Soil artificially contaminated with fluorene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and benz[a]anthracene was inoculated with the wood-rotting fungi Pleurotus ostreatus and Antrodia vaillantii. During 12 weeks of incubation, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) degradation and the formation of persistent degradation products were monitored by chemical analysis. In addition, the effect on the indigenous soil bact

The division of responsibilities between specialized and primary health care for children with chronic illness is unclear. The utilization and perceptions of primary and specialized care were examined by means of a questionnaire mailed to the parents of all chronically ill children and a randomly selected control group. No difference in sociodemographic variables of responders (70%) and nonrespond

Tourism is largely dependent on climatic and natural resources. For example, "warmer'' climates generally constitute preferred environments for recreation and leisure, and natural resources such as fresh water, biodiversity, beaches or landscapes are essential preconditions for tourism. Global environmental change threatens these foundations of tourism through climate change, modifications of glob

This paper presents a study of the pH dependence of the activity and stability of a set of family 11 xylanases for which X-ray structures are available, using the PROPKA approach. The xylanases are traditionally divided into basic and acidic xylanases, depending on whether the catalytic acid is hydrogen bonded to an Asn or Asp residue. Using X-ray structures, the predicted pH values of optimal act

Jawless fishes (Agnatha; lampreys and hagfishes) most closely resemble the earliest stage in vertebrate evolution and lamprey-like animals already existed in the Lower Cambrian [about 540 million years ago (MYA)]. Agnathans are thought to have separated from the main vertebrate lineage at least 500 MYA. Hagfishes have primitive eyes, but the eyes of adult lampreys are well-developed. The southern

Motivation: The most common approach to estimate microbial diversity is based on the analysis of DNA sequences of specific target genes including ribosomal genes. Commonly, the sequences are grouped into operational taxonomic units based on genetic distance (sequence similarity) instead of genetic change (patristic distance). This method may fail to adequately identify clusters of evolutionary rel

AIM: To assess the lifetime cumulative incidence of portal venous thrombosis (PVT) in the general population. METHODS: Between 1970 and 1982, 23 796 autopsies, representing 84% of all in-hospital deaths in the Malmo city population, were performed, using a standardised protocol including examination of the portal vein. PVT patients were characterised and the PVT prevalence at autopsy, an expressio

Calmodulin (CaM) operates as a Ca2+ sensor and is known to interact with and regulate hundreds of proteins involved in a great many aspects of cellular function. It is of considerable interest to understand the balance of forces in complex formation of CaM with its target proteins. Here we have studied the importance of electrostatic interactions in the complex between CaM and a peptide derived fr

Purpose. To assess the relationship between participation and problems with participation in life situations, and life satisfaction in persons with late effects of polio. Methods. One hundred fifty-eight persons with late effects of polio responded to a postal questionnaire including the Swedish versions of the Impact on Participation and Autonomy Questionnaire (IPA-S) and Life Satisfaction Questi

The decay properties of an above-threshold resonance in core-ionized water, which is difficult to. identify with usual spectroscopic methods, have been analyzed by resonant Auger spectroscopy. The resonance is. shown to correspond to a doubly excited neutral state embedded in the O 1s ionization continuum. The main, result of the experiments is the assessment on the dissociative nature of the inte

The present study reports a novel pattern of cytomegalic endothelial cells (CEC) in peripheral blood from a female renal transplant recipient infected with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), which has not been reported previously. Localization of specific early antigen of HCMV, pp65 antigen, was examined by immunohistochemistry. Staining of an endothelial cell marker (CD34) was used to characterize end

The objective was to investigate the relation between serum levels of interferon-alpha (IFN-alpha), the activity of an endogenous IFN-alpha inducing factor (SLE-IIF), clinical and immunological disease activity as well as serum levels of antiretroviral antibodies in SLE. Serum levels of IFN-alpha were measured in serial sera from 30 patients sampled at different stages of disease activity (SLEDAI

We study the stable attractors of a class of continuous dynamical systems that may be idealized as networks of Boolean elements, with the goal of determining which Boolean attractors, if any, are good approximations of the attractors of generic continuous systems. We investigate the dynamics in simple rings and rings with one additional self-input. An analysis of switching characteristics and puls

A semidefined medium based on Casamino Acids allowed Lactococcus lactis ATCC 19435 to grow in the presence of oxygen at a slow rate (0.015 h(-1)). Accumulation of H2O2 in the culture prevented a higher growth rate. Addition of asparagine to the medium increased the growth rate; whereby H2O2 accumulated only temporarily during the lag phase. H2O2 is an inhibitor for several glycolytic enzymes, glyc

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are group of enzymes thought to play an important role in trophoblastic and tumor invasion. The aim of our study was to investigate the trophoblastic expression of MMPs and p53 in normal trophoblast and hydatidiform moles (HM). Paraffin sections of 45 specimens, including 14 complete hydatidiform moles (CM), 15 partial hydatidiform moles (PM), 8 atypical partial hy

We investigated the synaptology of retrogradely labeled spinal motoneurons after injection of horseradish peroxidase into the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of adult rat. In total, 32 TA motoneurons were investigated in the electron microscope and demonstrated a bimodal size distribution with cell diameter peaks at 40 mu m and 20 mu m, likely representing alpha- and gamma-motoneurons, respectively.