SpeB is a cysteine proteinase and virulence determinant secreted by the important human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes. Recent investigations have suggested a role for SpeB in streptococcal entry into human cells. However, conflicting data concerning the contribution of SpeB to internalization have been presented. Protein F1 is a cell-wall-attached fibronectin (Fn)-binding protein that is present

Risk preferences related to accidents or other situations involving the possibility of multiple fatalities were studied in 87 persons in Sweden belonging to two separate groups with professional or educational knowledge of risk- and crisis-management issues. Use was made of a tradeoff method, the results obtained consisting of von Neuman-Morgenstern utility functions over the range of 0-1000 fatal

Lipid metabolism plays an important role in glucose homeostasis under normal and pathological conditions. In adipocytes, skeletal muscle, and pancreatic beta-cells, lipids are mobilized from acylglycerides by the hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL). Here, the consequences of a targeted disruption of the HSL gene for glucose homeostasis were examined. HSL null mice were slightly hyperglycemic in the fas

Results are presented from a theoretical study of the X6‡+, A6‡+ and 6j electronic states of CrH using multiconfiguration second-order perturbation theory in the multi-state formalism (MS-CASPT2). It is shown that the results for the spectroscopic constants and radiative lifetimes for the A state are in agreement with experiment and an earlier multireference configuration interaction study only if

Chondrosarcoma is the second most common primary malignancy of bone. Cytogenetic data are available from close to 100 cases, including all subtypes of chondrosarcoma. Specific chromosomal rearrangements have been identified only in extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (EMC). Strong prognostic factors are largely missing, although size and, in particular, histologic tumor grade have been implicated.

An aggregation of substance P (SP)- and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP)-containing nerve cells (internal carotid mini-ganglion) is described at the junction between the greater superficial petrosal nerve and the internal carotid nerve close to the internal carotid artery. A retrograde tracer dye technique demonstrates that this ganglion and the trigeminal and superior vagal ganglia supply t

The 5th annual European League Against Rheumatism congress, held in Berlin, 9-12 June 2004, was attended by a record number of delegates from all continents and offered a large choice of education, state-of-the-art and original research presentations in up to 15 parallel sessions. Some of these were poorly attended, although featuring top-ranked abstracts. The poster sessions remain a problem chil

We present a study of tip-enhanced Raman scattering on Au aerosol nanoparticles deposited on gold films. Under the tunneling current state, the Au tip and the Au aerosol nanoparticle form a narrow cavity, where large electromagnetic field enhancements are created to enhance Raman scattering enormously. Colorless p-thiocresol molecules are used as probe molecules. The estimated Raman enhancement is

Inactivation of the hormone-sensitive lipase gene (HSL) confers male sterility with a major defect in spermatogenesis. Several forms of HSL are expressed in testis. HSLtes mRNA and protein are found in early and elongated spermatids, respectively. The other forms are expressed in diploid germ cells and interstitial cells of the testis. To determine whether the absence of the testis-specific form o

Guided transport of a relativistic electron beam in solid is achieved experimentally by exploiting the strong magnetic fields created at the interface of two metals of different electrical resistivities. This is of substantial relevance to the Fast Ignitor approach to fusion energy production [M. Tabak et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 057305 (2005)], since it allows the electron deposition to be spatiall

Mitt paper handlar om den amerikanska tv-serien Six Feet Under, och i fokus för min framställning står berättelsens behandling av föreställningar om döden som knuten till naturen och som något ”naturligt” – satt i relation till kultur och estetik. I Six Feet Under behandlas en rad ämnen centrala för det västerländska samhällets diskurser om natur, kultur, moral och existens. Serien fick ett stort

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is closely associated with Kaposi's sarcoma and certain B-cell lymphomas. The fourth open reading frame of the KSHV genome encodes a protein (KSHV complement control protein (KCP, previously termed ORF4)) predicted to have complement-regulating activity. Here, we show that soluble KCP strongly enhanced the decay of classical C3-convertase but not the

In order to improve the understanding of food-web interactions in sub-Antarctic freshwater systems, we complemented earlier experimental studies with analyses of differences in stable isotopes (N-15 and C-13) among organisms in two lakes with contrasting productivity. The distribution of the stable isotopes showed that the small copepod Boeckella michaelseni feeds mainly on pelagic POM (particulat

Marker-based studies of inbreeding may lead to an enhanced understanding of inbreeding depression in natural populations, which is a major concern in conservation genetics. Correlations between marker heterozygosity and variation in fitness-associated traits—‘heterozygosityfitness correlations’ (HFCs)—are of particular importance and have been widely applied in natural populations. In partially in

We explore numerically different aspects of periodic traveling-wave solutions of the Camassa-Holm equation. in particular, the time evolution of some recently found new traveling-wave solutions and the interaction of peaked and cusped waves is studied.