This paper develops a very simple test for the null hypothesis of no cointegration in panel data. The test is general enough to allow for heteroskedastic and serially correlated errors, unit-specific time trends, cross-sectional dependence and unknown structural breaks in both the intercept and slope of the cointegrated regression, which may be located at different dates for different units. The l

Purpose We tested whether total prostate-specific antigen velocity (tPSAv) improves accuracy of a model using PSA level to predict long-term risk of prostate cancer diagnosis. Methods During 1974 to 1986 in a preventive medicine study in Sweden, 5,722 men aged

Chemosensory Proteins (CSPs) represent a family of conserved proteins found in insects that may be involved in chemosensory functions. BmorCSP1 is expressed mainly in antennae and legs of the silkworm moth Bombyx morii and was cloned from antennal cDNA. Here we report the determination of the structure of Bombyx mori CSP1 (BmorCSP1) by NMR. The overall fold of BmorCSP1 is globular and comprises si

The sequential UV–biological degradation of a mixture of 4-chlorophenol (CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), and pentachlorophenol (PCP) was first tested with each pollutant supplied at an initial concentration of 50 mg l−1. Under these conditions, the chlorophenols were photodegraded in the following order of removal rate: PCP > TCP > DCP > CP with only CP and DCP remainin

The influence of choice of constitutive relation on the prediction of crack-opening stress for fatigue cracks using the finite-element method is investigated and compared with experimental results. Two different experimentally obtained stress–strain relations for IN718 at 550 °C were used for fitting material parameters to the linear kinematic and the Bodner–Partom viscoplastic constitutive models

Amplifying bacterial DNA by PCR from human biopsy specimens has sometimes proved to be difficult, mainly due to the low amount of bacterial DNA present. Therefore, nested or semi-nested 16S rDNA PCR amplification has been the method of choice. In this study, we evaluate the potential use of whole genome amplification of total DNA isolated from human colon and rectum biopsy specimens, followed by 1

A new technique based on phosphor thermometry for measurements of two-dimensional gas-phase temperature, was examined as a new laser diagnostic. Calibration of Dy:YAG phosphor was carried out on the surface of a solid. The data were applicable for gas thermometry since the validation of the line intensity ratios method, showed good agreement with both the lifetime method and thermocouple data in a

Sweden, one of the Nordic countries, has a long history of social justice and equality of access to health care. Nursing plays an important role in this and nursing education is of a high standard. The aim of this paper is to describe Sweden's health system and nursing within it, thereby giving Australian nurses information which may generate an interest in, and provide background for, collaborati

Background: Coronary endothelial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of acute coronary syndromes (ACSs). Acute Chlamydia pneumoniae infection has been epidemiologically associated with ACS. In this study, we investigated whether acute C. pneumoniae infection could alter the endothelial vasomotor function of porcine coronary vessels. Methods and results: Twenty pigs, 7–9 kg in weight, were

Basidiomycete fruitbodies growing in coniferous forests along a complex heavy metal pollution gradient in north Sweden were identified and counted over a 4 yr period. The dominant metals in the humus layer were As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn. Pb occurred at the highest levels in a range of 80 to 8500 g g–1 dry wt. Both the number of fruitbodies and the number of fruiting species decreased strongly with in

Cystatin C and the prion protein have been shown to form dimers via three-dimensional domain swapping, and this process has also been hypothesized to be involved in amyloidogenesis. Production of oligomers of other amyloidogenic proteins has been reported to precede fibril formation, suggesting oligomers as intermediates in fibrillogenesis. A variant of cystatin C, with a Leu(68)-> Gln substitutio

Degraded electron beams, as used for intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) or similar complicated dosimetric situations, have different characteristics compared to conventional electron therapy beams. If international dosimetry protocols are applied in a direct manner to such degraded beams, uncertainties will be introduced in the absorbed dose determination. The Monte Carlo method has been used

This paper presents a first study of the decay constants of the charged, or flavor-off-diagonal, pseudoscalar mesons to two loops for three flavors of sea quarks, in Partially Quenched Chiral Perturbation Theory (PQChPT). Explicit analytical expressions up to order p6 in the momentum expansion are given. The calculations have been performed within the supersymmetric formulation of PQChPT. We also

Recent empirical and modelling studies suggest that mid-tropospheric relative humidity (RH) is an important controlling factor of deep atmospheric convection, which appears to be underestimated in present cumulus parametrizations. This indicates the possible presence of shortcomings in the way that entrainment is represented in such parametrizations. This matter was explored in the European Cloud

The purpose of this study was to develop new prediction equations for flow/volume spirometry parameters in asymptomatic, never-smoking adults in Norway, and to assess any differences of these parameters when applying the new and most commonly used equation sets. Flow/volume spirometry was measured according to the American Thoracic Society criteria in 2,792 subjects aged > or = 20 yrs, randomly se