Electrometers used in dosimetric instruments need to be checked regularly in order to measure and maintain the prescribed dose to the patient. This paper describes the function of a simple but accurate test device for electrometers. A number of electrometers have been tested and compared with calibrations performed by the Swedish Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL). The device can be used to test

This paper deals with queues and insurance risk processes where a generic service time, resp. generic claim, has the form U boolean AND K for some r.v. U with distribution B which is heavy-tailed, say Pareto or Weibull, and a typically large K, say much larger than EU. We study the compound Poisson ruin probability psi(u) or, equivalently, the tail P(W > u) of the M/G/1 steady-state waiting time W

In this paper a new aspect of the classical max-min fairness fixed-path problem is investigated. The considered (multi-criteria) optimization problem is almost identical to the continuous-flow problem, with the additional complicating assumption that flows must be integral. We show that such an extension makes the problem substantially more difficult (in fact NP-hard). Through comparison with the

OFF-period dyskinesias have been reported as a consequence of fetal nigral transplantation for Parkinson's disease. This type of dyskinesias may appear in patients even in the prolonged absence of antiparkinson medication and be aggravated by levodopa. Therefore, pharmacological therapeutic approaches in these patients are limited. Here we report two patients with bilateral fetal nigral grafts in

In a variable air volume (VAV) system with 100% outdoor air, the cooling need in the building is satisfied with a certain air flow at a certain supply air temperature. To minimize the system energy use, an optimal supply air temperature can be set dependent on the load, specific fan power (SFP), chiller coefficient of performance, outdoor temperature and the outdoor relative humidity. The theory f

Early gastric cancer (EGC) is defined as a carcinoma limited to the mucosa or mucosa and submucosa, irrespective of whether metastasis to lymph nodes has occurred. EGC presents a much more favorable prognosis than advanced gastric carcinoma (AGC), with a 5-year survival rate between 88% and 96% for EGC versus 45% to 50% for AGC. Moreover, some gastric cancers appear as a more or less extended EGC

Diabetes mellitus is a major health problem associated with microvascular and macrovascular complications, leading to increased morbidity and mortality. It is rapidly growing worldwide with huge economical and social burden. Although prevention and treatment of diabetes and its complications play a key role in reducing its morbidity and mortality, they require an integrated team approach at nation

Saccharomyces cerevisiae is able to ferment xylose, when engineered with the enzymes xylose reductase (XYL1) and xylitol dehydrogenase (XYL2). However, xylose fermentation is one to two orders of magnitude slower than glucose fermentation. S. cerevisiae has been proposed to have an insufficient capacity of the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) for rapid xylose fermentation. Strains ove

The Met Office Cloud Resolving Model (CRM) and the UMIST Explicit Microphysics Model (EMM) have been employed in the analysis of data from airborne studies of a multi-thermal cumulus cloud which developed over New Mexico in the summer of 1987. The principal goal was to establish a quantitative understanding of the observed development of glaciation of this cloud. The EMM was utilized in a series o

Molecular characteristics were determined for native waxy maize starch and maize starch modified in different way (by mechanical treatment or/and acid hydrolysis). Recrystallisation behaviour was studied. Methods used in this study were MALLS, HPAEC-PAD, NMR, DSC, SEM, light microscopy. Five starch materials were subjected to storage under the same conditions in the presence of water (70 w/w%). Mo

AIM: To investigate whether perinatal events, intrauterine or postpartum, are associated with the development of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) later in life. METHODS: Birth records from 97 patients with adult PSC in Sweden were reviewed. Information on perinatal events including medications and complications during pregnancy, gestation length, birth weight and length were collected. Two con

Excited states of neutron deficient nuclei close to Sn-100 were investigated in an in-beam spectroscopic experiment using the NORDBALL detector array. Excited states in Cd-99 were identified for the first time. The measured half-life of an isomeric state in Cd-99 indicates that the stability with respect to quadrupole shape changes is as large in Sn-100 as for other heavy doubly magic nuclei.

The effects of salt, temperature, and deuterium oxide on the self-aggregation of n-tetradecyl-beta-D-maltoside (C(14)G(2)) in dilute solution have been investigated by static light scattering, dynamic light scattering (DLS), small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), tensiometry, and capillary viscometry. SANS data show that the micelles can be described as relatively flexible polymer-like micelles wi

Background: There are very few reports of airborne allergic contact dermatitis from methacrylates. Objectives: To report a dental nurse with facial eczema supposedly caused by airborne methacrylates present in the work environment. Methods: Patch testing with serial dilutions of several methacrylates and work provocations in environments containing methacrylates was performed. Results: Patch testi

Huntington's disease (HD) is a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive psychiatric, cognitive, and motor disturbances. We studied the expression of synaptic vesicle proteins in the R6/1 transgenic mouse model of HD. We observed that the levels of rabphilin 3A, a protein involved in exocytosis, is substantially decreased in synapses of most brain regions in R6/1 mice. The

Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the most important etiopathological factor of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) and some specific types of malignant lymphomas. One of the viral lytic genes encodes the KSHV complement control protein (KCP), which functionally mimics human complement inhibitors. Although this protein provides an advantage for evading the complement attack, it can serve as target

PRELP (proline, arginine-rich end leucine-rich repeat protein) is an extracellular matrix leucine-rich repeat protein. The amino-terminal region of PRELP differs from that of other leucine-rich repeat proteins in containing a high number of proline and arginine residues. The clustered proline and basic residues are conserved in rat, bovine, and human PRELP. Although the function of PRELP is not ye

Six years' runoff data from Bensbyn Research Watershed (BRW) in northern Sweden is discussed. BRW is 1.6 km2, out of which 0.5 km2 is a large meadow and the remaining area consists of a dense coniferous forest. In the runoff analysis, runoff contribution from the meadow is separated from that from the forest. Peak flows are related to snowmelt from each separate area, and to rain events. The snowm