Animal and a few human studies suggest that polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) may affect male reproductive function. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if male reproductive function was associated with serum level of PBDEs. We evaluated, in a cross-sectional study, the effects of environmental exposure to BDE-47 and BDE-153 on reproductive hormones and semen quality, including marke

Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) condenses high-dimensional data into lower-dimensional models subject to the requirement that data can only be added, never subtracted. However, the NMF problem does not have a unique solution, creating a need for additional constraints (regularization constraints) to promote informative solutions. Regularized NMF problems are more complicated than conventio

By using absorption and fluorescence (steady-state and time-resolved) techniques the interaction between a poly(acrylic acid) PAA, randomly grafted with pyrene (Py) units (PAAMePy55) and a triblock copolymer of poly(ethylene oxide) and poly(propylene oxide) (EO20PO68EO20, P123) was investigated. From the fluorescence data it is shown that upon addition of P123 a decrease of the (pyrene-pyrene, Py-

Large uncertainty exists in model projections of the land carbon (C) sink response to increasing atmospheric CO2. Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments lasting a decade or more have investigated ecosystem responses to a step change in atmospheric CO2 concentration. To interpret FACE results in the context of gradual increases in atmospheric CO2 over decades to centuries, we used a suite of se

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the long-term benefits of progressive resistance training in chronic stroke. DESIGN: A 4-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial of progressive resistance training. SUBJECTS: Eighteen women and men (mean age 66 (standard deviation 4) from the original group of 24 post-stroke participants. METHODS: The training group (n = 11) had participated in supervised progres

Weak separability is a key admissibility property in the Divisia approach to monetary aggregation. We test groups of U.K. household sector monetary assets for weak separability using new data underlying the Bank of England's benchmark revision of its household sector Divisia index. Nonparametric tests are used to identify four monetary asset groupings, which are weakly separable over all or almost

Accurate assessment of early hip joint cartilage alterations may help optimize patient selection and follow-up of hip joint preservation surgery. Delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC) is sensitive to the glycosaminoglycan content in cartilage that is lost early in the development of osteoarthritis (OA). Hence, the dGEMRIC technique holds promise for the deve

The recognition of pathogen-derived structures by C-type lectins and the chemotactic activity mediated by the CCL2/CCR2 axis are critical steps in determining the host immune response to fungi. The present study was designed to investigate whether the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within DC-SIGN, Dectin-1, Dectin-2, CCL2 and CCR2 genes influence the risk of developing Invasive

Background and Aims: While the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in childhood is in part genetically conditioned, non-genetic/environmental factors seem to play a decisive role in its aetiology. The incidence of T1D has been increasing rapidly during the last years, and its prevalence is higher in countries of high economical welfare like Sweden. Therefore, both from an aetiological and a publi

A critical source publication of an unknown letter from the late eighteenth century, of great importance for the later interpretation of the German Moravian spiritual tradition in Sweden.

Popular Abstract in Swedish Hjärtsvikt är en sjukdom som beror på att hjärtat inte kan pumpa ut tillräckligt med blod till kroppens vävnader. I Sverige drabbas årligen 30000 personer av hjärtsvikt, och prognosen är jämförbar med de vanligaste cancerformerna. Trots att det är så vanligt och allvarligt, saknas i dagsläget objektiva mått på hjärtsvikt – det finns alltså ingen ”linjal” för att mäta huHeart failure is a clinical syndrome characterized by an inability of the heart to meet the metabolic demands of the body. Approximately 1-2% of the population in the western society has the diagnosis, and the 5-year mortality rate is comparable with the common cancer diagnoses. The lack of reliable objective measures of heart failure motivates research in this direction. Blood flow is an essentia

In a linguistic description there is normally a more or less conspicious lack of balance between the space a phenomenon requires to be fully described and its frequence in actual language usage, here called a lack of iconicity. The article investigates to what degree some Danish and Swedish dictionaries are iconical in this sense, i.e. whether the space of a word in the dictionary corresponds with

Purpose An advanced 3/4PL-relationship in which the logistics service provider extended normal services by taking ownership of the goods during global distribution, is studied. We describe and analyze the approach to the legal rules a 3/4PL provider and its client company took in their contract, and present some remarks on the extent to which these contract solutions are legally sound. Design/me

Changing illumination constitutes a serious challenge for video segmentation algorithms, especially in outdoor scenes under cloudy conditions. Rapid illumination changes, e.g. caused by varying cloud cover, often cause existing segmentation algorithms to erroneously classify large parts of the image as foreground. Here a method that extends existing segmentation algorithms by detecting illuminatio