Smoking is an established risk factor for pancreatic cancer, previously investigated by the means of questionnaires. Using cotinine as a biomarker for tobacco exposure allows more accurate quantitative analyses to be performed. This study on pancreatic cancer, nested within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC cohort), included 146 cases and 146 matched controls.

A variety of Point-Of-Care monitors for the measurement of hematocrit, hemoglobin, blood gas with electrolytes and lactate can be used also in the prehospital setting for optimizing and individualizing trauma resucitation. Point-Of-Care coagulation testing with activated prothrombin test, prothrombin test and activated coagulation/clotting time tests are available for prehospital use. Although rob

Amplification of innate immune responses by endogenous danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) promotes inflammation. The involvement of S100A8 and S100A9, DAMPs belonging to the S100 calgranulin family, in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease is attracting an increasing amount of interest. S100A8 and S100A9 (also termed MRP8 and MRP14) preferentially form the S100A8/A9 heterodimer (MRP

Results of a search for new phenomena in events with an energetic photon and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC are reported. Data were collected in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeVand correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1). The observed data are well described by the expected Standard Model backgrounds. The expected (o

The electronic structure and photofragmentation in outer and inner valence regions of Se-n (n

Cold-atom systems offer a great potential for the future design of new mesoscopic quantum systems with properties that are fundamentally different from semiconductor nanostructures. Here, we investigate the quantum-gas analogue of a quantum wire and find a new scenario for the quantum transport: Attractive interactions may lead to a complete suppression of current in the low-bias range, a total cu

Aim of the study: Quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a critical determinant of outcome following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The aim of our study was to evaluate the quality of CPR provided by emergency medical service providers (Basic Life Support (BLS) capability) and emergency medical service providers assisted by paramedics, nurse anesthetists or physician-manned ambulances

Although defibrillation (DF) testing is still considered a standard procedure during implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) insertion and has been an essential element of all trials that demonstrated the survival benefit of ICD therapy, there are no large randomized clinical trials demonstrating that DF testing improves clinical outcome and if the outcome would remain the same by omitting DF

This study explores patients' knowledge of cardiac risk factors (CRFs), analyses how information and advice about CRFs are documented in clinical practice, and assesses patient adherence to received instructions to decrease CRFs. Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with >= 4 ACR criteria participated through completing a validated cardiovascular health questionnaire (CHQ). Kappa statistics

Osteoporosis-related fractures constitute a major health concern not only in women but also in men. Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a key determinant of bone mass, but the association between serum IGF-1 and incident fractures in men remains unclear. To determine the predictive value of serum IGF-1 for fracture risk in men, older men (n = 2902, mean age of 75 years) participating in the pr

The complement, coagulation and fibrinolytic systems are crucial for the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. To date numerous interactions and cross talks have been identified between these cascades. In line with this, here we propose a novel, hitherto unknown interaction between the complement inhibitor C4b-binding protein (C4BP) and plasminogen of the fibrinolytic pathway. Binding of C4BP to S. p

We present a dynamical study of the double parton distribution in impact parameter space, which enters into the double scattering cross section in hadronic collisions. This distribution is analogous to the generalized parton densities in momentum space. We use the Lund Dipole Cascade model, presented in earlier articles, which is based on BFKL evolution including essential higher order corrections

P>Background Sitting in new chairs or sofas has elicited dermatitis in numerous patients in Finland and in the U.K. since autumn 2006. The cause of the dermatitis seemed to be an allergen in the furniture materials. Objectives To determine the cause of the dermatitis in patients with furniture-related dermatitis. Methods Altogether 42 patients with furniture-related dermatitis were studied. First,

Swedish diplomat Mathias Mossberg, places the Israeli- Palestinian conflict in the context of a discussion of the concept of sovereignty and its erosion and outlines the basic elements of a “parallel states” structure as a possible vision for the Israeli-Palestinian future.

Early therapeutic intervention and use of new highly efficacious treatments have improved the outcome in many patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), but have also led to the need for more precise methods to evaluate disease activity. In adult rheumatology, numerous studies have established the importance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (US), and MRI is considere

Remote sensing provides spatially and temporally continuous measures of forest reflectance, and vegetation indices calculated from satellite data can be useful for monitoring climate change impacts on forest tree phenology. Monitoring of evergreen coniferous forest is more difficult than monitoring of deciduous forest, as the new buds only account for a small proportion of the green biomass, and t

The Bayesian framework of CO2 flux inversions permits estimates of the retrieved flux uncertainties. Here, the reliability of these theoretical estimates is studied through a comparison against the misfits between the inverted fluxes and independent measurements of the CO2 Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) made by the eddy covariance technique at local (few hectares) scale. Regional inversions at 0.5 d