The colorimetric 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was standardized for direct detection of rifampin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples. The sensitivity and specificity of the direct MTT assay matched those of the standard indirect susceptibility assay on 7H10 medium, and interpretable results were obtained for 98.5% of the samples within

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most prevalent cancer of the kidney. In human RCC cells, we recently showed that insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has growth-promoting effects regulated by IGF-binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3). In this study, the analysis was expanded to include the interaction between the IGF and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) systems in the human RCC cells Caki-2 (fro

Yoghurts were produced with 24 different cultures differing in their ability to produce exopolysaccharides (EPS). Rheological and sensory analyses showed large differences in texture properties in the yoghurt samples. EPS production was found to have a major effect oil the texture properties, but varying textures within the EPS +/- groups were also found. Yoghurts fermented with EPS-producing cult

The aim of this report is to study how the authorities in twelve Swedish municipalities consider social vulnerability in disasters. The study is based on telephone interviews with ten officials responsible for safety and risk analysis and with ten officials responsible for social and psychological support after disasters. Three group interviews about the support for affected citizens after the sto

Moments of the hadronic invariant mass and of the lepton energy spectra in semileptonic B decays have been determined with the data recorded by the DELPHI detector at LEP. From measurements of the inclusive b-hadron semileptonic decays, and imposing constraints from other measurements on b- and c-quark masses, the first three moments of the lepton energy distribution and of the hadronic mass distr

PURPOSE. To characterize the spectrum of mutations in the OPA1 gene in a large international panel of patients with autosomal dominant optic atrophy (adOA), to improve understanding of the range of functional deficits attributable to sequence variants in this gene, and to assess any genotype-phenotype correlations. METHODS. All 28 coding exons of OPA1, intron-exon splice sites, 273 bp 5' to exon 1

A search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons was performed in the high energy data collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP II at centre-of-mass energies from 189 GeV to 202 GeV. The three different final states, taunutaunu, c (s) over bar(c) over bars and c (s) over bar taunu were considered. New methods were applied to reject wrong hadronic jet pairings and for the tau identification, where a

In this paper we construct quasi-deformations of sl(2) (R) with the Laurent polynomials over the reals as base algebra and general vector fields for sl(2) (R) in the base of the quasi-deformation.

Fiber-reinforced flexible composites are extensively used for different kinds of applications, for example, tubes, drive belts, tires, and coated fabrics. Typical for these materials are matrix materials allowing large strain deformation and reinforcement structures allowing bending. Apart from the tensile strength and limited bending stiffness, damage resistance and ductile-brittle transition cha

High-spin states in Kr-78 were studied using the Ni-58(Na-23,3p) reaction at 70 MeV and the Ni-58(Si-23,alpha 4p) reaction at 130 MeV. Prompt gamma-gamma coincidences were measured using the Pitt-FSU detector array and the GAMMASPHERE-MICROBALL array. Results from these experiments have led to 26 new excitation levels, some of which have been grouped into 3 new bands. Spins were assigned based on

hEP4-R (human prostaglandin E2 receptor, subtype EP4) is a Gs-linked heterotrimeric GPCR (G-protein-coupled receptor). It undergoes agonist-induced desensitization and internalization that depend on the presence of its C-terminal domain. Desensitization and internalization of GPCRs are often linked to agonist-induced b-arrestin complex formation, which is stabilized by phosphorylation. Subsequentl

The effect of the non-ionic contrast medium iohexol (Omnipaque) on renal function was investigated in diabetic patients with signs of peripheral ischaemia. Forty-six patients, 70 +/- 11 years (mean +/- SD) old, age at diabetes diagnosis 53 +/- 17 years, and with varying degrees of diabetic nephropathy were studied before 1, 2, and 30 days after aortobifemoral arteriography. Serum creatinine, creat

Spectroscopic radial velocities for several nearby open clusters suggestthat spectra of (especially earlier-type) rapidly rotating stars aresystematically blueshifted by 3 km s-1 or more, relative tothe spectra of slowly rotating ones. Comparisons with astrometricallydetermined radial motions in the Hyades suggests this to be an absoluteblueshift, relative to wavelengths naively expected from stel

Lifetime tests of solar reflector materials are eligible prior to application, to prove the stability of the optical properties. In this work, six reflector materials were aged outdoors and in a climatic test chamber. The surfaces of the samples were inspected using profilometry and optical microscopy. The total and specular reflectance spectra were measured using spectrophotometry and the weighte