Background: The physiological determinants of left ventricular mass (LVM) measured by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging are not well defined as prior investigators have studied either adults or adolescents in isolation or have not strictly excluded hypertension or accounted for the effects of exercise habits, haemodynamic, demographic, or body shape characteristics. Methods: A total of 102

We measured the optical properties on samples of rat liver tissue before and after laser-induced thermotherapy performed in vivo with Nd:YAG laser irradiation. This made it possible to monitor not only the influence of coagulation on the scattering properties but also the influence of damages to vessels and heat-induced damage to blood on the absorption properties. An experimental integrating-sphe

Endosymbiotic bacteria of aphids, Buchnera aphidicola, and tsetse flies, Wigglesworthia glossinidia, are descendents of free-living gamma-Proteobacteria. The acceleration of sequence evolution in the endosymbiont genomes is here estimated from a phylogenomic analysis of the gamma-Proteobacteria. The tree topologies associated with the most highly conserved genes suggest that the endosymbionts form

Epoxy alkylstearates were synthesized by lipase catalysed esterification and perhydrolysis followed by epoxidation of oleic acid in a one-pot process. Immobilized Candida antarctica lipase (Novozym 435) was used as the catalyst. The esterification reaction occurred relatively quickly and was followed by epoxidation of the alkyl ester and the remaining fatty acid. Higher degree of esterification wa

In order to explain recent photofragmentation experiments of hydrogen peroxide, the vertical excitation energies, potential-energy curves and surfaces, harmonic vibrational frequencies, and transition moments for a number of low lying excited states were calculated. The accessibility of different photodissociation channels for different excitation wavelengths was discussed, on the basis of the cal

We characterized the functional properties of a novel set of human anti-CD40 monoclonal antibodies originating from a human phage display library and identified an antibody that strongly activates cells via the CD40 receptor for potential use in HIV therapy. The anti-CD40 antibodies were converted from a single chain antibody fragment format (scFv) to an IgG format and produced in HEK293 cells, an

In many cases it is desired to have both high capacity and small antennas in wireless communication systems. Unfortunately, the antenna performance deteriorate when the antennas get electrically small. In this paper fundamental limitations from antenna theory and broadband matching are used to analyze the spectral efficiency of an arbitrary antenna inserted inside a sphere.

BACKGROUND: Local pain at the site of an i.v. injection of propofol is a well-known problem, particularly in infants. This randomised investigator-blinded crossover study was designed to assess the effect of the i.v. bolus infusion rate on propofol-induced pain at the site of injection. METHODS: Thirty unpremedicated patients scheduled for ear-nose-throat or plastic surgery at Malmö University Hos

In vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) addresses metabolic pathways and their steady states in different tissue types. The brain has by tradition, and due to technical limitations in other organs, been one of the tissues most studied by MRS, and both 1H- and 31P-MRS have been used. Although 31P-MRS is outstanding for the evaluation of sources of metabolic energy in the brain, 1H-MRS has bec

An opportunity sample of 108 Chinese participants (n(male) = 51 and n(female) = 57; M-age = 29.34) was compared to a second opportunity sample of 98 Northern Irish participants (n(male) = 45 and n(female) = 53; M-age = 23.67) on levels of acculturation, self-efficacy and social support. The administered questionnaire contained three scales to measure the aforementioned constructs. The first was th

This paper describes a general picture of efforts to provide women with equal opportunity both on a national political level, and within academia. A report of recent activities within the newly formed National Division for Women in Physics within the Swedish Physical Society is also given

The aim of this study was to establish the degree to which a standardized test based on laser Doppler blood flow measurement is dependent on the particular equipment set-up being used. For this purpose, we examined finger skin blood flow with laser Doppler instruments in 20 healthy subjects. In laser Doppler perfusion monitoring (LDPM), we used a custom-made probe with two detecting fibers placed

I examine the relationship between reproductive success and marker-based relatedness (MBR; inferred from variation at 21 microsatellite loci) of pair-mates in a semi-isolated population of great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) over a 12 year period. There was a negative relationship between egg-hatching success and MBR, but no association between MBR and three other components of fitness

PURPOSE: Irradiation inflicts acute injuries to the intestinal mucosa with rapid apoptosis induction and subsequent reduction in epithelial surface area. It may therefore be assumed that the intestinal barrier function is affected. The aim of this study was to compare the mucosal permeability in irradiated rectum and nonirradiated sigmoid colon from patients subjected to radiation therapy before s

A database with more than 14 700 references to articles on ED during 1965-2000 was analysed with the aim of identifying long-term and short-term trends in the literature. The main data of the analysis are the percentages of references per 6-year period or per year for the most recent 6 years, that contain certain words or phrases. The use of words in references should reflect changes in the conten

Numerical simulations coupled with laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) experiments were carried out to investigate a slot jet issued into a cross flow, which is relevant in the film cooling of gas turbine combustors. The film-cooling fluid injection from slots or holes into a cross flow produces highly complicated flow,fields. In this paper, the time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations were solved on a c