OBJECTIVE. The implied role of retroviruses in the pathogenesis of murine systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) led us to study antiretroviral antibodies in a population-based SLE cohort. METHODS. Immunoassays using whole virus and synthetic peptides were performed on sera from 72 patients with SLE and 88 control subjects. RESULTS. Reactions with whole baboon endogenous virus occurred more frequently

The scientific community has gratefully embraced floating-point arithmetic to escape the close attention for accuracy and precision required in fixed-point computational styles. Though its deficiencies are well known, the role of the floating-point system as standard has kept other number representation systems from coming into practice. The paper discusses the relation between fixed and floating-

A new sampling method, termed negligible depletion hollow fiber-protected liquid-phase microextraction, was developed for sensing the freely dissolved concentration (C free) and evaluating the availability of atrazine (ATR), desethyl atrazine (DEA), and simazine (SIM) in water. The sampling device was prepared by impregnating 1-octanol to both the pores and the lumen of a piece of polypropylene mi

A species-wide phylogeographical study of the root vole (Microtus oeconomus ) was performed using the whole 1140 base pair mitochondrial (mt) cytochrome b gene. We examined 83 specimens from 52 localities resulting in 65 unique haplotypes. Our results demonstrate that the root vole is divided into four main mtDNA phylogenetic lineages that seem to have largely allopatric distributions. Net diverge

A new species of Pegomya Robineau-Desvoidy is described from Europe ( Sweden, Denmark and Finland) by the name of P. curviphallis. It belongs, together with the Holarctic P. flavoscutellata (Zetterstedt) and the Nearctic P. flaviantennata Griffiths, in a species group defined by a sickle-shaped distiphallus. Differential descriptions are given for the two European species of the P. flavoscutellata

Over the past decade, neural grafting has emerged as a new treatment option for Parkinson's disease. When performed successfully, grafts of human embryonic neural tissue can give rise to major symptomatic relief in patients, However, a recent report on a double-blind placebo control study, which received worldwide attention, described less pronounced beneficial effects of the grafts, and found the

Earlier work in northeast Greenland has suggested a limited advance of the Greenland Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, this concept has recently been challenged by marine geological studies, indicating grounded ice on the continental shelf at this time. New Be-10-ages from the Store Koldewey island, northeast Greenland, suggest that unscoured mountain plateaus at the outer

PURPOSE: To evaluate altered protein expression with tissue microarray methodology for 15 different markers with potential prognostic significance in invasive bladder cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Invasive tumor was sampled with the tissue-arraying instrument in 133 consecutive patients who underwent radical cystectomy, and at least 3, 0.6-mm tissue cores were obtained. With immunohistochemistry,

DNA damage in the form of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers(CPDs) and (6-4) photoproducts(6-4PPs) induced by UV-B radiation in Arabidopsis thaliana at different temperatures was investigated using ELISA with specific monoclonal antibodies. CPDs and 64PPs increased during 3 h UV-B exposure, but further exposure led to decreases. Contrary to the commonly accepted view that DNA damage induced by UV-B rad

Personalised, genotype-based nutrition is a concept that links genotyping with specific nutritional advice in order to improve the prevention of nutrition-associated, chronic diseases. This review describes the current scientific basis of the concept and discusses its problems. There is convincing evidence that variant genes may indeed determine the biological response to nutrients. The effects of

A simple method is tested for scaling climate-extreme results from high resolution regional climate models (RCMs) to time-periods and emission scenarios for which the RCMs have not been run. The 30 yr mean relationships between indicators of extremes (IoEs) and annual mean daily maximum temperature (T-xa) are investigated. Such relationships from the UK Met Office Hadley Centre RCM HadRM3P, along

Spontaneous electrical and mechanical activity was abolished in isolated preparations of rat portal vein by exposure to K+-free Krebs solution. This procedure probably also increased the intracellular [Na+] owing to interference with the active transmembrane Na+-K+ transport. Contractures could be induced under these conditions by lowering extracellular [Na+] from the control level of 144 to 17 mM

The suspension of the crystalline lens in the eye was studied in 11 species of teleost (bony fish) from 10 families and 7 orders by light and electron microscopy. In all species there were 4-5 ligaments in about the equatorial plane of the eye, in which also the tendon of the retractor lentis muscle attaches to the lens. In two cichlid species two additional ligaments were found running from the m

Softwood constitutes the main source of lignocellulosic material in Sweden which can be used for ethanol production from renewable resources. To make the biomass-to-ethanol process more economically feasible, it is preferable to include the sugar-rich prehydrolysate, i.e. the liquid obtained after the pretreatment step, in the enzymatic hydrolysis of the solid fraction. This study shows that the p

The aim of the paper is to examine the changing role of the state in employment regulation in an environment that has become more market-driven and Europeanised since the introduction of the European Monetary Union (EMU) and the European Employment Strategy (EES). The point of departure is a general discussion of the role of the state in capitalist development and a review on the recent debate on

Aromatic 3,3'-diesters of thiodigalactoside were synthesized in a rapid three-step sequence from commercially available thiodigalactoside and evaluated as inhibitors of cancer- and immunity-related galectins. For each of galectins-1, -3, -7, and -9N-terminal domain, aromatic 3,3'-diesters of thiodigalactoside were found to have affinities in the low micromolar range, which represents a 7-70 fold e