The pretreatment of softwood with sulfuric acid impregnation in the production of ethanol, based on enzymatic hydrolysis, has been investigated. The parameters investigated were: H2SO4 concentration (0.5-4.4% w/w liquid), temperature (180-240 degrees C), and residence time (1-20 minutes). The combined severity (log Ro-pH) was used to combine the parameters into a single reaction ordinate. The high

Severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) comprises a heterogeneous group of primary immunodeficiencies, a proportion of which are due to mutations in either of the 2 recombination activating genes (RAG)-1 and -2, which mediate the process of V(D)J recombination leading to the assembly of antigen receptor genes. It is reported here that the clinical and immunologic phenotypes of patients bearing mut

Objective: To analyse the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage on access to dental care services and on oral health. Design, setting and outcomes: Cross-sectional data from the Swedish National Surveys of Public Health 2004 and 2005. Outcomes were poor oral health (self-rated oral health and symptoms of periodontal disease) and lack of access to dental care services. A socioeconomic disadvantage

User participation in the delivery and evaluation of mental health services has become an important policy element in the development of these services. An important area where user involvement could be especially useful concerns satisfaction with care, which has become considered an important indicator of service excellence. The overall aim of this study was to investigate user satisfaction with

ZnTe nanowires with an average diameter of about 30 nm and lengths above 1 mu m were grown on GaAs(100) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. The growth process was based on the Au-catalyzed vapor-liquid-solid mechanism. A thin gold layer (3-20 angstrom thick) annealed in high vacuum prior to the nanowire growth was used as a source of catalytic nanoparticles. The nanowires are inclined about 55 de

The anterior pituitary-derived hormone prolactin (PRL) signals through the PRL receptor (PRLR) and is important for female reproductive function in mammals. In contrast to the extensive studies of PRLR expression and regulation in human and mouse ovary and uterus, the mechanisms controlling the regulation of PRLR isoform expression in the fallopian tube are poorly understood. Because dynamic inter

Traits that influence social interactions (signals) are widely thought to be honest indicators of some underlying quality of their bearer. One hypothesis is that a signal and the bearer's immunocompetence are linked via a condition-dependent pathway. We tested this idea by measuring the effect of specific dietary components on the development of a melanin-based plumage signal and the production of

A Late Weichselian sediment succession from the Kullen Peninsula, southern Sweden, was studied by means of stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses of calcitic valves of selected ostracod taxa. The lower part of the record was deposited in a slightly brackish marginal sea close to the receding inland ice, whereas the upper part is lacustrine in origin as a result of glacio-isostatic rebound. The

Geophysical and hydrogeological investigations have been carried out around Sawmills in Zimbabwe, Africa. The investigations are components of a larger investigation to assess the groundwater potential of the Karoo sedimentary basin with regards to supplying water to Bulawayo City. The Sawmills area was selected due to the availability of borehole logs indicating favourable stratigraphy for ground

gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the main neuroinhibitory transmitter in the brain. Here we show that GABA in the extracellular space may affect the fate of pathogenic T lymphocytes entering the brain. We examined in encephalitogenic T cells if they expressed functional GABA channels that could be activated by the low (nM-1 microM), physiological concentrations of GABA present around neurons in t

We present measurements of the Zr and Si core level photoelectron binding energies relative to the Fermi level and the vacuum level under a ZrO2 growth series on Si(100). It is shown that the Zr core level binding energy is most properly referenced to the local vacuum level already from the monolayer regime. This confirms the insulating properties of ZrO2. The Si core levels are referenced to the

The assembly of data from different parts of proteomics workflow is often a major bottleneck in proteomics. Furthermore, there is an increasing demand for the publication of details about protein identifications due to the problems with false-positive and false-negative identifications. In this report, we describe how the open-source Proteios software has been expanded to automate the assembly of

The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence and comorbidity of persisting attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adult psychiatric outpatients. Consecutive patients, first visits excluded, at a general psychiatric outpatient clinic were offered a screening for childhood ADHD with the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS). One hundred and forty-one patients out of 398 (35%) com

A methodology for estimation of the dependency on flow rate and bead size of the axial dispersion coefficient and the film mass transfer coefficient in a detailed model for chromatographic processes is proposed. The model describes the concentration of the solute in the mobile phase and considers external/internal mass transfer resistance. The flow rate dependency of the mixing effect in the exter

We consider two interrelated tasks in a synchronous n-node ring: distributed constant colouring and local communication. We investigate the impact of the amount of knowledge available to nodes on the time of completing these tasks. Every node knows the labels of nodes up to a distance r from it, called the knowledge radius. In distributed constant colouring every node has to assign itself one out

Seven different but related cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase (PDE) gene families have been identified. Type III cGMP-inhibited (cGI) PDEs, the PDE3 gene family, are found in many tissues. cGI PDEs exhibit a high affinity for both cAMP and cGMP, and are selectively and relatively specifically inhibited by certain agents which augment myocardial contractility, promote smooth muscle relaxation and

We studied the relevance of urine cues in Homarus gammarus dominance maintenance, hypothesising that urinary signals are necessary to mediate recognition of former opponents. Males in size-matched pairs interacted on two consecutive days with or without blocking urine release by adding catheters to both contestants on the second day. European lobsters established dominance in a first fight, and fi