Proghrelin, the precursor of the orexigenic and adipogenic peptide hormone ghrelin, is synthetized in endocrine (A-like) cells in the gastric mucosa. During its cellular processing, proghrelin gives rise to the 28-amino acid peptide desacyl ghrelin, which after octanoylation becomes active acyl ghrelin, and to the 23-amino acid peptide obestatin, claimed to be a physiological opponent of acyl ghre

The Schrodinger equation on a graph together with a set of self-adjoint boundary conditions at the vertices determine a quantum graph. If the graph has one or more infinite edges one can associate a scattering matrix to the quantum graph. It is proved that if such a graph has internal symmetries then the boundary conditions, and hence the self-adjoint operator describing the quantum system, in gen

The role of microglia recruited from bone marrow (BM) into the CNS during the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is poorly understood. To investigate whether beta-amyloid (Abeta) associated microglia are derived from blood monocytes, we transplanted BM cells from enhanced green fluorescent protein expressing mice into young or old transgenic AD mice and determined the engraftment of BM-derive

BACKGROUND: There is a need for prosthetic venous conduits in surgery for trauma, cancer and thrombotic disease. Such conduits in use today have a low patency rate, leaving room for much improvement. METHODS: This experimental study investigated the dynamics of the early attachment of radiolabelled platelets, leucocytes and fibrinogen to endothelial cell-seeded Dacron venous conduits in sheep. Gra

Solar mean magnetic field (SMMF) measurements from the Wilcox Solar Observatory and with the SOHO/MDI instrument are described and analyzed. Even though two completely different methods of observation are used, the two data sets obtained show a strong similarity. Using continuous wavelet transforms, SMMF variability is found at a number of temporal scales. Detected SMMF signals with a 1–2 year per

A simple optical dosimeter was used to measure the light intensity in rat liver and muscle in vivo with fibers positioned at different depths to investigate whether the light penetration changed during photodynamic therapy (PDT). The results were then correlated with measurements of the three optical-interaction coefficients mu(s), mu(a), and g for wavelengths in the range 500-800 nm for PDT-treat

In a periodically changing environment it is important for animals to properly time the major events of their life in order to maximise their lifetime fitness. For a non-migratory bird the timing of breeding and moult are thought to be the most crucial. We develop a state-dependent optimal annual routine model that incorporates explicit density dependence in the food supply. In the model the birds

Stratigraphical relationships, facies and petrographical evidences define a rocky shoreline in the Late Wenlock of Gotland. The major facies-elements forming the rocky shoreline are 1) several subaerially exposed reefs, which were eroded during falling base-level and which form the topography, and 2), onlap of oolite grainstones which were deposited during the subsequent rise of the base-level. Fi

A new pathway for triacylglycerol biosynthesis involving a phospholipid:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (PDAT) was recently described (Dahlqvist A, Stahl U, Lenman M, Banas A, Lee M, Sandager L, Ronne H, Stymne S, [2000] Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97: 6487-6492). The LRO1 gene that encodes the PDAT was identified in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and shown to have homology with animal lecithin:choles

Proteins can adjust their structure and function in response to shifting environments. Functional diversity is created not only by the sequence but by changes in tertiary structure. Here we present evidence that lipid cofactors may enable otherwise unstable protein folding variants to maintain their conformation and to form novel, biologically active complexes. We have identified unsaturated C18 f

This paper describes a method, utilizing acoustic force manipulation of suspended particles, in which particles in a laminar flow microchannel are continuously translated from one medium to another with virtually no mixing of the two media. During the study, 5-mum polyamide spheres suspended in distilled water, spiked (contaminated) with Evans blue, were switched over to clean distilled water. Mor

Electrokinetic measurements such as electrophoresis may show an inversion of the effective surface charge of colloidal particle called overcharging. This phenomenon has been studied by various theoretical approaches but up to now very few attempts of confrontation between theory and experiment have been conducted. In this work we report electrophoretic measurements as well as Monte Carlo simulatio

We have studied the biosynthesis of mucins in organ cultures of human colon using isopycnic density-gradient centrifugation following pulse labelling with [35S]sulphate and [3H]-D-glucosamine. A high-density [35S]sulphate labelled component, of larger size than MUC2 monomers, appeared in the tissue and also in the medium. It was not degraded by reduction, trypsin digestion, digestion with chondroi

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes caused by chronic diabetes in the rat ventral prostate and to establish a correlation between diabetes and the development of prostatic lesions. Male rats received alloxan (42 mg/kg b.w.) to induce diabetes. Ninety days after diabetes diagnosis, animals were sacrificed and the ventral prostate was removed and prepared for general and immunohistoche

Currently, the mechanism by which anesthesia occurs is thought to involve the direct binding of inhaled anesthetics to ligand-gated ion channels. This hypothesis is being studied using four--helix bundles as model systems for the transmembrane domains of the natural "receptor" proteins. This study concerns the role in anesthetic binding played by aromatic side chains in the binding cavity of a fou

Magnetic resonance imaging with chemical shift resolution is demonstrated to provide detailed information about molecular transport on the macroscopic scale in complex colloidal systems. The concentrations of species with distinct 1 H resonance lines can be quantified from spatially resolved, high-resolution, H-1 nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. The method is demonstrated by experiments on thre

Pressurized hot liquid water and steam were used to investigate the possibilities of extracting insecticides (carbofuran, carbosulfan, and imidacloprid) from contaminated process dust remaining from seed-pellet production. Extraction temperature was the most important parameter in influencing the extraction efficiency and rate of extraction, while varying the pressure had no profound effect. A cle