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β-Alanine synthase is the final enzyme of the reductive pyrimidine catabolic pathway, which is responsible for the breakdown of uracil and thymine in higher organisms. The fold of the homodimeric enzyme from the yeast Saccharomyces kluyveri identifies it as a member of the AcyI/M20 family of metallopeptidases. Its subunit consists of a catalytic domain harboring a di-zinc center and a smaller dime

The preservatives imidazolidinyl urea (IMID, Germall 115) and diazolidinyl urea (DU, Germall II) are commonly used in cosmetic products and are well-known sensitizers. The aim of the present study was to establish the optimal patch test concentration in hydrophilic dried-in vehicle (TRUE Test) for IMID and DU. 181 patients were included in the study. Of these, 150 were patients referred for patch

Intrastriatal transplantation of embryonic dopaminergic tissue is a new, experimental approach for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). Clinical trials have shown longterm graft survival and therapeutically valuable improvements with decreased L-dopa dose and time spent in the "off"-phase, and reduced rigidity and hypokinesia. We have measured health-related quality of life (HRQoL) using the

This paper analyzes the multi-period base-stock problem where there is a financial risk associated with a stochastic demand. For the single-period problem, it is known that the optimal inventory policy can be obtained with the Black and Scholes option pricing formula. This paper pushes the analysis further by applying the options valuation framework to the multi-period problem and presenting an al

Trypsinogen is a serine proteinase produced mainly by the pancreas, but it has recently been found to be expressed also in several cancers such as ovarian and colon cancer and in vascular endothelial cells. In this study, we found that trypsinogen-1 and -2 are present at high concentrations (median levels, 0.4 and 0.5 mg/L, respectively) in human seminal fluid and purified them to homogeneity by i

The performance of a miniaturized sample processing platform for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS), manufactured by silicon microfabrication, called integrated selective enrichment target (ISET) technology was evaluated in a biological context. The ISET serves as both sample treatment device and MALDI-MS target, and contains an array of 96 perforated nanovial

1. We hypothesised that adult insects actively monitor potential habitats for the presence of fish by means of chemical cues and avoid sites that pose significant risks. This was examined by quantifying colonisation of insects in outdoor pools with no fish (controls), fish (direct predation effect) or caged fish (chemical predator cues). 2. A significant direct effect of predation was found, but n

Background: There is a certain difference in opinion regarding the optimal choice of housekeeping genes used as normalization factors in gene expression analysis. We have therefore examined the suitability of three housekeeping genes, hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase, beta(2)-glucuronidase and beta(2)-microglobulin, for normalization of expression data from melanoma metastases. Methods: The

The aim of this study was to investigate the short-term (2 weeks) effects of the herbicide metsulfuron methyl alone and in combination with the insecticide cypermethrin in freshwater enclosures (80 1). We used a factorial design with four levels of herbicide (0, 1, 5, 20 mug/1) and two levels of insecticide (0 and 0.05 mug/1). The root growth of the macrophyte species Elodea canadensis and Myrioph

In cubomedusae, the central nervous system (CNS) is found both in the bell (the ring nerve) and in the four eye-bearing sensory structures (the rhopalia). The ring nerve and the rhopalia are connected via the rhopalial stalks and examination of the structure of the rhopalial stalks therefore becomes important when trying to comprehend visual processing. In the present study, the rhopalial stalk of

The fetal inflammatory response has been suggested as causal in neonatal morbidity. Serial levels of circulating cytokines were evaluated in 74 infants with a mean gestational age (GA) of 27.1 wk. Pro-inflammatory and modulatory (IL-4, IL-10) cytokines were analyzed from cord blood, and at 6, 24, and 72 h postnatal age. Measure of cytokine burden over time was assessed by calculating the area unde

OBJECTIVE: To study fat metabolism and evaluate lipid deposition in hepatocytes and Kupffer cells during parenteral nutrition (PN) with or without fat. DESIGN: 20 male Sprague-Dawley rats, divided into four groups, were investigated. Rats fed orally were used as a reference group and compared to three groups of rats receiving PN either without fat or with 33% of non-protein energy as fat or with 6

It has been hypothesized that women with vasomotor symptoms differ from those without with respect to cardiovascular risk factors or responses to exogenous hormone therapy. We studied whether the presence and extent of menopausal complaints are associated with cardiovascular risk profile. Data were used from a population-based sample of 5523 women, aged 46 to 57 years, enrolled between 1994 and 19

The objective was to study the effects of ethanol on coagulation and fibrinolysis in whole blood. Blood samples from healthy volunteers were analyzed before and after in-vitro addition of ethanol in order to achieve ethanol concentrations of 0, 1, 2 and 4[per mille sign], respectively (0, 22, 44 and 88 mmol/l). Coagulation and fibrinolysis were then assessed using rotational thromboelastometry. We

Prostate specific antigen (PSA) and human glandular kallikrein 2 (hK2), produced essentially by the prostate gland, are 237-amino acid monomeric proteins, with 79% identity in primary structure. Twenty-five anti-PSA monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) were studied for binding to a large array of synthetic linear peptides selected from computer models of PSA and hK2, as well as to biotinylated peptides co

The possibility of modelling experiments conducted on P/M steel bars subjected to strain controlled fatigue loading is investigated. The constitutive relation is an extended Gurson model, using a viscoplastic formulation with plasticity driven damage accumulation supplemented by kinematic as we'll as isotropic hardening. The total damage is modelled as the sum of void growth and void nucleation. P

We used the amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method to obtain genetic markers distinguishing two subspecies of willow warblers Phylloscopus trochilus that have different migratory behaviours but are not differentiated in mitochondrial DNA or at several microsatellite loci. With the inverse-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approach we converted a dominant AFLP-marker to a codominant sin