House dust mite allergens express protease activity and it has been suggested that this property has pathogenic effects by increasing airway absorption. In accordance, house dust mite allergens may increase mucosal permeability in vitro. The objective of the present study was to examine nasal absorption of desmopressin (1-deamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin) in patients with perennial house dust mite

Because quality differences between individuals affect fitness, much research has attempted, with limited success, to relate physiological condition (e.g., body reserves), to differences in life history between individuals. Recently, it has been suggested that immunocompetence may reflect condition, and it thus may mediate variation in individual quality and reproductive performance and, ultimatel

DNA compaction by alkyltrimethylammonium surfactants at hydrophobized silica surfaces and the effect of the counterion, as well as the hydrocarbon chain length, was investigated by in situ null-ellipsometry. In addition, DNA compaction in the presence of a gemini surfactant, hexyl-alpha,omega-bis(dodecyldimethylammonium bromide), was studied. The type of cationic amphiphile used was found not to h

Children with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) commonly have recurrent infectious and noninfectious lung complications that ultimately end in death. To study the intensity of alveolar inflammation and to evaluate the clinical utility of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in children with HIV-1 infections, we retrospectively analyzed differential cell counts, lymphocyte subsets, and fibronectin

The incidence of allergy is steadily increasing, but the molecular mechanisms involved in the allergic immune response are still not fully understood. In particular, further investigations focusing on dendritic cells, which are central in orchestrating the immune response, are needed. The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of myeloid leukaemia-derived cell lines, such as KG-1,

The purpose of this study is to provide information from two prospective long-term follow-ups for severe road traffic injuries in Sweden. The long-term consequences, in terms of loss of health and costs of care, are presented for severe injuries in Sweden in the early 1990s and are compared with information on injury severity and health care utilisation 25 years ago. The follow-up in the 1990s sho

The trxA gene is regarded as essential in Bacillus subtilis, but the roles of the TrxA protein in this gram-positive bacterium are largely unknown. Inactivation of trxA results in deoxyribonucleoside and cysteine or methionine auxotrophy. This phenotype is expected if the TrxA protein is important for the activity of the class Ib ribonucleotide reductase and adenosine-5'-phosphosulfate/3'-phosphoa

An experimental study of the bonding geometry and electronic coupling of cis-bis(isothiocyanato)bis(2,2'-bipyridyl-4,4'-dicarboxylato)-ruthenium( II) (N3) adsorbed on rutile TiO2(110) is presented, along with supporting theoretical calculations of the bonding geometry. Samples were prepared in situ using ultrahigh vacuum electrospray deposition. Core-level photoemission spectroscopy was used to ch

The genetic basis of complete C4 deficiency in a patient with SLE was investigated. Previous studies have demonstrated that this patient has two different major histocompatibility complex (MHC) haplotypes that each contain a major deletion and a non-expressed C4 gene. In the present study, non-expression of the C4 genes was explained by the finding of two distinct C4 gene mutations. A previously d

The two cellular targets of interest in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are the photoreceptors and the RPE. However, the mechanisms involved in AMD pathology are not yet fully understood. In the present report, we extend our previous studies on semenogelin proteins (Sgs) in normal human retina and compare these with the distribution in retinas from AMD donor eyes. Semenogelins I (SaI) and I

Decay kinetic properties of a two-level atom near the band edges of photonic crystals (PCs) with absolute gaps are studied based on the Green's function expression for the evolution operator. The local coupling strength between the photons and an atom is evaluated by an exact numerical method. It is found that the decay behavior of an excited atom can be fundamentally changed by the variation of t

Granulites from the high-grade Sveconorwegian (corresponding to Grenvillian) gneiss terrane of SW Sweden were investigated in order to relate magnetic properties to the granulite facies mineralogy and the amphibolite facies retrograde mineralogy. We used standard paleomagnetic techniques, susceptibility measurements, electron and optical microscopy, and a new way to analyze demagnetization curves

Microglia are the immune cells of the brain. Here we show a massive infiltration of highly ramified and elongated microglia within the core of amyloid plaques in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Many of these cells originate from the bone marrow, and the beta-amyloid-40 and -42 isoforms are able to trigger this chemoattraction. These newly recruited cells also exhibit a specifi

This paper expands Ghaddar et al. [N. Ghaddar, K. Ghali, R. Saadeh, A. Keblawi, Design charts for combined chilled ceiling displacement ventilation system (1438-RP), ASHRAE Transactions, 143 (2) (2008) 574-587] design charts of combined chilled ceiling (CC) displacement ventilation (DV) system to operating sensible load ranges from 40 W/m(2) to 100 W/m(2). It develops a global correlation of syste

Man har gett namnet ”vitalister” till de tänkare som tillskriver den levande materian en särskild status. Den särskilda statusen kräver vissa uppoffringar. Vitalismen är tvungen att erkänna ett orsaksbegrepp som avviker markant från det dominerande mekanistiska modellen i det modernistiska programmet. Den vitala ”kraften” eller ”principen”, agerar genom den organiska vävnaden för att orsaka den rö