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This paper examines current perceptions within international aid agencies regarding the existing and potential roles of housing and urban development planning as a tool for reducing urban disaster risk in developing countries. It is mainly based on interviews with more than 50 professionals from international agencies and a review of documents on planning and risk reduction. The paper analyses t
The Carex flava complex ( Cyperaceae) was used as a model system in a study of the effects of variation in species delimitation on genetic diversity estimates. The whole complex constitutes a syngameon within which gene flow may occur between taxa. Several more or less distinct evolutionary lineages in the complex are morphologically similar to each other and are often combined into broadly define
The present study evaluated nicotine plasma levels achieved following 1 day's regular use of four commonly used brands of Swedish portion snus and 2-mg Nicorette chewing gum. The study also estimated the amount of sodium chloride extracted from each snus sachet to identify potential risks for exacerbation of heart failure and hypertension with the use of Swedish snus. Extracted dose of nicotine, a
Two packed-bed bioreactors filled with carriers of foamed glass beads were tested at 14 degrees C (bioreactor RA) or at 23 +/- 1 degrees C (bioreactor RB) for the continuous treatment of a mixture of 2-chlorophenol (2CP), 4-chlorophenol (4CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP) and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP). The reactors were inoculated by mixed bacterial consortia acclimatized to the pollutants at each t
Mutant alleles are frequently characterized by low expression levels. Therefore, cDNA array-based gene expression profiling may be a promising strategy for identifying gene defects underlying monogenic disorders. To study the potential of this approach, we have generated an X chromosome-specific microarray carrying 2423 cloned cDNA fragments, which represent up to 1317 different X-chromosomal gene
In order to evaluate the functional significance of synaptic pathology, synaptic density was quantitated and related to clinical symptomatology and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 8 patients with frontal lobe degeneration of non-Alzheimer type (FLD) and 19 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Synaptic density was measured in all layers of prefrontal and parietal cortex. The clinical pict
The effect of an intestinal microflora consisting of selected microbial species on myoelectric activity of small intestine was studied using germ-free rat models, with recording before and after specific intestinal colonization, in the unanesthetized state. Intestinal transit, neuropeptides in blood (RIA), and neuromessengers in the intestinal wall were determined. Clostridium tabificum vp 04 prom
BACKGROUND: Recent studies have suggested that Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination may have a non-specific beneficial effect on infant survival and that a BCG scar may be associated with lower child mortality. No study has previously examined the influence of BCG vaccination on cause of death. METHODS: Two cohorts (A and B) were used to describe the mortality pattern for children with and wi
The catalytic copper site in nitrite reductase contains a Cu2+ ion bound to three histidine (His) ligands and a solvent molecule. Sites from various sources show a conspicuous variation in the structure. In some proteins, it is close to tetrahedral (even more so than are blue copper proteins), whereas in other proteins, it has a structure more similar to that expected for a type 2 copper site. We
The nuclear DNA content of 148 high-grade soft tissue sarcomas of the extremities and trunk was determined by flow cytometry, using tumor material from paraffin-embedded tissue. The patients were part of a prospective randomized clinical trial on the efficacy of adjuvant single-agent chemotherapy with doxorubicin. Chemotherapy did not improve the metastasis-free survival (MFS). After a median foll
We show that the rotation of trapped quantum mechanical particles with a repulsive interaction can lead to vortex formation, irrespective of whether the particles are bosons or (unpaired) fermions. The exact many-particle wave function constitutes similar structures in both cases, implying that this vortex formation is indeed universal.
This study evaluates a novel method for extracting roots from soil samples and applies it to estimate standing crop root mass (+/- confidence intervals) in an eastern Amazon rainforest. Roots were manually extracted from soil cores over a period of 40 min, which was split into 10 min time intervals. The pattern of cumulative extraction over time was used to predict root extraction beyond 40 min. A
The dogroses (Rosa Sect. Caninae) are characterized by a unique meiosis - the canina meiosis - that results in restricted recombination. In the present study, we investigate population differentiation and morphometric diversity within six taxa, of Nordic dogroses, with the help of automated image analysis of leaflet shape and manually-measured reproductive characters. The total morphometric divers
The apposition compound eye of the nocturnal polistine wasp Apoica pallens shows, in comparison to the closely related diurnal wasp Polistes occidentalis, specific adaptations to vision at low light intensities. When considering recent work on nocturnal and diurnal bees, general principles for dim-light vision in hymenopterans become evident: The rhabdom diameters in nocturnal bees and wasps are 4
A new indole alkaloid, picranitine, has been-isolated from the seeds of Picralima nitida, along with five known, indole alkaloids picratidine, akuammine, pseudoakuammine, akuammicine and akuammidine previously identified from the same source. Structures were elucidated through exhaustive spectral studies including 1D. (H-1 and C-13 NMR) and 2D-NMR (HMQC, HMBC and NOESY).
Titanium oxide and zirconium oxide thin films deposited on silicon substrates were characterised using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA), Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis (TOF-ERDA) and scanning photoelectron microscopy (SPEM). The composition and mass thickness of the films were determined and the results of different methods compare
Background: The diagnostic criteria of the metabolic syndrome ( MS) have been applied in studies of obese adults to estimate the metabolic risk-associated with obesity, even though no general consensus exists concerning its definition and clinical value. We reviewed the current literature on the MS, focusing on those studies that used the MS diagnostic criteria to analyze children, and we observed
