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

ABO blood serotype A is known to be associated with risk of gastric cancer (GC), but little is known how ABO alleles and the fucosyltransferase (FUT) enzymes and genes which are involved in Lewis antigen formation [and in Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) binding and pathogenicity] may be related to GC risk in a European population. The authors conducted an investigation of 32 variants at ABO and FU

Background/Aims: To identify prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects using a data-driven approach to determine cognitive profiles in mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: A total of 881 MCI subjects were recruited from 20 memory clinics and followed for up to 5 years. Outcome measures included cognitive variables, conversion to AD, and biomarkers (e. g. CSF, and MRI markers). Two hierarchi

It is important to understand the relative contribution of primary and secondary particles to regional and global aerosol so that models can attribute aerosol radiative forcing to different sources. In large-scale models, there is considerable uncertainty associated with treatments of particle formation (nucleation) in the boundary layer (BL) and in the size distribution of emitted primary particl

Objective-Despite a wealth of experimental data in animal models, the independent association of insulin resistance with early carotid atherosclerosis in man has not been demonstrated. Approach and Results-We studied a European cohort of 525 men and 655 women (mean age, 44 +/- 8 years) free of conditions known to affect carotid wall (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and dyslipidemia). All subjects

Intracellular free heme predisposes to oxidant-mediated tissue damage. We hypothesized that free heme causes alterations in myocardial contractility via disturbed structure and/or regulation of the contractile proteins. Isometric force production and its Ca(2+)-sensitivity (pCa50) were monitored in permeabilized human ventricular cardiomyocytes. Heme exposure altered cardiomyocyte morphology and e

Let R denote a connected region inside a simple polygon, P. By building 1-dimensional barriers in P ∖ R, we want to separate from Rpart(s) of P of maximum area. In this paper we introduce two versions of this problem. In the budget fence version the region R is static, and there is an upper bound on the total length of barriers we may build. In the basic geometric firefighter version we assume tha

We study the problem of efficiently correcting an erroneous product of two n x n matrices over a ring. We provide a randomized algorithm for correcting a matrix product with k erroneous entries running in (O) over tilde(root kn(2)) time and a deterministic (O) over tilde (kn(2))-time algorithm for this problem (where the notation (O) over tilde suppresses polylogarithmic terms in n and k).

The interplay between diet and immune-parameters which could affect type 1 diabetes (T1D) pathogenesis is not sufficiently clarified. Intestinal upregulation of the activating receptor NKG2D(CD314) and its ligands is a hallmark of celiac disease (CD). However, the direct effect of gluten on NKG2D expression is not known. We studied, by FACS (lymphoid tissues) and RT-qPCR (intestine and pancreatic

Recent studies suggest a variety of factors characterize substantia nigra neurons vulnerable to Parkinson's disease, including the transcription factors pituitary homeobox 3 (Pitx3) and orthodenticle homeobox 2 (Otx2) and the trophic factor receptor deleted in colorectal cancer (DCC), but there is limited information on their expression and localization in adult humans. Pitx3, Otx2, and DCC were i

Associative aqueous mixtures over a range of concentrations of double- (ds) or single- (ss) stranded DNA with dilute or semidilute solutions of two cationic derivatives of hydroxyethyl cellulose (cat-HEC and cat-HMHEC,(1) the latter carrying grafted hydrophobic groups), were studied. The phase behavior showed an interesting asymmetry: Phase separation occurred immediately when small (sub-stoichiom

The study discussed here by Gunnel Osterman, Anders Möller and Ingegerd Wirtberg aimed to find out if any observable themes or patterns recur when using the Marte Meo (MM) method with adoptive parents, and if the parents feel that working with this method helps them to interact with their child. The study used qualitative methods and comprised two parts: use of the MM method with couples who had a

The main objective of this article is to examine the relevance of traditional hydraulic systems in ensuring sustainable water supplies at the catchment level and to explore ways to involve farmers in rural development. The methodology we used is based on the analysis of the Tunisian experience with traditional hydraulic systems to conserve water and soil. We proceed with a description of new forms

Low-grade inflammation has been repeatedly associated with cardiovascular diseases but the relationship with incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) remains unclear. We explored the association between elevated plasma levels of inflammation-sensitive proteins (ISPs) and incidence of AF in a population-based cohort. Plasma levels of five ISPs (fibrinogen, haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin, α(1)-antitrypsin

BACKGROUND:: In the nineteenth century, prior to the introduction of the cuff sphygmomanometer, stiffening of arteries was recognized as an indicator of vascular ageing and cardiovascular risk. Through the twentieth century, views on vascular ageing came to focus on brachial blood pressures and on occlusive atherosclerotic disease. Such focus deflected attention from primary ageing changes, repres

We present an overview of current needs for accurate laboratory atomic transition probabilities (log(gf)) for astrophysical applications, particularly for iron group element spectra in the IR, optical, UV, and VUV spectral regions. Examples are given of our recent measurements, undertaken using the combination of high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometry and time-resolved laser-induced fluore