Skeletal muscle weakness is a prominent clinical feature in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but the underlying mechanism(s) is unknown. Here we investigate the mechanisms behind arthritis-induced skeletal muscle weakness with special focus on the role of nitrosative stress on intracellular Ca(2+) handling and specific force production.

The aim of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis is the prevention of surgical site infections and urinary tract infections during urological procedures. The indication for antibiotic prophylaxis comprises several risk factors such as the degree of contamination of the operative site, duration of surgery, implantation of devices and comorbidities of the individual patient. In general this involves

Of the 287 000 maternal deaths every year, 99% happen in low- and middle-income countries. The vast majority could be averted with timely access to appropriate emergency obstetric care (EmOC). The proportion of women with complications of pregnancy or childbirth who actually receive treatment is reported as 'Met need for EmOC'.

The release of a model drug substance, methylparaben, was studied in matrix tablets composed of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) batches of the USP 2208 grade that had different chemical compositions. It was found that chemically heterogeneous HPMC batches with longer sections of low substituted regions and lower hydroxypropoxy content facilitated the formation of reversible gel structures at

Background Few lifestyle intervention studies examine long-term sustainability of dietary changes. Objective To describe sustainability of dietary changes over 9 years in the Diabetes Prevention Program and its outcomes study, the Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study, among participants receiving the intensive lifestyle intervention. Design One thousand seventy-nine participants were enrolle

Soil salinization is a growing threat to global agriculture and carbon (C) sequestration, but to date it remains unclear how microbial processes will respond. We studied the acute response to salt exposure of a range of anabolic and catabolic microbial processes, including bacterial (leucine incorporation) and fungal (acetate incorporation into ergosterol) growth rates, respiration and gross N min

Background Eosinophils are pro-inflammatory cells implicated in the pathogenesis of asthma and atopy. Apoptosis has been proposed as a potential mechanism underlying the resolution of eosinophilic inflammation and studies have indicated the ability of interventions that induce human eosinophil apoptosis to promote the resolution of eosinophilic inflammation. Recently, the cyclin-dependent kinase (

Variations in health between neighborhoods are well known and the conceptualization of social capital has contributed to an understanding of how contextual factors influence these differences. Studies show positive health-effects from living in high social capital areas, at least for some population sub-groups. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand what constitutes a 'health-enabling

When a Bose-Einstein-condensed cloud of atoms is given some angular momentum, it forms vortices arranged in structures with a discrete rotational symmetry. For these vortex states, the Hilbert space of the exact solution separates into a "primary" space related to the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii solution and a "complementary" space including the corrections beyond mean field. Considering a weakly

This chapter presents the first steps towards a new type of pedagogical agent – a Challenger Teachable Agent, CTA. The overall aim of introducing a CTA is to increase engagement and motivation and challenge students into deeper learning and metacognitive reasoning. The paper discusses desired design features of such an agent on the basis of related work and results from a study where 11-year old s

This chapter deals with the need to intentionally support staff in developing evidence-based skills. While formal teaching has a place, most activity will be mentor based. We present a suggested minimum skill set and discuss ways of maintaining developments.

We report on a study of the room-temperature nonlinear charge transport properties of three-terminal junction devices made from graphene. We demonstrate that the graphene three terminal junction devices show a rectification characteristic, namely, when voltages V-L V and V-R -V are applied to the left and the right terminal in a push-pull configuration, the voltage output from the central terminal

Emerging knowledge of the role of atheroprotective immune responses in modulating inflammation and tissue repair in atherosclerotic lesions has provided promising opportunities to develop novel therapies directly targeting the disease process in the artery wall. Regulatory T (Treg) cells have a protective role through release of anti-inflammatory cytokines and suppression of auto-reactive effector

BACKGROUND: Although several studies have investigated the association of the Mediterranean diet with overall mortality or risk of specific cancers, data on overall cancer risk are sparse. METHODS: We examined the association between adherence to Mediterranean dietary pattern and overall cancer risk using data from the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and nutrition, a multi-centre pr

Introduction The intensity and duration of childhood cancer treatment may disrupt psychosocial development and thereby cause difficulties in transition into adulthood. The study objective was to assess social outcomes in early adulthood after successful treatment for childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML), Wilms tumor (WT) and infratentorial astrocytoma (IA). Methods Nordic patients treated for AM

Heat transfer and pressure drop characteristics of a hybrid nanofluid mixture containing alumina nanoparticles and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were experimentally investigated in a chevron corrugated-plate heat exchanger. A MWCNT/water nanofluid with a volume concentration of 0.0111% and an Al2O3/water nanofluid with a volume concentration of 1.89% were mixed at a volume ratio of 1:2.5.

A search is presented for pair production of a new heavy quark (Q) that decays into aW boson and a light quark (q) in the final state where one W boson decays leptonically (to an electron or muon plus a neutrino) and the other W boson decays hadronically. The analysis is performed using an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb(-1) of pp collisions at root s = 8 TeV collected by the ATLAS detector at th

Aims Biogeographical evidence suggests a strong link between climate and patterns of species diversity, and climate change is known to cause range shifts. However, there is little understanding of how shifts affect community composition and we lack empirical evidence of recent impacts of climate change on the diversity of vertebrates. Using a long-term comprehensive dataset on bird abundance, we e