The present paper reviews the metabolic basis of different methods for fermentative glycerol production. The most important microbial production organism is the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae but other yeast species, as well as molds, algae, and bacteria are of potential interest for glycerol production. A large variety of methods have been applied to increase the fermentative glycerol yield. The

In this paper we consider a Black and Scholes economy and show how the Malliavin calculus approach can be extended to cover hedging of any square integrable contingent claim. As an application we derive the replicating portfolios of some barrier and partial barrier options.

Digital human modelling (DHM) is commonly utilised for vehicle and workplace design in the automotive industry. More rarely are the tools applied in the health care industry, albeit having similar objectives for cost-efficiency and User-centred design processes. The paper illustrates how a DHM tool is modified and utilised to evaluate a bathing system design from caretakers' and caregivers' ergono

For several decades etiological diagnosis of patients with idiopathic mental retardation (MR) and multiple congenital anomalies (MCA) has relied on chromosome analysis by karyotyping. Conventional karyotyping allows a genome-wide detection of chromosomal abnormalities but has a limited resolution. Recently, array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array CGH) technologies have been developed

The kinetics of structure change when dispersions of two different types of lipid-based liquid-crystalline phases, one lamellar and one reversed, are mixed has been investigated using synchrotron small-angle X-ray diffraction and ellipsometry. The systems studied were (i) cubic-phase nanoparticles (CPNPs) based on glycerol monooleate (GMO) stabilized with a nonionic block copolymer, Pluronic F-127