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Since a tightly regulated complement system is needed for a successful pregnancy, we hypothesized that alterations in complement inhibitors may be associated with idiopathic, recurrent miscarriage. We sequenced all exons coding for three complement inhibitors: C4b-binding protein (C4BP), CD46 and CD55 in 384 childless women with at least two miscarriages that could not be explained by known risk f

Variation of mechanical properties in materials can be detected non-destructively using ultrasonic measurements. In particular, changes in elastic wave velocity can occur due to damage, i.e., micro-cracking and particles debonding. Here the challenge of characterizing damage in geomaterials, i.e., rocks and soils, is addressed. Geomaterials are naturally heterogeneous media in which the deformatio

There is no clinically useful score to predict chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations. We aimed to derive this by analyzing data from three existing COPD clinical trials of budesonide/formoterol, formoterol, or placebo in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD and a history of exacerbations in the previous year.

Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus) is a major human pathogen, which evolved numerous successful strategies to colonize the host. In this study, we report a novel mechanism of pneumococcal-host interaction, whereby pneumococci use a host complement protein C1q, primarily involved in the host-defense mechanism, for colonization and subsequent dissemination. Using cell-culture infection assays a

Since 2012 citrate anticoagulation is the recommended anticoagulation strategy for CRRT. The main drawback using citrate compared with heparin as anticoagulant is the need for calcium replacement and the rigorous control of calcium levels. This study investigated the possibility to achieve anticoagulation while eliminating the need for calcium replacement. This was successfully achieved by includi

Sexual selection hypotheses stipulate that the major histocompatibility complex genes (MHC) constitute a key molecular underpinning for mate choice in vertebrates. The last four decades saw growing empirical literature on the role of MHC diversity and dissimilarity in mate choice for a wide range of vertebrate animals, but with mixed support for its significance in natural populations. Using forma

As a group of stars having high luminosity and thus being able to be detected to great distances, massive M supergiants are extremely helpful to the study of the kinematics of the Milky Way. They are also partly responsible for the creation of post iron-group elements through the weak s-process of nucleosynthesis. As there are relatively few classified M supergiants, owing to their rapid pace of e

Popular Abstract in Swedish Inflammerat brosk i halsen. Rethosta eller andningsbesvär. Autoimmuna sjukdomar uppstår när immunförsvaret angriper och bryter ner den egna kroppens vävnader. Då kroppen infekteras av bakterier eller virus är immunförsvarets ökade aktivitet däremot en normal skyddsmekanism. Exempel på vanligt förekommande autoimmuna sjukdomar är diabetes, reumatoid artrit (RA) och multRelapsing polychondritis (RP) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are autoimmune diseases where an inappropriate immune response destroys cartilage. In RP, the ears, larynx, nose and joints are affected, while the most prominent sign of RA is arthritis. For ethical reasons many experiments can not be performed in man, and consequently animal models are needed. To investigate the complexity of the tissu

During B lymphocyte development, the transcriptional activity of the IgH locus is subject to spatial and temporal changes. The 3' enhancer (3'E) has been suggested to play an important role in regulation of immunoglobulin gene expression late in B cell development. We have investigated, using transgenic mice, the role of the 3'E in regulating Ig gene expression. Mice harbouring a rearranged IgH ge

A computational algorithm for the full information H∞ control problem for multi-delayed LTI systems is derived. The algorithm is based on a general operator approach in the spectral domain developed for finite-dimensional LTI plants. The simplicity of spectral operations and explicit formulas for computation make it possible to generalize it to infinite-dimensional plants. In the paper, a complete

Despite rigorous efforts to improve the construction working environment in the European Union, the fatal accident rate is approximately 13 workers per 100,000 as against 5 per 100,000 for the all sectors average. Although the accident rates have declined steadily and steeply since 1994, it still remains unacceptably high. Thousands of construction workers still suffer severe injury and even death

Purpose of this paper: Logisticians propose changes to improve supply chains, and legal practitioners are doing likewise, but from a tax perspective. Proposals from one domain increasingly have an impact on the other due to e.g. globalisation – but cross-disciplinary knowledge often seems small. Our purpose is to facilitate interaction between the domains by increasing joint understanding o

PURPOSE: To compare the clinical outcome after carpal tunnel release in diabetic and nondiabetic patients. METHODS: We evaluated a prospective, consecutive series of 35 diabetic patients (median age, 54 years; 15 with type 1 and 20 with type 2 diabetes) with carpal tunnel syndrome, who were age- and gender-matched with 31 nondiabetic patients (median age, 51 years) having idiopathic carpal tunnel

We have addressed the importance of B cell tolerance to collagen type II, a matrix protein, which is a target in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its mouse models. We generated a germline-encoded anti-collagen type II (CII) IgH replacement anti-C1 B cell mouse strain (ACB) to investigate how B cell tolerance to CII, a matrix protein, is subverted and to further understand pathogenesis of RA. Phenotyp

That a load balancing strategy using stale information care lessly will incur system performance degradation is easy to verify. However it is not so obvious that routing a customer to the expected shortest queue has the same problem when information for decision is stale. We consider a queueing system with a load balancer and a pool of identical FCFS queues in parallel. The arrival process is assu

In this paper I present the double disjunction task as introduced by Johnson-Laird. This experiment is meant to show how mental model theory explains the discrepancy between logical competence and logical performance of individuals in deductive reasoning. I review the results of the task and identify three problems in the way the task is designed, that all fall under a lack of coordination between