BACKGROUND: -Ethnic differences in cardiac arrhythmia incidence have been reported, with a particularly high incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD) and low incidence of atrial fibrillation in individuals of African ancestry. We tested the hypotheses that African ancestry and common genetic variants are associated with prolonged duration of cardiac repolarization, a central pathophysiological dete

Since the end of the Cold War, Western powers have frequently used sanctions to fight declining levels of democracy and human rights violations abroad. However, some of the world’s most repressive autocracies have never been subjected to sanctions, while other more competitive authoritarian regimes have been exposed to repeated sanction episodes. In this article, we concentrate on the cost–benefit

This work presents an event-based control structure using the generalized predictive control (GPC) algorithm with actuator deadband. The main objective of this work is to limit the number of controlled system updates. In this approach, the controlled process is sampled with a constant sampling time and is updated in an asynchronous way that depends on the obtained control signal value. To achieve

This work presents an x-ray absorption measurement by use of ionizing radiation generated by a femtosecond pulsed laser source. The spectrometer was a microcalorimetric array whose pixels are capable of accurately measuring energies of individual radiation quanta. An isotropic continuum x-ray spectrum in the few-keV range was generated from a laser plasma source with a water-jet target. X rays wer

The causative microorganisms dictate the type of MDSC generated in sepsis patients, and a large proportion of PMN-MDSCs in gram-positive sepsis includes immunosuppressive myeloid blasts. MDSCs constitute a heterogeneous population of immature myeloid cells that potently suppress immune responses. They were identified originally in cancer patients and have since been reported to occur also in chron

This paper is a methodological ethnography aiming to highlight the difficulties in using conventional methods in connection with an explorative philosophy; Deleuze and Guattari’s. Taking an empirical point of departure in conversations about the future with students in upper secondary school, the struggle to find a scientifically valid label through the focus group interview is outlined. However,

The aim was to study possible associations between smoking habits and self-reported clinical features in a large population-based cohort of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA). All subjects with PsA who had sought health care in the period 2003-2007 were identified using a regional health-care register. In 2009, all those identified who were 18 years of age or more (n = 2,003) were sent a ques

In order to understand the initial partonic state in proton-nucleus and electron-nucleus collisions, we investigate the total, inelastic, and (quasi-)elastic cross sections in pA and gamma-A collisions, as these observables are insensitive to possible collective effects in the final state interactions. We used as a tool the DIPSY dipole model, which is based on BFKL dynamics including non-leading

Quinones are essential components in most cell and organelle bioenergetic processes both for direct electron and/or proton transfer reactions but also as means to regulate various bioenergetic processes by sensing cell redox states. To understand how quinones interact with proteins, it is important to have tools for identifying and characterizing quinone binding sites. In this work three different

Parkinson disease (PD) is associated with a clinical course of variable duration, severity, and a combination of motor and non-motor features. Recent PD research has focused primarily on etiology rather than clinical progression and long-term outcomes. For the PD patient, caregivers, and clinicians, information on expected clinical progression and long-term outcomes is of great importance. Today,

This study was undertaken to determine whether the production of melatonin, a hormone regulating sleep in relation to the light/dark cycle, is altered in Huntington's disease. We analyzed the circadian rhythm of melatonin in a 24-hour study of cohorts of control, premanifest, and stage II/III Huntington's disease subjects. The mean and acrophase melatonin concentrations were significantly reduced

At present, it is difficult to determine whether glycemic index (GI) is an important tool in the prevention of lifestyle diseases, and long-term studies investigating GI with diets matched in macronutrient composition, fiber content, energy content, and energy density are still scarce. We investigated the effects of 2 high-carbohydrate (55%) diets with low GI (LGI; 79) or high GI (HGI; 103) on pos

We explored the management of Dupuytren's disease (DD) using a surgeon survey and patient chart review.

Healthcare staff and students have a great risk of developing musculoskeletal symptoms. One cause of this is heavy load related work activities such as manual handling, in which the quality of individual work technique may play a major role. Preventive interventions and well-defined educational strategies to support movement awareness and long-lasting movement changes need to be developed. The aim

Glycan utilization plays a key role in modulating the composition of the gut microbiota, but molecular insight into oligosaccharide uptake by this microbial community is lacking. Arabinoxylo-oligosaccharides (AXOS) are abundant in the diet, and are selectively fermented by probiotic bifidobacteria in the colon. Here we show how selectivity for AXOS uptake is established by the probiotic strain Bif

Treatment of Caco-2 cells with the peptide lactoferricin(4-14), results in reduction of the growth rate by prolongation of the S phase of the cell cycle. Lactoferricin(1-25) is formed in the gut by cleavage from lactoferrin and the bioactive amino acids are found within lactoferricin(4-14). Our hypothesis is that the reduction of the rate of S phase progression may result in increased DNA repair.

Between 2007 and 2010 Virgo collected data in coincidence with the LIGO and GEO gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. These data have been searched for GWs emitted by cataclysmic phenomena in the universe, by non-axisymmetric rotating neutron stars or from a stochastic background in the frequency band of the detectors. The sensitivity of GW searches is limited by noise produced by the detector or its

Pyrimidines are important nucleic acid precursors which are constantly synthesized, degraded, and rebuilt in the cell. Four degradation pathways, two of which are found in eukaryotes, have been described. One of them, the URC pathway, has been initially discovered in our laboratory in the yeast Lachancea kluyveri. Here, we present the global changes in gene expression in L. kluyveri in response to

Exercise is recommended as first-line treatment of degenerative knee disease. Our hypothesis is that neuromuscular exercise is feasible and at least as effective as tradionally used strength or aerobic training, but aims to more closely target the sensorimotor deficiencies and functional instability associated with the degenerative knee disease than traditionally used training methods.SUMMARY FOR