Background: Coronary endothelial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes (ACSs). Acute Chlamydia pneumoniae infection has been epidemiologically associated with ACS. In this study, we investigated whether acute C. pneumoniae infection could alter the endothelial vasomotor function of porcine coronary vessels. Methods and results: Twenty pigs, 7–9 kg in weight, were

Basidiomycete fruitbodies growing in coniferous forests along a complex heavy metal pollution gradient in north Sweden were identified and counted over a 4 yr period. The dominant metals in the humus layer were As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn. Pb occurred at the highest levels in a range of 80 to 8500 g g–1 dry wt. Both the number of fruitbodies and the number of fruiting species decreased strongly with in

Cystatin C and the prion protein have been shown to form dimers via three-dimensional domain swapping, and this process has also been hypothesized to be involved in amyloidogenesis. Production of oligomers of other amyloidogenic proteins has been reported to precede fibril formation, suggesting oligomers as intermediates in fibrillogenesis. A variant of cystatin C, with a Leu(68)-> Gln substitutio

Degraded electron beams, as used for intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) or similar complicated dosimetric situations, have different characteristics compared to conventional electron therapy beams. If international dosimetry protocols are applied in a direct manner to such degraded beams, uncertainties will be introduced in the absorbed dose determination. The Monte Carlo method has been used

This paper presents a first study of the decay constants of the charged, or flavor-off-diagonal, pseudoscalar mesons to two loops for three flavors of sea quarks, in Partially Quenched Chiral Perturbation Theory (PQChPT). Explicit analytical expressions up to order p6 in the momentum expansion are given. The calculations have been performed within the supersymmetric formulation of PQChPT. We also

Recent empirical and modelling studies suggest that mid-tropospheric relative humidity (RH) is an important controlling factor of deep atmospheric convection, which appears to be underestimated in present cumulus parametrizations. This indicates the possible presence of shortcomings in the way that entrainment is represented in such parametrizations. This matter was explored in the European Cloud

The purpose of this study was to develop new prediction equations for flow/volume spirometry parameters in asymptomatic, never-smoking adults in Norway, and to assess any differences of these parameters when applying the new and most commonly used equation sets. Flow/volume spirometry was measured according to the American Thoracic Society criteria in 2,792 subjects aged > or = 20 yrs, randomly se

Objective. Recent findings Indicate that platelets not only regulate thrombosis and hemostasis but may also be involved in proinflammatory activities. Herein, we hypothesized that platelets may play a role in sepsis by activating and priming circulating neutrophils for subsequent recruitment Into the lung. Design: Prospective experimental study. Setting. University Hospital Research Unit. Subject.

We investigate how model populations respond to stochastic harvesting in a stochastic environment. In particular, we show that the effects of variable harvesting on the variance in population density and yield depend critically on the autocorrelation of environmental noise and on whether the endogenous dynamics of the population display over- or undercompensation to density. These factors interact

In this paper, we present a novel method for joint estimation of the fundamental frequency and order of a set of harmonically related sinusoids based on the MUltiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) estimation criterion. The presented method, termed HMUSIC, is shown to have an efficient implementation using fast Fourier transforms (FFTs). Furthermore, refined estimates can be obtained using a gradien

Three automatic naming tasks (Wiig & Nielsen, 1999) were administered to 60 normal functioning adults. The mean time required for naming 40 single-dimension (colors, forms, numbers, and letters) and 40 dual dimension stimuli (color-form, color-number, and color letter combinations) were compared in young (17-38 yr.) and older (40-68 yr.) men and women. Analysis of variance for the combined gro

Catalytic metal sites in enzymes frequently have second-sphere carboxylate groups that neutralize the charge of the site and share protons with first-sphere ligands. This gives rise to an ambiguity concerning the position of this proton, which has turned out to be hard to settle with experimental, as well as theoretical, methods. We study three such proton-transfer reactions in two proteins and sh

In many gel applications the swelling and shrinking kinetics are very important, e.g. in controlled/slow release, where the kinetics determine the rate of out-diffusion of the active component, and in gel extraction where the gel is swollen and shrunk several times. In this study swelling kinetics of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) gel (NiPAAm gel) was determined by monitoring the swelling process usi

Background: Current therapies for antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis are limited by toxicity. Objective: To compare pulse cyclophosphamide with daily oral cyclophosphamide for induction of remission. Design: Randomized, controlled trial. Random assignments were computer-generated; allocation was concealed by faxing centralized treatment assignment to providers at the

A large pedigree with autosomal dominant frontotemporal dementia has been identified. Positional cloning has linked the disease gene to the pericentromeric region of chromosome 3. Clinical, neuropsychological, imaging, pathological and molecular genetic data are presented. The genetic mutation responsible for the disease has not been identified.