We introduce a nuclear magnetic resonance method for quantifying the shape of axially symmetric microscopic diffusion tensors in terms of a new diffusion anisotropy metric, DΔ, which has unique values for oblate, spherical, and prolate tensor shapes. The pulse sequence includes a series of equal-amplitude magnetic field gradient pulse pairs, the directions of which are tailored to give an axially

Motor complications in Parkinson's disease (PD) are associated with long-term oral levodopa treatment and linked to pulsatile dopaminergic stimulation. l-dopa-carbidopa intestinal gel (LCIG) is delivered continuously by percutaneous endoscopic gastrojejunostomy tube (PEG-J), which reduces l-dopa-plasma-level fluctuations and can translate to reduced motor complications. We present final results of

An experimental investigation was performed for convective condensation ofR410A inside five micro-fin tubes with the same outer diameter of 5 mm and helix angle of 18°. Data are for mass fluxes ranging from about 180 to 650 kg/m2 s. The nominal saturation temperature is 320 K, with inlet and outlet qualities of 0.8 and 0.1, respectively. The results suggest that tube 4 has the best thermal perform

Objectives: Enteral exposure to the lectin phytohemagglutinin (PHA) provokes precocious gut maturation in suckling rats coinciding with an early expansion of intestinal mucosal T and B lymphocytes. Here, the role of the immune system in neonatal gut growth and maturation was further studied. Materials and Methods: The effects of immunosuppression by cyclosporine A (CyA), 7.5 mu g/g of body weight,

We performed a candidate gene association study in 540 patients with primary Sjogren's Syndrome (SS) from Sweden (n = 344) and Norway (n = 196) and 532 controls (n = 319 Swedish, n = 213 Norwegian). A total of 1139 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 84 genes were analyzed. In the meta-analysis of the Swedish and Norwegian cohorts, we found high signals for association between primary SS and

The atmospheric concentration of elemental carbon (EC) in Europe during the six-year period 2005-2010 has been simulated with the EMEP MSC-W model. The model bias compared to EC measurements was less than 20% for most of the examined sites. The model results suggest that fossil fuel combustion is the dominant source of EC in most of Europe but that there are important contributions also from resid

During moult, stressors such as malaria and related haemosporidian parasites (e.g. Plasmodium and Haemoproteus) could affect the growth rate and quality of feathers, which in turn may compromise future reproduction and survival. Recent advances in molecular methods to study parasites have revealed that co-infections with multiple parasites are frequent in bird-malaria parasite systems. However, th

Midkine shares several features in common with antibacterial proteins of the innate immune system. These include growth factor properties, heparin-binding regions, and effects on immune cells (i.e. recruitment and activation of neutrophils and macrophages). Indeed, recent research has demonstrated potent bactericidal and fungicidal activities of midkine. This protein is constitutively expressed at

We have investigated the potential impact on organic aerosol formation from biotic stress-induced emissions (SIE) of organic molecules from forests in Europe (north of lat. 45° N). Emission estimates for sesquiterpenes (SQT), methyl salicylate (MeSA) and unsaturated C17 compounds, due to different stressors, are based on experiments in the Jülich Plant Atmosphere Chamber (JPAC), combined with esti

In the field of renewable energy, self-provided research in developing countries is barely present, but most welcomed. The creation of know-how and self-development of technologies should reduce the dependence on industrialized countries for both materials and knowledge. This work presents technological and social issues related to the construction of a low budget solar laboratory in Mozambique. T

Treatment of mucosal bleeding (epistaxis, gastrointestinal and menorrhagia) and joint bleeding remains problematic in clinically severe von Willebrand Disease (VWD). Patients are often unresponsive to treatment (e.g. desmopressin or antifibrinolytic therapy) and may require von Willebrand (VW) factor replacement therapy. There are little data on the use of prophylaxis in VWD and none applied in a

Light scattering is one of the few techniques available to adequately characterize suspended nanoparticles (NPs) in real time and in situ. However, when it comes to NPs in multicomponent and optically complex aqueous matrices - such as biological media and physiological fluids - light scattering suffers from lack of selectivity, as distinguishing the relevant optical signals from the irrelevant on

Weak alignment of requirements engineering (RE) with verification and validation (VV) may lead to problems in delivering the required products in time with the right quality. For example, weak communication of requirements changes to testers may result in lack of verification of new requirements and incorrect verification of old invalid requirements, leading to software quality problems, wasted ef

We analyze the contribution of universities to innovative performance in China’s manufacturing sector. Our empirical analysis is based on a matched dataset comprising about 20 000 large and medium sized companies aggregated at the three-digit industry level and information on university knowledge output for 31 provinces between 1998 and 2004. We show that universities’ impact on commercial innovat

In this work, the biologically effective dose (BED) is investigated for fractionated molecular radiotherapy (MRT). A formula for the Lea-Catcheside G-factor is derived which takes the possibility of combinations of sub-lethal damage due to radiation from different administrations of activity into account. In contrast to the previous formula, the new G-factor has an explicit dependence on the time

Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy reveals pronounced kinks in the dispersion of the sigma band of graphene. Such kinks are usually caused by the combination of a strong electron-boson interaction and the cutoff in the Fermi-Dirac distribution. They are therefore not expected for the sigma band of graphene that has a binding energy of more than approximate to 3.5 eV. We argue that the obser