Animals living in environments of different quality will have different expectations of their future reproductive success and survival. This may affect the individual's risk-taking behaviour as manifest in the cost of predation. We investigated the foraging behaviour of starlings, Sturnus vulgaris, when perceived predation risk varied between patches. Short-term food availability varied between tr

1. Sexual selection has been studied intensively, and is often strong in natural populations. Theoretical models, comparative studies and laboratory selection experiments all suggest that evolution driven by sexual selection should be rapid and common. 2. However, there are relatively few documented cases of the contemporary evolution of secondary sexual traits in natural populations. Moreover, th

Two novel vanadium complexes, [V(IV)O(bp-O)(HSO4)] (1) and [V(IV)O(bp-OH)Cl2] x CH3OH (2 x CH3OH), where bp-OH is 2-{[bis(pyrid-2-yl)methyl]amine}methylphenol, were prepared and structurally characterised. EPR spectra of methanol solutions of 2 suggest exchange of Cl- for CH3OH and partial conversion to [VO(bp-OH)(CH3OH)3]2+. Speciation studies on the VO2+-bpOH system in a water/dmso mixture (4:1

Both anions and cations are mobile and carry the electrical charge in most polymer electrolytes. A single ion conductor with purely cationic conduction can be realized by incorporation of the anion into the polymer chain. In order to obtain pure lithium ion conductors we prepared two types of graft copolymers, namely poly(amide 12-graft-ethylene oxide) and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol-gr aft-eth

The concentrations of the monoamine metabolites homovanillic acid (HVA), 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (HMPG) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with clinical frontotemporal dementia (FTD; n = 30), early onset Alzheimer's disease (EAD; n = 33), late onset Alzheimer's disease (LAD, n = 27) and normal controls (n = 31) were determined using HPLC. A

There is a potential to increase the annual use of biomass in Sweden by 125 TWh between 1994 and 2015. 125 TWh of biomass would satisfy most of the transportation-fuel demand in Sweden in 2015. Even if the biomass is primarily used for heat and electricity production, a significant fraction will be available for transportation-fuel production, if other non-fossil energy sources are utilized for el

The primary granules/secretory lysosomes of neutrophils store mature neutrophil elastase (NE) as a luminal protein after proteolytic removal of N-terminal and C-terminal pro-peptides from a proform of NE. The N-terminal pro-peptide prevents premature activation that might be toxic to the cell, but the C-terminal pro-peptide has no defined function. In this study, we investigated the role of the C-

Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is an autosomal dominant disorder in humans that is characterised by multisystemic vascular dyplasia and recurrent haemorrhage. Germline mutations in one of two different genes, endoglin or ALK1 can cause HHT. Both are members of the transforming growth factor (TGF) beta receptor family of proteins, and are expressed primarily on the surface of endothel

Review of DVD, issued by Britsh Film Institute, containing late artist Ian Breakwell's short films

In this study we aimed to assess in vivo, the vasodilator effects of adrenomedullin, proadrenomedullin N-terminal 20 peptide (PAMP) and amylin in human skin vasculature and compare the responses to the effects mediated by the endogenenous neuropeptides calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P and to examine the mRNA expression of calcitonin receptor-like receptor (CL-R) and receptor-

The densities and viscosities of ternary mixtures of mono(ethylene glycol) (MEG) + 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) + water have been measured at temperatures of 25 to 40 degreesC. The water content varied in the range 1.4 to 15.6 mol %, and the amine concentration varied from 0 to 11.8 mol %. The excess volumes were calculated from the experimental data and fitted to a simple Redlich-Kister type

Objective. To examine thigh muscle strength, functional performance, and self-reported outcome in patients with nontraumatic meniscus tears 4 years after operation, and to study the impact of a strength deficit on self-reported outcome and evaluate the feasibility of 3 performance tests in this patient group. Methods. The study group comprised 45 patients (36% women, mean age 46.7) who had an arth

Besides showing an extraordinary degree of phenotypic variability, Capsella bursa-pastoris (Brassicaceae) is also one of the world's most common plant species and a serious weed in many countries. We have employed a coalescent-based Bayesian analysis of chloroplast microsatellite data to infer demographic and evolutionary parameters of this species. Two different demographic models applied to data

Hospitalization involves that parents are in an unfamiliar environment and their parental role changes. The purpose of this study was to study parental needs during the course of events when their child is hospitalized. Thirty-five parents of 24 children (aged 5 months to 18 years) were followed by observers during their child's hospitalization at a pediatric department in Sweden. Field notes were

Objective. To study the effect of an educationally oriented intervention programme, with the recommendations from the National Board of Health and Welfare as a base. Design. A prospective intervention study. Setting. Six day-care centres in Vaxjo, Sweden. Three centres comprised the intervention group and three constituted the control group. Subjects and main outcome measures. The parents and pers

The effects of P2Y receptor agonists on smooth muscle membrane potential in isolated ring segments of rat mesenteric artery were examined by intracellular microelectrodes. In the presence of inhibitors of nitric oxide-synthase and cyclo-oxygenase, the selective P2Y1 receptor agonist adenosine 5'-O-thiodiphosphate (ADPbetaS) induced endothelium-dependent membrane hyperpolarisations, which were abol

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF; filgrastim) during induction chemotherapy with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, prednisone) or CNOP (doxorubicin replaced with mitoxantrone) in elderly patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) improves time to treatment failure (TTF), complete remission (C

Malaria-induced sepsis is associated with an intense proinflammatory cytokinemia for which the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. It has been demonstrated that experimental infection of humans with Plasmodium falciparum primes Toll-like receptor (TLR)-mediated proinflammatory responses. Nevertheless, the relevance of this phenomenon during natural infection and, more importantly, the mec