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This article critically reviews the international debate on desertification, its status, rate as well as causes and consequences. The article rejects the commonly used concept of a degrading environment, but tries to explain the environmental problems as symptoms of a wider economic and political crisis. An alternative approach applying systems analysis of the entire socio-eco-system to the study
One of several quality indicators that are relevant to study is patient's satisfaction with health care in the ambulance services. Regular measurements of patient satisfaction in this field have not been carried out previously and a validated method of measurement is lacking.
Polymorphisms associated with prostate cancer include those in three genes encoding major secretory products of the prostate: KLK2 (encoding kallikrein-related peptidase 2; hK2), KLK3 (encoding prostate-specific antigen; PSA), and MSMB (encoding beta-microseminoprotein). PSA and hK2, members of the kallikrein family, are elevated in sera of men with prostate cancer. In a comprehensive analysis tha
We have previously shown that porcine aortic endothelial cells expressing the Y934F platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) beta-receptor mutant respond to PDGF-BB in a chemotaxis assay at about 100-fold lower concentration than do wild-type PDGF beta-receptor-expressing cells (Hansen, K., Johnell, M., Siegbahn, A. , Rorsman, C., Engstrom, U., Wernstedt, C., Heldin, C.-H., and Ronnstrand, L. (1996)
The radionuclides (210)Po and (210)Pb widely present in the terrestrial environment are the final long-lived radionuclides in the decay of (238)U in the earth's crust. Their presence in the atmosphere is due to the decay of (222)Rn diffusing from the ground. The range of activity concentrations in ground level air for (210)Po is 0.03-0.3 Bq m(-3) and for (210)Pb 0.2-1.5 Bq m(-3). In drinking water
INTRODUCTION Based on historical data, a decline in sperm counts during the years 1940-1990 has been suggested and aetiologically linked to a concomitant increase in the incidence of testicular cancer. This study, focusing on possible changes in sperm parameters among young Swedish men, during the past 10 years, was specifically designed in order to answer the question of whether there is a contin
Signal transduction pathways are crucial for the regulation of a very wide variety of cellular functions ranging, for example, from translation to intercellular communication, and from metabolism to apoptosis. Protein kinases and phosphatases, together with their binding partners, are key players in these cascades. They also form a substantial part of the genes in genomes and proteins in proteomes
Fluid substitution is important in critically ill patients to maintain normovolemia, but there is always a risk that the treatment is too aggressive resulting in fluid overload, or is insufficient with maintenance of hypovolemia. The present study on the rat aims at evaluating the change in plasma volume after 2.5 h from a state of hyper- and hypovolemia. The analysis was made without and with nor
A complete architecture with transistor level simulation is presented for a low power analog convolutional decoder in 65 nm CMOS. The decoder core operates in the weak inversion (sub-VT) and realizes the BCJR decoding algorithm corresponding to the 4-state tail-biting trellis of a (7,5) convolutional code. The complete decoder also incorporates serial I/O digital interfaces and current mode differ
DESIGN:: CCR5-using HIV-1 (R5 viruses) are usually isolated during acute infection from both adults and children. We have recently demonstrated that R5 viruses with a flexible use of CCR5 (called R5broad) can be detected in children close to birth and are predictive of a fast immunological failure. The aim of the present work was to investigate viral phenotype variation during disease progression
A real-space renormalization transformation is constructed for lattices of nonidentical oscillators with dynamics of the general form dvarphi_{k}/dt=omega_{k}+g summation operator_{l}f_{lk}(varphi_{l},varphi_{k}) . The transformation acts on ensembles of such lattices. Critical properties corresponding to a second-order phase transition toward macroscopic synchronization are deduced. The analysis
A craniopharyngioma (CP) is an embryonic malformation of the sellar and parasellar region. The annual incidence is 0.5-2.0 cases/million/year and approximately 60 % of CP are seen in adulthood. Craniopharyngiomas have the highest mortality of all pituitary tumors. Typical initial manifestations at diagnosis in adults are visual disturbances, hypopituitarism and symptoms of elevated intracranial pr
Dercum's disease is characterised by obesity, pronounced pain in the adipose tissue, and a number of associated symptoms. Liposuction has been suggested as a treatment. However, the effect on quality-of-life after liposuction in Dercum's disease has never been investigated. The objective of this study was to examine the quality-of-life in Dercum's disease before and after liposuction. A total of 1
The ability to reproduce a specified head-on-trunk position can be an indirect test of cervical proprioception. This ability is affected in subjects with neck pain, but it is unclear whether and how much pain or continuous muscle contraction factors contribute to this effect. We studied the influence of a static unilateral neck muscle contraction task (5 min of lateral flexion at 30% of maximal vo
BACKGROUND: We have measured blood lead concentrations (B-Pb) in Swedish children, yearly since 1978. As reported previously, a substantial decrease of B-Pb was found for the period 1978-1994 (2440 children measured), as an effect of gradual reduction of lead in petrol. In another report focusing on the petrol-lead-free period 1995-2001, we noted that B-Pb seemed to stabilize at an average level c
