The hypothesis that up-regulation of bronchial constrictor endothelin receptors in airway smooth muscle cells may contribute to hyperreactivity during airway inflammation was tested in the present study by quantitative endothelin receptor mRNA analysis and functional responses in ring segments of rat trachea and bronchi. Real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to quantif

Earlier studies have shown different effects on cell proliferation and weight characteristics by sulfated cholecystokinin-8 (CCK-8S) in the rat pancreas when the peptide has been administered continuously rather than intermittently. The aim of this study was as follows: (i) to compare the effect of continuous infusion and of intermittent injections of CCK-8S on cell proliferation, weight gain, and

Cyclodextrin glycosyl transferase (CGTase) from Bacillus macerans was used to catalyse the coupling of alpha-cyclodextrin to alkyl beta-glycosides. The acceptor substrate dodecyl beta-maltoside was thus converted to dodecyl beta-D-maltooctaoside. Further coupling steps and disproportionation reactions occurred, but by optimisation of the reaction time, a yield of 50% of the primary coupling produc

Age-adjusted incidence rates of breast cancer vary more than 10-fold worldwide, with the highest rates reported in North America and Europe. The highest breast cancer incidence rates in Southeast Asia have been reported for the Manila Cancer Registry in the Philippines, with an age-standardized rate of 47.7 per 100,000 per year. The possible contribution of hereditary factors to these elevated rat

The sequence of peaks and troughs in a load process acting on a material, contains important information about the damage caused by the load, e.g. on the growth rate of a widening crack. The stress range, i.e. the difference between a peak and the following trough, is one of the variables that is used to describe e.g. fatigue life under random loading. The moments, in particular the mean and varia

Fuel ethanol can be produced from softwood through hydrolysis in an enzymatic process. Prior to enzymatic hydrolysis of the softwood, pretreatment is necessary. In this study, two-step steam pretreatment employing dilute H2SO4 impregnation in the first step and SO2 impregnation in the second step, to improve the overall sugar and ethanol yield, was investigated. The first pretreatment step was per

The influence on nitrification and denitrification of oligochaete Limnodrilus sp. and Tubifex tubifex bioturbation was determined in eutrophic lake sediment from the Basin of Lake Ringsjon in southern Sweden. Nitrification and denitrification activity was compared in sieved and in undisturbed sediment cores in laboratory mesocosms at 2 different concentrations of nitrate. Nitrification and total d

A human tumor xenograft (L56Br-X1) was established from a breast cancer axillary lymph node metastasis of a 53-year-old woman with a BRCA1 germ-line nonsense mutation (1806C>T; Q563X), and a cell line (L56Br-C1) was subsequently derived from the xenograft. The xenograft carries only the mutant BRCA1 allele and expresses mutant BRCA1 mRNA but no BRCA1 protein as determined by immunoprecipitation or

The T-13910 variant located in the enhancer element of the lactase (LCT) gene correlates perfectly with lactase persistence (LP) in Eurasian populations whereas the variant is almost nonexistent among Sub-Saharan African populations, showing high prevalence of LP. Here, we report identification of two new mutations among Saudis, also known for the high prevalence of LP. We confirmed the absence of

The complement system is an important part of the innate immune system. Three pathways, the classical, the alternative and the lectin pathway, lead to the cleavage of complement factor C3, a central event in the activation of the complement system. We investigated the deposition of C3b (solid-phase C3 activation product) on a mannan-coated surface at high concentration of human serum (17%). At the

OBJECTIVE: to investigate the factors that influence the experience of mothers and fathers when they have chosen to return home, earlier than is the normal routine, following the birth of their baby. DESIGN: a qualitative study, using open interviews, was undertaken. The text of the transcripts was coded and categorised according to the grounded theory method using constant comparative analysis. S

BACKGROUND: Local pain at the site of an i.v. injection of propofol is a well-known problem, particularly in infants. This randomised investigator-blinded crossover study was designed to assess the effect of the i.v. bolus infusion rate on propofol-induced pain at the site of injection. METHODS: Thirty unpremedicated patients scheduled for ear-nose-throat or plastic surgery at Malmö University Hos

Objective To compare the effectiveness and safety of the oxytocin antagonist atosiban with conventional beta-adrenergic agonist (beta-agonist) therapy in the treatment of preterm labour. Design Three multinational, multicentre, double-blind, randomised, controlled trials. Setting Hospitals in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Israel, Sweden, and the UK. Population Women diagnosed

Many Streptococcus pyogenes immunoglobulin-binding proteins have structural similarities to the antiphagocytic M protein, including the well-known C repeats. One of these molecules is the immunoglobulin A-binding protein Arp, which is expressed by a serotype 4 strain for which no antiphagocytic M protein has yet been described. We expressed Arp4 in an S. pyogenes strain from which the structural g

Protein levels, mRNA expression, and localization of laminin alpha1 and alpha2 chains in development and in adult mice were examined. Recombinant fragments were used to obtain high-titer-specific polyclonal antibodies for establishing quantitative radioimmuno-inhibition assays. This often demonstrated an abundance of alpha2 chain, but also distinct amounts of alpha1 chain for adult tissues. The hi

Object detection in real images has attracted much attention during the last decade. Using machine learning and large databases it is possible to develop detectors for visual categories that have a very high hit-rate, with low false positive rates. In this paper we investigate a general probabilistic framework for context based scene interpretation using multiple detectors. Methods for finding max

The aim of the present study was to explore how a personal narrative told by a group of eight persons with aphasia differed between written and spoken language, and to compare this with findings from 10 participants in a reference group. The stories were analysed through holistic assessments made by 60 participants without experience of aphasia and through measurement of lexical and syntactic vari

Sphingomyelin (SM) hydrolysis in the gut has implications in colonic tumorigenesis and cholesterol absorption. It is triggered by intestinal alkaline sphingomyelinase (Alk-SMase) that is present in the intestinal mucosa and content. The mechanism by which the enzyme is released into the lumen is not clear. We studied whether trypsin can dissociate Alk-SMase from the mucosa and affect its activity.