Curli are surface organelles of Escherichia coli. These fibrous proteins, formed by polymerization of a 15-kDa subunit, are expressed by E. coli strains associated with severe infections in humans. A remarkable property of curli is their ability to interact with a wide range of human proteins, interactions that contribute to the enhanced virulence of curli-expressing E. coli. To define the protein

Using ancient DNA sequences of subfossil European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) from Britain, Central and North Europe and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating for turtle remains from most Swedish sites, we provide evidence for a Holocene range expansion of the pond turtle from the southeastern Balkans into Britain, Central Europe and Scandinavia, according to the 'grasshopper patter

Cationic iron carbonyl cyclohexadiene complexes were employed in the derivatization of the 3-OH position of unprotected and protected methyl beta-D-galactopyranosides using two different approaches, giving access to galactopyranosides with an aromatic or cyclohexadienoic functionality in this position. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is a recently discovered human apolipoprotein predominantly present in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and in minor proportions in triglyceride-rich lipoprotein (TGRLP) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The gene encoding apoM is present in all mammalian genomes. The identity of the apoM gene of human, rat and mouse is over 80%. However, the (patho)physiological functions o

For 44 patients with vibration-induced white finger and a reference group of 25 healthy men, finger systolic blood pressure (FSBP) before and after local cooling, skin temperature, and rewarming rates were determined before and after vasodilation (body warming and alcohol). An estimation of the proportions of vasopasm and organic changes was possible, and cutaneous changes could be separated from

The aim of this study was to describe social insurance officers experiences of a work rehabilitation process at a rehabilitation centre in the northern part of Sweden. Ten social insurance officers were interviewed about their experiences of a work rehabilitation process in general. The interviews were analysed by content analyses. The results showed that the experiences of how a rehabilitation pr

Women with a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 face a lifetime risk of breast cancer of similar to 80%, and following the first diagnosis the 10-year risk of contralateral breast cancer is similar to 30%. It has been shown that both tamoxifen and oophorectomy prevent contralateral breast cancer, but it is not clear whether there is a benefit in giving tamoxifen to women who have previously undergone an o

Several different methods were used to investigate the vesicle-to-micelle transition induced by the addition of the nonionic surfactant octaethylene glycol n-dodecyl monoether (C12E8) to spontaneously formed vesicle dispersions of dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide and chloride (DODAX, X = Cl- and Br-). Dynamic light scattering reveals that fast mode micelles are formed upon addition of C12E6. Th

The authors propose and demonstrate an alternative memory concept in which a storage island is connected to a nanowire containing a stack of nine InAs quantum dots, each separated by thin InP tunnel barriers. Transport through the quantum dot structure is suppressed for a particular biasing window due to misalignment of the energy levels. This leads to hysteresis in the charging/discharging of the

OBJECTIVE: Dynamic barium radiology with cine- or video recording has been the most frequently used technique for assessing patients with pharyngeal dysphagia. Although the diagnostic yield of the barium swallow has been high, many patients with pharyngeal dysphagia have normal dynamic barium radiology and remain a diagnostic dilemma. Could manometry add important diagnostic information in these p

Guided transport of a relativistic electron beam in solid is achieved experimentally by exploiting the strong magnetic fields created at the interface of two metals of different electrical resistivities. This is of substantial relevance to the Fast Ignitor approach to fusion energy production [M. Tabak et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 057305 (2005)], since it allows the electron deposition to be spatiall

Aim: Examine the effect of a 10 h intervention programme compared with post-mailed minimal intervention (PMMI) given to high-risk alcohol-drinking university freshmen in a random design. Method: In total 693 freshmen at the Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University, Sweden were included in the study. A cognitive behavioural alcohol program (CBAP) or PMMI was given to high-risk drinking freshme

It is argued that philosophers who adopt the perdurance theory of persistence and who subscribe to the principle of Unrestricted Mereological Composition (UMC) are in a position to regard "Phosphorus is Hesperus'' as false.

Aortic valve stenosis and, atherosclerotic disease have several risk factors in common, in particular, hypercholesterolemia. Histologically, the diseased valves appear to have areas of inflammation much like atherosclerotic plaques. The effect of lipid-lowering therapy on the progression of aortic stenosis (AS) is unclear, and there are no randomized treatment trials evaluating cardiovascular morb

DFosB-like proteins are particularly stable transcription factors that accumulate in the brain in response to chronic perturbations. In this study we have compared the time-course of striatal FosB/DFosB-like immunoreactivity and prodynorphin mRNA expression after discontinuation of chronic cocaine treatment to intact rats and chronic L-DOPA treatment to unilaterally 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesi

Ten-m/Odz/teneurins are a new family of four distinct type II transmembrane molecules. Their extracellular domains are composed of an array of eight consecutive EGF modules followed by a large globular domain. Two of the eight modules contain only 5 instead of the typical 6 cysteine residues and have the capability to dimerize in a covalent, disulfide-linked fashion. The structural properties of t

1. We studied vertical and horizontal distribution of macroinvertebrates within a dense stand of Chara spp. in Lake Krankesjon, southern Sweden. Invertebrates were sampled at three depths within the vegetation and at three distances from the vegetation edge during day and night in July and August. Corresponding samples of oxygen content of the water were taken. 2. The densities (number of inverteb

The pseudo-nerve, which contains longitudinal Schwann cell columns without axons and surrounded by perineurium-like tissue but no axons (Q. Zhao, L.B. Dahlin, M. Kanje, G. Lundborg, Brain Res. 592 (1992) 106-114), was applied as a graft to repair nerve defect in rats. Creation of the pseudo-nerve was accomplished by inserting the proximal and distal stumps of a cut sciatic nerve into a silicone tu