BACKGROUND Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis is a severe condition encompassing two major syndromes: granulomatosis with polyangiitis (formerly known as Wegener's granulomatosis) and microscopic polyangiitis. Its cause is unknown, and there is debate about whether it is a single disease entity and what role ANCA plays in its pathogenesis. We investigated its genetic

OBJECTIVES: Unambiguous use and interpretation of rating scale data assume that response categories are interpreted and work as intended. This study investigated the stability of interpretations of commonly used patient-reported rating scale response categories among people with neurological disorders. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty-six people with neurological disorders (26 men; mean age, 57; Parki

The article presents a synthesis of data from three village case studies focusing on how structural and cognitive social capital may have influenced the progression of the HIV epidemic in the Kagera region of Tanzania. Grounded theory was used to develop a theoretical model describing the possible links between structural and cognitive social capital and the impact on sexual health behaviours. Foc

A search is presented for new particles in an extension to the Standard Model that includes a heavy Higgs boson (H-0), an intermediate charged Higgs-boson pair (H-+/-), and a light Higgs boson (h(0)). The analysis searches for events involving the production of a single heavy neutral Higgs boson which decays to the charged Higgs boson and a W boson, where the charged Higgs boson subsequently decay

Further formulations of mometasone furoate are needed for treatment of patients with plaque psoriasis to meet individual patient preferences. This has motivated the development of Ovixan(A (R)) (Galencia, Malmoe, Sweden), a formulation of mometasone furoate with different cosmetic properties than the commonly used formulation, Elocon(A (R)) (Merck [Schering Plough], Whitehouse Station, New Jersey,

To examine whether neighborhood deprivation increases the odds of hospital registration for childhood and adolescent epilepsy, after accounting for family- and individual-level sociodemographic characteristics.

Brain damage, such as ischemic stroke, enhances proliferation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) in the subventricular zone (SVZ) To date, no reliable in vitro systems, which can be used to unravel the potential mechanisms underlying this lesion induced effect, have been established Here we developed an ex vivo method to investigate how the proliferation of NSPCs changes over time after exper

Post-cardiac arrest syndrome (PCAS) is characterized by systemic inflammation, however data on the prognostic value of inflammatory markers is sparse. We sought to investigate the importance of systemic inflammation, assessed by interleukin-6 (IL-6) in comatose survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

We provide a prescription for constructing Hamiltonians representing the low-energy physics of correlated electron materials with dynamically screened Coulomb interactions. The key feature is a renormalization of the hopping and hybridization parameters by the processes that lead to the dynamical screening. The renormalization is shown to be non-negligible for various classes of correlated electro

Background/Aims: Growth hormone (GH) treatment regimens do not account for the pubertal increase in endogenous GH secretion. This study assessed whether increasing the GH dose and/or frequency of administration improves pubertal height gain and adult height (AH) in children with low GH secretion during stimulation tests, i. e. idiopathic isolated GH deficiency. Methods: A multicenter, randomized,

This article aims to contribute to the literature on city organizing, an important yet under-researched area in the intersection of organization theory and urban studies. The concepts of the city and change, translation and action nets are fundamental to this analysis. The study takes as its object the collective process of organizing the change of La Chureca, the rubbish dump of the city of Manag

Proteoglycan (PG) sulfation depends on activated nucleotide sulfate, 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate (PAPS). Transporters in the Golgi membrane translocate PAPS from the cytoplasm into the organelle lumen where PG sulfation occurs. Silencing of PAPS transporter (PAPST) 1 in epithelial MDCK cells reduced PAPS uptake into Golgi vesicles. Surprisingly, at the same time sulfation of heparan sulf

Abstract Objective. Periodontal ligament (PDL) cells produce IL-6 upon stimulation with inflammation promoters, but the signaling pathways involved have not been characterized. This study investigates underlying mechanisms behind regulation of PDL cell IL-6 production by E. coli and P. gingivalis LPS. Materials and methods: Human PDL cells, endothelial cells and monocytes were stimulated with E. c

In enology, "Brett" character refers to the wine spoilage caused by the yeast Dekkera/Brettanomyces bruxellensis and its production of volatile phenolic off-flavours. However, the spoilage potential of this yeast is strain-dependent. Therefore, a rapid and reliable recognition at the strain level is a key point to avoid serious economic losses. The present work provides an operative tool to assess

Executive and attention dysfunctions are common in very preterm children. We studied their involuntary attention process by using behavioral measurements and auditory event-related potentials (AERP) with a distraction paradigm at age five years. The active task was to distinguish between two animal sounds. As an irrelevant feature the sounds were presented from frequent (standard) or infrequent (d

Two of the most important ways of reducing the production cost of lignocellulosic ethanol are to increase the ethanol yield and the concentration in the fermentation broth. This can be facilitated by co-fermentation of glucose and xylose from agricultural residues such as wheat straw, due to the high amount of xylose in the hemicelluloses in these materials. Simultaneous saccharification and co-fe

Many proteins contain intrinsically disordered regions, which may be crucial for function, but on the other hand be related to the pathogenicity of variants. Prediction programs have been developed to detect disordered regions from sequences and used to predict the consequences of variants, although their performance for this task has not been assessed. We tested the performance of protein disorde

We describe a new route, in which the polyethylene glycol (PEG) is used both as a solvent and reducing reagent and the polymer polyvinglpyrrolidone (PVP) is used as capping agent, for the synthesis of monodisperse silver nanoparticles. Uniform nanospheres with an average diameter of 54 nm can be routinely synthesized in high yield through this approach by using a PVP/AgNO3 molar ratio of 8 at 260

In the growing field of nanotechnology there is an increasing need to develop production methods for nanoparticles, especially methods that provide control and reproducibility. The spark discharge generator (SDG) is a versatile device for the production of nanoparticle aerosols. It can produce aerosol nanoparticles in the entire nanometer range (1-100 nm), and beyond. Depending on requirements, an