Delayed contrast-enhanced MRI of cartilage (dGEMRIC) is a noninvasive technique to study cartilage glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content in vivo. This study evaluates dGEMRIC in patients with preradiographic degenerative cartilage changes. Seventeen knees in 15 patients (age 35-70) with arthroscopically verified cartilage changes (softening and fibrillations) in the medial or lateral femoral compartment

Process parameters for the extraction of glycolipids by scCO(2) from Lactobacillus plantarum B-01 were optimized by carrying out a two-level fractional design experiment. The highest glycolipids extract yield was obtained at 250 bar, 40 degrees C, CO2 flow rate, 10 g/min and hydrometanolic co-solvent, 9.3% (v/v). In the lipid extracts the carbohydrate moiety of glycolipids and in phospholipids pho

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory mediators secreted by leukocytes are implicated in atherogenesis. Chlamydia (C.) pneumoniae infection has been suggested as a trigger of this process. We investigated relationships between C. Pneumoniae serology, inflammatory mediators and symptomatic cardiovascular disease in old age. METHODS: In a cross-sectional study at baseline with a prospective 4 year follow-up, int

The volume of fluid (VOF) and immersed boundary (IB) methods are two popular computational techniques for multi-fluid dynamics. To help shed light on the performance of both techniques, we present accuracy assessment, which includes interfacial geometry, detailed and global fluid flow characteristics, and computational robustness. The investigation includes the simulations of a droplet under stati

Background: There is need for a reference method for transferrin glycoforms in serum to which routine immunologic methods for the alcohol marker carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) can be traceable. We describe an improved HPLC method for transferrin glycoforms. Methods: Transferrin was iron-saturated by mixing the serum with ferric nitrilotriacetic acid, and lipoproteins were precipitated wi

The Northern and Western dialects of the Mon-Khmer language Kammu use fundamental frequency to distinguish words, while the Eastern dialect relies on the contrastive voicing of initial consonants to distinguish words which display an F0 contrast in the other dialects. The production and perception of tones in the three dialects is investigated, using recordings and perception tests. As expected, N

A new concept for affinity two-phase partitioning was tested. The partitioning was based on the interaction of target membranes with a primary antibody which, in turn, interacted with a biotinylated secondary antibody and NeutrAvidin-dextran in a poly(ethylene glycol)/dextran two-phase system. Caveolae selectively redistributed from the top phase to the NeutrAvidin-dextran-containing bottom phase

The contents of short-chain fatty acids were investigated in rats fed lactitol, lactulose and four fructo-oligosaccharides of different degree of polymerisation and solubility. Fructo-oligosaccharides with a low degree of polymerisation (2-8) generated the highest levels of butyric acid all along the hindgut, whereas fructo-oligosaccharides with a high degree of polymerisation (10-60) generated th

Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is a novel apolipoprotein with unknown function. In this study, we established a method for isolating apoM-containing lipoproteins and studied their composition and the effect of apoM on HDL function. ApoM-containing lipoproteins were isolated from human plasma with immunoaffinity chromatography and compared with lipoproteins lacking apoM. The apoM-containing lipoproteins w

OBJECTIVE: Mapping coreceptor epitopes used by the prototypic R5 and X4 strains, HIV-1BaL and HIV-1IIIB, in comparison with epitopes involved in the activation and signaling induced by the natural ligands, RANTES and SDF-1beta. DESIGN: Receptor hybrids between CCR5 and CXCR4 were constructed. METHODS: Using single-overlap and extension PCR, increasing portions of CCR5 were replaced with correspond

Initially, domesticated African cattle were of taurine type. Today, we find both African Bos taurus and Bos indicus cattle, as well as their crossbreeds, on the continent of Africa and they all share the same set of African taurine mitochondrial DNA haplogroups. In this study, we report genetic variation as substitutions and insertions/deletions (indels) on both the X and Y chromosomes, and use th

Spruce and birch seedlings were grown together in boxes filled with unsterile pear. Both seedlings were colonized by the ectomycorrhizal fungus Scleroderma citrinum. The two plants thus shared a common external mycelium. N-15-labelled ammonium was supplied exclusively to the fungus, while the birch or the spruce plant was continuously fed with C-13-labelled CO2 for 72 h. The carbon and nitrogen tr

In this paper, 2 adaptive spectral estimation techniques are analyzed for spectral Doppler ultrasound. The purpose is to minimize the observation window needed to estimate the spectrogram to provide a better temporal resolution and gain more flexibility when designing the data acquisition sequence. The methods can also provide better quality of the estimated power spectral density (PSD) of the blo

The flow characteristics in rectangular ducts with aspect ratio of 1:8 were investigated experimentally using particle image velocimetry to reveal the function of the inclined ribs as turbulators or generators of favorable flows. Circular ribs were attached on the wide walls and the rib height-to-hydraulic diameter ratio was kept as 0.06 with an attack angle of 60degrees. The obtained results show

This study investigated the role of P fimbriae in colonization of Escherichia coli, host response, and bacterial persistence in humans. Human volunteers were inoculated intravesically with the nonadherent ABU isolate E. coli 83972 and with P fimbriated transformants of the same strain. During the following 24 h all urine samples, and thereafter daily samples, were collected for urine culture, anal

River runoff forecasting is one of the most complex areas of research in hydrology because of the uncertainty of hydrological and meteorological parameters and scarcity of adequate records. Artificial neural networks (ANN) can be an efficient way of modeling stream flow processes as it is capable of controlling and modelling nonlinear and complex systems and does not require describing the complex

Time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy is used for investigation of photoinduced charge carrier dynamics in blends of a polyfluorene copolymer (poly [2,7-(9,9-dioctyl-fluorene)-alt-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3-benzothi adiazole)]) and an electron acceptor ([6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester). The transient far-infrared response appears instantaneously after photoexcitation. We show that