Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are key factors of innate immunity that detect pathogen invasion and trigger a host response. TLR4 can mediate a response through adaptor molecules, MyD88 or TRIF. In the present study, streptomycin-treated MyD88(-/-), Tlr4(-/-), Trif (Lps2/Lps2), and C57BL/6 wild-type (WT) mice were infected with either Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing or non-producing Escherichia coli O157:

Hydrophobic interactions are highly selective, and differences in surface hydrophobicities between proteins can be used as an efficient handle to facilitate protein isolation. Aromatic amino acid residues are of particular importance for molecular recognition because they have a key role in several biological functions. The hydrophobicity of a protein can easily be altered with minor genetic modif

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

Muscle activity of isolated muscle strips from the middle pharyngeal constrictor, the inferior pharyngeal constrictor, the cricopharyngeal muscle, and the cervical esophagus of the rabbit was studied in organ baths in response to drugs and electrical field stimulation. These muscles of the pharyngoesophageal segment seem to lack an autonomic adrenergic and cholinergic innervation, as determined by

In this article we apply a method devised in Hartwig, Larsson, and Silvestrov (2006) and Larsson and Silvestrov (2005a) to the simple 3-dimensional Lie algebra sl2(F). One of the main points of this deformation method is that the deformed algebra comes endowed with a canonical twisted Jacobi identity. We show in the present article that when our deformation scheme is applied to sl2(F) we can, by c

The purpose of the study was to explore the encounters with the health care system in Sweden of women from Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan who have been genitally cut. A qualitative study was performed through interviews with 22 women originally from Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea who were living in Sweden. The women experienced being different and vulnerable, suffering from being abandoned and mutilated

The effects of cypermethrin, a commonly used pyrethroid insecticide, were studied in small in situ enclosures situated in an eutrophic lake over an 11-day period. The experimental design used a regression principle that included three untreated controls and a gradient of six unreplicated cypermethrin concentrations, ranging from 0.01 to 6 mug/l. This paper is the second in a series of two and desc

Objectives: To assess the interval change of the minimal joint space width (MJS) in radiographs of the tibiofemoral (TF) joint and of the patellofemoral (PF) joint with a 2-year follow-up in middle-aged people with longstanding knee pain with or without radiographic osteoarthritis (OA) and to study the precision of the MJS measurements. Design: In the format of a prospective study of early OA the

Oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (VP) are neurohypophyseal hormones with potent stimulatory actions on the uterus. In order to determine whether these hormones may have a paracrine action on the uterus, OT and VP gene expression was studied in myometrium from pregnant rats at gestational ages of 14 and 20 days, and from ovariectomized animals treated with oestradiol and progesterone. OT and VP mRNA c

Light detection and ranging (LIDAR) experiments are normally pursued for range resolved atmospheric gas measurements or for analysis of solid target surfaces using fluorescence of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. In contrast, we now demonstrate the monitoring of free gas enclosed in pores of materials, subject to impinging laser radiation, employing the photons emerging back to the surface la

Due to the difficulty of monitoring trace levels of cyproheptadine (CYP) residues in complicated biological matrices, specific adsorption materials for the preconcentration and clean-up of CYP are indispensable. In this work, CYP was extracted from urine using dummy molecularly imprinted SPE (DMISPE) to avoid leakage of the imprinting molecules during the desorption phase. For synthesis of DMISPE,

Elevated levels of CO2 and O-3 affect plant growth and phytochemistry, which in turn can alter physiological performance of associated herbivores. Little is known, however, about how generalist insect herbivores respond behaviorally to CO2- and O-3-mediated changes in their host plants. This research examined the effects of elevated CO2 and O-3 levels on host plant preferences and consumption of f

2,4,6-Trinitrotoluene (TNT) is the major explosive in ammunition dumped into lakes and the sea after World War II. To identify useful biomarkers of TNT-exposure for forthcoming fish monitoring studies at ammunition dumping sites, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were intraperitoneal (i.p.) injected with TNT in peanut oil at doses of 0, 100, 200 or 400 mg TNT/kg body weight and sampled 72 h late

The monotremes, the duck-billed platypus and the echidnas, are characterized by a number of unique morphological characteristics, which have led to the common belief that they represent the living survivors of an ancestral stock of mammals. Analysis of new data from the complete mitochondrial (mt) genomes of a second monotreme, the spiny anteater. and another marsupial, the wombat. yielded clear s

A significant percentage of young children present cardiac murmurs. However, only one percent of them are caused by a congenital heart defect; others are physiological. Auscultation of the heart is still the primary diagnostic tool for judging the type of cardiac murmur. An automated system for an initial recording and analysis of the cardiac sounds could enable the primary care physicians to make

Carvedilol, an antihypertensive drug with activity on adrenoceptors as well as on calcium channel activity, has recently been introduced. In the present study we investigated whether carvedilol interacts with the cytotoxicity induced by irradiation in vitro as well as in vivo. A daily injection of carvedilol in clinically relevant concentrations (3 mg/kg subcutaneously), 4 days before and 3 days a

Background The Medical School of Lund University, Sweden, has introduced an early patient contact course, including training in communication and examination skills. The course runs parallel with theoretical subjects during the students' first two-and-a-half years. General practitioner (GP) participation is gradually increasing, and in the last half-year of the course GPs in all health centres in