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Fashion's universal nature does not preclude strong variations in its significance from society to society. As a stratification variable, fashion's importance increases in step with economic growth. Simmel sees the ‘need for distinction’ and the ‘need for union’ as preconditions for fashion, with certain societies lacking the necessary motivation. Variations in fashion's importance have also been

The adipokine resistin is suggested to be an important link between obesity and insulin resistance. In the present study, we assessed the impact of resistin as inflammatogenic cytokine in the setting of arthritis. In vitro experiments on human PBMC were performed to assess cytokine response and transcription pathways of resistin-induced inflammation. Proinflammatory properties of resistin were eva

It has often been argued that the Earth is like an island in space and that its brittleness is most clearly reflected on small islands in the oceans. Easter Island, in particular, with its largely depleted resources, has been seen as a microcosmic warning about what could happen to our entire planet. However, the analogy of the Earth and islands with finite natural resources is not self-evident fr

Marine invertebrates and seaweeds of the lagoons and reefs have always been an important source of food and raw materials for the people of Oceania. I examine the gathering of these organisms in both contemporary and more ancient contexts, and according to a gender-based division of tasks. It is argued that although men’s fishing has been well documented, until fairly recently women’s inshore fish

The structures of the hydrated thallium(III) halide and pseudohalide complexes, [TlX(n)(OH2)(m)]((3-n)+), X = Cl, Br, CN, in aqueous solution have been studied by a combination of X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (XAFS), large-angle X-ray scattering (LAXS), and vibrational spectroscopic (Raman and IR) techniques including far-infrared studies of aqueous solutions and some solid phases

Through several decades of research, absolute paleointensity estimates have been obtained from a wide range of rocks with varying ages, covering the last 3.45 Ga years. These paleointensity data are crucial to study the past geodynamo and the geological evolution of the Earth's deep interior. However, paleointensity data are often difficult to interpret, and on-going discussions concerning the pas

It has long been thought that respiratory infections are the direct result of acquisition of pathogenic viruses or bacteria, followed by their overgrowth, dissemination, and in some instances tissue invasion. In the last decades, it has become apparent that in contrast to this classical view, the majority of microorganisms associated with respiratory infections and inflammation are actually common

Class II antigens of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) consist of two glycosylated, membrane-integrated polypeptide chains1. These cell surface-expressed molecules are involved in several immunobiological events involving cell-cell interactions2,3, most of which seem to require that genetically identical class II antigens, or other molecules controlled by the same region of the MHC, are e

The Galactic Center is one of the most dense stellar environments in the Galaxy and is considered to be a plausible place to harbor many neutron stars. In this brief review, we summarize observational efforts in search of neutron stars within a few degrees about the Galactic Center. Up to 10% of Galactic neutron stars may reside in this central region and it is possible that more than a thousand n

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in the Western world. In Sweden, 1 in 9 women will be diagnosed during their lifetime, amounting to >8,000 new breast cancers per year. Each year around 1,400 patients die from their disease. A comprehensive report entitled "highlighted several areas in need of more research", including how weight, alcohol consumption, smoking, host metabolism an