Previous studies suggest that obesity is related to increased risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC); however, only a few studies report on measures of central vs. peripheral adiposity. We examined the association between anthropometric measures, including waist and hip circumference and RCC risk among 348,550 men and women free of cancer at baseline from 8 countries of the European Prospective Invest

PURPOSE: To assess the visual results, retinal detachment (RD) rate, incidence of glaucoma, and intraocular lens (IOL) placement after vitrectomy for removal of retained lens fragments in the vitreous after phacoemulsification. SETTING: Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital of Lund, Lund, Sweden. METHODS: This retrospective noncomparative interventional case series included all cases of

Abstract in SpanishResumen: La tarea de la semiótica de la imagen no consiste solamente en determinar la especificidad de la imagen como signo, sino también en describir las particularidades de diferentes imágenes, como son, por ejemplo, el dibujo, la fotografía y la imagen de computadora. El presente texto describe, primero, el desarrollo del signo del tipo de laAbstract: The task of pictorial se

The elicitation of a positive patch test reaction in a given individual depends upon the dose of the sensitizer applied, the patch test technique and the occlusion time. The dose is determined by the concentration and volume/amount of test preparation applied. If the same amount/volume of a test preparation is applied all the time with the same test technique (same area of skin) and occlusion time

We find effective, or homogenized, material parameters for Maxwell's equations when the microscopic scale becomes small compared to the scale induced by the frequencies of the imposed currents. After defining a singular value decomposition of the non-self-adjoint partial differential operator, we expand the electromagnetic field in the modes corresponding to the singular values and show that only

Different simple methods for evaluating the diffusivity from a sorption measurement are presented and tested when there is a surface resistance (a limited mass transfer coefficient), a non-perfect step in relative humidity or non-Fickian effects. It is concluded that the different methods have different qualities and it is impossible to give a general recommendation on which method to use. The bes

Although the calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) cyclosporine (CsA) and tacrolimus are highly effective immunosuppressants, they are associated with serious side effects. There is great interest in immunosuppressive regimens that permit reduction or elimination of CNIs, while maintaining adequate immunosuppression and acceptable acute rejection rates. Patients (n = 536) receiving their first renal allogr

Transmembrane receptors with intrinsic serine/threonine or tyrosine kinase domains regulate vital functions of cells in multicellular eukaryotes, e.g., differentiation, apoptosis, and proliferation. Here, we show that bone rnorphogenetic protein type II receptor (BMPR-II)which has a serine/threonine kinase domain, and stem cell factor receptor (c-kit) which contains a tyrosine kinase domain form a

The moisture-induced warping of three-layered cross-laminated solid wood panels made of Norway spruce was studied. The panels were exposed to different climate conditions at 65% and 100% relative humidity at the two panel faces. The results showed increasing cup deformation with an increasing relative thickness of the outer layers. The annual growth ring orientation was found to have a significant

We consider small systems of bosonic atoms rotating in a toroidal trap. Using the method of exact numerical diagonalization of the many-body Hamiltonian, we examine the transition from the Bose-Einstein condensed state to the Tonks-Girardeau state. The system supports persistent currents in a wide range between the two limits, even in the absence of Bose-Einstein condensation.

Wear curves from individual patients often show unexplained irregular wear curves or impossible values (negative wear). We postulated errors of two-dimensional wear measurements are mainly the result of radiographic projection differences. We tested a new method that makes two-dimensional wear measurements less sensitive for radiograph projection differences of cemented THAs. The measurement error

BACKGROUND: Endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS) up-regulates inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in blood vessels during septic shock. This promotes the production of nitric oxide (NO), leading to dilation of the vessels. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of the LPS-binding endogenous antibiotic bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI) on the action of LPS on the blo

Many paleoceanographic reconstructions of the glacial North Atlantic include estimates of iceberg discharge, which are based on the variable abundance of ice-rafted detritus (IRD) in deep-sea sediments. IRD abundance is most often determined by the mechanical separation and painstaking counting of terrigenous particles larger than a specified threshold grain size, typically 150 mum. Here we presen

The laterally and mutually constrained inversion (LCI and MCI) techniques allow for the combined inversion of multiple geophysical datasets and provide a sensitivity analysis of all model parameters. The LCI and MCI work with few-layered models, and are restricted to quasi-layered geological environments. LCI is used successfully for inversion of surface wave (SW) seismic data and MCI for combined

This study presents an analysis of how the media reported the 2007 elections in Turkey. Past research on election campaign media coverage, particularly newspapers, suggests that the media can play an important role in informing voters. However, much of the research on campaign media coverage has focused on Western democracies with little attention paid to how features of the media system such as p

In the weedy plant species Allium vineale (wild garlic), individuals may simultaneously produce sexually and asexually derived offspring, by seed and bulbils, respectively. In this study, genetic and genotypic diversity was determined in samples from 14 European A. vineale populations using nuclear (RAPD) and cytoplasmic (PCR-RFLP of cpDNA) markers to investigate the importance of the different re

We have evaluated if any differences in tumor radiosensitization exist between the two adenosine diphosphate ribosyl transferase (ADPRT) inhibitors nicotinamide and benzamide at fractionated low doses. A significant radiosensitizing effect with nicotinamide at a 10 mg/kg per day dose was found in the tumor model used. We found, however, no radiosensitizing effect with benzamide given according to