Despite substantial advances in pre- and postnatal care, the problem of preterm labour continues to be a significant medical, economic and social burden. Globally, it is estimated that 13 million babies are born preterm each year, but the incidence varies substantially between different countries and population groups. In the United States alone, approximately 11% of pregnancies, i.e. 380,000 case

Employment restrictions have been experienced by many people with epilepsy. In many cases, the restrictions are unjustified and based on stigma or a stereotypical image of the person with epilepsy. Unjustifiable restrictions are a form of discrimination and lead to unemployment and underemployment. Unfortunately, much of the research in this area has been difficult to interpret because of differen

Traffic characterization is of great importance in the analysis and dimensioning of modem telecommunication networks. In this paper, the microdynamics of some sets of traffic are investigated. The approach we use to study the microdynamics is Poissonification, which is away of transforming a point process into a Poisson process locally. We want to gain basic knowledge of how the traffic behaves on

Macroporous gels (MGs) with a broad variety of morphologies are prepared using the cryotropic gelation technique, i.e. gelation at subzero temperatures. These highly elastic hydrophilic materials can be produced from practically any gel-forming system with a broad range of porosity extending from elastic and porous gels with pore sizes up to 1.0 mu m to elastic and sponge-like gels with pore sizes

Background: Despite uniform operating techniques, lack of fusion still occurs after ankle arthrodesis. Differences in the biological healing potential may be a factor but the mechanical performance of the arthrodesis construct because of varying bone quality also may be important. Internal compression techniques are preferred because of higher union rates, shorter fusion times, and fewer complicat

Rats and mice with a lower capacity to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) because of allelic polymorphisms in the Ncf1 gene (which encodes neutrophil cytosolic factor 1) are more susceptible to develop severe arthritis. These data suggest that ROS are involved in regulating the immune response. We now show that the lower capacity to produce ROS is associated with an increased number of reduced

We present a new method for rejecting noise from HPLC-MS data sets. The algorithm reveals peptides at low concentrations by minimizing both the chemical and the random noise. The goal is reached through a systematic approach to characterize and remove the background. The data are represented as two-dimensional maps, in order to optimally exploit the complementary dimensions of separation of the pe

Recent studies suggest that increased aldose reductase (AR) activity plays an important role in ischemia-reperfusion injury in the retina. The mechanisms are not completely understood, but may be linked to inflammation. In the present study, we investigated whether the AR inhibitor fidarestat suppressed the retinal inflammatory response induced by ischemia-reperfusion in a rat model. The inflammat

Fresh and frozen spores of the microsporidia Nosema apis and Nosema bombi were fixed using various fixatives at different times and temperatures. Paraformaldehyde and technical formaldehyde gave results comparable to or better than glutaraldehyde. Increased fixation temperature improved the fixation of spores from terrestrial hosts. Freezing did not destroy the cytology or the spore.

A steady state conjugate conduction-convection investigation is performed on vertical plate fin in which a small heat source is located. Heat from the fin surface is transferred to the surroundings by laminar natural convection. The governing equations for the problem are the heat conduction equation for the fin and the boundary layer equations, which are continuity, momentum and energy equations,

A short history of supportive therapy is delineated by the quadruple division in prehistory, definition, establishment and the phase of integration. Glimpses of the history of the development of the supportive concept are given. It is pointed out that the concept of supportive therapy is stemming from the awkward dichotomy from the ego-psychological paradigm in the psychoanalytic tradition: insigh

The sequence diversity of the entire mitochondrial control region (CR) of three meadow viper (Vipera ursinii) populations was analysed and compared to previously documented nuclear genetic variability at the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class I loci. One of the populations, a small and inbred Hungarian population, exhibited no MHC polymorphism, whereas the two other, sampled from large v

Objective: There is growing evidence in the neuropsychological literature that growth hormone (GH) deficiency is associated with cognitive impairment. There is also evidence that this impairment may be ameliorated with GH replacement therapy. The current study assessed the nature and severity of cognitive impairment associated with growth hormone deficiency, as well as effect of GH replacement on

We describe a simple combinatorial approximation algorithm for finding a shortest (simple) cycle in an undirected graph. For an undirected graph G of unknown girth k, our algorithm returns with high probability a cycle of length at most 2k for even k and 2k + 2 for odd k, in time O(n(3/2) root logn). Thus, in general, it yields a 2 2/3 approximation. We study also the problem of finding a simple c

This article presents a mechanical cutting force model for bandsawing. The model describes the variation in cutting force between individual teeth and relates it to initial positional errors, tool dynamics and edge wear. Bandsawing is a multi-tooth cutting process, and the terminology of the cutting action is discussed and compared with other cutting processes. It will also be shown that the setti

We tested two consequences of a currently influential theory based on the notion of seeing adaptations to climate change as local adjustments to deal with changing conditions within the constraints of the broader economic–social–political arrangements. The notion leaves no explicit role for the strength of personal beliefs in climate change and adaptive capacity. The consequences were: (i) adaptiv