Background The lead concentration in plasma is correlated to that in whole blood with a two to fourfold variation. It has never been investigated if this variation is interindividual. Methods Lead and hemoglobin were determined in blood and plasma from 13 lead workers with a history of relatively high blood-lead concentrations, sampled three times during 1 day. The variation in the distribution of

A concise biomimetic approach toward transtaganolides C and D involving an Ireland-Claisen rearrangement/intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction sequence suggesting the involvement of pericyclic reactions in the biosynthesis of these biologically active plant metabolites is presented. A final coupling reaction establishes the carbon framework of the transtaganolides.

Transient contacts between denatured polypeptide chains are likely to play an important part in the initial stages of protein aggregation and fibrillation. To analyze the nature of such contacts, we have carried out a protein engineering study of the 102-residue protein U1A, which aggregates transiently in the wild-type form during refolding from the guanidinium chloride-denatured state. We have p

A multireference second-order perturbation theory using a restricted active space self-consistent field wave function as reference (RASPT2/RASSCF) is described. This model is particularly effective for cases where a chemical system requires a balanced orbital active space that is too large to be addressed by the complete active space self-consistent field model with or without second-order perturb

In concert with the latest experiment of velocity imaging technique [X. P. Zhang et al., ChemPhysChem 9, 1130 (2008)], quantum chemical calculations with relativistic effect were performed on the photodissociation of bromobenzene (BrPh) and iodobenzene (IPh) at 266 nm. The method of multistate second order multiconfigurational perturbation theory in conjunction with spin-orbit interaction through

The influence of the addition of carbohydrates with different physicochemical properties on weight loss and formation of heterocyclic amines (HAs) during the frying of beef burgers was examined. Furthermore, the capability of carbohydrates to bind HAs was tested. Beef burgers containing 1.5% NaCl and 0.3% tripolyphosphate (reference), with the addition of 1.5% carbohydrate, were fried for 5 min at

Among the three recently described GB viruses (GBV-A, GBV-B, and GBV-C), only GBV-C has been linked to cryptogenic hepatitis in man. Because of the limited utility of currently available research tests to determine antibody response to GBV-C proteins, the prevalence of GBV-C RNA in human sera was studied using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The prevalence of GBV-C is hig

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To establish a pig model suitable for imitating pulmonary emboli to facilitate research in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. METHODS: Thirteen animals were anesthetized, mechanically ventilated, and subjected to pulmonary artery catheterization initiated from the right external jugular vein. With the use of a Swan-Ganz catheter, repetitive occlusion/reperfusion maneuve

Cysteine-rich secretory protein 3 (CRISP-3; also known as SGP28) was originally discovered in human neutrophilic granulocytes. We have recently developed a sensitive sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for CRISP-3 and demonstrated the presence of CRISP-3 in exocrine secretions. To investigate the subcellular localization and mobilization of CRISP-3 in human neutrophils, we performed subcell

Little is known about the development of infection of malaria parasites of the genus Plasmodium in wild birds. We used qPCR, targeting specific mitochondrial lineages of Plasmodium ashfordi (GRW2) and Plasmodium relictum (GRW4), to monitor changes in intensities of parasitemia in captive great reed warblers Acrocephalus arundinaceus from summer to spring. The study involved both naturally infected

model the optimal Bayesian foraging strategy in environments with only two patch qualities. That is, all patches either belong to one rich type, or to one poor type. This has been a situation created in several foraging experiments. In contrast, previous theories of Bayesian foraging have dealt with prey distributions where patches may belong to one out of a large range of qualities (binomial, Poi

BACKGROUND: A previous study has shown that pentoxifylline in combination with vitamin E can reverse radiation-induced fibrosis. The aim of the present study is to investigate if the same drugs could prevent radiation-induced side-effects in women with breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel group trial was performed. Women with breast cancer w

In Sweden, public attention has not focused on elder abuse. No common view of interventions or organizational repsonsibilities has been developed. The aim of this study was to describe interventions suggested by Swedish formal carers in three hypothetical, typical cases of elder abuse. From one municipality in Sweden, 71 formal carers (district nurses, home service assistants, and general practiti

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. This is being addressed by leading professional organizations, which point to the importance of a skilled attendant at birth. But they also emphasize that the active management of the third stage of labor is proven to reduce the incidence of PPH. In low-income settings, the prostaglandin misoprostol shoul

The problem of recovering scene structure and camera motion from images has a number of inherent ambiguities. In this paper, configurations of points and cameras are analyzed for which the image points alone are insufficient to recover the scene geometry uniquely. Such configurations are said to be critical. For two views, it is well-known that a configuration is critical only if the two camera ce

One of the reasons that the crystalline lenses of vertebrate eyes are highly transparent is that most of the cells have broken down all of their organelles, including the nuclei. These cells can neither synthesize new proteins nor generate energy by electron transport in the mitochondria. Only in the peripheral layers--in the cichlid fish Aequidens pulcher, beyond 92% of the lens radius--are there