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Background: Evidence from observational comparative effectiveness research (CER) is ranked below that from randomized controlled trials in traditional evidence hierarchies. However, asthma observational CER studies represent an important complementary evidence source answering different research questions and are particularly valuable in guiding clinical decision making in real-life patient and pr

Background: Recent randomized trials demonstrated that laparoscopic lavage compared with resection for Hinchey III perforated diverticulitis was associated with similar mortality, less stoma formation but a higher rate of early reintervention. The aim of this study was to compare 1-year outcomes in patients who participated in the randomized Scandinavian Diverticulitis (SCANDIV) trial. Methods: Be

The global financial crisis has highlighted the importance of financial factors on economic performance. Most of the existing research analyses the post-World War 2 experience, and especially the 1980s onwards. This paper investigates the effects of stock prices, real estate prices and debt on consumption and investment expenditures by estimating consumption and investment equations for long histo

Background: In stage I/II natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma, concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) had previously been shown to result in superior outcome compared with anthracycline-containing regimens, which have since been considered ineffective. The role of CCRT in comparison with approaches employing nonanthracycline-containing chemotherapy (CT) and sequential radiotherapy (RT) in such patien

The measurement of potential enzymatic activities has been proposed as an efficient method to infer nutrient limitations for microorganisms in environmental samples. To validate this use, confirmation with direct methods of microbial growth responses to resource additions are required. We experimentally manipulated nutrient-poor soils from the afromontane subtropics with relatively low (grassland

The role of raw plantain flour (RPF) and its citric acid (CA)-esterified counterpart (EPF) on the carbohydrate nutritional properties of cookies was investigated. Cookies were elaborated with commercial wheat flour (CWF), RPF, EPF, or a CWF-EPF blend, and assessed for composition, starch digestibility, texture and sensory properties. EPF-cookie showed the lowest digestible starch (DS) content and

Triose-phosphate isomerase (TIM) catalyses the interconversion of dihydroxyacetone phosphate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate. Two catalytic mechanisms have been proposed based on two reaction-intermediate analogues, 2-phosphoglycolate (2PG) and phosphoglycolohydroxamate (PGH), that have been used as mimics of the cis-enediol(ate) intermediate in several studies of TIM. The protonation states that a

The prompt fission γ-ray energy spectrum for cold-neutron-induced fission of U235 was measured in the energy range Eγ=0.8-20MeV, by gaining a factor of about 105 in statistics compared to the measurements performed so far. The spectrum exhibits local bump structures at Eγ≈4MeV and ≈6MeV, and also a broad one at ≈15MeV. In order to understand the origins of these bumps, the γ-ray spectra were calcu

Natural killer (NK) cell activity was studied in 17 patients with primary chronic idiopathic autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (ATP). Fifteen of 17 patients had a significantly reduced NK cytotoxicity against 51chromium labeled K562 target cells (mean LU20% = 18 ± 20 in patients versus 65 = 2 5 in controls, P < 0.001). NK activity was also significantly reduced in all of six patients with second

Employing two recently developed X-ray imaging techniques, we investigated methods for observing moisture at different length scales in organic fibers and textiles. Using the coherent diffractive imaging technique of ptychographic tomography, structural features in a single coated wool fiber in both dry and humid conditions were observed at about 200 nm resolution. The reconstructed three-dimensio

In the 1990s the world economy was hit by a series of unusually deep crises with far-reaching consequences, the first of which occurred in Finland and Sweden. This paper compares the cost of the crisis of the 1990s with the costs caused by all major crises and depressions since the 1870s in the two Nordic countries. First, it constructs a crisis chronology for Finland and Sweden. Second, it estima

The clinical diagnosis of vascular dementia (VaD) is based on imaging criteria, and specific biochemical markers are not available. Here, we investigated the potential of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lipocalin 2 (LCN2), a secreted glycoprotein that has been suggested as mediating neuronal damage in vascular brain injuries. The study included four independent cohorts with a total n = 472 samples. LCN2

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major public health threat in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Phylogenetic analysis of HBV can be helpful to study the putative transmission links and patterns of inter-country spread of the virus. The objectives of the current study were to analyze the HBV genotype/sub-genotype (SGT) distribution, reverse transcriptase (RT), and surface (S) gen

The behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a frequent cause of early-onset dementia. The diagnosis of bvFTD remains challenging because of the limited accuracy of neuroimaging in the early disease stages and the absence of molecular biomarkers, and therefore relies predominantly on clinical assessment. BvFTD shows significant symptomatic overlap with non-degenerative primary psy

Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)-derived appendicular lean mass/height2 (ALM/ht2) is the most commonly used estimate of muscle mass in the assessment of sarcopenia, but its predictive value for fracture is substantially attenuated by femoral neck (fn) bone mineral density (BMD). We investigated predictive value of 11 sarcopenia definitions for incident fracture, independent of fnBMD, fractur

This study focuses on soldiers returning from peacekeeping missions and the challenges they experience adapting to the home environment in the postdeployment phase. The article focuses on South African peacekeepers returning from missions in Darfur/Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi. Interviews with 50 South African peacekeepers on the challenges they face in terms of their homec

Efficient fractionation of lignocellulosic biomass is an important step toward the replacement of fossil-based products. However, the utilisation of all of the components in biomass requires various fractionation techniques. One promising process configuration is to apply steam explosion for the recovery of hemicelluloses and a subsequent hydrotropic extraction step for the delignification of the