M1 serotype of Streptococcus pyogenes plays an important role in streptococcal toxic shock syndrome. Simvastatin, a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, has been shown to inhibit streptococcal M1 protein-induced acute lung damage although downstream mechanisms remain elusive. Protein isoprenylation, such as farnesylation and geranylgeranylation, has been suggested to regulate anti-inflammatory effects exe

Summary The bacterial endospore is a dormant and heat-resistant form of life. StoA (SpoIVH) in Bacillus subtilis is a membrane-bound thioredoxin-like protein involved in endospore cortex synthesis. It is proposed to reduce disulfide bonds in hitherto unknown proteins in the inter-membrane compartment of developing forespores. Starting with a bioinformatic analysis combined with mutant studies we i

Decision makers often tend to escalate their commitment when faced with a dilemma of whether to continue a losing course of action. Researchers recently began to investigate the influence of discrete emotions on this decision tendency. However, this work has mainly focused on negative emotions and rarely considered positive emotions, to say nothing of comparing the effects of both of them simultan

Signal transduction and neurotransmitter release in the vertebrate central nervous system are confined to the structurally complex presynaptic electron dense projections called "active zones." Although the nature of these projections remains a mystery, genetic and biochemical work has provided evidence for the active zone (AZ) associated proteins i.e. Piccolo/Aczonin, Bassoon, RIM1/Unc10, Munc13/U

While researchers have explored the relationship between customer orientation, entrepreneurship and innovativeness with business performance in different organizations, few such studies exist on the hotel industry. This current work investigates the potential influences of these variables on hotel industry performance. Data for this study was collected through personal questionnaires collected fro

The article addresses the power of three international organisations, the Council of Europe (CoE), the European Union (EU) and the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) regarding the Hungarian minority policies of Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. It is argued that most of the academic literature within the field misses the point when relying on a rather limited conceptualisation of power a

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Cancer screening aims to detect cancer at an asymptomatic stage, although side effects from screening also occur. We investigated the prevalence, longitudinal development, and predictors of psychosocial consequences of false-positive breast cancer screening.

Patients with haemophilia A (and their physicians) may be reluctant to switch factor VIII (FVIII) concentrates, often due to concerns about increasing the risk of inhibitors; this reluctance to switch may contribute to patients missing the clinical benefits provided by the arrival of new factor VIII products. This topic was explored at the Eleventh Zurich Haemophilia Forum. Clinical scenarios for

Photoemission and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) techniques have been used to study the adsorption of pyrocatechol on anatase TiO2 (101) and rutile TiO2 (110) single crystals. Photoemission results suggest the pyrocatechol molecule adsorbs on both surfaces predominantly in a bidentate geometry. Using the searchlight effect, the carbon K-edge NEXAFS spectra recorded for pyrocate

A recent experimental paradigm that tests young children’s understanding of social norms by modelling norms on Searle’s notion of constitutive rule is examined. The experiments and the reasons provided for their design are discussed in detail. The concepts of a social norm and of a constitutive rule are compared, and it is shown that they are distinct. It is argued that the experiments do not prov

Sound plays an important role in the life of many animals, including many bird species. Typically, male birds sing to defend a territory and to attract mates. Ambient noise may negatively affect the signal efficiency of their songs, which may be critical to reproductive success. Consequently, anthropogenic noise may be detrimental to individual birds and to populations in cities and along highways

Second derivative regularization methods for dense stereo matching is a topic of intense research. Some of the most successful recent methods employ so called binary fusion moves where the combination of two proposal solutions is computed. In many cases the fusion move can be solved optimally, but the approach is limited to fusing pairs of proposals in each move. For multiple proposals iterative b

Classification of COPD into different GOLD stages is based on forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) but has shown to be of limited value. The aim of the study was to relate spirometry values to more advanced measures of lung function in COPD patients compared to healthy smokers. The lung function of 65 COPD patients and 34 healthy smokers was investigated using flo

Pollen productivity estimates (PPEs) are indispensable prerequisites for quantitative vegetation reconstructions. Estimates from different European regions show a large variability and it is uncertain whether this reflects regional differences in climate and soil or is brought about by different assessments of vegetation abundance. Forests represent a particular problem as they consist of several