BACKGROUND: The two-gene expression ratio HOXB13:IL17BR has been proposed to predict the outcome of tamoxifen-treated breast cancer patients. We intended to examine whether this ratio can predict the benefit of 5 years vs. 2 years of tamoxifen treatment of postmenopausal patients. A further objective was to investigate any prognostic effects of the ratio in systematically untreated premenopausal p

Background. One of many approaches being evaluated in experimental models and in the clinic for the treatment of cancer is the use of antibodies conjugated to various drugs or radionuclides. The aim of the present study was to compare the toxicity profiles of radioimmunoconjugates and drug-immunoconjugates based on the same monoclonal antibody, evaluated in the same experimental model, that much r

In the face of pressures to expand the rule of law, in 2004, Japan introduced a new law school system in order to produce more and better qualified lawyers. This article explains why the new law school system solution was selected from among other alternatives such as reforming the national bar exam, abolishing mandatory legal training, reforming existing legal education, or redefining the jurisdi

OBJECTIVE: Describe the clinical course and predictors of change in self-reported outcomes and objectively assessed physical function over time in middle-aged subjects at high risk of, or with knee osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: We examined 259 subjects (mean age 52.6 [SD 10.4]) at mean 18 and 25 years after previous meniscectomy and 50 population-based age- and sex-matched reference subjects with

The applied magnetic field and temperature phase diagram of the archetypal frustrated magnet, Gd3Ga5O12, has been reinvestigated using single-crystal magnetometry and polarized neutron diffraction. The updated phase diagram is substantially more complicated than previously reported and can be understood in terms of competing interactions with loops of spins, trimers, and decagons, in addition to c

Earlier research has treated the metaphors and similes in Seneca’s Epistulae Morales too much as separate units. In this study, Dr Aron Sjöblad argues that we rather ought to concentrate on the way they interact with each other. In the first chapter, Sjöblad demonstrates that a single source domain, the human body, unites many of the metaphors that have been treated as distinct groups in earlier r

Copolymers of 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) and N-tert-butylacrylamide (tBAA) have been evaluated as proton conducting materials. The water absorption of copolymers with varying equivalent weights (EW), i.e. g polymer/mol sulfonic acid groups, was studied at different relative humidities (rh) by gravimetry and calorimetry. Melt endotherms for water were detected by DSC in cop

The present study evaluated the clinical efficacy of chemotherapy in combination with cytokine-induced killer (CIK) biotherapy compared to the chemotherapy alone. Fifty-nine advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients were randomly divided into two groups, group A (chemotherapy, alone, including docetaxel 75 mg/m(2), day 1; cisplatin, 25 mg/m(2), days 1-4, tri-weekly) and group B (chemoth

The effects of planktivorous fish on phytoplankton through nutrient recycling and zooplankton herbivory were experimentally separated and their relative importance quantified in a eutrophic humic lake. Natural phytoplankton assemblages were incubated in nutrient-permeable chambers placed inside enclosures with or without fish. Outside these chambers, phytoplankton were exposed to zooplankton herbi

The high temperature CaO/SO2 reaction was studied using four Swedish limestones and one dolomite as sorbents. The measurements were carried out in a vacuum thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) apparatus in order to investigate the intrinsic reaction mechanism. The reaction was found to be fast at the beginning due to the surface reaction, while the subsequent stage was controlled by the product layer

E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion is frequently lost during the development of malignant epithelial cancers. Employing a transgenic mouse model of beta-cell carcinogenesis (Rip1Tag2) we have previously shown that the loss of E-cadherin is a rate-limiting step in the progression from adenoma to carcinoma. However, the mere loss of cell adhesion may not be sufficient and additional signals are

Recent studies have highlighted a central role for intestinal dendritic cells (DCs) and vitamin A metabolite retinoic acid (RA) in the generation of alpha 4 beta 7(+) CCR9(+) "gut tropic" effector T cells. Here, using RA-responsive element reporter mice, we demonstrate that both splenic and mesenteric lymph node (MLN) DCs enhanced retinoic acid receptor (RAR) signaling in CD8(+) T cells; however,

Aims: To study associations between diabetic retinopathy and development of stroke, myocardial infarction and death in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods: During a 10-year observation period, 363 type 2 diabetic patients (diagnosis >= 30 years of age) attending an outpatient clinic were studied regarding the prevalence and incidence of retinopathy and associated risk factors, i.e., (HbA(1c), blood

In the presented study we have developed and implemented a methodology for ellipsometry measurements at liquid interfaces that makes it possible to determine the amount adsorbed without assumptions of refractive index or thickness of the adsorbed layer. It was demonstrated that this is possible by combined measurements from different aqueous phases, H2O and D2O, which were shown to have sufficient

BACKGROUND: Patients who survive after suicidal hanging attempts suffer from transient brain ischaemia. Morbidity and mortality is high, and no specific therapy is available. Hypothermia attenuates ischaemic brain damage and has become standard care in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest; therapeutic hypothermia may thus be useful for near-hanging victims as well.OBJECTIVES: To perform a literatu

A transgenic mouse model of Huntington's disease (R6/1 and R6/2 lines) expressing exon 1 of the HD gene with 115-150 CAG repeats resisted striatal damage following injection of quinolinic acid and other neurotoxins. We examined whether excitotoxin resistance characterizes mice with mutant huntingtin transgenes. In a new transgenic mouse with 3 kb of mutant human huntingtin cDNA with 18, 46, or 100

This article outlines a general theory of meaning, The Semiotic Hierarchy, which distinguishes between four major levels in the organization of meaning: life, consciousness, sign function and language, where each of these, in this order, both rests on the previous level, and makes possible the attainment of the next. This is shown to be one possible instantiation of the Cognitive Semiotics program

Recent research suggests that self-employment among immigrants is due to a combination of multiple situational, cultural and institutional factors, all acting together. Using multilevel regression and unique data on the entire population of Sweden for the year 2007, this study attempts to quantify the relative importance for the self-employed of embeddedness in ethnic contexts (country of birth) a