Total gaseous mercury (TGM) was measured onboard a passenger aircraft during monthly CARIBIC flights (Civil Aircraft for Regular Investigation of the Atmosphere Based on an Instrumented Container) made between May 2005 and March 2007 on the routes Frankfurt-Sao Paulo-Santiago de Chile and back and Frankfurt-Guangzhou-Manila and back. The data provide for the first time an insight into the seasonal

We investigated cancer incidence between 1958 and 1995 in 1873 individuals belonging to 29 consecutively identified BRCA1 and 20 BRCA2 associated families from Southern Sweden using data from parish and local tax authorities, as well as the Swedish Cancer Registry, Cause of Death Registry and Census Registry. 150 malignant tumours were analysed from 1145 relatives in the BRCA1 families and 87 tumo

Ferrous sulfate (Fe(SO4)2) PVA gels were investigated for a range of absorbed doses up to 20 Gy using both magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectrophotometry to determine R1 and optical density (OD) dose responses and G values. It was found that R1- and OD-dose sensitivities increased with O2 saturation or by the introduction of a freeze-thaw cycle during preparation of the PVA gel. The storag

The mechanism of hydrolysis of cellulose is important for improving the enzymatic conversion in bioprocesses based on lignocellulose. Adsorption and hydrolysis experiments were performed with cellobiohydrolase I (CBH I) and endoglucanase II (EG II) from Trichoderma reesei on a realistic lignocellulose substrates: steam-pretreated willow. The enzymes were studied both alone and in equimolar mixture

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to design, validate, and optimize internally standardized real-time quantitative RT-PCR assays and to identify and avoid problems with assay reliability and examine the impact of an exogenous internal standard. Design and methods: The model system consisted of internally standardized quantitative real-time RT-PCR assays specific for PSA and hK2 mRNA based

Objectives: This study investigates whether sequential addition of inverted, (negative) leads from the 24-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) to the orderly sequenced 12-lead ECG would identify a number of leads with which the sensitivity for diagnosis of acute transmural ischemia is significantly increased with minimal loss of specificity. Background: Acute transmural ischemia due to thrombotic coronary

There is strong evidence for the importance of genetic factors in idiopathic autism. The results from independent twin and family studies suggest that the disorder is caused by the action of several genes, possibly acting epistatically. We have used cDNA microarray technology for the identification of constitutional changes in the gene expression profile associated with idiopathic autism. Samples

To investigate the role of protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms in regulation of neurite outgrowth, PKCalpha, betaII, delta, and epsilon fused to enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) were transiently overexpressed in neuroblastoma cells. Overexpression of PKCepsilon-EGFP induced cell processes whereas the other isoforms did not. The effect of PKCepsilon-EGFP was not suppressed by the PKC inhibitor

The photochemistry of protochlorophyllide a, a precursor in the biosynthesis of chlorophyll and substrate of the light regulated enzyme protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase, is investigated by pump-probe spectroscopy. Upon excitation into the lowest lying Q-band the light induced changes ore recorded over a wide range of probe wavelengths in the visible and near-IR region between 500 and 1000 nm. Fo

Housing rats in an enriched environment after focal brain ischemia improves functional outcome without changes in infarct volume, suggesting neuroplastic changes outside the lesion. In this study, permanent occlusion of the middle cerebral artery was followed by housing in an enriched or a standard environment. Nerve growth factor-induced gene A and glucocorticoid receptor messenger RNA expression

Two-step steam pretreatment of softwood was investigated with the aim of improving the enzymatic digestibility for ethanol production. In the first step, softwood was impregnated with SO2 and steam pretreated at different severities. The first step was performed at low severity to hydrolyze the hemicellulose and release the sugars into the solution. The combination of time and temperature that yie

We describe a fixed parameter algorithm for computing the minimum weight triangulation (MWT) of a simple polygon with (n - k) vertices on the perimeter and k hole vertices in the interior, that is, for a total of n vertices. Our algorithm is based on cutting out empty triangles (that is, triangles not containing any holes) from the polygon and processing the parts or the rest of the polygon recurs

We applied 27k spotted cDNA microarray slides to assess gene expression profiles in 26 samples from 24 patients with synovial sarcomas (SS). The data were analyzed in relation to histopathologic type, cytogenetic aberrations, gene fusion type and development of distant metastases. Supervised analysis based on gene fusion type in 12 SS with SS18/SSXI and 9 with SS18/SSX2 revealed significant differ

Passivity arguments have long been used in the analysis of systems with friction. This paper proves a new set of integral quadratic constraints, which reduces the conservatism of such methods. The result is used to derive a quantitative bound on the amount of integrator leakage that is needed to remove stiction-induced oscillations in a servo system. Finally, an incremental version of the circle c

We acclimated two species of sculpin, the freshwater prickly sculpin (Cottus asper) and the closely related marine Pacific staghorn sculpin (Leptocottus armatus) to freshwater (similar to 0 g/L), brackish water (15 g/L), and seawater (30 g/L) for at least 4 wk and examined the relationships between respiration, ion regulation, gill morphology, and freshwater tolerance. The prickly sculpin successf

The oxidation of free DHA has been investigated with respect to monohydroperoxides and polyhydroperoxides, which were analyzed with a novel HPLC method. The temperature and physical system, i.e., bulk and liposome, were varied. We have also studied the effects of antioxidants Such as alpha-tocopherol, ascorbic acid, and juice from sea buckthorn on DHA. The HPLC method, which was performed isocrati