Phosphatidylethanol (PEth), a direct ethanol metabolite, is detectable in blood for more than 2 weeks after sustained ethanol intake. Our aim was to assess the usefulness of PEth [comparing sensitivity, specificity and the area under the curve (AUC)] as compared with carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV), calculating the res

Epithelial tumour karyotypes are often difficult to study by standard cytogenetic methods because of poor chromosome preparation quality and the high complexity of their genomic rearrangements. Subtelomeric fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) has proved to be a useful method for detecting cryptic constitutional chromosomal rearrangements but little is known about its usefulness for tumour cy

The dorsal ocelli are commonly considered to be incapable of form vision, primarily due to underfocused dioptrics. We investigate the extent to which this is true of the ocelli of the locust Locusta migratoria. Locust ocelli contain thick lenses with a pronounced concavity on the inner surface, and a deep clear zone separating retina and lens. In agreement with previous research, locust ocellar le

Two new species, Xanthoria karrooensis S. Kondratyuk & Karnefelt and Xanthoria alexanderbaai S. Kondratyuk & Karnefelt, both apparently endemic to South Africa, are described and illustrated. Other xanthorioid species known from southern Africa are listed in a Table and a preliminary key is provided for the African species. The new species are compared with a number of presumably related s

Introduction Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have an increased frequency of osteoporosis, mainly because of increased bone resorption. Reduction of disease activity is suggested to reduce bone remodelling. It might also be possible that prednisolone treatment could cause this effect because prednisolone has been shown to arrest the development of joint destruction in early RA. Therefore, w

Here we present a single-cell-based model of cell-cell interactions in a growing yeast colony. We examine the influence of multiple factors on the colony morphology and switch to a foraging growth behavior. We find that the cell-growth inhibition by neighboring cells along with polar division growth patterns are the most significant factors driving the exploratory behavior of a colony.

We use a latent factor approach to investigate if the momentum and contrarian profits, observed in the US stock market, should be considered as risk premiums or have nonrisk-based explanations. The model is also employed as a benchmark to assess the explanatory power of the traditional asset-pricing models in this context. Our findings show that the profits of the long-run contrarian strategy are

An OH-functional polyester has been acrylated via transesterification of ethyl acrylate, catalyzed by Candida antarctica lipase B (CalB) in two different preparations: Novozym(R) 435 and immobilized on Accurel(R) MP1000. The batch process resulted in incomplete acrylation as well as severe degradation of the polyester. A high degree of acrylation was achieved by optimization through the applicatio

The still ever increasing demand for sedation and/or analgesia for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures puts high pressure on anaesthesia care providers all over Europe. Since the capacity to provide that service by anaesthetists is limited in most European countries, guidelines for non-anaesthetist doctors who want to sedate patients on a high-quality level and especially in a safe way are manda

The aim of this study was to assess whether the TP53 Arg72Pro polymorphism is associated with an increased risk of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Additionally, in NSCLC patients, we investigated a potential association between this polymorphism and somatic TP53 gene mutations in tumour cells. The study group included 240 NSCLC patients who underwent curative pulmonary resection. The control g

Until recently fish welfare attracted little attention, but international and national legislation and standards of fish welfare are now emerging and an overview of these developments is presented in this study. Whereas animal welfare legislation is based on public morality, animal ethics does not automatically accept public morality as normative and elaborates arguments regarding the way humans s

Background: The early diastolic downward slope (EDS) of the left atrioventricular plane displacement (AVPD) is a parameter of early left ventricular (LV) diastolic filling, particularly useful in revealing pseudonormalisation of the transmitral Doppler early to atrial (E/A) ratio. In recent studies LV early diastolic function seems to be closely linked to LV systolic function. In order to further

BACKGROUND: Because of the limited supply of donor hearts, prospective recipients continue to die while on the waiting list for heart transplantation. Use of long-term mechanical circulatory support devices as a bridge to transplantation may reduce this mortality. However, with the present state of technology, continued clinical evaluation of the various long-term, mechanical circulatory support d

Several algorithms that use graphics hardware to accelerate processing require conservative rasterization in order to function correctly. Conservative rasterization stands for either overestimating or underestimating the size of the triangles. Overestimation is carried out by including all pixels that are at least partially overlapped by the triangle, whereas underestimation includes only the pixe

Gitelman's syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by electrolyte disturbances and low blood pressure. The disease is caused by homozygous or compound heterozygous inactivating mutations in the thiazide-sensitive NaCl-cotransporter gene leading to reduced renal sodium reabsorption. We report 4 patients with Gitelman's syndrome from southern Sweden, all in whom we identified compo

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) increases beta-cell function and growth through protein kinase A- and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3-K)/protein kinase B, respectively. GLP-1 acts via a G protein-coupled receptor, and PI3-K gamma is known to be activated by G(beta gamma). Therefore, the role of PI3-K gamma in the chronic effects of GLP-1 on the beta-cell was investigated using PI3-K gamma knock