The hottest developments in the fields of cancer research, neuroscience, genomics and proteomics, anti-virals and more, with a pick of the key research papers in these areas.

A novel technique for two-dimensional measurements of soot volume fraction and particle size has been developed. It is based on a combined measurement of extinction and laser-induced incandescence using Nd:YAG laser wavelengths of 532 nm and 1064 nm. A low-energy laser pulse at 532 nm was used for extinction measurements and was followed by a more intense pulse at 1064 nm, delayed by 15 ns, for LI

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of iron status on cadmium dose among pregnant women. Methods. Iron status and cadmium concentration in blood, urine, and placenta were determined among women followed for 2 years from early pregnancy. Results. Blood cadmium and urinary cadmium were correlated with iron status throughout the study period. Urinary cadmium increased lo

New chemical probes were synthesized to label galectin-3. They are based on the high affinity thiodigalactoside ligand. The probes were synthesized with benzophenone or acetophenone moieties as the photolabel for covalent attachment to the protein. Besides labeling the protein, these aromatic photolabels also greatly enhance the affinity of the probes towards galectin-3, due to the interaction of

Background: Thrombomodulin (TM) is predominantly a vascular endothelial cell plasma membrane glycoprotein that, via distinct structural domains, interacts with multiple ligands, thereby modulating coagulation, fibrinolysis, complement activation, inflammation and cell proliferation. We previously reported that by mediating signals that interfere with mitogen-activated protein kinase and nuclear fa

Aberrations in the GI/S transition of the cell cycle have been observed in many malignancies and seem to be critical in the transformation process. Few studies have delineated the presence of GI/S regulatory defects and their clinical relevance in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Therefore, we have examined the protein contents of cyclin D 1, D3, E, and p27 in 218 RCCs, using tissue microarray and immu

The SIOP nephroblastoma clinical trials have previously demonstrated that preoperative chemotherapy is advantageous for patients with nephroblastoma (Wilms' tumour). However, some primary tumours increase in size during preoperative chemotherapy, and to investigate the clinical relevance of this progression we studied the patient cohort with increasing tumours included in the SIOP 93-01 study (Jun

Persistent organohalogen pollutants (POPs) have been suggested to be involved in changing the proportion of ejaculated Y-bearing sperm. The androgen receptor (AR), aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and aryl hydrocarbon receptor repressor (AHRR) may modulate the effect of POPs with regard to previously observed sperm Y : X ratio changes. The objective of this study was to investigate whether sperm Y

For the older individual, leisure activities are a resource that helps to maintain health and engagement with lire. This article investigates change over 10 years ill the level of participation of older people in leisure activities in Sweden, and the factors associated with these changes. The data are from nationally representative samples of the Swedish population aged 77 or more years in 1992 an

Given the strong etiologic link between high-risk HPV infection and cervical cancer high-risk HPV testing is now being considered as an alternative for cytology-based cervical cancer screening. Many test systems have been developed that can detect the broad spectrum of hrHPV types in one assay. However, for screening purposes the detection of high-risk HPV is not inherently useful unless it is inf

We have investigated the role of B cells in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) using B cell-deficient mice muMT) and mice bearing the X-linked immunodeficiency (xid). The mice were immunized with MOG(1-125 )in complete Freund's adjuvant but without use of pertussis toxin. B cell-deficient muMT mice on different genetic backgrounds (C57

The impact on tablet friability caused by the loss-on-drying of the granulation, the granule-size distribution, the lubricant concentration, the compression force, and the pre-compression was scrutinized in a factorially designed experiment. A reduction of friability was obtained by reducing the deviation of the granulation loss-on-drying from approximately 4.6%; by decreasing the lubricant concen

Objective S100B is viewed as the most promising biomarker for brain damage. It has been proposed that this marker is useful in a Neurointensive Care Unit (NICU) as a monitoring parameter. This study aims to examine the clinical usefulness of daily serum S100B measurements in this setting. Design Prospective consecutive inclusion of patients. Patients A total of 79 patients with confirmed or suspec

Severe soft tissue infections, such as necrotizing fasciitis and severe cellulitis, caused by group A streptococcus (GAS) are rapidly progressing life-threatening infections characterized by massive bacterial load in the tissue even late after onset of infection. Antimicrobial peptides are important components of the innate host defence and cathelicidins have been shown to protect against murine n

The 5-year relative survival from breast cancer in Denmark is 10 percentage points lower than in Sweden. This difference has been demonstrated previously as being caused partly by more involved lymph nodes and larger tumours in Denmark. Sweden has had nationwide mammography-screening coverage since 1991, whereas this is still in its infancy in Denmark. In the search for an explanation for the rema

Both subjects with a low likelihood for coronary artery disease (CAD) and patients with normal findings on coronary angiography have been used as reference populations in non-invasive stress testing, including myocardial perfusion scintigraphy. Both of these criteria of normality--low likelihood of CAD and normal coronary angiography--have been criticised, and consensus on this issue is lacking. T

We identified the gene encoding chondroitin-glucuronate C5-epimerase (EC 5.1.3.19 [EC] ) that converts D-glucuronic acid to L-iduronic acid residues in dermatan sulfate biosynthesis. The enzyme was solubilized from bovine spleen, and an ~43,000-fold purified preparation containing a major 89-kDa candidate component was subjected to mass spectrometry analysis of tryptic peptides. SART2 (squamous ce

Evolutionary conflict between the sexes is predicted to lead to sexual arms races in which male adaptations for acquiring mates (" offense" traits) are met by female counteradaptations - for example, to reduce mating rate (" defense" traits). Such coevolutionary chases may be perpetual. However, we show here that the coevolutionary process may also lead to a stable state in which multiple offense-