Gift exchange, and the economy associated with it, is not restricted only to those tribal cultures where it has mostly been studied, but can also appear as an element of contemporary market economies. Yet despite this, the practical functioning of gift relationships between business partners is an understudied area. By studying the giving of corporate Christmas gifts, this article contributes to c

Acute lung injury (ALI) is an inflammatory disease with a high mortality rate. Although typically seen in individuals with sepsis, ALI is also a major complication in severe acute pancreatitis (SAP). The pathophysiology of SAP-associated ALI is poorly understood, but elevated serum levels of IL-6 is a reliable marker for disease severity. Here, we used a mouse model of acute pancreatitis–associate

A preparation method for silver-oxide containing nanoparticles is described. The suggested approach allows varying the oxidation degree from monoxide to an oxygen-rich state resembling superoxide The method is based on magnetron reactive sputtering and vapour aggregation, and utilizes silver-oxygen interaction in the vapour phase - prior to the nanoparticle aggregation from the vapour. Synchrotron

The formation of iron aluminide (FeAl) during the heating of Fe-40 at.% Al powder mixture has been studied using a differential scanning calorimeter. The effect of particle size of the reactants, compaction of the powder mixtures as well as the heating rate on combustion behavior has been investigated. On heating compacted discs containing relatively coarser iron powder, DSC data show two consecut

The inclusive top quark pair (t (t) over tilde) production cross-section sigma(t (t) over bar) has been measured in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV and root s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, using t (t) over bar events with an opposite-charge e mu pair in the final state. The measurement was performed with the 2011 7 TeV dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of

The aetiology of oral lichen lesions is obscure. In this study the frequency of contact allergy to gold in 83 patients with oral lichen lesions was compared with that in two control groups, comprising 319 age- and gender-matched patients with dermatitis selected from files and 83 clinically examined dermatitis patients. All patients were tested epicutaneously with gold sodium thiosulphate. The two

Sedimentary records of invertebrate assemblages were obtained from a small lake in the Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula. Together with a quantitative chironomid-based reconstruction of mean July air temperature, these data provide evidence of Holocene climate variability in the western sector of the Russian Subarctic. The results suggest that the amplitude of climate change was more pronounced in

Background: Identification and adequate management of individuals at risk for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is crucial since surveillance programmes reduce morbidity and mortality. We investigated knowledge about key features of HNPCC in at risk individuals and physicians in surgery, gynecology and oncology. Methods: Data were collected using a questionnaire which was answered

Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is composed of 188 amino acids and has an apparent molecular weight of 25 kDa. ApoM belongs to the lipocalin protein superfamily, and is found in all major lipoprotein classes, although the majority of apoM is found in high density lipoprotein, HDL. In apoM, the signal peptide is retained in the mature protein. ApoM with a cleavable signal peptide was constructed. In contra

We study the decays $K\to\pi\pi$ in one-loop two-flavour Chiral Perturbation Theory. We provide arguments why the calculation of the coefficient of the pionic chiral logarithm $\logm = M^2\log M^2$ is unique and then perform the calculation. As a check we perform the reduction of the known three-flavour result. Our result can be used to perform the extrapolation to the physical pion mass of direc

Modern tools in proteomics require access to large arrays of specific binders for use in multiplex array formats, such as microarrays, to decipher complex biological processes. Combinatorial protein libraries offer a solution to the generation of collections of specific binders, but unit operations in the process to isolate binders from such libraries must be automatable to ensure an efficient pro

High-spin states in Nd-139 were investigated using the reaction Zr-96(Ca-48,5n) at a beam energy of 195 MeV and gamma-ray coincidences were acquired with the Euroball spectrometer. Apart from several dipole bands at medium excitation energy, three quadrupole bands have been observed at high spin. Linking transitions connecting two of the high-spin bands to low-energy states have been observed. Cal

Vascular smooth muscle cells are constantly exposed to mechanical force by the blood pressure, which is thought to regulate smooth muscle growth, differentiation and contractile function. We have previously shown that the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs, is essential for regulation of smooth muscle phenotype including stretch-dependent contractile differentiation. In this s