BACKGROUND: To assess and compare the feasibility and stressful memories of light vs. heavy sedation during post-operative mechanical ventilation. METHODS: Randomized clinical trial in one general intensive care unit (ICU) in a Swedish university hospital. Thirty-six adults were randomly assigned to receive either light [Motor Activity Assessment Scale (MAAS) 3-4] or heavy (MAAS 1-2) sedation with

OBJECTIVE: To examine different aggrecanase generated fragments in synovial fluid (SF) from patients with acute and chronic knee injuries and from knee healthy subjects. METHODS: We prepared SF-D1 samples from acute (n=35) and chronic (n=35) knee injury patients and knee healthy subjects (n=10). Aggrecan fragments were analyzed in the SF-D1 samples by quantitative (G1, ARGS, KEEE and G3 antibodies

Lipedema is a condition characterized by abnormal deposition of adipose tissue in the lower extremities leading to circumferential bilateral lower extremity enlargement typically seen extending from the hips to the ankles. Diagnosis of the condition is often challenging, and patients frequently undergo a variety of unsuccessful therapies before receiving the proper diagnosis and appropriate manage

Today, the gut microbiota is considered a key organ in host nutritional metabolism and recent data have suggested that alterations in gut microbiota contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes and obesity. Accordingly, a whole range of beneficial effects relating to inflammation and gut health have been observed following administration of probiotics to both humans and different animal models

Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat. Its length can be used to estimate the time of clinical diagnosis, which is defined by overt motor symptoms. Non-motor symptoms begin before motor onset, and involve changes in hypothalamus-regulated functions such as sleep, emotion and metabolism. Therefore we hypothesized that hypothalamic changes occ

This article analyses the nexus of technocracy-peacebuilding and its implications on water conflicts and hydropolitics. It is a conceptual exploration, which advances an interdisciplinary approach by combining theories from two distinct research fields: peacebuilding and transboundary water management. It probes the argument that synergies between water management, development and peacebuilding fr

Extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 is activated during acute phase of stroke and contributes to stroke pathology. We have found that acute treatment with MEK1/2 inhibitors decrease infarct size and neurological deficits two days after experimental stroke. However it is not known whether benefits of this inhibition persist long-term. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess neuro

The cost oftesting SOCs (systems-on-chip) is highly related to the testapplication time. The problem is that the test application timeincreases as the technology makes it possible to design highlycomplex chips. These complex chips include a high number of faultsites, which need a high test data volume for testing, and the hightest data volume leads to long test application times. For modularcore-b

The polyamines are essential for cancer cell proliferation during tumorigenesis. Targeted inhibition of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), i.e. a key enzyme of polyamine biosynthesis, by alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) has shown anti-neoplastic activity in various experimental models. This activity has mainly been attributed to the anti-proliferative effect of DFMO in cancer cells. Here, we provi

In contrast to ependymal cells located above the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult lateral ventricle wall (LVW), adult spinal cord (SC) ependymal cells possess certain neural stem cell characteristics. The molecular basis of this difference is unknown. In this study, antibodies against multiple cell surface markers were applied to isolate pure populations of SC and LVW ependymal cells, which

Polysaccharide-K (PSK, Krestin(®)) is a natural remedy and one of the most commonly used medicinal mushroom extracts. It has been used as oral adjuvant treatment in cancer therapy in Japan and other Asian countries for more than 40 years. PSK is thought to be an immune modulator, however, its antitumor actions remain undefined. The aim of the present study was to investigate underlying mechanisms

In order to mimic the real life situation, with often life-long exposure to the electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile phones, we have investigated in a rat model the effects of repeated exposures under a long period to Global System for Mobile Communication-900MHz (GSM-900) radiation. Out of a total of 56 rats, 32 were exposed once weekly in a 2-h period, for totally 55 weeks, at different aver

Current and next generation wireless networks including 3rd generation (3G) and beyond are expected to provide a wide range of multimedia services with different QoS constraints. Call admission control (CAC) and resource reservation (RR) for mobile communication are of the most important issues that guarantee system efficiency and QoS required for different services in a very scarce resource as th

We calculate the decay eta to3 pi at next-to-next-to-leading order or order p6 in Chiral Perturbation Theory. The corrections are somewhat larger than was indicated by dispersive estimates. We present numerical results for the Dalitz plot parameters, the ratio r of the neutral to charged decay and the total decay rate. In addition we derive an inequality between the slope parameters of the charged

In the course of a few months in 1997, about 20 per cent of Stockholm Stock Exchange's primary-list firms transferred to the Exchange's secondary list due to a new tax policy. Drawing on a theory of social influence, we suggest that the transfer decisions depended both on the firms' social embeddedness with other firms in the population at risk and their economic predisposition to make such transf

An electrically small frequency-reconfigurable antenna with a very wide tuning band is proposed. Three varactor diodes are used to achieve the tunable capacitance. With a modifled feeding structure, the measured tuning range of the fabricated antenna reaches from 457.5 to 894.5 MHz, and the tuning band enhancement is also explained through an equivalent circuit analysis.