Recent evidence suggests that many Australian agamids show temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) with variation in sex determining mechanisms among closely related taxa. However, as shown in other vertebrates, sex ratios can also be influenced by genetic or phenotypic differences among females in their propensity to produce sons or daughters, and these influences might confound any thermal

The driving force of the cell cycle is the activities of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Key steps in the regulation of the cell cycle therefore must impinge upon the activities of the CDKs. CDKs exert their functions when bound to cyclins that are expressed cyclically during the cell cycle. Polyamine biosynthesis varies bicyclically during the cell cycle with peaks in enzyme activities at the G(

Aim: The primary aim of this study was to describe alcohol involvement in relation to gender and different age cohorts among freshmen at two Swedish universities. The secondary aim was to investigate whether the results were related to a likelihood of students being in serious relationships and/or had a first-degree relative with alcohol problems. Methods: Two complete cohorts of university freshm

Methods for monitoring seepage are important for the safety of embankment dams. Increased seepage may be associated with internal erosion in the dam and internal erosion is one of the main reasons for dam failures. Internal erosion progresses inside the dam and is difficult to detect by conventional methods. Therefore there is a need for new or improved methods. The resistivity method is a non-des

This article summarizes content proceedings of a symposium held at the 2004 Research Society on Alcoholism Scientific Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada. The chairs were Friedrich M. Wurst and Raye Litten. The presentations were (1) Introduction, by Raye Litten; (2) Direct Ethanol Metabolites-On the Threshold From Science to Routine Use, by Friedrich M. Wurst; (3) Sialic Acid Index of Plasma Apol

Resonant soft x-ray emission (SXE) spectroscopy was used to study the electronic structure of LixV6O13 battery cathodes. We observe that the V 3d-bands Of V6O13 exhibit a rather rigid behavior. Upon lithiation, electrons enter the top of the valence band and add intensity to the corresponding part of the V L-emission spectrum without significantly distorting the lower lying bands. We perform ab in

Chemically modified starches are commonly used for various purposes. Depending on the type of derivatization, a chemical degradation of the original polymeric structure may occur, resulting in a change of molar mass. It is therefore always of interest to know the molar mass and possibly the conformation of the derivative. Four commercially available hydroxypropyl and hydroxyethyl modified starches

Molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles were prepared in supercritical carbon dioxide using a noncovalent imprinting approach. In the present work, propranolol was used as a model template, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, and divinylbenzene as a crosslinker. Under a high dilution condition, the heterogeneous polymerization resulted in discrete crosslinked polymer nanoparticles. Compa

Tantalum spectra, emitted from a hollow cathode, have been recorded with a Fourier transform spectrometer in the region 2000–5000 Ů The observed hyperfine patterns of Ta II have been analyzed, yielding center-of-gravity wavelengths for 199 lines and hyperfine constants for 38 even and 97 odd levels of Ta II. Improved energy level values have been derived. The laboratory data have been used for a s

Modern treatment planning systems (TPSs) usually separate the dose modelling into a beam modelling phase, describing the beam exiting the accelerator, followed by a subsequent dose calculation in the patient. The aim of this work is to use the Monte Carlo code system EGSnrc to study the modelling of head scatter as well as the transmission through multi-leaf collimator (MLC) and diaphragms in the

Muramic acid (Mur) is found in bacterial peptidoglycan ( PG) whereas 3-hydroxy fatty acids (3-OH FAs) are found in Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Thus Mur and 3-OH FAs serve as markers to assess bacterial levels in indoor air. An initial survey, in a school, demonstrated that the levels of dust, PG and LPS (pmol m(-3)) were each much higher in occupied rooms than in the same roo

The MRI examinations of seven patients with acute transverse myelopathy (ATM) were analysed. The patients were examined 2-5 times during the course of their disease with short and long TR/TE spin-echo sequences in the sagittal projection. A previous history of autoimmune disorder and/or signs of infection at the onset of ATM were present in all cases. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis showed local synt

Rather than using different therapies in isolation, many cancer patients use different therapies in a complementary fashion. Little research to date has given attention to individuals' experiences of the combined use of biomedically oriented health care (BHC) and complementary and alternative therapies (CATs). Therefore, this paper examines one individual's negotiation between complementary self-c

Competition among phytoplankton for limiting resources may involve direct or indirect interactions. A direct interaction of competitors is the release of chemicals that inhibit other species, a process known as allelopathy. Here, we investigated the allelopathic effect of three toxic microalgae species (Alexandrium tamarense, Karenia mikimotoi and Chrysochromulina polylepis) on a natural populatio

The effect of forest fertilization on soil microbial activity and biomass was studied in 11 coniferous forests with different site fertility. Soil microbial activity was measured as respiration rate and the microbial biomass was estimated using ATP content and substrate-induced respiration rate (SIR). At all sites, except those with the highest site fertility, the microbial activity and biomass we