Disentangling the contributions of different processes that influence plant recruitment, such as competition and seed dispersal, is important given the increased human-mediated changes in tropical forest ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that seedling communities in an Afrotropical rainforest in southeastern Nigeria are strongly affected by the loss of important seed-dispersing primates, inc

AIM: Epidural analgesia reduces the surgical stress response. However, its effect on pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the genesis of inflammation following major abdominal surgery remains unclear. Our main objective was to elucidate whether perioperative epidural analgesia prevents the inflammatory response following colorectal cancer surgery.METHODS: Ninety-six patients scheduled for open

The proinflammatory mediator leukotriene D(4) (LTD(4)) binds to the seven-transmembrane receptor CYSLT(1). Although this leukotriene plays an important biological role, its intracellular signaling pathways are only partly known. In previous experiments, we found that LTD(4) induced tyrosine phosphorylation and translocation of phospholipase (PLC)-gamma1 to a plasma membrane fraction in a human epi

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are submicron, membrane-enclosed particles that are released from cells in various pathophysiological states. The molecular cargo of these vesicles is considered to reflect the composition of the cell of origin, and the EV proteome is therefore a potential source of biomarkers for various diseases. Our aim was to determine whether EVs isolated from plasma provide addit

Background: There has been a lack of a standardized protocol for collection of patient reported outcomes (PRO) and detection of and indication for psychological treatment in cleft care. The objectives of this paper was to translate Cleft Hearing Appearance and Speech Questionnaire (CHASQ) into eight European languages, to investigate whether levels of PRO in patients with cleft lip and/or cleft pa

Characterization of porous media is essential in a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications. Microstructural features can be probed non-invasively by diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). However, diffusion encoding in conventional dMRI may yield similar signatures for very different microstructures, which represents a significant limitation for disentangling individual microstr

Chimeras have been an important part of animal research for decades. Yet crossing the species barrier has always been seen as potentially morally problematic. In recent years, advances in chimeric research and the attendant possibilities—organ xenotransplantation, cognitive enhancement, and others—have given rise to further ethical concern. This contribution surveys the main ethical questions that

In 2007 more than a quarter (26%) of the South African adult population was functionally illiterate. As a result many non-profit organisations (NPOs) in South Africa strive to raise adult literacy levels. Adult illiteracy leads to problems such as, amongst others, high levels of unemployment, poverty and crime.Most NPOs do not practice strategic communication management to build strong, lasting an

The aim of this article is to determine how human interventions in upstream countries coupled with drought events are affecting the flow regime of downstream countries using the Nile River basin for illustrative purposes. This has been addressed by assessing climate change in the study area through analyses of precipitation data obtained from the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) and

Axonal degeneration, which contributes to functional impairment in several disorders of the nervous system, is an important target for neuroprotection. Several individual factors and subcellular events have been implicated in axonal degeneration, but researchers have so far been unable to identify an integrative signaling pathway activating this self-destructive process. Through pharmacological an

Dark states are eigenstates or steady states of a system that are decoupled from the radiation. Their use, along with associated techniques such as stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, has extended from atomic physics, where it is an essential cooling mechanism, to more recent versions in the condensed phase where it can increase the coherence times of qubits. These states are often discussed in th

AIMS: The main aim of this study was to assess dermal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and airway exposure to PAHs, volatile organic compounds (VOCs; benzene and 1,3-butadiene), and particles among firefighters (FFs) and police forensic investigators (PFIs) in Sweden. METHODS: Active (pump with a filter and sorbent tube) and passive (polyurethane foam -cyl and perkin elmer carbo

Objective: The aim of this study was to clarify the role of ‘contagion’, or social transmission, in risk of suicidal behaviour (SB) among siblings. Methods: We followed Swedish sibling pairs until one of them (S1; N = 111,848) was registered for a suicide attempt or completion. We tested the effect of geographic proximity between siblings on risk of a first SB registration of S1's sibling (S2). To

An essential ingredient in many model Hamiltonians, such as the Hubbard model, is the effective electron-electron interaction U, which enters as matrix elements in some localized basis. These matrix elements provide the necessary information in the model, but the localized basis is incomplete for describing U. We present a systematic scheme for computing the manifestly basis-independent dynamical

Understanding how patterns of recovery and geological conditions affect microbial communities is important for determining the stability of karst ecosystems. Here, we investigated the diversity and composition of microorganisms in karst and non-karst environments under natural restoration and artificial rehabilitation conditions. The results showed no significant differences in soil microbial dive

Preeclampsia is a major cause of maternal and fetal morbidity. Emerging research shows an association with environmental exposures. The present aim was to investigate associations between early pregnancy serum levels of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and preeclampsia. Within the Swedish SELMA study, eight PFAS were measured at median 10 gestational weeks and cases of preeclampsia were postnatall