The four main findings about the age and abundance structure of the Milky Way bulge based on microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars are: (1) a wide metallicity distribution with distinct peaks at [Fe/H] = -1.09, -0.63, -0.20, +0.12, +0.41; (2) a high fraction of intermediate-age to young stars where at [Fe/H] > 0 more than 35 % are younger than 8 Gyr, (3) several episodes of significant star formati

Key message: A 6–9 month backward time shift of the carbon uptake gave the highest correlation between annual biomass increment and carbon uptake in this old even aged forest. Abstract: Plants’ carbon uptake and allocation to different biomass compartments is an important process for both wood production and climate mitigation. Measurements of the net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange between ecos

4MOST is a new wide-field, high-multiplex spectroscopic survey facility for the VISTA telescope of ESO. Starting in 2022, 4MOST will deploy 2400 fibres in a 4.1 square degree field-of-view using a positioner based on the tilting spine principle. In this contribution we give an outline of the major science goals we wish to achieve with 4MOST in the area of Galactic Archeology. The 4MOST Galactic Ar

Owing to their extreme crowding and high and variable extinction, stars in the Galactic Bulge, within ±2° of the Galactic plane, and especially those in the Nuclear Star Cluster, have only rarely been targeted for an analyses of their detailed abundances. There is also some disagreement about the high end of the abundance scale for these stars. It is now possible to obtain high dispersion, high S/

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) affects about half of the land area of the EU and allocates close to 40% of the EU’s budget. Consequently, CAP has great potential to guide land management decisions towards multifunctional agricultural landscapes supporting both commodity production and biodiversity. The 2015 “greening” reform was an attempt to increase the multifunctionality of agricultural l

We examined farmers’ costs of providing public goods under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the expected impacts of the 2015 CAP “greening” reform on regional development and provisioning of public goods. Less than half of CAP spending Before the reform was justifiable in terms of the delivery of specific public goods; and predicted benefits from greening are low. We recommend re-allocatin

Bone mineral density (BMD) in the lumbar spine and femoral neck, the incidence of osteoporosis, and survival up to 10 years after heart transplantation (HT) were investigated in 169 patients who underwent HT at Skåne University Hospital in Lund, Sweden, 1988-2016. Within the first year post-transplantation, mean (SD) BMD decreased by 3.9% (10.1) (P < 0.001) and 9.0% (10.5) (P < 0.001) in the lumba

Protecting biodiversity and enhancing the provision of ecosystem services are key challenges for managing European agricultural landscapes. However, current approaches as implemented in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) have been limited in their effectiveness to deliver positive biodiversity outcomes. To improve this situation, it is important to consider not only in

In the β-d-galactopyranoside-binding protein galectin-3, synthetic inhibitors substituted at the 3-position of a thiodigalactoside core cause the formation of an aglycone binding pocket through the displacement of an arginine residue (Arg144) from its position in the apoprotein. To examine in detail the role of different molecular interactions in this pocket, we have synthesized a series of nine 3

One of the major causes of premature failure in asphalt pavements is moisture damage. Asphalt mixtures designed without considering climate impacts may suffer from durability problems caused by movement of water inside the asphalt mixture. Rolling traffic over wet pavement builds up pore pressure in the mixture, which will consequently accelerate deterioration. The objective of the study was to as

Avian haemosporidians are vector-transmitted blood parasites that are distributed worldwide, abundant in many bird families and well studied across Europe and North America. Since avian haemosporidians have been poorly examined in the Palearctic migratory flyways of the Western Balkans, the goal of this study was to investigate which species of three haemosporidian genera, Plasmodium, Haemoproteus

Background: Most validations of paediatric glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimating equations using standardized creatinine (CR) and cystatin C (CYS) assays have comprised relatively small cohorts, which makes accuracy across subgroups of GFR, age, body mass index (BMI) and gender uncertain. To overcome this, a large cohort of children referred for GFR determination has been established from se

Background: Acquired loss of the largest von Willebrand factor multimers is a common hemostatic disturbance in patients with aortic valve stenosis (AS), resulting in impaired platelet adhesion and increased bleeding risk. AS is also associated with atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction (MI). Our aim was to study the clinical outcomes associated with AS in MI patients treated with dual antiplat

Introduction: The thrombin generation assay-calibrated automated thrombogram (TGA-CAT) method is used to measure the overall coagulation capacity in plasma. However, the method is still considered to be a research tool, mainly because of its’ lack of standardization. Aim: Our study aimed to further raise the standardization level for the TGA-CAT method by evaluating a detailed standardization prot

Background: Mothers of preterm infants are at greater risk of symptoms of stress and anxiety compared to mothers of term infants. Aims: This study aimed to explore mothers’ experiences after coming home from the hospital with a moderately to late preterm infant. Methods: A qualitative and explorative method was used. Ten mothers who had given birth to a preterm baby with a gestational age between

Non-muscle invasive bladder cancer is marked by frequent recurrences and a risk for progression to life threatening disease. Intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Gúerin (BCG), one of the earliest effective immunotherapies for cancer, remains the current standard for treating high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. Optimal treatment with BCG includes periodic 3 weekly maintenance instillations, oft

A simple portfolio choice model shows that, when a bank's capital is constrained by regulation, regulatory cost (risk weightings) alters the risk and value calculations for the bank's assets. In particular, we find that banks may respond to stricter regulation by increasing the share of high-risk assets. Our empirical results show that US banks responded to the implementation of the stricter Basel