Background Chitosans of high molecular weights have emerged as efficient. nonviral gene delivery systems, but the properties and efficiency of well-defined low molecular weight chitosans ((.) 5 kDa) have not been studied. We therefore characterized DNA complexes Of Such low molecular weight chitosans and related their physical shape and stability to their efficiency as gene delivery systems in vit

A new approach to the production and detection of bound neutron clusters is presented. The technique is based on the breakup of beams of very neutron-rich nuclei and the subsequent detection of the recoiling proton in a liquid scintillator. The method has been tested in the breakup of intermediate energy (30–50 MeV/nucleon) 11Li, 14Be, and 15B beams. Some six events were observed that exhibit the

Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is a plasma protein associated mainly with HDL. ApoM is suggested to be important for the formation of pre beta-HDL, but its mechanism of action is unknown. Homology modeling has suggested apoM to be a lipocalin. Lipocalins share a structurally conserved beta-barrel, which in many lipocalins bind hydrophobic ligands. The aim of this study was to test the ability of apoM to

Proteomic screening of strawberry (Fragaria ananassa) yielded a 58% success rate in protein identification in spite of the fact that no genomic sequence is available for this species. This was achieved by a combination of MALDI-MS/MS de novo sequencing of double-derivatized peptides and indel-tolerant searching against local protein databases built on both EST and full-length nucleotide sequences.

Study objective: Most studies of place effects on health have followed the multilevel analytical approach that investigates geographical variations of health phenomena by fragmenting space into arbitrary areas. This study examined whether analysing geographical variations across continuous space with spatial modelling techniques and contextual indicators that capture space as a continuous dimensio

Adaptive time-stepping is central to the efficient solution of initial value problems in ODEs and DAEs. The error committed in the discretization method primarily depends on the time-step size h, which is varied along the solution in order to minimize the computational effort subject to a prescribed accuracy requirement. This paper reviews the recent advances in developing local adaptivity algorit

The unique role of weakly-bound low-angular-momentum neutrons in the structure of neutron-drip-line nuclei is presented, studying both the many-body pair-correlation in spherical nuclei and the one-particle orbits in the deformed Woods-Saxon potential. Both the HFB equations in the former case and the Schrodinger equation in the latter are solved in coordinate space with correct asymptotic boundar

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and structural geology of the ca. 1.45 Ga Karlshamn pluton (southern Sweden) are used to study its emplacement and structural evolution. The Karlshamn pluton is one of the largest metaluminous A-type granitoid intrusions in southern Sweden. It is a multiphase body made up of two suites that differ in composition but which have similar crystallization ages. The

A piezoelectric sprayer was recently developed for precision release of odor stimuli in olfactory research. The device replaces conventional dispensers used to release semiochemicals in studies of moth flight toward odor sources. However, the device generates high-frequency sounds in the range that some moths can hear. Ultrasound from the standard set-up sprayer had a considerable impact on flight

Protein G, a bacterial cell-wall protein with high affinity for the constant region of IgG (IgGFc) antibodies, contains homologous repeats responsible for the interaction with IgGFc. A synthetic peptide corresponding to an 11-amino acid-long sequence in the COOH-terminal region of the repeats was found to bind to IgGFc and block the interaction with protein G. Moreover, two other IgGFc-binding bac

Adherence of Helicobacter pylori to inflamed gastric mucosa is dependent on the sialic acid-binding adhesin (SabA) and cognate sialylated/fucosylated glycans on the host cell surface. By in situ hybridization, H. pylori bacteria were observed in close association with erythrocytes in capillaries and post-capillary venules of the lamina propria of gastric mucosa in both infected humans and Rhesus m

In the search for androgen target genes responsible for malignant growth in S115 mouse mammary tumor cells we found that thrombospondin 1 (TSP1) expression was strongly downregulated by testosterone (Te). Experiments with cycloheximide suggested that Te repression of TSP1 was dependent on de novo protein synthesis. TSPI repression by Te was preceded by the induction of fibroblast growth factor 8 (

In foster care research the focus is generally placed on the children, not on the parents who perform the foster care. In this article the focus is on foster parents of 10-11 year-old children. They were interviewed about their motives for becoming foster parents, which were linked to their family and work circumstances. Among the 21 foster families in the study, four different but equally frequen

Gadodiamide injection, a new nonionic, MRI contrast medium, was compared with the ionic agent gadolinium (Gd)-DTPA at 0.1 mmol/kg body weight in a double-blind, randomised trial in 60 patients, 30 receiving each substance, with known or suspected lesions of the central nervous system. The patients were closely questioned about adverse events. In the Gadodiamide injection group, four patients repor

We present a general framework for computing various optimal embeddings of undirected and directed connected graphs in two and multi-dimensional integer lattices in time sub-exponential either in the minimum number n of lattice points used by such optimal embeddings or in the budget upper bound b on the number of lattice points that may be used in an embedding. The sub-exponential upper bounds in

The possibility that nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibitors influence dynorphin immunoreactivity following hyperthermia was examined in a rat model using a pharmacological approach. Previous reports from our laboratory show that hyperthermia induces an upregulation of NOS in several brain regions that seems to be instrumental in causing cell injury. Recent reports suggest that nitric oxide (NO) ca

Pain is the main problem for patients with cancer referred to palliative care (PC). Pain management in PC requires a multidimensional approach. A questionnaire was used to determine cancer patients' experiences of care related to pain management, before and after being referred to PC, and to also discover possible correlations between pain control and other aspects of care. Seventy-five consecutiv