Preference studies of many different collembolan species have categorised collembolans being selective in their food choice. To clarify whether collembolan food selectivity is related to fitness parameters, three species, Folsomia fimetaria, Protaphorura armata and Heteromurus nitidus, were fed three fungal species, Alternaria infectoria, Mucor hiemalis and Penicillium hordei, representing fungi o

In the European starling, Sturnus vulgaris, optimal mating systems differ between males and females. Males gain from polygyny, whereas monogamy increases female fitness. The cost of polygyny to females lead to intense female–female competition, and it has previously been shown that the intensity of female aggression during the pre-breeding period can predict the realised mating system. The physiol

Streptococcus pyogenes is a Gram-positive bacterium that causes several diseases, including acute tonsillitis and toxic shock syndrome. The surface-localized M protein, which is the most extensively studied virulence factor of S. pyogenes, has an similar to 50-residue N-terminal hypervariable region (HVR) that plays a key role in the escape of the host immunity. Despite the extensive sequence vari

Immunization of mice with type II collagen (CII) leads to collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a model for rheumatoid arthritis. T cell recognition of CII is believed to be a critical step in CIA development. We have analyzed the T cell determinants on CII and the TCR used for their recognition, using twenty-nine T cell hybridomas derived from C3H.Q and DBA/1 mice immunized with rat CII. All hybridom

The resonance conditions for excitation of propagating surface plasmons at planar metal/dielectric interfaces and localized surface plasmons associated with metal nanostructures are both sensitive to changes in the interfacial refractive index. This has made these phenomena increasingly popular as transducer principles in label-free sensing of biomolecular recognition reactions. In this article, t

This paper presents a discussion of the general reasons for conducting comparative research, the need for a socio-legal functional approach and the motives for subjecting Swedish, English and German labour law to study. Anna Christensen's theory of the normative field of law is discussed and applied to the field of comparative labour law research. The focus of the research is the legal regulation

We search for signatures of past accretion events in the Milky Way in the recently published catalogue by Nordstrom et al., containing accurate spatial and kinematic information as well as metallicities for 13 240 nearby stars. To optimize our strategy, we use numerical simulations and characterize the properties of the debris from disrupted satellites. We find that stars with a common progenitor

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer cells secrete unique proteases such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and human glandular kallikrein 2 (hK2) that represent targets for the activation of prodrugs as systemic treatment of metastatic prostate cancer. Previously, a combinatorial peptide library was screened to identify a highly active peptide substrate for hK2. The peptide was coupled to an analog of the

Legionella pneumophila serogroup 6 was recovered from a bronchoalveolar lavage specimen from a 1-week-old, full-term newborn with pneumonia, as well as from water samples from the maternity hospital and the newborn's home (an apartment). Amplified fragment-length polymorphism typing revealed that the strains isolated from the newborn and her home were indistinguishable from each other but were cle

Peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) has over the years become one of the most commonly used tools for high-throughput analysis and identification of proteins. This method is applicable when relatively simple samples have to be analysed and it is commonly used for analysing proteins previously separated by 2-DE. The most common type of instrument used for this approach is the MALDI-TOF that has prove

Aim: The primary aims were to study risk factors for an ipsilateral breast event (IBE) after sector resection for ductal carcinoma in situ of the breast (DCIS) in a trial comparing adjuvant radiotherapy to no therapy and to assess predictive factors for response to radiotherapy Secondary aims were to analyse reproducibility of the histopathological evaluation and to estimate correctness of diagnos

The Swedish variant of moist oral smokeless tobacco (snus) is popular in Sweden and Norway, banned from sale within the European Union and is currently being introduced in USA. The aim of the present study was to determine if snus is carcinogenic to the stomach, particularly in Helicobacter pylori (H.P.)-infected hosts at increased risk for gastric cancer development. Snus (General (TM); Swedish M

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine if a large tidal volume (V(T)), with an unchanged end-tidal carbon dioxide partial pressure (P(ET)co(2)), could improve arterial carbon dioxide elimination, oxygen saturation (Spo(2)), and arterial blood oxygenation. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, clinical study. SETTING: Single university hospital. PATIENTS: 60 ASA physical status I and II patients scheduled for el

Locognosia, the ability to localise touch, is one aspect of tactile spatial discrimination which relies on the integrity of peripheral end-organs as well as the somatosensory representation of the surface of the body in the brain. The test presented here is a standardised assessment which uses a protocol for testing locognosia in the zones of the hand supplied by the median and/or ulnar nerves. Th

Studies in Gothenburg, Sweden, reported an exceptionally high rate of persistent itching nodules at the site of injection of aluminium containing vaccines, usually with positive epicutaneous tests to aluminium. When a new booster diphtheria-tetanus vaccine was introduced we performed a prospective cluster randomised active surveillance in 25,232 10-year-olds. Parental reports 6 months after vaccin

The growing use of pharmacological agents means that drug interactions are of increasing interest for public health.1 Monitoring of potential drug interactions may improve the quality of drug prescribing and dispensing, and it might form a basis for education focused on appropriate prescribing.

Aims: To genetically sub-type Campylobacter jejuni strains isolated from migratory birds, and to compare these with clinical strains collected in the same area and corresponding time period, with the aim to increase our knowledge on sub-types occurring among wild birds and their possible impact on human disease. Methods and Results: We sub-typed C. jejuni strains from migrating birds (n = 89) and