Infertility, defined as the inability to conceive after one year of unprotected regular intercourse, affects up to 15% of all couples of reproductive age. The infertility can originate from female, male or both partners. In up to 50% of the affected couples, a male factor is the cause of infertility. Semen analysis is the cornerstone of male infertility assessment and an abnormal result often trig

The reduction mechanism of the RuO2(110) surface by molecular hydrogen exposure is unraveled to an unprecedented level by a combination of temperature programmed reaction, scanning tunneling microscopy, high-resolution core level shift spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. We demonstrate that even at room temperature hydrogen exposure to the RuO2(110) surface leads to the forma

In this study, we present a simple and easy-to-use extraction method that is based on a hollow-fiber microporous membrane liquid-liquid extraction (HF-MMLLE), as an extraction technique, followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine a group of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), at trace levels in aqueous samples. The hollow-fiber mem

We studied the effect of habitat fragmentation on female reproductive investment in a widespread lacertid lizard (Psammodromus algirus) in a mixed-forest archipelago of deciduous and evergreen oak woods in northern Spain. We captured gravid females in fragments (= 200 ha) and brought them to the laboratory, where they laid their eggs. We incubated the eggs and released the first cohort of juvenile

The energy levels of the 5f(3) manifold of the free-ion U3+ Up to 30 000 cm(-1) are calculated with two well stabilized ab initio methods based on the two-component Hamiltonians of Cowan-Griffin-Wood-Boring and Douglas-Kroll-Hess. Although the corresponding experimental data do not exist, estimates made out of experiments on the 50 manifold of U3+ in solids are usually referred to as the experimen

By combining data from the Swedish Knee Arthroplasty Register and Swedish census registers we have calculated the past age-specific incidence of primary knee arthroplasties and predicted the demand. During the last 20 years, osteoarthrosis has accounted for the largest increase in number of knee arthroplasties while operations for rheumatoid arthritis remained constant. The mean yearly number of o

Popular Abstract in Swedish Total höftledsplastik är en vanlig och mycket framgångsrik behandling av smärttillstånd i höftleden. Enligt svenska höftplastikregistret opererades 12651 patienter år 2002 men 1056 patienter fick samma år genomgå ett utbyte av sin höftledsprotes (revision). Att höftleden vrids ur led (luxation) upprepade gånger eller infektion kan vara orsaken till revision men det vanlTotal hip arthroplasty is a very successful procedure. Despite this fact, however, a certain portion of patients has to be revised. One major reason for revision is the wear of the polyethylene leading to loosening and osteolysis. The overall aim of this thesis was to evaluate linear wear and migration of cemented, all - polyethylene sockets and polyethylene liners in total hip arthroplasty. The a

Turbulent premixed natural gas - air flame velocities have been measured in a stationary axi-symmetric burner using LDA. The flame was stabilized by letting the flow retard toward a stagnation plate downstream of the burner exit. Turbulence was generated by letting the flow pass through a plate with drilled holes. Three different hole diameters were used, 3, 6 and 10 mm, in order to achieve differ

This paper introduces a new method for real-time relighting of scenes illuminated by local light sources. We extend previous work on precomputed radiance transfer for distant lighting to local lighting by introducing the concept of unstructured light clouds. The unstructured light cloud enables a compact representation of local lights in the model and real-time rendering of complex models with ful

Review of a regional, ecclesiastical historical overview of the diocese of Karlstad, Sweden.

Abstract is not available.

New dynamic, semistatic, and fully static single-clock CMOS latches and flipflops are proposed. By removing the speed and power bottlenecks of the original true-single-phase clocking (TSPC) and the existing differential latches and flipflops, both delays and power consumptions are considerably reduced. For the nondifferential dynamic, the differential dynamic, the semistatic, and the fully static

The lamellar mesophase formed by surfactant 1,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl) sodium sulfosuccinate (AOT) in deuterated water is mixed with poly(dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAA) polymers of low molecular weight ((M) over bar (n) = (2-20) x 10(3)). The mixtures separate into microphases (lamellar plus isotropic polymer solution). Their microstructures are studied by microscopy, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS),

Partial migration is often considered a transitory stage between migration and residency, and whether partial migrants take weather conditions into account during migration is largely unknown. To assess whether partial migrants differ from regular migrants in their responses to weather, we compared the migratory intensity of a partial migrant, the Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), with more regular

This investigation was undertaken to assess biological variation, especially the within-subject variations of all- trans retinoic acid, 13- cis retinoic acid and retinol in human serum. Diurnal variation and variation over a week, a month and a year were studied in 11 males (aged 21 - 54 years) and 17 females (aged 22 - 63 years), all subjectively healthy. We found no diurnal variation with the ex