Several animal studies indicate that mercury is a male reproductive toxicant, but human studies are few and contradictory. We examined semen characteristics and serum levels of reproductive hormones in relation to environmental exposure to mercury. Blood and semen samples were collected from 529 male partners of pregnant women living in Greenland, Poland and Ukraine between May 2002 and February 2

The aim of this study was to increase patients' adherence to the treatment of hypertension through the consultation training of nurses. Thirty-three nurses were included in the study. In the intervention group (IG), 19 nurses took part in a 3-day residential training course on the Stages of Change model, Motivational Interviewing and guidelines for cardiovascular prevention, and recruited 153 pati

Biofilm formation by Staphylococcus epidermidis is a cause of infections related to peritoneal dialysis (PD). We have used a PD catheter flow-cell model in combination with confocal scanning laser microscopy and atomic force microscopy to study biofilm formation by S. epidermidis. Adherence to serum-coated catheters was four times greater than to uncoated ones, suggesting that S. epidermidis binds

It has been demonstrated that apolipoprotein M (APOM) is a vasculoprotective constituent of high density lipoprotein (HDL), which could be related to the anti-atherosclerotic property of HDL. Investigation of regulation of APOM expression is of important for further exploring its pathophysiological function in vivo. Our previous studies indicated that expression of APOM could be regulated by plate

A Certified Reference Material (CRM) for radionuclides in seaweed (Fucus vesiculosus) from the Baltic Sea (IAEA-446) is described and the results of the certification process are presented. The K-40, Cs-132, U-234 and Pu239+240 radionuclides were certified for this material, and information values for 12 other radionuclides (Sr-90, Tc-99, Pb-210 (Po-210), Ra-226, Ra-228, Th-228, Th-230, Th-232, U-

The static posture of postal workers when sorting mail can lead to musculoskeletal discomfort. Research has shown a connection between eyestrain and upper-body musculoskeletal discomfort in general, including postal workers. A previous study of postal workers found that most of those with eye strain were in need of a new correction in their existing spectacles.

Objective: This multiple case study investigated support and process in the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach from individual client, longitudinal and Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) model perspectives. Participants: Five IPS-participants, or cases, with severe mental illness (SMI) who worked a minimum of 4 hours a week entered the study. Methods: A multiple data collectio

RATIONALE: The alveolar pathology in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) involves antigen-driven immune events. However, the induction sites of alveolar adaptive immune responses have remained poorly investigated. OBJECTIVES: To explore the hypothesis that interfaces between the alveolar lumen and lymphoid aggregates (LAs) provide a structural basis for increased alveolar antigen uptake i

We show that dipolar bosons and fermions confined in a quasi-one-dimensional ring trap exhibit a rich variety of states because their interaction is inhomogeneous. For purely repulsive interactions, with increasing strength of the dipolar coupling there is a crossover from a gaslike state to an inhomogeneous crystal-like one. For small enough angles between the dipoles and the plane of the ring, t

Cognitive reserve helps mitigate the impact of pathology on the clinical expression of dementia. Education and occupational complexity are considered as contributors to reserve, although it has been argued that cognitive reserve is likely formed over the life-course. A life-course model of cognitive reserve in dementia risk has not yet been tested. We apply a life-course model and examine if schoo

INTRODUCTION: Population-based randomised controlled trials (RCT) have shown that invitation to biennial screening with faecal occult blood testing (FOBT) during 10 or more years reduced colorectal cancer-specific mortality. These results have stimulated plans to introduce mass screening in various countries; however, none of these trials has been able to show any reduction of total mortality, whi

This paper examines the existence of a mortality penalty for illegitimate abandoned infants in the Foundling Hospital of Madrid, La Inclusa, during the period 1890-1935, in the context of the mortality experience of the city. A rich dataset on the life histories of all infants abandoned in the city of Madrid (almost 60,000 children), nominally linked to births, has allowed the study of the determi

Conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) is one of the most prolific frameworks in the study of emotion concepts. Following the seminal work of Lakoff and Johnson (1980) and subsequent work by Kövecses (1986, 1990) and Kövecses and Lakoff (1987), an impressive number of studies in cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics have sought to document and confirm the claim that conceptual metaphor (CM) struct

Many ectothermic species are currently expanding their distributions polewards due to anthropogenic global warming. Molecular genetic mechanisms facilitating range expansion under these conditions are largely unknown, but understanding these could help mitigate expanding pests and disease vectors, or help explain why some species fail to track changing climates. Here, using RNA-seq data, we examin

We present recent developments in modelling and simulation of internal traverse grinding, a high speed machining process which enables both a large material removal rate and high surface quality. We invoke a hybrid modelling framework, including a process scale model, simulations on a mesoscale capturing the proximity of a single cBN grain and an analysis framework to investigate the grinding whee

The transverse momentum (pT) distribution of primary charged particles is measured in minimum bias (non-single-diffractive) p + Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-s = 5.02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC. The pT spectra measured near central rapidity in the range 0.5< p(T) < 20 GeV/c exhibit a weak pseudorapidity dependence. The nuclear modification factor R-pPb is consistent with unity for p(T) a

OBJECT: The aim is to describe the development of the scientific literature on dementia. METHODS: We present a quantitative, bibliometric study of the literature on dementia, based on Medline, covering 36 years (1974-2009). Two samples of references to dementia papers were retrieved: The main sample based on the MeSH term Dementia holds more than 88 500 references. We have compared the annual

The interest in adiponutrin stems from adiponutrin variant I148M, which is strongly associated to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Adiponutrin has to date been considered to be solely an intracellular protein, with a role in lipid metabolism in liver and adipose tissue. However, a physiologically relevant role for adiponutrin has not been found. The aim of this study was to investigate the prese

The metabolically versatile purple bacteria Rhodobacter capsulatus was investigated to check its possible applicability in biofuel cells and electrochemical microbial biosensors. The wild type strain ATCC 17015 and mutant strain 37b4 lacking the lipopolysaccharide capsule was compared for their ability to communicate with electrodes modified with an osmium redox polymer. In this work, aerobic hete